bomb-throwing old lady anarchist alert

"Because openness is our natural condition, it constantly nudges us. If we practise shi-ne [Tibetan word for Shamatha, silent sitting meditation], we encourage this openness. Shi-ne is the method of getting used to emptiness. With sustained periods of shi-ne it is impossible to avoid making a certain important discovery-- duality has to commit suicide at some point. This is an odd sensation, because it was duality (at least in part) that talked us into Buddhist practice in the first place. This is where shi-ne becomes ever so slightly treacherous; but it is also where it becomes interesting. It is treacherous because we realize that duality wants to watch itself become enlightened. Dualism wants to get as close to the liberated state as possible without surrendering its dualistic position. Duality wants, in some way, to suspend itself millimetres above the surface of the glorious ocean of non-dual experience." [from Spectrum of Ecstasy, by Ngakpa Chogyam and Khandro Dechen]

I have been exposed to this teaching about the sneaky way the mind tries to 'own' enlightenment for the better part of a decade now. And finally, I get the sinking feeling that when he says 'duality wants to watch itself get enlightened'-- it ain't someone else whose face is in that mirror.

The Aro Lamas are so artful in how they express these slippery aspects of practice. They have a way of bringing these subtle issues into the light in a humorous or poetic way which I find non-threatening, non-judgmental, yet even more vividly undeniable for that. More bombs, please?

I like this. As a friend of mine once said "you can't get outside yourself if you keep insisting on bringing "you" with you." Or something to that extent. : )

I second the request for more bombs. Boom Boom.

"It is important to experience our emotional energies simply and directly. Our emotions are a spectrum of fluid and fluent energies, and experiencing their energy fields is the purpose of our exploration. This might seem a wild proposition, and you may feel that you do not have the right qualifications to embark upon a spiritual path. You may feel that you are not the right sort of person for this kind of enterprise. You could even imagine that 'spiritual people' are somehow intrinsically different, as if they had specialized spiritual organs that you lack. Ideas have proliferated in most societies that practices for realization are for 'advanced beings.' Psychologists might say that only certain personality types are drawn to this kind of activity. Some people might consider themselves too pedestrian or down-to-earth to engage in spiritual practices.

These ideas miss the point completely. They fail to recognize the unique qualification of all human beings-- that we are all beginninglessly enlightened. Whether we comprehend it or not, it is important to allow ourselves to be open to the idea that we could well have more potential than we ever dreamed. Our being is a brilliant pattern of energies, a spectrum of possibilities. At every moment we have the capacity to experience the open dimension of what we are. But somehow awakened Mind appears rather remote from where we find ourselves-- confused and bewildered by the alternating patterns of pleasure and pain that form the landscape of our emotions. One of the most enlivening, exciting, and fulfilling discoveries we can make as human beings is finding that our emotions are actually reflections of our awakened enlightened potentialities. The complete unexpurgated range of what we feel is a spectrum of ecstasy." [from Spectrum of Ecstasy by Ngakpa Chogyam and Khandro Dechen]

Your 'bomb' du jour, gents.

"One of the most enlivening, exciting, and fulfilling discoveries we can
make as human beings is finding that our emotions are actually
reflections of our awakened enlightened potentialities"

This is so inspiring to me. Kate, on Tomo's Shi-ne thread you mentioned that different folks seem to have a natural affinity for different methods/views/approaches. Well, the first and still in some ways most powerful breakthrough / peak experience I had was a textbook Vajrayana experience of anger self-liberating and revealing the awakened quality of mirror-like clarity. I was thirteen or so at the time and had never read anything "spiritual" much less a Vajrayana tract, but years later upon encountering these descriptions in The Flight of the Garuda, translated by Keith Dowman, I said: "wow, that's exactly what happened to me".

Reading about the correlations between the five poisons-- ignorance, greed, anger, pride and jealousy-- and the five wisdoms, and believing I knew something about pre-rational thought's obsession with such systems of correspondence-- I was skeptical. But I couldn't deny that my own early experience inexplicably revealed that at least this one correspondence between klesha and wisdom seemed undeniably accurate to my experience, so I have remained open to the possibility of the others, and have had what seems like some experience in that regard.

It has been a humbling process for me, to realize how many pre-conceived notions I have about what mythic and magic thinking are, as opposed to rational thinking, and about what and on what basis I can reject aspects of the traditional teachings. It's starting to seem that maybe I could relate to them as holistic networks of inter-locking methods, almost like operating systems on my PC, not necessarily being limited to one only but respecting their holistic "intactness" at least provisionally, letting myself get a deeper feel for how each system functions in my experience, and the ways in which they can precipitate opportunities to connect with a deeper more timeless, unstructured view...

"And in truth, I don't really know for sure exactly what they're mapping
with this new model at KFD. I guess part of what I was saying above was:
what's the big deal? What's new here? It feels almost like putting some
basic fundamental teachings into a format that suggests a strict
sequence of stages. I often feel with these new hybrid maps that modern
contemplatives come up with are more often descriptions of the
map-maker's experience than anything universal. Like, first do this
practice till you have this insight; now do this practice here till you
have this insight, next... and so on, re-capitulating that teacher's
path. That's really inspiring if you share a temperament and style with
that teacher enough to benefit, but... it comes off as a bit grandiose
when it's universalized, like this is THE set of practices, THE stages,
THE experiences, and what they mean."-- Jake

When I first saw
that there was a re-mapping to include SEVEN stages-- I had to giggle:
JUST like Adi Da! Quelle Surprise! In Adi Da's case, it's clear that the
'skeleton' is provided by the chakra system; 7 chakras, ergo-- seven
stages of enlightenment. Nosing around in my venerable copy of The Enlightenment of the Whole Body
to see how KF's & ADD's 7 stages correlate-- or not-- I noticed
that there is a lot of interesting physiological information in that
book. I will have to take a closer look; I didn't have as much interest
in that 30 years ago as I do now. ... Interestingly, I am not finding
the summary list of the 7 stages that I thought I remembered.

And
here's a major difference: ADD's first 3 stages are about physical,
social, and sexual maturity. [Which ADD always referred to as 'money,
food, and sex'-- a phrase Ken Wilber took and ran with.] True spiritual
practice only begins with the 4th [heart chakra] stage of development.
All the physioenergetic stuff falls short of spiritual practice, until
the 'higher' centers are online to direct those processes.

Hmm-- this turns out not to be quite 'on point'; but I think it's sorta interesting, so will post anyway.FWIW

The other flashback phrase that has been turning up is 'the self-contraction', another one of Adi Da's coinages [although it's entirely possible he appropriated it himself from another source] that Ken Wilber and others appropriated; and now there's a THIRD generation copy appearing.

From Dragon's Play :

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE VIEW



Incomplete or biased views essentially send
meditation off in a different direction from ordinary life, and hinder them
both. A complete view enables them to converge, and makes them easy, joyous,
free, and fiercely expressive activities—what we call ‘Dragon’s Play.’ In this
book, the image of the Dragon is used to represent the full functioning of
basic human components, not something transcendent.

The fruit of meditation and life is to enjoy the
human relationship to Nature, and we are already in that fruit. Moreover, the
operation of this relationship provides the only motive power needed for all
ordinary or extraordinary cultivations and demonstrations of the profundity of
life.

Both ordinary and extraordinary demonstrations are
entirely sufficient, so each person may choose them based on his or her
individual interests. A good overview of our situation enables us to use
various meditative technologies to travel far, if we wish. However, it also
enables us to relax and appreciate remaining ‘at home.’



‘PATH LITERATURE’

Many books on meditative techniques are currently
available, but few—if any—really explain what these techniques have to do with
human nature and Nature. Because of that omission, they fail to provide an
accurate map of where meditation can go and why, what happens along the way,
what to emphasize and cultivate, who or what the cultivator really is, what to
watch out for, and even what the real point of all this ‘cultivation’ might be.

Some traditional path literature has already been
translated into Western languages, but we must question the aptness of much of
it. For, it often itemizes and recommends exits from humanness. To take a
common example, in perusing this literature one often reads about processes of ‘progressive
refinement’—the practitioner wrestles with his or her thoughts or emotions or
physical promptings, and eventually ‘masters’ them. The practitioner then learns
to remain in states of absorption or composure undisturbed by normal thoughts
or sensations of any sort, and extends the duration of these states to span
hours, then days, etc.

At the end of such heroic courses in
self-improvement, one supposedly transcends human limitations and mentation
altogether, and enters new spheres of existence. Each such sphere, in turn,
corresponds to a successively more extraordinary state of awareness, which has
a technical name, etc.

One can become quite familiar with such literature
and lists of states of attainment, without gaining any insight at all on the
basic human situation—it’s just something being left behind! Some people may
indeed successfully cultivate the Way by traveling in the direction of such
achievements and states, etc. But we intend to show that—far from being the
central and generally recommended approach—it’s rather tangential. It overlooks
much that is really worth cultivating and understanding about humanness and the
fruit of human life.

A different sort of view is needed, not just for
specialists in meditation but for everyone. It’s a matter of simple
self-respect.



TECHNICAL METHODS OF CULTIVATION

[We will discuss six very potent yogic and
contemplative methods is other books (and in the process we’ll completely ‘unpack’
the Eight Heavenly Gates tradition of orthodox yogic Taoism). In those works we
will show how seminal and profound methods can be linked to ordinary life and
to what the Zen master Suzuki Roshi liked to call ‘beginner’s mind’ in his
excellent book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.
Such presentations of methods presuppose a balanced and complete view as the
first priority, and we have attempted to provide that in the present book.-- I bracketed this because, unfortunately, the project ended with the one book, far as I've been able to tell.]

Methods should be understood as ways of demonstrating
and living in the view, and become toxic when practiced out of context or as
means to some fruit other than life itself. This book therefore provides a
framework for grounding methods in general, not just those of our own lineage.

Beyond that, we hope to focus on the actual
conduct of life, rather than encouraging a dependency on techniques. For as we
move toward the Twenty-First century, it seems increasingly unlikely that
circumstances will support the kind of concerted practice of highly specialized
contemplative methods that characterized earlier times. If cultivating the Way
truly involves celebrating and acting in accordance with the human relationship
to Nature, it must realistically reflect the actual phases of both Nature and
human nature that are now in ascendance.

b]note to Ian and Jake-- 'Charles Belyea', coauthor with Steven Tainer, is one and the same as 'Liu Ming' from Da Yuan Circle[/b

Chris, have you gotten Dragon's Play? I think you would really appreciate it.

Jake, not Kate

Love this excerpt Kate, very straightforward, and deceptively "simple".

That Charles Belyea has had an interesting life, if this PDF is to be believed. Crazy stuff. I'll have to check out that Dragon's Play book as well, though lord knows my "must read" books are threatening to engulf me in a tidal wave of printed paper...

I also really liked this:

Some traditional path literature has already been
translated into Western languages, but we must question the aptness of much of
it.

I just feel that so much of what we think of "oh, this is how meditation works" and "this is what buddhism/sufism/etc is like" has a lot of layers of subjectivity that we don't always notice. I think in the present time we are coming to a place where such traditions are becoming respected for what they are, but for a long time, I feel our culture's understanding of such things were colored by either a feeling of superiority ("oh look at this quaint little beliefs those funny people over there have") or a feeling of inferiority ("I must journey to the east to discover the true spiritual path and escape this horrible and un-enlightened place in which I live).

I am happy to be born in a time that seems to be approaching these high teachings with a level of healthy respect, respect for the teachings and respect for our own ability to embody them and bring them forth in our day-to-day lives. Of course, in another 50 years, we may seem just as backwards, but hey, I think that just means we did things the right way (since we would have brought about a culture so much in advance of our own).

"I just feel that so much of what we think of "oh, this is how meditation
works" and "this is what buddhism/sufism/etc is like" has a lot of
layers of subjectivity that we don't always notice. I think in the
present time we are coming to a place where such traditions are becoming
respected for what they are, but for a long time, I feel our culture's
understanding of such things were colored by either a feeling of
superiority ("oh look at this quaint little beliefs those funny people
over there have") or a feeling of inferiority ("I must journey to the
east to discover the true spiritual path and escape this horrible and
un-enlightened place in which I live)."

-- astutely observed, sir! You can really see the Western cultural overlay in the oldest translations into English of Buddhist literature: it's so Victorian; it's littered with references to 'the One Mind' and 'the Soul'; Buddha winds up being some sort of Christ figure who lucked out not getting hung up on a cross. And more recently, it's being run through a filter that emphasizes more psychological language, and assumes the Western mind/body dualism-- if only to 'heal' it. What seems inconceivable is not carving up our human-being into pieces that need to be put back together: until, in experience, the 'inconceivable' is obvious.

I had the unexpected pleasure of LM's company at a little Chinese New Year's gathering last night-- he really is one of those teachers who just bubbles along like a fountain of stories, knowledge, and implicit teaching. Wherever he is; one of the things that was obvious was that making an 'issue' out of enlightenment or awakening or 'the path' or process, really kind of skews things in a really unhelpful way. It creates a kind of self-consciousness that is an obstacle to both teaching and learning. It is wonderful, and amazing, to have encountered a few real Masters in whose presence subtle transformation seems to simply happen of itself. Authenticity steps into view.

Buddha winds up being some sort of Christ figure who lucked out not getting hung up on a cross.

-kategowen

Oh, so Buddha just lucked out. I get it now. Clearly Jesus should of just kept a horseshoe around, or perhaps a rabbits foot. A hilarious (and astute) point. : )

In regards to this cultural gloss, I think we often get caught up arguing for (or attempting to disprove) the glosses, and end up missing the underlying truth. For example, I got an IChing reading today where, using the Wilhelm translation that said something like "the superior man knows that the ultimate good is avoiding blame." I usually find that the the cultural gloss on the Wilhelm translation is something I can look under and navigate more or less appropriately by, but is this case I was like, "really? avoiding blame?" I would bet money that whatever concept was translated as "blame" is way more nuanced than "blame" is. Even with Confucian ethics taken into account, I am sure there's more to being a superior man than being good at passing the buck!

Wherever he is; one of the things that was obvious was that making an 'issue' out of enlightenment or awakening or 'the path' or process, really kind of skews things in a really unhelpful way. It creates a kind of self-consciousness that is an obstacle to both teaching and learning. It is wonderful, and amazing, to have encountered a few real Masters in whose presence subtle transformation seems to simply happen of itself. Authenticity steps into view.

-kategowen

Or, as the IChing would have it, their Te.

This Authenticity you mention is an important thing right now, I think. Off the cuff, I would hazard to say that there are perhaps two dimensions of spiritual growth (though likely many more). One would be clarity of mental perception, which is something that someone like Kenneth Folk seems to exemplify, and maps/stages seem to be a useful thing there (though not always and to everyone, as I believe we all here would agree).

But there's also a question of unity of emotions/personality, and this I think is where a lot of variety can come in (and more variety makes maps/stages less and less helpful). The Taoist concept of Te being something like the inherent compatibility (or inner wholeness) of all the disparate parts of the person. The more inner systems we can get working together, the more whole and authentic we are, and in doing so we really need to pick and choose which parts of ourselves we integrate and which we ignore, or even, throw out.

Anyway, that's a sort of shot in the dark at some thoughts I've been having lately that your comment on "authenticity" brought to mind. Any thoughts, anyone?