THE ACID TEST is "a conclusive test for the success or value of something".

I'm sharing wisdom I find to be true and authentic which can serve as an "Acid Test" when you compare it with whatever is your particular point of view.

I believe this offers a way out of the quagmire of the kind of particularly entrenched, vehemently antagonistic political debate I've been seeing in the social media, and in the news. The current, what boils down to the "Blame Game" is zero sum. Heeding the advice from our wise elders, we can transform what seems like an inextricable quagmire into a "Win-Win". 

Applies to life in general too ... that is, if you find the advice from my trusted sources to be valid.

TAKE THE ACID TEST!

NOTE: There's a lot here to go over and read. Any one will do. The test is taken once you've read it. Pick any one. No need to agree. Or, disagree. Just to have read it. Then, you've taken The ACID TEST. How'd you do? You tell me.

These are reliable sources. How do I know? They are reliable to me. If, dear friend, I am reliable to you ... then, try it on. See if it fits for you. Make up your own mind.

Or, if you are content with your certitude(s) ... fine, if that's the way you want to be. Go on. THE ACID TEST is always there, if and when you decide to give it a go.

Shunryu Suzuki:

"Shikantaza is to practice or actualize emptiness. Although you can have a tentative understanding of it through your thinking, you should understand emptiness through your experience. You have an idea of emptiness and an idea of being, and you think that being and emptiness are opposites. But in Buddhism both of these are ideas of being. The emptiness we mean is not like the idea you may have. You cannot reach a full understanding of emptiness with your thinking mind or with your feeling. That is why we practice zazen." 

Kalu Rinpoche:

"My advice, don’t be a Buddhist. In the end it’s all about personal gain, fame and business. Just be a person with a good heart, that’s the meaning of a truthful Dharma practitioner.

"We live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality. We are that reality. When you understand this, you see that you are nothing, and being nothing, you are everything.

"That is all."

Tangen Harada Roshi:

"It seems like no time at all since I first met my teacher, Daiun Roshi. I could only judge the world then by my own deeply held beliefs. To see the beauty, we have to break through such beliefs.

"Some fifty-five years have flashed by since then. And now, here, the universe is embraced in the One. I can assure you that all is well. All eternity is now, here. Bold, clear, dignified. Now, here, it is so vivid, so alive, so filled with joy, and waiting for you to see it. ‘I will do whatever I can to benefit others.' This is just life as it is, naturally.

"Please, please see it: everything is alive. Great, greatly alive. This is the happiness of all happiness. And this ‘Now Here' can never be destroyed. The light of your eternal life is shining brightly, now. What joy there is in this radiance!"

Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche:

"But if, through fundamental misperception of reality, the individual enters into the confusion of dualism, primordial consciousness, which is in fact the source of all manifestation (even of dualistic consciousness and, in fact, of all phenomena), itself becomes obscured. The individual's deluded mind then mistakes the manifestations of its own pure, innate primordial awareness for an external reality existing separately from itself, which it endlessly, and ultimately unsuccessfully, attempts to manipulate, trying in vain to bring an end to the continual underlying sense of dissatisfaction and unease which is the inevitable experience of the obscuration of pure awareness. The experience of underlying dissatisfaction (or 'dukha' in Sanskrit) that unavoidably arises with a deluded mind, continues, no matter how 'successful' the individual becomes in dealing with his or her world in materialistic terms, until the individual regains the experience of the primordial state."

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu:

"There is a saying that some Mahasiddhas, Tilopa and others, when giving advice to the students said, “Vision is the not problem.” That means it is not necessary to always have pure vision. If you have bad vision, vision is not the problem; the problem is attachment. Attachment is not outside. You can understand that. So how can get in the state of self-liberation? For example, if I am a practitioner of Dzogchen and I am here and I open my eyes, when I open my eyes I can see something. In the same way also I can hear some-thing with my ears, I can smell with my nose, all my senses are open. That means I have contact with objects, objects of senses. That is part of vision. So that is not a problem if I am in instant presence. Any kind of vision, good or bad, doesn’t change anything.

"The problem is, in general, that we immediately lose presence. We follow that vision. When we see something very nice, we think, “Oh, how nice that is! Wonderful! I like it.” What does it mean, “I like it”? It means, “I want it also. I want to try to get that.” If I can’t get it, there are problems and I feel angry. Then other emotions arise, attachment plus others. So that is called, in the Buddhist teaching in general, Chag Dang. Chag and Dang. Chag means attachment, Dang means anger, we don’t like it and we refute it. If we are attached, we accept.

"We accept, reject, accept, reject, even if it is not necessary. We pass our lives that way. That means we are always distracted with this. That is a problem. For that reason, when we follow the Dzogchen teaching, we say, “Try to be aware, not always distracted! That is not good.” With our two legs of attachment and anger we accept and reject. Now I accept, now reject, accept, reject, then we are walk, walk, walk that way in Samsara; it never finishes. Then we add many actions and accumulate many negativities. When we say “self-liberate” we should self-liberate that, be in instant presence. You don’t need any antidote or some particular method to liberate that. Just by being in that state, everything liberates. So this is called “self-liberation”.

Lama Gendun Rinpoche:

"Happiness is not to be found with many efforts or will, but is here, nearby, in your relaxing and surrendering.
Don't worry, there is nothing to be done.

"Everything that comes up to your mind has no importance because it has no reality. Don't conceive any attachment for it. Don't judge yourself. Let it be.
Let it come up and down without changing a thing.
It all vanishes and begins again, endlessly. Nothing but the quest for happiness prevents us from seeing it. It is like a rainbow that one is always chasing without ever reaching it.

"It is because it has no existence. It has always been here and goes with you all the time. Don't believe in the reality of experiences, good or bad. They are like rainbows. Because we want to grasp what is not to be grasped, we exhaust our strength in vain. As soon as we relinquish our hold, space is here, open, welcoming & comfortable. 

"So, do enjoy it. Everything is yours already. Stop searching. Don't go into the jungle to look for the elephant that is quietly waiting for you at home.
There is nothing to do. There is nothing to force.
There is nothing to desire. And all comes by itself."

Lama Yeshe:

Examining Buddha’s teachings for ourselves ...

"Whenever Buddha spoke he stressed the importance of making a personal investigation of his words and their meaning. Only when we are convinced that the teachings are accurate and applicable to our own lives should we adopt them. If they fail to convince us, they should be put aside. He compared the process of testing the truth of his teachings with that used to determine the purity of gold. Just as we would never, without testing, pay a high price for something purporting to be real gold, we are also responsible for examining Buddha’s teachings for ourselves to see whether they are reasonable and worthwhile."

Lama Yeshe:

Be honest with yourself  ...

"What is important to understand is that the view you have of yourself and the view you have of your environment are based on your own mind: they are a projection of your mind and that is why they are not reality.

"I will give you a good example. When a French man or woman looks for a girl or boyfriend, there is this research energy from both sides and when suddenly they see each other they make up an incredible story. 'Oh, so beautiful! Nothing wrong inside or outside.' They build up a perfect myth. They push and push, the mind makes it all up. If they are Christian they say, 'Oh, he looks just like Jesus.' Or 'She looks just like and angel. She is so nice, so pure. I wish always to hear her!' Actually, they are just projecting their own fantasies onto each other.

"If she is Hindu, then he would say, 'Oh she looks like Kali, like Mother Earth, like my universal mother. I hope to always be near her. She will teach me who I am and where I am going. Each time I see her, my whole body shakes. I am sure that it must be incredible karma! And because it is our karma I have to serve her, to accept!' You understand? Actually, you are making the karma at that moment, you are inventing it. Of course, you do have some connection, but....

"And if you are Buddhist you fold your hands and say, 'Oh, she is a dakini and she is showing me the true nature of all thing.' You understand? 'When I am near her she gives me energy, energy. Before, I was so lazy, I couldn't move, I was like a dead person. But now whenever I go near her I can't believe my energy!' I tell you, all this is superstitious interpretation. You think that she is your spiritual friend and that before you were not so clear and that now she speaks to you about dharma and everything becomes clearer. And all she does is really perfect, even her kaka and pipi are so pure! Excuse me, perhaps i shouldn't talk like this — I'm a Buddhist monk! But when we speak about Buddhism, about reality, then we have to speak practically from daily life, about what is earthy, what we can touch and see, not just get caught up in concepts.

"What I mean is this: you should recognize how every appearance in our daily life is in fact a false projection of your own mind. Your own mind makes it up and becomes an obstacle to touching reality. This is why, our entire life, no matter what kind of life we have, it is a disaster. If you have a rich life, your life is a disaster. If you have a middle class life, your life is a disaster. Of you have a poor life, your life is even more of a disaster! You become a monk and your life is a disaster. You become a nun and your life is a disaster. If you become a Christian, your life is a disaster. If you become a Hindu, your life is a disaster. If you become a a Buddhist, your life is a disaster. If you become a Muslim, your life is also a disaster.

"Be honest. Be honest with yourself!

"Even if you go to a cave, disaster! You can stay in a mountain cave, in the snowy mountains, and still you carry your ego with you. You carry your entire world with you and all your fantasy clothing doesn't help.

"I'm not talking about religion here, I'm talking about personal things, who we are, what we are, where we are going, what we are doing! I am disaster, my mind is making it. Everything is always with me, always with me, my attitudes poison me. That is what I am talking about.

"All this religion you follow ... as long as you don't touch reality in yourself, as long as you don't eradicate your fantasies, you are a disaster. (Now I am disaster hot!)

"In fact, reality is very simple. The simplicity of the mind can touch reality, and meditation is something that goes beyond the intellect and brings the mind into its natural state."

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche:

Appreciating the whole cycle of impermanence ...

"We usually appreciate only half of the cycle of impermanence. We can accept birth but not death, accept gain but not loss, or the end of exams but not the beginning. True liberation comes from appreciating the whole cycle and not grasping onto those things that we find agreeable. By remembering the changeability and impermanence of causes and conditions, both positive and negative, we can use them to our advantage. Wealth, health, peace, and fame are just as temporary as their opposites."