I love this quote by Shunryu Suzuki. It’s not about having special experience. No experience will ‘save you’ or give you eternal happiness. You cannot take refuge in particular experiences, however uplifting or extraordinary. Not satori, not insight, not enlightenment, not getting there. Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual […]
Nothing Special – Shunryu Suzuki Read Post »
All experience is mind is probably a misleading title for this post. It seems to suggest that experiences are ‘something’, and that this something is ‘mind’ – a thing. It’s as if there is this thing called mind which exists, and our job is to discover it, to reveal it. But actually, it doesn’t! Instead,
All Experience is Mind Read Post »
… it’s about opening to what is, every moment … and being able to fully open to whatever arises. That’s all. It ain’t about getting somewhere, having any particular sort of experience rather than another, however so called spiritual, or getting enlightened. No place to go, nobody to be … Just open and rest in
What’s it all about? Read Post »
Some drowsy reflections on Niutou Farong’s Song of Mind (Xin Ming) when unable to sleep whilst ill … The nature of the mind is non-arising,What need is there of knowledge and views?Originally there is not a single dharma;Why discuss inspiration and training? Niutou Farong begins with the view, a view which includes the need to
Reflections on Niutou Farong – Song of Mind (Xin Ming) Read Post »
From a reply on a Dharma list, where someone asked: I have an object such as watching the breath but I am constantly distracted. Please elaborate on “In order to keep from being distracted, that object is a support”. Hi there, one way you could approach this is by reviewing your intention – what is
Using an Object as a Support for Concentration and Awakening Read Post »
Reflecting and meditating of Naropa’s teaching – the Summary of Mahamudra these questions urgently arise: What is our life? What does it consist of? Homage to the state of great bliss!Concerning what is called MahamudraAll things are your own mind.Seeing objects as external is a mistaken concept;Like a dream, they are empty of concreteness. This
Reflections on Naropa’s The Summary of Mahamudra Read Post »
Niguma invites us to embrace the nature of mind, cut through illusions, and directly realize liberation with her Vajra Verses of Self-Liberating Mahamudra. The wisdom dakini known as Nigupta, illustrious Narotapa’s sister, was a self-manifest yogini, a powerful lord bodhisattva on awakening’s tenth stage, who received direct instruction from Conqueror Vajra Bearer. She sang these
Niguma’s Vajra Verses of Self-Liberating Mahamudra Read Post »
One thing that’s been coming into view lately in meditation is how my common sense notions that ‘I’ am somehow taking the decisions and choices and thereby the active agent of my life is not actually backed up by experience. My conventional notion is that, for example, when I decide to switch my focus in
Nobody is Running this Show Read Post »
Sitting in meditation today, After the Autumn rain; The smell of wet leaves lingers.
I’ve been reflecting more on my experience of Mahamudra Shamatha … resting with the breath. Continuing from where I got to in my last post … the breath isn’t anywhere … and it’s not a thing. There is no breath as such, nor is it in a particular place. So how do I rest on
My Breath Don’t Live Here No More Read Post »
