Great Being ...

We offer our condolences to the family and disciples of Kyabje Dodrubchen Rinpoche, who recently passed into parinirvana. An emanation of Vimalamitra, the Fourth Dodrubchen Rinpoche was one of the most important masters of the Nyingma and Dzogchen traditions and the principal holder of the Longchen Nyingtik teachings.

Whenever a great master passes from this world, their wisdom mind is considered to be omnipresent and accessible to all students who have faith and devotion, even those who did not have the fortune to meet the master in this life. Therefore, we encourage everyone to make efforts to practice during this important time.

"It is difficult to learn the names of the vows, let alone observe them. So at least you should strive to be loving to people, especially those who are close to you such as friends, relatives, Dharma brothers and sisters, and neighbours. Try to avoid harming them. Be respectful to them, as all are enlightened in their true nature. Then, in a simple way, you are moving towards fulfilling the pratimoksha vow of not harming others, the bodhisattvas’ vow of being loving to others, and the tantric vow of pure perception."

—Kyabje Dodrupchen Rinpoche

Use It!

Ironically, I first came upon this ultimate advice in a lavatory. It was in a shop that specialized in Oriental decorative items and Buddhist books and objects such as malas, and such. It was posted on the wall, not on the TP. That's my add.

The message is ... Use it! It might not seem to worth the proverbial steam off your shit. At first. But, one way or another, it'll sink in. 

And, I promise, it won't stink in. 

Yogananda On The Coming World Crisis

Yogananda On The Coming World Crisis

A talk given by Paramahansa Yogananda on May 19, 1940, in Encinitas, California.

"The analysis I shall give today is based upon common sense and experience. Common sense is simply intuitional reaction to one's environment. If you would develop your intuitive common sense, you would find the answers to all of your problems.

This is not a political talk. My domain is spirituality; I shall always live and act within that realm, and in the domain of Spirit I shall die. I speak only from that level of consciousness. 

Sometime, after I am gone from this earth, you will realize all I have tried to do for you. If you follow the constructive advice I shall give today, you will one day be very grateful for it.

I had thought that through her good qualities America would escape the calamities of other nations. But a great crisis is going to come, a crisis such as never before has hit this country, because the emphasis now is on spending and on increasing taxation.

When the false prosperity collapses, what will you do? There will be millions unemployed. Most are now living in blissful oblivion, unaware of the impending emergency.

There is a world revolution going on. It will change the financial system. In the karmic firmament of America I see one beautiful sign: that no matter what the world goes through, she will be better off than most other countries. But America will experience widespread misery, suffering, and changes just the same.

You are used to the better things of life, and when you are obliged to live simply, you won't like it. It is not easy to be poor after being rich. You have no idea how this change is going to affect you through the years. Never before in the history of this land has there been so deep a contrast in living standards as will visit this country—the contrast between riches and poverty.

Adopt plain living and high thinking now.

How can you meet the world crisis that is coming? The best way is to adopt plain living and high thinking. Unless you make drastic changes in your living habits immediately, you will be rudely surprised; conditions will change in a way you cannot imagine now.

You still have food and clothing, even luxuries, that people in other nations do not. So it is best to accustom yourself now to simple living.

Choose a dwelling place that is adequate, but not larger than you really need, and if possible in an area where taxes and other living expenses are reasonable.

Make your own clothes; can your own food. Grow your own vegetable garden, and if feasible, keep a few chickens to produce eggs. Work the garden yourself, or you will lose money in paying wages to a gardener.

Keep life simple and enjoy what God has provided, without seeking false and expensive pleasures. There is much in God's hidden nature to fascinate the mind of man.

Use your free time to read worthwhile books, meditate, and enjoy an uncomplicated life. Isn't this better—simple living, fewer worries, and the time to seek God—than to have a huge house, two cars, and time payments and a mortgage you cannot meet?

Man has to go back to the land; it will come to pass eventually. If you think this isn't so, you will find you are mistaken. But regardless of where your home and work are, cut out luxuries, buy less expensive clothes, supply yourself with things you really need, grow your own food, and put money aside regularly for greater security.

Everyone thinks of ways to spend money, but few think how to conserve money. Don't be wasteful, because you are going to have to learn to do without.
Parents should set the example and train the whole family to save and to avoid waste. You can save only by exercising self-control. Heed this warning. Take the best advice I can give; follow it and you will be spared much grief.

Don't spend foolishly. If you waste money on luxuries you will not be spared. Pay cash for everything you buy, and if you don't have the cash, don't buy. Don't borrow; you will have a hard time paying on the principal because of the high interest.

You must learn to save in every way possible. Don't have a poverty consciousness, but exercise whatever discipline is necessary to save and also have the means to pay your bills. No one else is going to pay them for you.

God Is Your Greatest Security.

Whoever comes to me in the right spirit, with devotion for God, will never be the same again. God has shown me how to break the secret thoughts of delusion that bind men's souls. 

Most of all I emphasize that you should get busy seeking God through meditation.

God can be contacted at any moment, any day! It is possible to feel the inspiration of His presence anytime, in any place. So that whenever you think of Him, His inspiration will be there. In every lovely experience you will behold God. Just beneath the shadows of this life is His wondrous Light. The universe is a vast temple of His presence.
When you meditate, you will find doors opening to Him everywhere. When you have communion with Him, not all the ravages of the world can take away that Joy and Peace."

A Great Being Dies ... Doesn't Leave

 

In Honour and Celebration of

THICH NHAT HANH

Beloved and Revered Zen Master

11 October 1926 - 22 January 2022

NOT IN ANY DIRECTION ...

NOT IN ANY DIRECTION ...

Q: However deeply I look, I find only the mind. Your words 'beyond the mind' give me no clue.

M: While looking with the mind, you cannot go beyond it. To go beyond, you must look away from the mind and its contents.

Q: In what direction am I to look?

M: All directions are within the mind! I am not asking you to look in any particular direction. Just look away from all that happens in your mind and bring it to the feeling 'I am'. The 'I am' is not a direction. It is the negation of all direction. Ultimately even the 'I am' will have to go, for you need not keep on asserting what is obvious. Bringing the mind to the feeling 'I am' merely helps in turning the mind away from everything else.

Q: Where does it all lead me?

M: When the mind is kept away from its preoccupations, it becomes quiet. If you do not disturb this quiet and stay in it, you find that it is permeated with a light and a love you have never known; and yet you recognize it at once as your own nature. Once you have passed through this experience, you will never be the same man again; the unruly mind may break its peace and obliterate its vision, but it is bound to return, provided the effort is sustained; until the day when all bonds are broken, delusions and attachments end and life becomes supremely concentrated in the present.

- Nisargadatta, I AM THAT ch 65

"This is not a matter of mere philosophy; it is very real."

CHÖKYI NYIMA RINPOCHE

Being wise, compassionate and extremely ingenious, a buddha teaches in a manner that is practical for people to understand, which means he teaches in a gradual way. Very few of us are able to grasp the nature of things instantaneously. Therefore, Buddha Shakyamuni turned the Wheel of the Dharma in three consecutive ways. 

The first set of teachings focused on the Four Noble Truths, and the second set concentrated on the Absence of Characteristics — a synonym for emptiness. His third Dharma Wheel fully reveals the nature of things, and is therefore known as the Total Uncovering. The first set of teachings is clear, the second very clear and the third extremely clear!

Simply put, the Buddha’s message in the first turning of the Wheel of Dharma is that anyone with a dualistic frame of mind suffers. The dualistic mind entertains selfish emotions, creates karma, has worries, hope, fear and pain. Dualistic mind seems to have built-in suffering. There is an immense variety of suffering, but all of these can be included within three types: the suffering of change, the double suffering of unpleasantness piled on unpleasantness, and the all-pervasive suffering of being conditioned. 

This is not a matter of mere philosophy; it is very real. We can and do experience suffering, discomfort, distress, and worry throughout our lives. Dualistic mind is always ready to be upset, to feel uneasy. An input from the senses, a memory or anticipation that is either a little pleasant or a little unpleasant always has the power to disturb us. 

In addition, there is one suffering which we can never ultimately sidestep: death.

Political Climate Update January 2022

Political Climate Update January 2022

From a social media post January 2021 ...

It's not a good day in America when a large swath of the citizenry considers another large swath of their fellows to be so wrong as to not even merit consideration of their point of view. Yet the former is so consumed with fear of totalitarian rule by the latter that it fails to see how that very intolerance it harbors — howsoever justified — could come back and bring their worst fears up from within their own ranks.

Mostly what I hear from social media is saying even that makes me into a Trump supporter. And, I hear there are a lot of prominent media types asserting that pro-45 is the same as al Qaeda, Hitler, Stalin, Caligula ... Insert your favorite villain of choice.

Thoughts upon hearing actor Sean Penn blasted the 74 million Americans who voted for President Donald Trump in the 2020 election by camparing them to radical Islamic terror group al-Qaeda. Really!?

  
History repeating itself? No! It's just plain logic.

So, let's extend the logic ...

Finally a majority of us agree 45 is the devil incarnate. Ergo, anyone who supports such evil dastardliness is, what ... in league with the devil.

Torches and pitchforks on the ready. Let's round 'em up.

You can tell who we are who are on the right side of things by our dress. Armbands as mandatory as facemasks. What color shirts should we have as the official dress? Brown's been used before; so mid-century, anyway.

The current administration as of early 2022 is still using that sort of rhetoric, most pointedly around the Covid crisis and wanting the pass it's proposed voting rights legislation. 

Careful guys. Remember the promise to be a uniter? Draw the lines too hard and you have some trouble on our hands. Literally ... in the streets.

Robert Frost How Hard It Is to Keep from Being King When It’s in You and in the Situation

Robert Frost

How Hard It Is to Keep from Being King

When It’s in You and in the Situation

The King said to his son: “Enough of this!
The Kingdom’s yours to finish as you please.
I’m getting out tonight. Here, take the crown.”

But the Prince drew away his hand in time
To avoid what he wasn’t sure he wanted.
So the crown fell and the crown jewels scattered.
And the Prince answered, picking up the pieces,
“Sire, I’ve been looking on and I don’t like
The looks of empire here. I’m leaving with you.”

So the two making good their abdication
Fled from the palace in the guise of men.
But they had not walked far into the night
Before they sat down weary on a bank
Of dusty weeds to take a drink of stars.
And eyeing one he only wished were his,
Bigel, Bellatrix, or else Betelgeuse,
The ex-King said, “Yon star’s indifference
Fills me with fear I’ll be left to my fate:
I needn’t think I have escaped my duty.
For hard it is to keep from being King
When it’s in you and in the situation.
Witness how hard it was for Julius Caesar.
He couldn’t keep himself from being King.
He had to be stopped by the sword of Brutus.
Only less hard was it for Washington.
My crown shall overtake me, you will see,
It will come rolling after us like a hoop.”

“Let’s not get superstitious. Sire,” the Prince said.
“We should have brought the crown along to pawn.”
“You’re right,” the ex-King said, “we’ll need some money.
How would it be for you to take your father
To the slave auction in some market place
And sell him into slavery? My price
Should be enough to set you up in business —
Or making verse if that is what you’re bent on.
Don’t let your father tell you what to be.”

The ex-King stood up in the market place
And tried to look ten thousand dollars’ worth.
To the first buyer coming by who asked
What good he was he boldly said, “I’ll tell you:
I know the Quintessence of many things.
I know the Quintessence of food, I know
The Quintessence of jewels, and I know
The Quintessence of horses, men, and women.”

The eunuch laughed: “Well, that’s a lot to know.
And here’s a lot of money. Who’s the taker?
This larrikin? All right. You come along.
You’re off to Xanadu to help the cook.
I’ll try you in the kitchen first on food
Since you put food first in your repertory.
It seems you call quintessence quintessence.”

“I’m a Rhodes scholar — that’s the reason why.
I was at college in the Isle of Rhodes.”

The slave served his novitiate dish-washing.

He got his first chance to prepare a meal
One day when the chief cook was sick at heart.
(The cook was temperamental like the King)
And the meal made the banqueters exclaim
And the Great King inquire whose work it was.

“A man’s out there who claims he knows the secret.

Not of food only but of everything,
Jewels and horses, women, wine, and song.”
The King said grandly, “Even as we are fed
See that our slave is also. He’s in favor.
Take notice, Haman, he’s in favor with us.”

There came to court a merchant selling pearls,

A smaller pearl he asked a thousand for,
A larger one he asked five hundred for.
The King sat favoring one pearl for its bigness,
And then the other for its costliness
(He seems to have felt limited to one).
Till the ambassadors from Punt or somewhere
Shuffled their feet as if to hint respectfully,
“The choice is not between two pearls, O King,
But between peace and war as we conceive it.
We are impatient for your royal answer.”

No estimating how far the entente
Might have deteriorated had not someone
Thought of the kitchen slave and had him in
To put an end to the Kang's vacillation.

And the slave said, “The small one’s worth the price,
But the big one is worthless. Break it open.
My head for it — you’ll find the big one hollow.
Permit me” — and he crushed it under his heel
And showed them it contained a live teredo.

“But tell us how you knew,” Darius cried.

“Oh, from my knowledge of its quintessence.
I told you I knew the quintessence of jewels.
But anybody could have guessed in this case.
From the pearl’s having its own native warmth.
Like flesh, there must be something living in it.”
“Feed him another feast of recognition.”
And so it went with triumph after triumph
Till on a day the King, being sick at heart
(The King was temperamental like his cook.

But nobody had noticed the connection).
Sent for the ex-King in a private matter.
“You say you know the inwardness of men
As well as of your hundred other things.
Dare to speak out and tell me about myself.
What ails me? Tell me. Why am I unhappy?”

“You’re not where you belong. You’re not a King
Of royal blood. Your father was a cook.”

“You die for that.”

                                                            “No, you go ask your mother.”

His mother didn’t like the way he put it,
“But yes,” she said, “some day I’ll tell you, dear.
You have a right to know your pedigree.
You’re well descended on your mother’s side.
Which is unusual. So many kings
Have married beggar maids from off the streets.
Your mother’s folks — ”

                                                                He stayed to hear no more,
But hastened back to reassure his slave
That if he had him slain it wouldn’t be
For having lied but having told the truth.
“At least you ought to die for wizardry.
But let me into it and I will spare you.
How did you know the secret of my birth?”

“If you had been a king of royal blood,
You’d have rewarded me for all I’ve done
By making me your minister-vizier,
Or giving me a nobleman’s estate.
But all you thought of giving me was food.
I picked you out a horse called Safety Third
By Safety Second out of Safety First,
Guaranteed to come safely off with you
From all the fights you had a mind to lose.
You could lose battles, you could lose whole wars.
You could lose Asia, Africa, and Europe,
No one could get you: you would come through smiling.
You lost your army at Mosul. What happened?
You came companionless, but you came home.
Is it not true? And what was my reward?
This time an all-night banquet, to be sure,
But still food, food. Your one idea was food.
None but a cook’s son could be so food-minded.
I knew your father must have been a cook.
I’ll bet you anything that’s all as King
You think of for your people — feeding them.”

But the King said, “Haven’t I read somewhere
There is no act more kingly than to give?”

“Yes, but give character and not just food.
A King must give his people character.”

“They can’t have character unless they’re fed.”

“You’re hopeless,” said the slave.

                                    “I guess I am;
I am abject before you,” said Darius.

“You know so much, go on, instruct me further.
Tell me some rule for ruling people wisely,
In case I should decide to reign some more.
How shall I give a people character?”

“Make them as happy as is good for them.
But that’s a hard one, for I have to add:
Not without consultation with their wishes;
Which is the crevice that lets Progress in.
If we could only stop the Progress somewhere.
At a good point for pliant permanence,
Where Madison attempted to arrest it.
But no, a woman has to be her age,
A nation has to take its natural course
Of Progress round and round in circles
From King to Mob to King to Mob to King
Until the eddy of it eddies out.”

“So much for Progress,” said Darius meekly.
“Another word that bothers me is Freedom.
You’re good at maxims. Say me one on Freedom.
What has it got to do with character?
My satrap Tissaphemes has no end
Of trouble with it in his Grecian cities
Along the Aegean coast. That’s all they talk of.”

“Behold my son in rags here with his lyre,”
The ex-King said. “We’re in this thing together.
He is the one who took the money for me
When I was sold — and small reproach to him.
He’s a good boy. ’Twas at my instigation.
I looked on it as a Carnegie grant
For him to make a poet of himself on
If such a thing is possible with money.
Unluckily it wasn’t money enough
To be a test. It didn’t last him out.
And he may have to turn to something else
To earn a living. I don’t interfere.
I want him to be anything he has to.
He has been begging through the Seven Cities
Where Homer begged. He’ll tell you about Freedom.
He writes free verse, I’m told, and he is drought
To be the author of the Seven Freedoms,
Free Will, Trade, Verse, Thought, Love, Speech, Coinage.
(You ought to see the coins done in Cos.)
His name is Omar. I as a Rhodes Scholar
Pronounce it Homer with a Cockney rough.
Freedom is slavery some poets tell us.
Enslave yourself to the right leader’s truth,
Christ’s or Karl Marx’, and it will set you free.
Don’t listen to their play of paradoxes.
The only certain freedom’s in departure.
My son and I have tasted it and know.
We feel it in the moment we depart
As fly the atomic smithereens to nothing.
The problem for the King is just how strict
The lack of liberty, the squeeze of law
And discipline should be in school and state
To insure a jet departure of our going
Like a pip shot from ’twixt our pinching fingers.”

“All this facility disheartens me.
Pardon my interruption; I’m unhappy.
I guess I’ll have the headsman execute me
And press your father into being King.”

“Don’t let him fool you: he’s a King already.
But though almost all-wise, he makes mistakes.
I’m not a free-verse singer. He was wrong there.
I claim to be no better than I am.
I write real verse in numbers, as they say.
I’m talking not free verse but blank verse now.
Regular verse springs from the strain of rhythm
Upon a metre, strict or loose iambic.
From that strain comes the expression strains of music.
The tune is not that metre, not that rhythm,
But a resultant that arises from them.
Tell them Iamb, Jehovah said, and meant it.
Free verse leaves out the metre and makes up
For the deficiency by church intoning.
Free verse so called is really cherished prose.
Prose made of, given an air by church intoning.
It has its beauty, only I don’t write it.
And possibly my not writing it should stop me
From holding forth on Freedom like a Whitman —
A Sandburg. But permit me in conclusion:
Tell Tissaphemes not to mind the Greeks.
The freedom they seek is by politics,
Forever voting and haranguing for it.
The reason artists show so little interest
In public freedom is because the freedom
They’ve come to feel the need of is a kind
No one can give them — they can scarce attain —
The freedom of their own material;
So, never at a loss in simile.
They can command the exact affinity
Of anything they are confronted with.
This perfect moment of unbafflement,
When no man’s name and no noun’s adjective
But summons out of nowhere like a jinni.
We know not what we owe this moment to.
It may be wine, but much more likely love —
Possibly just well-being in the body.
Or respite from the thought of rivalry.
It’s what my father must mean by departure.
Freedom to flash off into wild connections.
Once to have known it nothing else will do.
Our days all pass awaiting its return.
You must have read the famous valentine
Pericles sent Aspasia in absentia:

For God himself the height of feeling free
Must have been his success in simile
When at sight of you he thought of me.

Let’s see, where are we? Oh, we’re in transition,
Changing an old King for another old one.
What an exciting age it is we live in —
With all this talk about the hope of youth
And nothing made of youth. Consider me,
How totally ignored I seem to be.
No one is nominating me for King.
The headsman has Darius by the belt
To lead him off the Asiatic way
Into oblivion without a lawyer.
But that is as Darius seems to want it.
No fathoming the Asiatic mind.
And father’s in for what we ran away from.
And superstition wins. He blames the stars,
Aldebaran, Capella, Sirius,
(As I remember they were summer stars
The night we ran away from Ctesiphon)
For looking on and not participating.
(Why are we so resentful of detachment?)
But don’t tell me it wasn’t his display
Of more than royal attributes betrayed him.
How hard it is to keep from being king
When it’s in you and in the situation.
And that is half the trouble with the world
(Or more than half I’m half inclined to say).”