dharmanature

last SG · 2008-04-18T18:04:56+00:00

huineng say that 人人皆有佛性。every one got buddha nature embedded.It's debative on plants and rocks or animals got buddha nature or not ,sentient beings in chines...

sofital SG

Hi, it is very good.I like the person who do the practical Dhamma work and meditation.You know,some people never do practical work and said big Dhamma Talk by reading and extracting dhamma from the book.

sofital SG

Electric bulb or fluorescent lamp is using the 50 Hz cycle of 220 volts. One cycle consists on and off time (1/50)=0.02 seconds.Hence Electric bulb is doing on and off repeatly 50*2=100 times in one second..On means light is on and off means light is off.As the phenomenon of light on and off is very fast and the response of human eye is slow, we can see the light is continuously on and shining from the bulb or lamp.We cannot catch the very small of time the ligth is off.For the same thing, our mind and body is arising(on state in light) and perishing(off state in light) faster than the variation of 50 Hz frequency.We need the Samatha and Vipasssna meditation to see the arising and perishing state of mind and body.

To be continued................

rokkie SG

◎節錄自《六祖法寶壇經》淺釋

有情來下種；因地果還生。
無情即無種；無性亦無生。

這首偈頌，有很多講法。「有情來下種」：就是我有一種慈愛的情，來種下種子。這個情就是慈悲；我有慈悲心這種的感情。來種下種子，就是我把佛法傳給你。「因地果還生」：現在因為你，我傳法給你，就好像種子種到地下，果就會生出來。「無情即無種」：如果沒有人傳給你法，也就沒有這個菩提的種子。「無性亦無生」：沒有性，也就沒有生，這是一個講法。

還有一個講法，情就是感情也好，情愛也好；因為有情愛，才種下種子。好像我們這一班學佛法的人，不是親戚，就是朋友；親戚就有親戚的情感，朋友就有朋友的情感。因為有一點情感，所以大家來學佛法，種下這個菩提種子，這叫「有情來下種」。「因地果還生」：地就是地方，有個地方，就會結果；果還生，生菩提果。有一塊地，就會生出菩提的果。「無情即無種」，如果誰也不知道這個道場，也沒有人來學佛法，這叫無情即無種。「無性亦無生」，也沒有一個佛性，也不會成佛。現在我們佛性也有，也要成佛。所以這首偈頌，怎樣講都有道理，你只要認為合乎法，就可以的。

http://www.fojiao.com/drba/online_reading/dharma_talks/Sutra_Selection2/selections_02_13.htm

thx

An Eternal Now SG

Sounds good :)

Thanks for sharing.

Regarding meditation experiences... the mind is always in the state of seeking in our daily living... seeking to fulfill our neverending list of desires, whether they be materialistic or even spiritual. I think you told me before about the tendency to seek certain experiences some months back.

I was aware of this tendency to search, to seek certain experience in my meditation... I believe most of us have such tendencies. We set out to meditate with the desire for peace, silence, clarity, bliss, energy, or perhaps even some exotic states of meditative experience, visions, and so on. But all these have nothing to do with enlightenment. Or the mind may even think "I don't want transient experiences, I want to meditate to get enlightened!" But the idea of "enlightenment" as an object or experience which we can gain in the future is just like an illusion like everything else. In reality, Practice and Enlightenment is One, as Zen Master Dogen says. Because Practice is Being-Reality, and Being-Reality is Being-Enlightened.

Whatever experiences we may have, they are transitory, they stays a bit and leaves. It may be a few seconds, a few minutes, or perhaps a few hours, but it can never last longer than that. That is how fleeting and unsatisfactory all experiences are, whether materialistic or spiritual experiences. But the mind always grasps on these states, and so when our mind leaves such states we begin seeking these experiences.

I think rather than seeking more experiences, what is fundamental above all is to ask... Who am I before birth? What is it that is never born and never dies? What never comes and never goes? What is the everpresent reality that I am? What is everpresent in both the movement of thought and the calm/'meditative' state? What reveals then is this abiding, ever-shining nature of pure presence.

longchen SG

Thanks for sharing.

I think it is a process. We cannot speed up the process by will. But we will get there if the practice is consistent. The constant seeking of the mind will subside in due time. The willingness to not engage into the 'why', 'what', 'how' etc will actually help in the process. 'Why', what, how and in fact all questions are already in dualistic mode. The mind projects out in the questioning to find an answer... the sense of self have already arised.

I am beginning to experience the benefit of sustained non-duality and no-self.

The mind automatically comes to a rest... be it walking, standing, sitting or any position. The rest and joy of no-self is not something that the un-enlightened can experience.

Also, increasingly the egoic mind is losing its power to condition. When there is no subject-object split, the sense of suffering is greatly reduced... The egoic mind still can trick one into engaging into a 'fight with reality', but it is losing its power to sustain. When the egoic mind arouse a bodily tension and if it is not engaged for too long, the tension will self-release. This is what I meant as the experience of rising and falling waves. The body tension is also what give a person a kind of identification as the body. With the tension gone, there can be at times no sense of body.

The process is certainly not complete... but I have entered a new phase... that is characterised by the egoic mind losing its charge. The strength of Presence and 'fearlessness in deconstruction' plays a crucial role.

I think it is a matter of practice once one pass beyond the insight of 'sense of self is not the doer of action'. Must thank Thusness for that. That insight is that precious!

Good luck :)

An Eternal Now SG

Thanks for sharing.

I am beginning to experience the benefit of sustained non-duality and no-self.

The mind automatically comes to a rest... be it walking, standing, sitting or any position. The rest and joy of no-self is not something that the un-enlightened can experience.

I think it is a matter of practice once one pass beyond the insight of 'sense of self is not the doer of action'. Must thank Thusness for that. That insight is that precious!

Good luck :)

Wow.. congrats on your new experiences :D (I wonder why I cant view the list of emoticons, lol)

Thanks for sharing :)

An Eternal Now SG

No, that is only part of the reason. The true reason is really that the 6th patriarch had not attained great awakening yet. Both my Taiwanese teacher and our moderator Thusness made the same statement on Hui-Neng's initial poem. The experience is simply not yet there.

Also if you take a look at Platform sutra, it mentions two occasions of Hui-Neng's awakening -- first he awakened after hearing a verse from Diamond Sutra on the streets, the second time is AFTER he wrote the poem. He was asked to enter the 5th Patriarch's room, and there the 5th patriarch explained Diamond Sutra until "yin wu shuo zhu er sheng qi xin" -- and this time he attained a second level of awakening, which is called "the Great Awakening" (da ce da wu).

http://www.angelfire.com/realm/bodhisattva/platform-sutra.html

My stanza read:
There is no Bodhi-tree,

Nor stand of a mirror bright.
Since all is Void,

Where can the dust alight?

When he had written this, all disciples and others who were present were greatly surprised. Filled with admiration, they said to one another, "How wonderful! No doubt we should not judge people by appearance. How can it be that for so long we have made a Bodhisattva incarnate work for us?" Seeing that the crowd was overwhelmed with amazement, the Patriarch rubbed off the stanza with his shoe, lest jealous ones should do me injury.

He expressed the opinion, which they took for granted, that the author of this stanza had also not yet realized the Essence of Mind.
Next day the Patriarch came secretly to the room where the rice was pounded. Seeing that I was working there with a stone pestle, he said to me, "A seeker of the Path risks his life for the Dharma. Should he not do so?" Then he asked, "Is the rice ready?" "Ready long ago," I replied, "only waiting for the sieve." He knocked the mortar thrice with his stick and left.

Knowing what his message meant, in the third watch of the night I went to his room. Using the robe as a screen so that none could see us, he expounded the Diamond Sutra to me. When he came to the sentence, "One should use one's mind in such a way that it will be free from any attachment," I at once became thoroughly enlightened, and realized that all things in the universe are the Essence of Mind itself.

"Who would have thought," I said to the Patriarch, "that the Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure! Who would have thought that the Essence of Mind is intrinsically free from becoming or annihilation! Who would have thought that the Essence of Mind is intrinsically self-sufficient! Who would have thought that the Essence of Mind is intrinsically free from change! Who would have thought that all things are the manifestation of the Essence of Mind!" Knowing that I had realized the Essence of Mind, the Patriarch said, "For him who does not know his own mind there is no use learning Buddhism.

On the other hand, if he knows his own mind and sees intuitively his own nature, he is a Hero, a 'Teacher of gods and men', 'Buddha'." Thus, to the knowledge of no one, the Dharma was transmitted to me at midnight, and consequently I became the inheritor of the teaching of the 'Sudden' School as well as of the robe and the begging bowl.
"You are now the Sixth Patriarch," said he. "Take good care of yourself, and deliver as many sentient beings as possible. Spread and preserve the teaching, and don't let it come to an end. Take note of my stanza:
Sentient beings who sow the seeds of enlightenment In the field of causation will reap the fruit of Buddhahood.

Have, it's everywhere. Especially if you read Lankavatara Sutras, and many other sutras, it's full of them.

In Zen, there are also maps and stages of awakening such as the Tozan's five ranks which talks about the relationship of Absolute and Relative, Emptiness and Form -- http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2008/02/tozan-ryokais-verses-on-five-ranks.html

Our moderator Thusness also wrote his own experiences in stages at http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2007/03/thusnesss-six-stages-of-experience.html

A nice song by John Wheeler called "The Hui Neng Song":

http://peterspearls.com.au/songs.htm

Song of the Sixth Patriarch

I grew up a peasant boy, but my mind was bright and clear
One day in the market place, I happened to hear
A man recite a sutra. it was the Buddha's word
It set my heart on fire, the moment that I heard

He told me his master, was living in the North
Teaching in a monastery with one thousand monks
I made up my mind I would journey to his feet
And ask him to lead me to the one Reality

For thirty days I walked, hardly taking food or rest
All that kept me going was my passion for the quest
When I arrived and he asked me why I came
'To become a living Buddha,' was the answer that I gave

He knew my heart was true, so he called me late one night
And read the Diamond Sutra to me in the candlelight
When I heard about a Mind* that alights upon no thing
Suddenly I came to a great awakening

Who would have known that my Mind is intrinsically pure
Who would have known that my Mind is forever free from change
Who would have known it gives rise to this manifested world
Who would have known I would find ... Buddha is the Light in my own Mind

Well ever since that night I've had just one thing to teach
The wisdom of all sages is in everybody's reach
The life of illusion ends as soon as you begin
To let go of everything and turn your light within

To listen in mp3 format, >Click Here
To download, right click on the link and select 'Save Target As...'
Length: 3:57
Size: 3.62 MB

* "Mind" (with a capital 'M') in this song refers to the Buddhist concept of the no-self (no little 'me') or the Emptiness beyond all thoughts, feelings and sensory perceptions -- It is the tranquil Awarenss that we are -- aware of Itself and 'this manifested world'.

You can learn more about the inspiration for this song, Hui Neng, >Here.

You can find more downloadable mp3 files on our Podcast page

At Gurukula, you can get a range of CD albums with music suitable for meditation or satsang situations -- see our CDs page

rokkie SG

congrat both of u

longchen SG

congrat both of u

Thank you :)

An Eternal Now SG

congrat both of u

Should congrats longchen, not me.. lol

(btw I wonder where did all the emoticons go to?)

An Eternal Now SG

You need to just sit and relax.

Take a proper posture. Expell the stale air.

Do Guru yoga.

Then relax. As one's mind slowly subsides, a vivid, clear and energetic radiance will emerge. This is not rigpa itself, but is instead the radiance aspect of awareness. Relaxing in this is the essence of tregchod.

If it does not arise-- it doesn't matter-- it is there anyway. If it arises, it doesn't matter, since there is nothing one can do to cause it to arise, nor will it ever subside. But it is revealed when one is sufficiently relaxed.

If thoughts occur, it doesn't matter, since thoughts do not exist outside of this state. If there are no thoughts, it doesn't matter, since this radiance is not product of stillness, no more than the lustre of clear water is a product of the settling out of detritus.

When one can "see" the radiance of awareness even in the midst of the chaos of concepts, then one's tregchod is moving ahead.

Otherwise, just relax and integrate into your primordial state.

A few words of advice on tregchod written by a so called "dzogchen pa" named Namdrol.

Source: E-Sangha

Posted by Nyima at 2:43 PM

Labels: Quotes

longchen SG

Posted by Nyima at 2:43 PM

Labels: Quotes

Just a sharing...

Fearlessness plays a large part.

A person can stay in non-dual is partly due to the willingness to drop away defenses. The 'sense of self' strive to protect and preserve itself.

Presence can 'intuit' that nothing gets harmed even amidst apparent pain and destruction. This is not the same as a separate object that is not harmed despite apparent destruction. The latter description is I AM level understanding. Non-dual is different in that there is no concept of a separate 'true self/I AM' that is unharmed.

This is not a very accurate description as it is conceptual here. But the experience roughly translated to this. Dropping can still have a kind of knowingness or it can fully drop the conscious awareness too. The more dropping the more shiok :)

Also, sensation are just that. All part of the experience of being a specific species... in our case .. being human. The sensations are specific to human being.

By human, we tend to think in terms of physical form or entity. However, human is really an experience and there is no-self there. Just the experience conditioned by the karmic conditionings perculiar to the specie. For example, the feeling of feet against floor when walking, sound of chewing when eating, taste of salt are specific to the individual within the specie.

That was a topic on the subject of laughing and what is its nature. Laughing is a conditioned response specific to humans only. It is just conditioned responses and pattern. Animals have never such experience. Again there is no self there, just an outcome successfully imprinted from many generations

Likewise, an animal will sensate experience perculiar to its species... but there is no-self there. All parts of impressions and sensations perculiar to the 'individual' within the species.

longchen SG

An Eternal Now SG

Just a sharing...

Fearlessness plays a large part.

A person can stay in non-dual is partly due to the willingness to drop away defenses. The 'sense of self' strive to protect and preserve itself.

Also, sensation are just that. All part of the experience of being a specific species... in our case .. being human. The sensations are specific to human being.

Likewise, an animal will sensate experience perculiar to its species... but there is no-self there. All parts of impressions and sensations perculiar to the 'individual' within the species.

Thanks for the sharing... What do you mean by dropping the conscious awareness? My understanding is that its a sense of an inner watcher and constriction to the head looking outwards. When there is a release of conscious awareness from body/mind, awareness becomes expansive like space without subject/object duality. Here, awareness is naturally and spontaneously aware but not self-conscious. It seems like the universe Is without a center of experience or "self"... the scenery sees, but no seer, the sound hears, but no hearer.

longchen SG

Just a sharing...

"Here, awareness is naturally and spontaneously aware but not self-conscious....The scenery sees, the sound hears"... etc is non-dual, but a knowingness can still nevertheless persist. "Self-conscious' can mean different things. No-self can have a knowingness... it is just that this knowingness is not attributed to 'a self that knows' anymore. This knowingness allows the body to avoid being knocked down by a car, when to stop walking, etc.

'Not conscious' means knowingness also drop away. This is basically an even more thorough 'let go' that the previously described experience.

Have to understand that non-duality is not just one experience. It has many depths of thoroughness. And I am sure there are depths and experiences are that totally unknown to me at this time too.

Am getting an intuition that I am missing something here and something needs correction. Not too sure what is it yet...

regards

An Eternal Now SG

Just a sharing...

'Not conscious' means knowingness also drop away. This is basically an even more thorough 'let go' that the previously described experience.

Have to understand that non-duality is not just one experience. It has many depths of thoroughness. And I am sure there are depths and experiences are that totally unknown to me at this time too.

Am getting an intuition that I am missing something here and something needs correction. Not too sure what is it yet...

regards

I see.. you said "This knowingness allows the body to avoid being knocked down by a car, when to stop walking, etc."

So when this knowingness falls away can you function normally?

longchen SG

I see.. you said "This knowingness allows the body to avoid being knocked down by a car, when to stop walking, etc."

So when this knowingness falls away can you function normally?

At the current experience, the knowingness can drop away when I am sitting or standing... stationary positions. The rest of mind during these times are just great.

No... cannot function normally when required to do things.

For my case, the constant using of memory to verify experiences proved to be a major hurdle. This need to verify (via comparision with informations gathered from books or others) is really a kind of grasping related to doubt. The need for verification must be drop away.

Those that gather alot of teachings and assimilate them conceptually will have a hard time. That was my experience. He he..

An Eternal Now SG

At the current experience, the knowingness can drop away when I am sitting or standing... stationary positions. The rest of mind during these times are just great.

No... cannot function normally when required to do things.

Those that gather alot of teachings and assimilate them conceptually will have a hard time. That was my experience. He he..

I see..

An Eternal Now SG

Just a sharing...

'Not conscious' means knowingness also drop away. This is basically an even more thorough 'let go' that the previously described experience.

Have to understand that non-duality is not just one experience. It has many depths of thoroughness. And I am sure there are depths and experiences are that totally unknown to me at this time too.

Am getting an intuition that I am missing something here and something needs correction. Not too sure what is it yet...

regards

A note about "This can be a long, developmental process from the first time they notice this to it becoming a nearly complete experience. Thus, Third Path tends to be a long path, though it doesn’t have to be." -- Dharma Dan took about 1 year to progress from Stream Enterer to Once Returner to Anagami, but got stuck 7 years in the Anagami stage.

------

http://web.mac.com/danielmingram/iWeb/Daniel%20Ingram%27s%20Dharma%20Blog/The%20Blook/51EE7943-0A69-488A-B5B0-3C8F2EF7C5E8.html

...Those of Third Path have shifted their understanding of what progress is from those of Second Path, and have been to see that it is about seeing the emptiness, selflessness, impermanence, etc. of sensations in daily life and begin to see that they have the ability to do this. This can be a long, developmental process from the first time they notice this to it becoming a nearly complete experience. Thus, Third Path tends to be a long path, though it doesn’t have to be.

At the beginning of Third Path, most practitioners think: “I’ll just complete more cycles of insight, like I did before, and this will do the trick.” They don’t tend to understand what it is they have attained all that well yet, nor its deeper implications. By the mature stage of Third Path, which can take months to years to show up, the practitioner is more and more able to see the emptiness, selfless, centerlessness, luminosity, etc. of phenomena in real-time, so much so that it can be very difficult to notice what artificial dualities remain.

As they cycle, they will enter new territory, possibly causing some uncertainty or instability, and with each Review phase they tend to really feel that they have done it until they begin to notice the limits of their practice. There can be this nagging something in the background that things aren’t done, and yet figuring out exactly what the problem is can be very slippery. It is a bit like being in the stages before stream entry, trying to figure out what exactly needs to be done. They need to notice something that has nothing to do with the cycles, to finally untangle the knot of perception at its core, but doing this can be a real trick. It is a very strange place, as one seems to know the dharma all the way to the end and yet somehow it just isn’t quite enough. In that vein, it is interesting to note that I wrote the vast majority of this book while I was some sort of anagami, and on reflection I got just about everything right. My emphases are slightly different now, but the basics are all the same.

As things progress, anagamis begin to tire of the cycles to a small or large degree and begin to look to something outside of them or not related to them for the answer to the final question. Finally, the cycles of insight, the states of concentration, the powers, and all the other perks and prerogatives of their stage of awakening or concentration abilities (if they developed them) hold no appeal and only lead to more unsatisfying cycles.

I completed around 27 full, complete insight cycles with mind-blowing A&P Events, Ass-kicking Dark Nights, Equanimity phases, and what seemed to be brand new, fresh Fruitions and Review phases between third and fourth path. There is nothing special about that number, as I mentioned previously in my descriptions of the problem that I call Twelfth Path. The later cycles got faster and faster, so that by the end it seemed I was whipping one out every few weeks or even every few days, but they still seemed to be leading nowhere. It was only when I had gotten so sick of the cycles and realized that they were leading nowhere that I was able to see what has nothing to do with the cycles, which also wasn’t anything except a strange untangling of the knot of perception of them. The cycles, for better or worse, have continued just the same. Thus, there is not much point in counting cycles or paths, as they don’t necessarily correlate well with anything past the first two or three, and issues of backsliding can really make things complex, as I explained earlier.

Finishing up my Revised Four Path Model, arahats have finally untangled the knot of perception, dissolved the sense of the center point actually being the center point, no longer fundamentally make a separate Self out of the patterns of sensations that they used to, even though those same patterns of sensations continue. This is a different understanding from those of Third Path in some subtle way, and makes this path about something that is beyond the paths. This is also poetically called the opening of the Wisdom Eye. What is interesting is that I could write about this stage quite well when I was an anagami, but that is a whole different world from knowing it like arahats know it.

The Wisdom Eye may seem to blink initially. It may go through cycles of flashing open just after a Fruition and then slowly fading over a few hours (at least on retreat) as each round of physical sensations, then mental sensations, then complex emotional formations, then lastly fundamental formations such as inquiry itself move through and become integrated into this new, correct and direct perception of reality as it is. Review cycles may occur many times during each flash, but when the eye is open they seem rather irrelevant in comparison to keeping the level of clarity and acceptance high enough to keep the eye open. When the eye fades, the familiar insight cycles may seem like pure drudgery, with the focus being of practice initially lost in getting through the cycles and then gradually shifting again to getting clear enough to get the eye to open again. The themes that occupy center stage go through a cycle that is very much like a progress cycle.

Finally, the Wisdom Eye cycles and insight cycles all converge, and the thing stays open from then on, which is to say that at that point it all seems the same whether or not the eye is open, which it actually was. That being seen, nothing can erode or disturb the centerlessness of perspective. Done is what is to be done, and life goes on. That there are arahats who have opened the Wisdom Eye but had it fade and those who have opened it and had it stay open is rarely mentioned but worth knowing.

For the arahat who has kept the thing open, there is nothing more to be gained on the ultimate front from insight practices, as “done is what is to be done”. That said, insight practices can still be of great benefit to them for a whole host of reasons, there is a ton they can learn just like everyone else about everything else there is to learn. They can grow, develop, change, work and participate in this strange human drama just like everyone else.

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