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Pointing to one's mind
In the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, the author has a nice description of the first time his teacher introduced him to his own mind...
This is a phrase in Tibetian Buddhism, but I have found that is something that can occur in a teacher/student outside of Buddhism as well. Specifically, in my case, while learning a martial art.
I'm curious to know the experiences of others on this topic. Is this part of other Buddhist paths...such as Zen...and what is the term?
Thank you.
This is a phrase in Tibetian Buddhism, but I have found that is something that can occur in a teacher/student outside of Buddhism as well. Specifically, in my case, while learning a martial art.
I'm curious to know the experiences of others on this topic. Is this part of other Buddhist paths...such as Zen...and what is the term?
Thank you.
0
Comments
We're reading this book at the moment, and will be discussion it bit by bit. It would be wonderful if you joined the discussion group here and it would be great to have your imput....
(Don't you think that discussion should be seperate from the 10 pgs already?)
~*~
What I am going to do in the following is simply "describe" the nondual Self right now as it is immediately seen. The following is stream of consciousness, so forgive any goofs. Simply relax your mind and read the following easily (if a sentence immediately makes sense, fine, if not, just keep lightly reading):
What you have been seeking is literally and exactly That which is reading this page right now. That Self cannot be found because it was never lost: you have always known you were you. That I AMness is a constant condition of all that arises, is the space in which it all arises, has nothing outside of it and thus is complete Peace, and radiates its own beauty in all directions. Harlan arises in the space of that I AMness, Harlan arises in this vast spaciousness, this pure openness. Harlan is an object, just like a tree or a cloud that arises in the space of the Self that you are. I am not talking to Harlan right now, I am talking to you. That which is aware of Harlan is this ever-present Self. This Self is aware of Harlan arising right now. This Self is God. God is reading this page. Harlan is not reading this page, God is reading this page. The Self is aware of Harlan and aware of this page. You are not Harlan. You are what is aware of Harlan. What is aware of Harlan is an I AMness that itself cannot be seen but only felt, felt as an absolute certainty, unshakeable is-ness, I AM that I AM eternally, timelessly, unendingly. There is only this I AMness in all directions. Everything arises spontaneously in the space of this great perfection that is the Self, which is reading this page right now.
And you, Harlan, are that Self. You have always known that you are this Self. There was never a time that you did not know that you are you. You can never remember a time when you were not you. The only thing you can ever remember is something that this Self did. There is only this Self. You cannot reach out for it because it is that which is doing the reaching. You cannot see it because it is doing the seeing right now, which means, everything simply arises in its awareness: the entire world arises in your awareness right now. You are that space in which it is all spontaneously and effortlessly arising. You are that One. You have always been that One. There is only that One. Do not pretend you are finding that One. Do not pretend you have forgotten that One. The only thing you have ever known, the only thing you can ever remember, the only thing you are actually feeling right now is that One: the is-ness, now-ness, suchness of everything, just as it is, and as it is arising within your Self—the simple feeling of Being, which is all you ever feel always.
Look at the clouds: they are arising in your awareness: they are arising in you. The clouds are outside of Harlan but inside of your Self. Look at your body and this room. Your body is in this room, but both the body and the room arise IN your awareness. You are literally holding them in your consciousness lovingly. The mountains are arising in your awareness: they are arising in you, and you are lovingly holding the mountains within your consciousness, holding the arising world within your embrace as the dearly radiant beloved. The mountains are arising outside of Harlan but inside of your Self. The clouds, the mountains, and Harlan are all simultaneously and effortlessly arising in this Self, the reader of this page. All that is arising is arising in this unshakeable I AMness, which is not a thing or an object or a person, but the openness or clearing in which all things and all objects and all persons are arising. This emptiness, this openness, this vast spaciousness is your Self, is what you have always been, is what you are before your parents were born, is what you are before the Big Bang happened. Before Abraham was, I AM. There is no before and no after for this now-ness that is the Self. There is only this now-ness of the Self that is reading this page in this very moment. There is no past and no future in this never-ending now. All befores and all afters arise in this awareness. There is only this ever-present, never-starting, never-ending, unborn, undying, radiant beauty that is aware of this page, that is aware of this universe, and that finds all of them IN the space that it is, and therefore all things arise in the unshakeable Peace that holds them all easily in its caring within. Harlan is in the universe; the universe is in your Self.
Therefore, be this ever-present Self who is reading this page. I am not talking to Harlan, I am talking to you. Let Harlan arise and fall like all objects. Let Harlan come into being, remain a bit, and pass: what has this to do with your Self? All objects arise, remain, and pass in the spaciousness and emptiness that is aware of this moment, and this moment, and this moment, and this moment. Yet this moment has no end, you have never actually felt the present come to an end because it never does: it is the only thing that is real: this now-ness, this simple feeling of being, the very same feeling-awareness in which this page floats, and in which Harlan floats, and in which the clouds float. When you feel this present now-ness, there is nothing outside of it—you cannot see on the outside of this timeless now because there is nothing outside of it. Now and now and now is all you ever know, and this now-ness is simply another name for the spacious Self in which the entire kosmos arises as a radiant, joyful, ecstatic swoon of bliss and a desire to share this infinite Joy with somebody else.
Because this page and the mountains and the clouds all arise in your awareness, there is nothing outside your Self. That there is literally nothing outside your Self means there is literally nothing that can threaten it. Since you know this Self, you know Peace. Because you are already, directly, immediately, and intimately one and identical with That which is reading this page right now, you know God right now, directly and immediately and unmistakably and undeniably. And because you know God right now, as the very Self reading this page, you know you are finally, truly, deeply home, a home that you have always directly known and always pretended you didn't.
Therefore, pretend no more. Confess that you are God. Confess that you are Beauty. Confess that you are the very Truth the sages have sought for centuries. Confess that you are Peace beyond understanding. Confess that you are so ecstatically happy that you had to manifest this entire world just to bear witness to a radiant beauty you could no longer contain only in and for yourself. Confess that the Witness of this page, the Self of this and all the worlds, is the one and only true Spirit that looks through all eyes and hears with all ears and reaches out in love and compassion to embrace the very beings that it created itself in an eternal ecstatic dance that is the secret of all secrets. And confess that you are Alone, that you are literally the only One in the entire universe: there are no others to this One. There are indeed others to Harlan, but both Harlan and the others arise in the awareness that is reading this page, and this awareness, this Self, has no other because all others arise in it. One without a second is what is reading this page.
Therefore, be that One. And also give my love to Harlan.
Ken
So many words, though. I prefer the wordless transmission...pointing through action.
Words are action too, depending on how you relate to them.
Wow! I found that extremely helpful, to say the least. I copied it and did the find and replace and I'm printing it to read on a regular basis. I really loved it. But then, I'm biased. I love how he writes. I'd probably find his grocery lists endlessly illuminating. LOL!
Thank you so much.
Brigid
P.S. This is going to come in particularly handy when I find myself plagued with the pains of ego.