Stories from the Net

[northape]

One more translation that fits well in both the dharmic and plant medicine contexts. People are so fascinated by all these stories about saints or 5-MeO-DMT reports of transcendence. Yet, in the end, your life is unique and all these accounts can do for you is provide some motivation on the path. I see more and more common themes in spiritual circles and the psychedelic community. Dharma practitioners tend to be well-structured but close-minded, while medicine users are flexible but have no solid direction. A marriage of these two may be the answer, but I can't see it happening in society. This project could only be realized inside a person's mind, imo.

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Time and the Watcher
The body acts as a nurturing ground for the soul, or like a mother's womb: the soul matures within it, feeding upon it. The soul devours the body in which it resides. That is why bodies grow old and perish: for the soul is a drop of merciless Time. (Shailendra Sharma)

How often do you need important but not reliable knowledge? The question seems like a mistake, but think about it - knowledge that you do not have can be important, but only the knowledge that you do have can be reliable

Within time itself, there is no time. A person writing a diary changes over time, but the observer within them does not change at all. The very quality of life, however, can change incredibly under the influence of constant observation. Yet the experience of these changes is completely unbiased, no matter how much you talk about it. By and large, real and truly understood personal experience makes a person extremely independent. And if in society everyone's experience is built into a common system and depends on external statements, spiritual experience is diametrically opposed. This is precisely why beginning practitioners talk so much about what and how things should "rightly" be and what is written where on the matter - because personal experience, even if it exists, is not realized, not understood to a proper degree. In essence, it is impossible to "share" any experience. When there is a similar, close, resonant experience, you can attune to each other, but as a structure, experience is nontransferable. You can share apples, but you cannot give away the experience of growing an apple tree - that is already accomplished.

 

[northape]

To understand what conditions are necessary for the body to dissolve into pure space and light, you first need to understand the nature of this pure space and light, and the pure manifestations arising from them. In Dzogchen instructions, space is generally called the mother, light the son, and manifestations the energy.

Space is called the mother because it represents the source, the origin. All manifestations arise from space, abide in it, and dissolve back into it. Space is the kunzhi, the basis of everything, the true essence, the dharmakaya. The space referred to here is not the space inside an empty room or the space occupied by an object. It is our own nature, the empty nature of our "self." In this space, we strive to abide during meditation. In this space, we can observe the arising of our thoughts, and it is in this very same pure space of awareness that they dissolve.

The mother is the basis of samsara and nirvana, the basis of everything: from the tiniest insect to the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra. Space is omnipresent, all-pervading, and unchanging. There is nothing in it that you can point to. Space is open and clear, rootless, and primordially free from delusion. It cannot be improved or worsened by causes and conditions. It has no form, color, or boundaries. Space is like the sky—infinite and boundless. It fills everything, and everything is complete within it.

Light is called the son because it arises from the mother and is inseparable from her. If the mother is the pure, empty sky, then the son is like the sun in the sky, and its light illuminates the sky. When we speak of this light, we do not mean physical light or a manifestation like a tree, a rock, or another object in space. Rather, we mean the subtle light of awareness, the awareness of the basis. When we abide in deep meditation and connect with the boundless openness of space, where the final subtle aspects of duality dissolve, the realization of this space is the son. At the same time, this realization is no different from what is being realized. This is self-realization. Mother and son are inseparable: there is no awareness without emptiness and no emptiness without awareness.

This radiant self-awareness is rigpa, the clarity of the natural state, the sambhogakaya. This sensation of clarity cannot be explained or analyzed by the conceptual mind. The perception of the son is like a mirror. Everything is seen clearly in it—color, beauty, form—but the mirror never analyzes, judges, or draws conclusions. This is pure, direct perception at its core.

Although we usually perceive external and internal phenomena as having their own independent existence, inherently intrinsic only to them, in absolute reality every object, every person, and the mind itself—all phenomena—have the nature of space. In the first moment of the arising of sound, light, and rays, before our deluded mind can apply its dualistic perception to them, each of these three great visions is experienced as the pure self-manifestation of our own primordial state, inseparable from the basis.

• Sound is like an echo—a sound returning to its source.

• Light is like a rainbow—an unconditioned aspect of light arising and abiding in the empty nature of the mind and dissolving back into that empty nature.

• Rays are like sunbeams—emanating from the sun and reflecting back from all phenomena.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

 

[northape]

I'm in a strange mood today. My body is tired, my mind sees its own fakeness, and God is lurking everywhere. Here are a few more translations from a guy nobody knows:

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What is the point of asserting unity if it is already there?

Any arising phenomenon in the six gates of perception is itself the tasting of reality as it is, rather than first perception and then perception of perception. Presence does not happen after the fact.

Bhagavan is elusive and omnipresent, and therefore encompasses the consort-energy. And therefore he cannot help but be good in everything. And since he is omnipresent, it would be strange to search for him.

What is the point of asserting unity if it is already there? Do not prove it, but discover it and be. Wake up first, and only then turn off your alarm clock. Do not try to do this in your sleep.

Being part of the world, you demand proof that this world exists. Fool, you try to become more and more ill. Unless you get lucky and Vajrapani suddenly splits your head open, liberating it into emptiness).

You say - "Are not the phenomena of the world simply projections of the mind?" Idiot, your illness is deeply advanced if you equate phenomena with their projections. You took what is and turned it into what is not.

Phenomena are beyond the constructs of the mind. Even within the mind itself.

And all your comings and goings within yourself are a game of neighborhood boys laughing at a fool.

You were told "Do not deviate from your nature!", but you turned even that into a disease of effort. You try not to deviate, you try not to strain, you try not to be and to be. Whatever is told to you, you turn everything into shit. It is better to remain silent. Stop trying.

 

[northape]

Sade Sati and Liberation

Sade Sati, one way or another, strips away the supports that have become fetters for the mind. Amidst general affliction and illness, this feels like a catastrophe. But if you understand well, if you truly feel that this is merely a sensation, just a sensation and not the essence of the matter, you can genuinely change very fast, when you are like the vortex of a flower that will break through the asphalt anyway. Asto bet lammen! The general will of nature. Whirlwinds of whirlwinds. Whirlwinds. You just need to unite your mind with the general movement of nature in order to get rid of the constant, mind-constricting problem of security.

Sade Sati shakes up the inner routine of consciousness, allowing you to experience the space of the mind. I was surprised to discover that you can read Sufi stories the way Sufis themselves speak. As soon as you say "This is paradise," you can immediately hear "Well, then lie down and die!". This is staggering humor that knows not a single drop of idle talk—you are truly told and you truly understand that it is about death and bliss, or it means you lied to yourself about paradise, so stop lying))) and get to work on your current lesson. This is understood and happens instantly. No whining about identity, consciousness simply becomes life rather than thinking about life in a reality show.

Having realized all the whirlwinds that make up your body, speech, and mind, you will undoubtedly understand the ancient expression that a human's internal organs are their siddhis. Your body is the mode of your mind's abiding. Slouch, and an image of something repulsive, like a demon, will arise in your mind without any intention of yours; you won't even realize it, but straighten your shoulders and spine, and everything changes completely. You don't even notice that this is a miracle, but nevertheless, thanks to this, the prana of the earth enters the central channel and ignorance is quieted. So, strengthen your mind so that, having become steady, it can perceive everything directly. Strengthen your mind, and your body will be strengthened. If, of course, you need this and if it is not already too late to do so, as in my case))).

 

[northape]

If every country and region with its own customs, climate, and wildlife is a page in the book of nature, as Paracelsus said, then one should read page after page before claiming to understand the meaning of the book. Judging by our history and development, no one has read this book fully yet . Each and every one merely reads their own page over and over again. At best, they leaf through it like a traveler with a guidebook, but unconsciously consider their own page to be the most important one. Meanwhile, no one has even figured out the order of the pages, who follows whom and in what connection.

Claims to world domination are like asserting the exclusive subordination of all three hundred pages of the book to some 59th page . So wipe yourselves down, you ambitious gentlemen! The true meaning of your existence is revealed only in the context of the common life. And if you do not know it, then despite all the development of certain members, your life is the life of a complex, even magnificent, automaton.

 

[northape]

One more translation to ponder:

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The Proper Attitude Toward the Ego, or Do Not Engage in Battle with Your Own Shadow!

Based on the understanding that the ego is the root of suffering, many mistakenly assume that the goal of spirituality lies in reining in and destroying the ego. They attempt to throw off its iron grip, but as it turns out later, this very struggle is merely another expression of the ego. (Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Excessive desires are always accompanied by aversion. One must overcome ignorance regarding this. It was precisely this dialectic to which the Buddha pointed. Today, many think that he taught the eradication of desires and fighting against them, but this is an error. No one has ever attained liberation through struggling with oneself. Concepts of spiritual development as a battle are a manifestation of a coarse mind, an abundance of aggressive volitional impulses (samskaras).

The existence of the ego is not accidental; it was not created merely to be deemed worthy of destruction. Why does it not occur to many practitioners that this would be the height of futility in nature? Plainly speaking, sheer idiocy. Yet in the nature of the world, there are no such foolish manifestations. The existence of the ego has a purpose, and one must understand it before loudly declaring the necessity of its destruction.

The ego is not an object that can be destroyed. By perceiving the ego as a tangible object and attempting to destroy it, you are simply attempting to destroy yourself, which is hardly bound to succeed. Attempts to rise above it through elevated thinking are merely attempts to separate from it without having much of a grasp on what it actually is. It is simply a reaction of rejection accompanying an excessive desire for riddance. Meanwhile, everything is simultaneously much simpler and more complex. There is no sense in perceiving the ego as a concrete thing or object. It remains a problem only as long as it serves as a source of self-identification for a person. This is key. In this sense, an underdeveloped ego—manifested in a weak character, low self-esteem, and unclear life criteria—is also an obstacle. Here, as in Feng Shui, the essence is more important than the container in which it manifests. The essence of the ego is the power of self-identification: with roles, tasks, and the forces of the world. The problem lies not in these phenomena themselves, but in our self-identification with them.

Often, Vajrayana practitioners do not understand the symbolism of their own deities, what those deities rest upon, and the meaning of this as a source of power. One must understand that it is the power of a developed and managed ego that helps us stand firm in difficult circumstances, helps us survive, remain grounded, and not turn a blind eye to circumstances. Without the ego, we would quickly be swept away into the heavens, whereas we are meant to unite heaven and earth. It is a matter of clear awareness and fulfillment in sound mind and firm memory. This is entirely different from being swept away into a world of supposedly spiritual tasks while losing touch with the surrounding world, which has gone nowhere.

Here is what Japanese practitioner Jakusho Kwong Roshi writes: "Only after illness did I realize how important it is to establish oneself in one's own destiny. Our 'self' usually manifests in unpredictable, unfathomable situations. It is a 'self' capable of enduring, accepting the truth, and coping with the world and fate. Only in such cases do our defeats become victories. And then nothing is capable of obstructing us—neither from the outside nor from within. Then our 'self' is capable of standing firm in the flow of life and time. But this is true only if we do not intend or attempt to interfere with the course of our destiny.

From the viewpoint of spiritual life, the ego, paradoxically, can bring great benefit, as it helps the spiritual practitioner cope with the diverse 'ego-less' experiences that tempt them so greatly. It is precisely a strong ego that provides a reliable foundation and context that allows such experiences to be evaluated. As for the ego itself, the paramount importance of spiritual practice lies in the fact that it strengthens the personality, preparing it to become a help rather than a hindrance for future enlightenment. The ego is a mechanism nearly peerless in its intelligence and complexity, yielding perhaps only to Truth, Enlightenment, and God.

Rare are those who have come to know the ego so well that it has become their friend, learning to effectively turn what was once a neurotic reaction to the service of enlightenment. For instance, an ego greedy for money, possessions, or fame can turn toward God with the same avidity, contented only with the highest potential of its fulfillment in God; a needy ego can be transformed into a source of striving for Truth, persistently reaching out for everything it deems possible; the ego may still take pride, but no longer in itself, but in the greatness of Truth or the wonder of the Teaching.

A person who has decided to learn needs a strong ego, not the absence of one. They need to become integrated. When this occurs, when they stand firmly on their feet, they will no longer need to worry about it."

Yet even while passionately embracing this path, one must not forget the cool wisdom of the Buddha: do not remain in ignorance regarding the fact that excessive desires provoke aversion. This is the key to understanding the balance of the Middle Way and gaining liberation from the entanglement of ignorance, passionate desires, and angry aversion.

SARVA MANGALAM

 

[northape]

This applies to medicine practice too. The striving for breakthroughs and high states is just an obstacle on the path, ime.

Not all medicines are created equal, and some just put you into Heaven without maturing you much. You need extra vigilance when working with them. Others are not so flashy and point at awareness and self-development. The Plant path is very similar to Tantra. We are working with energies and need a clear picture of what is actually relevant. Hope it helps someone.