How hard it can be to leave things are they are! How hard it can be to not try to do something in meditation, and to not try to have an object. How hard to not contaminate your meditation by trying to find something, to correct something, or to judge it as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. […]
Nothing to Meditate On Read Post »
In reply to a question from her son, Gangpa Muksang, as to what is the meaning of ‘devil’ Machig Labdron replied: That which is called devil is not some actual great big black thing that scares and petrifies whomever sees it. A devil is anything that obstructs the achievement of freedom. … Most of all,
Reflections on Machig Labdron – The Material Devil Read Post »
It’s interesting how the death of those close to us leads to something of a Bardo in consciousness – a space where so much which seems to flow on automatic stops – a place where we are afforded a vantage point from which to view what is, one that is so advantageous to us as
Impermanence and Death Read Post »
When it really gets down to it, how much of our activity is quite simply ‘useless’? I don’t mean that it has no use at all on a mundane level, but that it is so conditioned, so led by instinct or habit, so unconscious or below awareness or choice, or simply so trivial, superficial and
I thought I’d post on the nature of mantras and how they work, as I’ve recently responded to a question asking this on a Dharma list …. Firstly though, I’d like to say that I wholeheartedly agree with the suggestions already made that the way to truly find out what mantras are and how they
I thought I’d share some experiences in meditation ….. The Ocean and the Waves …. thoughts are like gossamer ripples on the surface of the ocean. Waves are not something other than the ocean. They are just an aspect of it, not different in nature. Thoughts kinda ripple on the surface of it. Really fragile
Meditation on Mind Read Post »
If both the moving and the calm aspects of the mind are the same, then why should we meditate and learn to reach the calm aspect? Responses on a Dharma list In an important sense, both aspects are not the same. From the relative point of view, are they the same? Do they both appear
Mind Moving and Mind Still Read Post »
At night, deep in the mountains I sit in zazen. The affairs of men never reach me here. In the stillness I sit on a cushion across from the empty window. The incense has been swallowed up by the endless night; My robe has become a garment of white dew. Unable to sleep, I walk
Reflections on Ryokan – At Night, Deep in the Mountains Read Post »
Do not lose the view in the conduct; If you lose the view in the conduct, you will neverhave the chance to be liberated. Do not lose the conduct in the view; If you lose the conduct in the view, you stray into black diffusion. Padmasambhava This seems to be an ongoing theme for me,
Reflections on Padmasambhava – View and Conduct Read Post »
Outside of meditation, reflecting now, 2 days later … did those thoughts arise at all? Where are they? … Are they any different in nature from the dream I had last night? Where has that gone? They both had a sense of ‘realness’ at the time, but what substance remains of either? Both resonate, and
