What is Real?

 

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Einstein

"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality." Einstein




THE HOUSE OF 1000 MIRRORS

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the
House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place
and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the
stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his
ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great
surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs
with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and
was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he
left the house, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will
come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy
as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the
stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000
unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and
was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he
thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go
back there again."

--Japanese Folktale

Including Buddhist Perspectives

Contents


Every subatomic interaction consists of the annihilation of the original particles and the creation of new subatomic particles. The subatomic world is a continual dance of creation and annihilation, of mass changing into energy and energy changing into mass. Transient forms sparkle in and out of existence, creating a never-ending, forever newly created reality.

GARY ZUKAV


"When you dream of something it seems real as long as the dream lasts. Similarly, to a man who always thinks of the senses and the pleasures derived therefrom, this world seems real."

"The world is filled with attachments and aversions and is like a dream; It appears to be real as long as one is ignorant but becomes unreal when one is awake."

Sri Sankara

The physicist David Bohm has described reality as being “unbroken wholeness in flowing movement.”

"Since everything is but an apparition,
Perfect in being what it is,
Having nothing to do with good or bad,
Acceptance or rejection

You might as well burst out laughing!"

LONGCHENPA


LIFE IS NO-THING. LIFE IS AN ENDLESS CHAOS OF POSSIBILITIES. BY SELECTING SOME OF THOSE POSSIBILITIES WE WEAVE A WEB DETERMINED BY A PATTERN WE CANNOT KNOW BEFOREHAND. IT IS THIS SELECTION OF POSSIBILITIES, OR THE WEAVING, OR THE WOVEN WEB, WHICH PEOPLE MISTAKENLY LOOK UPON AS LIFE. YET REALISE THAT LIFE REMAINS FOR EVER UNTOUCHED BY THE WEAVING OF MAN. WE MAKE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE WHAT WE WILL, BUT LIFE IN ITSELF IS A TRANSCENDENT STATE OF FLUX HAVING NO FORM, AND YET GIVING RISE TO ALL FORMS.

From the above analogy it is clear to see that life is not at all what most people believe it to be. As the aphorism at the beginning of this chapter indicates, life for the average man and woman is nothing more than a dream, and their actions nothing more than folly. And yet this does not imply that life is not real, or that it cannot be real, nor does it imply that our actions are useless. What this aphorism does imply is that life is not what men and women believe it to be, and that if we base our actions on this false sense of reality, then our actions must perforce amount to folly.

The aphorism above describes life beautifully, even though it is perhaps one of the most radical statements with which any apprentice has to contend. People have been so conditioned into believing that they know what life is, that it is not easy to put aside all the many misconceptions, preconceived ideas and prejudices with which all of us have grown up.

The Mists of Dragon Lore by Theun Mares
on Page 50


THE SEVEN REALITIES

Meher Baba gives no importance to creed, dogma, caste, systems, and the performance of religious ceremonies and rites, but to understanding of the following seven realities:

1. The only REAL EXISTENCE is that of the One and only God, who is the Self in every (finite) self.

2. The only REAL LOVE is the love for this infinity (God), which arouses an intense longing to see, know, and become one with its Truth (God)

3. The only REAL SACRIFICE is that in whichm in pursuance of this Love, all things, body, mind, position, welfare, and even life itself are sacrificed.

4. The only REAL RENUNCIATION is that which abandons, even in the midst of worldy duties, all selfish thoughts and desires.

5. The only REAL KNOWLEDGE, is the Knowledge that God is the inner dweller in good people and so called bad, in saint and so-called sinner. This knowledge requires you to help all equally as circumstances demand, without expectation of reward, and when compelled to take part in a dispute, to act without the slightest trace of enmity or hatred, to try to make others happy with brotherly or sisterly felling for each one; to harm no-one in thought, word, or deed, not even those who harm you.

6. The only REAL CONTROL is the discipline of the senses from indulgence in low desires, which alone ensures absolute purity of character

7. The only REAL SURRENDER is that in which the poise is undisturbed by any adverse circumstance, and the individual, amidst every kind of hardship, is resigned with perfect calm to the will of God.

Source: Meher Baba Association


Reality by W.Samuel

The human experience is not IT, but is the confirmation of IT. The human experience is the linear unfoldment, running backward in time so to speak, confirming the Real. The world experience is present as CONFIRMATION of Ineffability, searched for, expected, perceived and understood. Not the ship, but the wake of the ship. Or, as so many in history have put it, the tangible experience is the shadow of the real. That shadow is overspread with many shadows, infinite possibilities happening simultaneously, but each unfolding is forward moving in time.

The central figure among the shadows is this one we call "ourself", enshrouded in self-centeredness, selfishness and ignorance. Its obligation is to become a passerby and walk gently through the many shades of meaning, discerning the Real Confirmation of Godhead and resting therein, content that Godhead is indeed the All of all. Because Godhead is Already, our physical discernment is actually retrospective and appears sequentially--forward going and progressive in space and time. As everyone who has perceived this remarkable simplicity knows full well, it is nearly impossible to express it in writing. Why?

How can one speak fully of multidimensional All-ness while using words which are, after all, mere symbols of symbols, man-made, sequential and locked into the habitual mode of thought that regards one's struggle to be from ignorance at the bottom to light at the top, while believing time and space to be the final dimension?

Surely a first step in discerning the Real is the perception that all the shadow events are appearing within one's own head, so to speak. This inner nature of comprehension is central to everything. Lo, subjectivism is born. Subjectivism is the second plateau along the apparent climb upward, the intellectual, self-centered time, the arrogant and superior time. Remember, Identity exists already, so the "climb," the "progress" and "pathway," and all things else in time and space, are retrospective to and from the true Nature of Being.

IDENTITY DOES NOT DIE

Awareness will never experience non-awareness, death. The one who is already dead (not the one who appears to die) is the one who says, "Life is mine. God is MY life." The "my" who says "mine" is the possessor, the liar from the beginning. This one can be loosed and let go here and now if one will simply, consciously, be what he is already. What is that?

Unencumbered, unjudging, unpossessed, motiveless, opinionless Awareness ITSELF. No effort is necessary.

What is the activity of Awareness?

To BEHOLD, WITNESS, SEE-ACKNOWLEDGE, LOVE and BE!

Does Awareness have authority to judge?

Awareness is Awareness, not an evaluator. It makes distinctions, not judgements. "This is a hickory tree," it says. "That is a mountain." It is the poor judge who agonizes over bad hickory trees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is not enough to proclaim that there is no human identification while one continues to identify himself as one; nor is it enough to attempt to enjoy the benefits of two identities, one considered "real" and the other "unreal." Most especially, it is futile to work one against the other so that a human sense of self will fare better because of a knowledge of a "higher" order of being.

Listen to the simplicity of the New Idea: Spirit is being this Awareness of being.

The function of Awareness is Spirit's responsibility, and it does not belong to another called you, me, he, she or it. We are not concerned about he, she or it, however; we are concerned with the only one we can be concerned about--this Awareness being I.

What must we do in order to let Spirit--Infinite Intelligence, Power, Authority and Being--be all in all?

We simply let go the futile notion there is a "me" or a "you" using this consciousness. It is as simple as that. If one thinks this is to be languid and lazy or to languish in an ivory tower of mental escapism (as intellectualism--and Macbeth--inevitably charge), let him try it! Just let him try it! Very quickly he finds it far removed from "doing nothing." To those bold enough to offer up the old ego in honest sacrifice, this "world experience" breaks forth into astonishing, joy-filled, "busy" adventures.


Physical Reality - as average person may see it!

Just getting by!

Pay bills, obey law, taxes, no guarantees, work, responsibilty, need fear, ego, conformation to society else gonner, obligations, Newtonian physics (everything seperate), health, structured, drugs, crime, dispair, suffering, sinners, money, material - mortgage, car, kids to school, keeping feet to ground, Looking at close environment,

Work hard all week, get battered at weekend and start again! (don't every get enough sleep!)

Life is full of duality - Life & Death, up and down, happiness / sadness

Scientific Facts

If you looked at a solid object with a powerful microscope you would see a couple of electrons flying around vibrating randomly in a vacuum. This already shows us that we, and in fact everything, is fundamentally vibrating energy.

Now look closer at the electrons and you'll see 99.999% space - tending towards zero. Now get rid of spaces, look again. You find that all there is 99.999% space!.... and so on. This space or Void is not empty space but full of energy. Physicists call it the , Unified field, or Field of Pure Potentiality.

The Void is where everything is created. It is the un-manifest, and we are the manifest , that came from the un-manifest (field of pure potentiality) - so indeed we are part of the un-manifest also.

The Void it is non-existance and the Universe is existence (bound by limitations). God is non-existance and existance simultaneously.

Our bodies are recreating themselves constantly - we ,make a skel;eton every 3 months, new skin every month. We are capable of reversing the Aging Process!! (From Deepak Chopra's, Magical Mind Magical Body')

When we look at an object we are actually only seeing a 2D object - A flat picture is formed on the retina of the eye, the brain has to guess the 3D properties. So humans view of the world is formed by flat images.

Our senses simply cannot perceive much of what is happening - ears only hear certain frequencies, and our eyes can't see energy (eg. Radio waves)

Imagine a movie, when you watch a film, there are 24, 36 or 48 frames per second. This means that there are approximately 24, 36 or 48 frames of black silence.

David Bohm - Quantum Physicist

Look deeper - Polarity, Duality

Contrast gives one depth.

Existence is structured in cycles and opposites (polarity). Yin and Yang, men and women, darkness and light give depth and meaning to life. Without one you couldn't have the other!

Each came as a cause and condition of the other. Yin is in Yang

We are still under the influence of the interpretations of Newton's physics. We see that everything is separate. This is an outdated view. Modern physics, concerned with sub-atomics knows that we are all linked.

Also just by breathing we are linked to everyone in the room, building, town, country, planet. We are breathing the same air as Einstein did!! We are all linked.

Our bodies have particles in them that came from the big bang!

I am sorry this sad pessimistic view of reality is outdated, please read on!

 

We Co - create our own reality!

William James, reknown psychologist and philosopher, discovered that human beings, by changing their inner attitudes of mind, could change the outer aspects of their lives.

Physical, emotional, and mental reality is what you make it. Your emotional and mental experiences are related to your deep set of beliefs.

What you think about you become - bad thoughts bad person

'Each of us has built up a model of the world in our minds. This is our reality and reality is not the same from one to another. Everything that we see, hear, and think is processed through that reality and we react to it based upon our model of reality. The only way to change reality is to change your model of it. For reality comes from you'. David Brown, UCS mail forum

In order to change your reality you need to change your deepest beliefs / and tame your ego

To change your beliefs either use positive affirmations every day, visualize yourself with new beliefs, or meditate.

Drop all past belief systems & conditioning - peel the layers of the onion!

Do what you want to do, trust self and instincts. Do what brings you true happiness (not short term ego based pleasure).

Gregg Braden: In the words of the ancient Essenes, authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we are reminded that our outer world is a projection of our inner condition, a direct mirror of the feelings and beliefs within us.

In such a world-view, we may fully expect our families, schools, social policies and places of business, our outer world, to reflect the frustration, anger and jealous competition, as well as, the joy, compassion and peace that we experience within.

 

Thinking - going on now, thought happened

feeling - we think feelings are happening now, however often they are from memory!

Emotion or feelings that we feel presently are not coming from the present but from past - activity of past in present - reflex, associations from past experiences

eg. Pavlovs dog - every time a a bell was rung dog was shown food, eventually the bell was just rung and the dog would instantly salivate - due to association

Matrix Reality

Have you seen the film 'Matrix'?

Let me tell you why you are here.
Your are here because you know something. What you know, you can't
explain but you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's
something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is - but it's there,
like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has
brought you to me. Do you know what I am talking about?
The Matrix?
Do you know what it is? the Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us.
Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out of your
window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to
work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that
has been pulled over your eyes, to blind you from the truth.
What Truth?
That you are a slave Neo. Like everyone else you were born into
bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch - a
prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is -
you have to see for yourself.....
....I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You
are the one that has to walk through it.
*********************************************
This was from the (1999) Warner Brothers film 'The Matrix'

Then you can conceive that our body's are trapped and our minds are actually engaged in a constant simulation of what we perceive to be reality.

To take the truth pill, you become aware of yourself - and the true nature of things - that you could n't have conceived off before.

Well this may not view may not be far from the truth!

 

Reality is Multidimensional

Jack Sarfatti, a physicist, suggests in Psychoenergetic Systems that the way superluminal connectedness can exist is through a higher plane of reality. He suggests that "things" are more connected or events more "correlated" on a plane of reality "above" ours, and that "things" in that plane are connected through an even higher plane. thus by reaching to a higher plane we may be able to understand how instanteous connectedness works.

There is one reality, it just has many dimensions*!

Following extract from New Dawn

"Hindu philosphy argues that the world is unreal, and only exists when observed by humans!

Science disagrees and says the world exists independently.

They are both right and wrong. The Universe is material. Matter is made of energy, energy is made of consciousness. Matter is born and will die. Energy is born and will die. Consciousness is eternal, it is uncreated and indestructible.

in this sense only consciousness is real."

We live in the material world and mistake it for the ultimate reality.

"In this sense the world is unreal. As meditators your journey is from matter to consciousness. Enjoy the pleasures of the world and remember not to get lost there.

Your destiny is to be a Buddha. A flower of consciousness."

New Dawn, by Maitreya Ishwara

It is significant that the Chinese translation of Samsaara (sheng(1) ssu(3a))literally means "Life and Death".


Confined in the dark, narrow cage of our own making that we take for the whole universe, very few of us can even begin to imagine another dimension of mind. Patrul Rinpoche tells the story of an old frog who had lived all his life in a dank well. One day a frog from the sea paid him a visit.

“Where do you come from?” asked the frog in the well.
“From the great ocean,” he replied.
“How big is your ocean?”
“It’s gigantic.”
“You mean about a quarter of the size of my well here?”
“Bigger.”
“Bigger? You mean half as big?”
“No, even bigger.”
“Is it . . . as big as this well?”
“There’s no comparison.” “That’s impossible! I’ve got to see this for myself.”

They set off together. When the frog from the well saw the ocean, it was such a shock that his head just exploded into pieces.

Sogyal Rinpoche, Rigpa.org


What is the Ultimate Reality?

Great Masters were always asked this question: What is the Ultimate Reality?

They all answered the same - 'That is real is that which never changes '

Think for a while what never changes.

In the physical domain the closest thing we have that seems to be non-dual is the Sun. The sun does not know darkness because it is the Source of light.

I think that the only thing that never changes is the Source. The Void of creation, the field of Pure Potentiality, the Unified field.

The Void is where everything is created. It is the un-manifest, and we are the manifest, that was created from the un-manifest (field of pure potentiality) - so indeed we are part of the un-manifest also.

The Void is non-existance and the Universe is existence (bound by limitations). God is non-existance and existance simultaneously.

To know true reality is to be at the source of life / a connection with universal life force / connection with God '.

To get to the Source requires many steps. Dissolving Ego and meditating being the two main tools. Chopras Seven laws of Spiritual Success and meditation are a start.

Buddhists believe that the ultimate reality is the mind. Enlightenment is going beyond the mind. Buddhism shows us the path to Enlightenment thus how to become free from suffering and ignorance and at one with all creation.

Is Life an Illusion (Maya) Cosmic Dream?

Buddhism

Always recognize the dreamlike qualities of life and reduce attachment and aversion. Practice good-heartedness toward all beings. Be loving and compassionate, no matter what others do to you. What they will do will not matter so much when you see it as a dream. The trick is to have positive intention during the dream. This is the essential point. This is true spirituality.

CHAKDUD TULKU RINPOCHE

Know all things to be like this:
A mirage, a cloud castle,
A dream, an apparition,
Without essence, but with qualities that can be seen.

Know all things to be like this:
As the moon in a bright sky
In some clear lake reflected,
Though to that lake the moon has never moved.

Know all things to be like this:
As an echo that derives
From music, sounds, and weeping,
Yet in that echo is no melody.

Know all things to be like this:
As a magician makes illusions
Of horses, oxen, carts and other things,
Nothing is as it appears.

BUDDHA

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral,
Those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness,
Like they who lick the honey from a razor’s edge.
How pitiful are they who cling strongly to concrete reality:
Turn your attention within, my heart friends.

NYOSHUL KHEN RINPOCHE

Everything that we see around us is seen as it is because we have repeatedly solidified our experience of inner and outer reality in the same way, lifetime after lifetime, and this has led to the mistaken assumption that what we see is objectively real. In fact, as we go further along the spiritual path, we learn how to work directly with our fixed perceptions. All our old concepts of the world or of matter or of even ourselves are purified and dissolved, and an entirely new, what you could call “heavenly” field of vision and perception opens up. Sogyal Rinpoche

As William Blake said:

If the doors of perception were cleansed
Everything would appear . . . as it is, infinite.

Even within the human realm, all of us have our own individual karma. Human beings look much the same, but we perceive things utterly differently, and we each live in our own unique, separate, individual world. As Kalu Rinpoche says:

“If a hundred people sleep and dream, each of them will experience a different world in his dream. Everyone’s dream might be said to be true, but it would be meaningless to ascertain that only one person’s dream was the true world and all others were fallacies. There is truth for each perceiver according to the karmic patterns conditioning his perceptions.”


Everything Comes from the Mind
by Lama Thubten Yeshe

Lama Yeshe gave this teaching at Latrobe University, Melbourne, Australia, in March, 1975.
Edited by Nicholas Ribush.

Buddhism can be understood on many different levels, and people who actualize the Buddhist path do so gradually. Just as you pass slowly through school and university, graduating from one year to the next, so do Buddhist practitioners proceed step by step along the path to enlightenment. In Buddhism, however, we're talking about different levels of mind; here, higher and lower depend upon how much spiritual progress you have made.
Also, in the West, there's a tendency to consider Buddhism as a religion in the Western sense of the term. This is a misconception. Buddhism is completely open; you can talk about anything—the evolution of both the external and the internal worlds. Buddhism has its doctrine and philosophy but it also encourages scientific experimentation, both inner and outer. Therefore, please don't think of Buddhism as being some kind of narrow, closed-minded belief system. It isn't. And also, Buddhist doctrine today is not an historical fabrication derived through imagination and mental speculation. Rather, it is a true psychological explanation of the actual nature of the mind.
When you look at the outside world you have a very strong impression of its substantiality. You probably don't realize that that strong impression is merely your own mind's interpretation of what it sees. You think that the strong, solid reality really exists outside, and when you look within, perhaps you feel empty. This is also a misconception, the wrong mental attitude that fails to realize that the strong impression that appears to truly exist outside of you is actually projected by your own mind. Everything you experience—feelings, sensations, shapes and colors—comes from your mind.
If you get up one morning with a foggy mind and the world round you also appears to be dark and foggy, or when the world seems beautiful and light, you should understand that basically, those impressions are coming from your own mind rather than from changes in the external environment. Therefore, instead of misinterpreting whatever you experience in life through judgmental wrong conceptions, you should realize that it's not outer reality but only mind.
For example, when everybody in this auditorium looks at a single object, me, Lama Yeshe, each of you has a distinctly different experience, even though simultaneously you are all looking at the one thing. These different experiences don't come from me; they come from your own minds. You are probably thinking, "Oh, how can he say that? We all see the same face, the same body, the same clothes," but that's a just a superficial interpretation. If you check deeper you'll see that the way you perceive me, the way you feel, is individual, and that at that level, you're all different. These various perceptions do not come from me but from your own minds. That's the point I'm making.

So then perhaps you think, "Oh, he's just a lama; all he knows about is mind. He doesn't know about powerful scientific advances like satellites and other sophisticated technology. There's no way you can say that those things come from mind." But you check up. When I say "satellite," you have a mental image of the object that you've been told is a satellite. When the first satellite was made, its inventor said, "I've made this thing that orbits the earth; it's called a 'satellite.'" Then when everybody else saw it, they thought, "Ah, that's a satellite." But 'satellite' is just a name, isn't it?
Before the inventor of the satellite actually made it, he speculated and visualized it in his mind. Then, on the basis of this image, he acted to materialize his creation. Then he told everyone, "This is a satellite," so everyone thought, "Wow, a satellite; how beautiful, how wonderful." So that shows how ridiculous we are. People give things names and we grasp at the name, believing it to be the real thing. It's the same thing no matter what colors and forms we grasp at. You check up.
If you can understand what I'm explaining here, you'll see that indeed, satellites and so forth do come from the mind, and that without mind, there is not a single manifest material existence in the entire sense world. What exists without mind? Look at all the stuff you find in supermarkets: so many names, so many foods, so many different things. First people made it all up—this name, that name, this, this, this—so then, this, that, this, this and this all appear to you. So if all these thousands of supermarket items as well as jets, rockets and satellites are manifestations of mind, what then does not come from mind? That's why it is so very important to know the way your own mind works.
Thus, if you check really deeply into how your mind expresses itself, your various views and feelings, your imagination, you will realize that all your emotions, the way you live your life, the way you relate with others, all come from your own mind. If you don't understand how your mind works, you're going to continue having negative experiences like anger and depression. Why do I call a depressed mind negative? Because a depressed mind doesn't understand how it works. A mind without understanding is negative. A negative mind functions to bring you down, because all its reactions are polluted. A mind with understanding functions clearly. A clear mind is a positive mind.
Therefore, any emotional problem you experience arises because of the way your mind functions, and your basic problem lies in the way you misidentify yourself. You normally hold yourself in low esteem; you see yourself as a poor quality human being, while what you really want is for your life to be of the highest quality, perfect. You don't want to be a poor quality human being, do you? So, in order to correct your view and become a much better person, you don't need to squeeze yourself or to jump from your own culture into another. That's not the solution. All you need to do is to understand your true nature, the way you already are. That's all. It's so simple.


http://www.lamayeshe.com/our_teachers/Lama_Yeshe/mind.html



Quote: "One of the fundamental views in Buddhism is the principle of
"dependent origination." This states that all phenomena, both subjective
experiences and external objects, come into existence in dependence
upon causes and conditions; nothing comes into existence uncaused. Given
this principle, it becomes crucial to understand what causality is and
what types of cause there are. In Buddhist literature, two main
categories of causation are mentioned:

(i) external causes in the form of physical objects and events, and
(ii) internal causes such as cognitive and
mental events."

......The fact that our inner experiences of pleasure and pain are in the nature of subjective mental and cognitive states is very obvious to us. But how those inner subjective events relate to external circumstances and the material world poses a critical problem. The question of whether there is an external physical reality independent of sentient beings' consciousness and mind has been extensively discussed by Buddhist thinkers. Naturally, there are divergent views on this issue among the various philosophical schools of thought. One such school [Cittamatra] asserts that there is no external reality, not even external objects, and that the material world we perceive is in essence merely a projection of our minds. From many points of view, this conclusion is rather extreme. Philosophically, and for that matter conceptually, it seems more coherent to maintain a position that accepts the reality not only of the subjective world of the mind, but also of the external objects of the physical world."

Now, if we examine the origins of our inner experiences and of external matter, we find that there is a fundamental uniformity in the nature of their existence in that both are governed by the principle of causality. Just as in the inner world of mental and cognitive events, every moment of experience comes from its preceding continuum and so on ad infinitum. Similarly, in the physical world every object and event must have a preceding continuum that serves as its cause, from which the present moment of external matter comes into existence.

In some Buddhist literature, we find that in terms of the origin of its continuum, the macroscopic world of our physical reality can be traced back finally to an original state in which all material particles are condensed into what are known as "space particles." If all the physical matter of our macroscopic universe can be traced to such an original state, the question then arises as to how these particles later interact with each other and evolve into a macroscopic world that can have direct bearing on sentient beings' inner experiences of pleasure and pain. To answer this, Buddhists turn to the doctrine of karma, the invisible workings of actions and their effects, which provides an explanation as to how these inanimate space particles evolve into various manifestations.

The invisible workings of actions, or karmic force (karma means action), are intimately linked to the motivation in the human mind that gives rise to these actions. Therefore an understanding of the nature of mind and its role is crucial to an understanding of human experience and the relationship between mind and matter. We can see from our own experience that our state of mind plays a major role in our day-to-day experience and physical and mental well-being. If a person has a calm and stable mind, this influences his or her attitude and behavior in relation to others. In other words, if someone remains in a state of mind that is calm, tranquil and peaceful, external surroundings or conditions can cause them only a limited disturbance. But it is extremely difficult for someone whose mental state is restless to be calm or joyful even when they are surrounded by the best facilities and the best of friends. This indicates that our mental attitude is a critical factor in determining our experience of joy and happiness, and thus also our good health.

To sum up, there are two reasons why it is important to understand the nature of mind. One is because there is an intimate connection between mind and karma. The other is that our state of mind plays a crucial role in our experience of happiness and suffering. If understanding the mind is very important, what then is mind, and what is its nature?

The full text can be found at http://www.lamayeshe.com/hhdl/mind.htm

MindScience, edited by Daniel Goleman and Robert F. Thurman, first in 1991 by Wisdom Publications, Boston, USA.


REALITY, FORM, PERCEPTION, EMPTINESS, AGGREGATES, 12 LINKS

Nothing has any inherent existence of its own when you really look at it, and this absence of independent existence is what we call “emptiness.” Think of a tree. When you think of a tree, you tend to think of a distinctly defined object; and on a certain level it is. But when you look more closely at the tree, you will see that ultimately it has no independent existence.

When you contemplate it, you will find that it dissolves into an extremely subtle net of relationships that stretches across the universe. The rain that falls on its leaves, the wind that sways it, the soil that nourishes and sustains it, all the seasons and the weather, moonlight and starlight and sunlight—all form part of this tree.

As you begin to think more and more about the tree, you will discover that everything in the universe helps to make the tree what it is; that it cannot at any moment be isolated from anything else; and that at every moment its nature is subtly changing. This is what we mean when we say things are empty, that they have no independent existence.

Sogyal Rinpoche


 

Everything is conditioned, relative, and interdependent. This is the Buddhist theory of relativity.

The principle of conditionality:

When this is, that is
This arising, that arises
When this is not, that is not
This ceasing, that ceases

On this principle of conditionality, relativity and interdependence, the whole existence and continuity of life and its cessation are explained in a detailed formula which is called the twelve factors.

The "five skandhas" (groups) refer to the physical and mental elements that determine the characteristics of a person.

They are: form (rupa), feeling (vedana), perception (samjna), impulse (samskara), and consciousness (vijnana). The Bodhisattva Chenrigse told Shariputra that the five skandhas are just emptiness.

Emptiness refers to the nature or characteristics of the five skandhas, etc. which exist temporarily and not permanently. "Suffering, cause, cessation, and path" is called the Four Noble Truth.

In Buddhism, it is deemed that sufferings of human beings stem from cravings or desires (cause).

To get rid of sufferings, it is necessary to get rid of cravings or desires (cessation); and to get rid of causes, it is necessary to follow the right path (eight fold path).

"Eyes, ears, nose, body, tongue, and mind" are the "six roots".

"Form, sound, smell, taste, touch and dharma" are the "six contaminations" which are the result of the six roots.

The twelve links are also emptiness; thus, do not exist. The twelve links refer to ignorance, feeling, perception, impulse, conciousness, form, avarice, possessiveness, contamination, birth, six roots ( eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind), old age and death. ("Ignorance" in the twelve links, in the Han language translation sometimes also refers to "admiration of the opposite sex or falling in love. Ignorance here means lack of knowledge.)

Avalokitesvara uttered the mantra of perfect wisdom (Prajna Paramita):

"Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha."

A mantra is the speech of a deity or a magical incantation for creating a certain metaphysical effects.

In the mantra of perfect wisdom, "gate" means "gone"; "para" means "beyond"; "sam" means "altogether"; "bodhi" means "enlightenment"; and "svaha" is an interjection or an exclaimation. Svaha is a term of blessing used traditionally by the Brahmin priests in their rituals. It is an ecstatic shout of joy, expressive of a feeling of complete relief. In the Tantric system the word svaha is reserved for mantras addressed to feminine deities.

Thus, the mantra "Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha." can be translated as: "Gone, gone, gone beyond, together gone beyond. Oh what an enlightenment! All Hail!"

Usually mantras are not translated because of the sound effect of the original pronounciation. The vibrations from the sound create certain beneficial effects for the mind and body. In the above mantra, the word "bodhisvaha" is pronounced as "bodhi so ha". The "V" is pronounced as between a "V" and a "W". The word "Bodhisattva" should be pronounced as "bodi sat tua". Some scholars erroneously think that it was an established practice in the past that names when deciphered into Latin from Sanskrit during translation that the letters "u" were written as "v". Actually the original Sanskrit writing was not "tua" but "tv". The combination of the letters "tv" is pronounced as "twa" in a low tone.


The Two Truths
by Denmo Lochö Rinpoche

Denmo Lochö Rinpoche, the ex-abbot of Namgyal, His Holiness the Dalai Lama's monastery in Dharamsala, India, taught for two weeks at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India December 1995. Here is an extract. Translated by Ven Gareth Sparham


I have been asked to give a talk on the Two Truths: the conventional or surface level of truth and the ultimate truth. Looking at it one way it seems as if I've already finished my teaching because there are just these two words: conventional and ultimate, and that's finished! But in fact these two truths subsume within them all of Buddhism, so there is more to talk about than you'd find in a huge beak.
I ask all of you in this special place of Bodhgaya to bring up within you a special motivation. Every living creature, no matter who they are, are living creatures seeking happiness. At the same time they seek happiness, they are unaware of the cause of happiness, so call up this motivation: that to relieve them from their unhappiness, I must myself achieve all the wonderful qualities, all the excellence of an enlightened state, in order to teach them how to free themselves.
Living creatures, just like ourselves, are defined by seeking to avoid unpleasant, suffering situations, and seeking to place themselves in happy situations. Animals, from insects on up, have knowledge of methods to immediately remove suffering, they have this intelligence. The human being differs from the animal as they have the intelligence to take into account a much greater time span. They can begin to do things to alleviate states that they will otherwise experience a long time in the future—for example, getting a good education so we can find a job, make money, and live well in the future. At this point we are talking generally; spirituality hasn't entered into the discussion at all.

If one performs wholesome deeds, one's future will be in a happy state. If one has performed unwholesome deeds, one has set down the causes to find oneself in a state of woe. Spirituality then enters the thought process of a human being contemplating a future that goes beyond simple death.
Everything that the enlightened one spoke of leads back to the understanding of the two levels of truth. (This doesn't mean there is no third truth, for example the Four Noble Truths and so on, so you can have sub-divisions.) Since you have two levels of reality, you have to have something being sub-divided, or categorized in two categories.
So you can ask yourself, "What is being sub-divided?" and the answer is knowables or objects of knowledge (Tibetan, she-ja). Here, a knowable is simply something that is existing. To exist means to be knowable, and to be knowable means to exist.
For example, I could have the idea of antlers on a rabbit—it could come up in my mind. I could fabricate this awareness, and in that sense rabbit's antlers are something known but they certainly don't exist. [The problem] here is that when you equate things that exist and things that are known, they are known by [a valid] awareness but not by [just any] awareness. In other words I could get out of this difficulty by saying that, true, rabbit's antlers are known by [a particular person's] awareness, but this doesn't necessarily mean that they are known by awareness!
Ultimate truth, paramarthasatya, if you take the [Sanskrit] word apart is this: artha refers to that which is known; parama refers to that which knows its object, that is, the mind of a high spiritual being; satya means truth. It is truth because that which is known is true for that which knows its object, the mind of the high spiritual being, therefore, ultimate truth, an ultimate thing that is true.
So what about this other truth, the conventional, surface level of truth: how does one come to understand this second of the two truths if the ultimate reality is understood in this way? This is samvrtisatya. Samvrti is total covering up, and covering here means ordinary awareness covering that which is real. Here again satya is truth, but truth for an ordinary awareness. In other words, all the things that are true for ordinary minds like our own that are taken as real by them—are conventional truths, therefore, truth for an ordinary covering mind.
In the scholastic tradition we say that anything that is known will always be included in one of these two levels of reality. Anything not covered by these two levels is beyond the sphere of what is knowable. There is a deep logic here—that these two categories, the two truths, are an exhaustive description of all that there is.
Here is how it works. Truth and lie go together, don't they? If a person makes a statement that mirrors reality, then that statement is true. However, a statement not mirroring reality is a lie.
The ultimate level of reality is mirrored in the mind of awareness that knows it, in a way that is not lying. This necessarily brings out the situation that all conventional truths are lying to the awareness that knows them, about the way they appear. Similarly, ordinary things appearing to ordinary awareness must be said to be lying to that ordinary awareness. You are, by removing that truth, positively showing the truth of the awareness of the ultimate. That ultimate, appearing to an awareness that knows it is not lying to that awareness, is the suchness of things—the ultimate reality of things.
So you have one being necessitated by another in a see-saw-like fashion, and from that account you can extrapolate out to show that it is a statement that is exhaustive of all knowables, of all that exists..
In Buddhist systems of ideas, there are many interpretations of what exactly these two levels of truth are. They are set forth as the four Buddhist schools of philosophy.
In the most profound school, the Middle Way Consequentialist school, just what is emptiness or the ultimate? It is this: that in fact nobody or nothing, anywhere, has anything that inherently makes it what it is. Nothing has its own personal mark. Everything exists simply through language, through ideas.
The absence of something, the total absence, the total not-being, non-existence of anything that is not there through the power of language and thought is shunyata, emptiness, the ultimate truth.
When one talks of an ultimate truth, of emptiness, one has a focus; one is looking at objects and finding them to be totally empty. What one is looking at and finding to be empty is very important. The identification of things first becomes an important thing to do because the ultimate truth isn't something immediately apprehensible by our senses—we can't see it. We have to arrive at it through our thought processes, and in order to do this we have to use reasoning. This reasoning takes as its point of departure certain things or bases, so we must identify these in the first instance.
Let's start by trying to identify what are classically the most important of these bases, the five aggregates or skandas. In The Heart Sutra it says, "He looked and saw that the five aggregates are empty of inherent existence." So if you don't know what these five are, how can you look into the ultimate truth of them?
The five aggregates are: a great heap of physical things, a great heap of feelings, a great heap of discriminations, a great heap of created things (Sanskrit, samskara) and a great heap of awareness.
So then, one has heaps, aggregates, and these locate living creatures. Let's take the aggregate of physical things, which can be further broken down into the external objective physical things and the internal subjective physical things. Sights, sounds, smells, tastes and sensations are the external or objective physical things in this great heap of physical things, while the five senses are the subjective or internal physical things.
The second heap is that of feelings. What are feelings? They are the experiences one gets out of things: pleasant experiences, neutral experiences and unpleasant ones.
The next heap is discrimination, which is defined as that part of the mind that functions to identify particular things as what they are.
The fourth aggregate of created things has most of the non-associated created things. It's a catch-bag for everything not included in the other four heaps.
And what is the fifth heap? This is all our awarenesses or consciousness or thoughts. This is generally looked at as sense-based awareness coming from a thinking mind.
One can only focus on the reality of emptiness when one has seen the size, the dimensions, of what one is refuting or denying.
The Tibetan saint Tsong Khapa said, "Anything that is produced from conditions is never produced." You can unpack this apparent paradox in this way. What you are saying is that nothing is produced as something that is independent; nothing is produced as something that is there under its own power. That's what you are trying to demonstrate.
For example, a seedling isn't produced as something there under its own power, as something that is inherently what it is. Why? Because it is produced from causes and conditions. That's how you break down the meaning of the statement to formulate it as a reason for the hidden meaning, which is emptiness, to come clear to the mind.
Lama Tsong Khapa writes in his famous Praise to Dependent Arising, "What is more amazing, what better way of expressing a reality has ever been found? Namely that anything that depends on conditions is empty."
There are many different reasons a person can use to come to understand emptiness. But here we meet with the king of all reasonings—dependent arising—because being produced or arising dependently is the reason for everything's emptiness. Using this reason, one avoids the extreme of nihilism, because dependent arising shows something is there; nevertheless, because it is a reason that shows emptiness it also removes eternalism.
As the great Aryadeva said, "Anyone who gets a view into one reality gets a view into all realities." What he is saying is that if one plumbs the depths of reality of anything, one doesn't need to go through the whole process again with another object. Just bringing to the mind the reality you've seen in one object or person, and turning the mind to another, you will look at its reality as well.
That's why every one of our sadhanas without exception starts with the mantra that means "Om, this is purity, all Dharmas are pure, I am that purity." Before doing any sadhana one brings to mind this fact of the ultimate reality—of emptiness.

http://www.lamayeshe.com/other_teachings/locho_r/two_truths.html


The Twelve Links of Interdependent Origination
by Geshe Rabten Rinpoche


Geshe Rabten Rinpoche, one of Sera monastery's most renowned meditation masters, was appointed a spiritual assistant to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the mid-1960s. Upon the request of His Holiness he began teaching Westerners in Dharamsala in 1969, and went to live and teach in Switzerland in 1975. He passed away at his Swiss center, Rabten Choeling, in 1986. This teaching was given at Tushita on April 11th, 1980.
To practise Dharma is not merely to carry the name of being a buddhist. Nor is it to make certain superficial alterations in our lifestyle. Dharma practice means the total integration of our minds and the Dharma.
For this to become possible we must first prepare ourselves by cultivating spiritual stability—a sense of pure renunciation—within our stream of being. The Tibetan term for this, nges-jung, implies that we should first realize that we are caught in the rebirth process of cyclic existence, or samsara, a state of being characterized by a great many sufferings. Therefore at the beginning of our practice we must realize the true nature of samsara itself and the way in which we exist in samsara. We must become aware of the unsatisfactory nature of samsara, the condition in which we find ourselves. This is very important. Once we have recognized the true nature of samsara and become disillusioned with it, from the depths of our hearts we should generate a spontaneous aspiration to attain liberation from it. Such a pure and spontaneous aspiration of seeking liberation is the meaning of renunciation.

Generally there are two ways to develop the renounced mind. The first of these involves meditation on the two aspects of samsara: the suffering nature of samsara and the causes of samsaric suffering. The second method of developing renunciation is based upon meditation on the twelve links of interdependent origination (Sanskrit: pratityasamutpada). I would like to speak briefly on this second technique.

There are two main ways of explaining the twelve links: a scriptural presentation, which explains the twelve as a general mode of the nature of samsaric evolution, and an experiential presentation, which speaks of the twelve links in terms of how they are experienced by an individual over a continuum of lifetimes. The order of the links differs slightly between these two systems. I would like to focus on the twelve links in the context of how they are experienced.

The first of the twelve is ignorance, the root of all samsaric sufferings. In Sanskrit, this is avidya, which means "not seeing." An obscuration of the mind is implied. To explain precisely what this ignorance is and how it functions would require a great deal of time and energy. Therefore, let's concentrate on the central principles.

People who go to a specific teaching or discourse gather with the intention, "Today I will go and listen to the teachings." We all have certain conceptions about our "selves," about this "I". This conception of "I" is the ego. It is something present in us at all times, becoming more obvious on certain occasions. For example, when you encounter very positive circumstances or, conversely, face a great difficulty, your conception of the "self" becomes more intense and visible than usual. Each of us is subject to our own concept of "I" in this way. We can see this quite easily without lengthy theoretical reasonings. It can become clear in our daily experiences.

When circumstances cause this ego-concept to arise with great strength, we are grasped by it as if the "I" existed within us as something very solid, very vivid, and totally uncontrollable. Such is the way the false self grasps us. However, whether or not the self exists as it appears to the ordinary person is an important subject of contemplation. If we search within ourselves, from the top of our head down to the soles of our feet, we come to the conclusion that normally neither the physical body itself nor any of its individual parts can serve as the "I" which arises so strongly in traumatic experiences. There is nothing in the body to represent our sense of "I". The bodily organs and so on are only parts of the body. The body sort of "owns" them. If we analyse our minds in the same way, we find that the mind is but a stream of different thoughts and mental factors. This brings us to the conclusion that there is nothing in the mind to actually represent the "I" that we have conceived. Moreover, there does not exist any separate entity outside the body and mind to represent the "I" or self. We should meditate like this and see how it is so.

When we analyse, we don't find anything to stand for "I". This does not mean that we do not exist at all. Complete non-existence cannot be the situation, for we are presently analysing how we exist. Although we do not find an entity to represent the self when we search the body and mind for one, we find our situation is very subtle. We do not exist as simply as the ignorant mind supposes. To understand the true nature of the self requires thorough training and sustained meditational practice.

This factor of the mind that holds a wrong view of the self, a fabrication of the self, is what is meant in Buddhism by ignorance. It is this ignorance that is the first of the twelve links of interdependent origination. On the foundation of this false concept of the self rest all the other delusions, such as attachment towards ourselves, our friends and possessions, and aversion for things and people foreign or alien to us. The development of these attachments and aversions in turn causes us to accumulate a great number of unwholesome karmas. Unwholesome thoughts lead to unwholesome actions of body and speech.

The distorted actions of body, speech and mind that are produced by ignorance, attachment and hatred stain the mind with what are called volitional formations. This is the second of the twelve links. The moment after we produce a distorted karma, the action itself has passed and is gone, but an imprint has been left on our stream of consciousness. That imprint will remain with the consciousness until it manifests in the future as a favorable or unfavorable experience, depending on the nature of the original action.

The base upon which the imprints of karma are left is the continuity of the stream of mind. Therefore the mind which serves as the basis of the imprints of karma is the third link, the link of consciousness. This stream of consciousness carries the imprints, and later helps them to ripen and manifest. This process may be likened to sowing a seed in the earth, which serves as a cause of the growth of a crop. However, as well as sowing seeds in the ground, favorable conditions are required for the seeds to grow. Contributory causes such as water, fertilizer and so forth must be present in order for the seeds to ripen and reach maturity.

The attachment which evolves from ignorance helps to cultivate the karmic seeds which have been sown in our stream of consciousness. This attachment is the fourth link. There also exists in our mindstream a type of attachment which has a special function in bringing karmic seeds to fulfillment. This is the fifth of the twelve-linked chain. This particular attachment, which is called craving, manifests at the end of our life and gives an anticipation of our future existence. Although both above types of attachment have the nature of desire, each has its own function. One helps to ripen karmic seeds, whereas the other brings them to completion and connects us with our future existence.

The sixth link is 'becoming.' When we come to the end of our present life, a certain mental karma arises and immediately directs us towards our future existence. This special mental action which appears at the final stage of our life is called 'becoming.

These six links are generally associated with this life, although it is not necessarily the case that they should manifest in this life. In particular situations some of them may develop in other lifetimes, but in most cases they belong to this life.

As we near death our body and mind begin to weaken. Bodily strength and the grosser levels of thought dissolve until finally we enter a most subtle level of consciousness, which the scriptures call the clear light state. That is the final stage of our life. That is the actual consciousness of death—the most subtle level of consciousness. After remaining in that state for a certain time, there occurs a slight movement of consciousness and we enter the intermediate stage. We shoot out of the body and enter the bar-do, the realm between death and rebirth. This stage of being has its own body and mind. However, the body is not made of the same gross elements as ours, so bar-do beings do not have our gross form. The bar-do body is composed of a subtle energy called "wind," which exists on a dimension different to ours. We should not think this is a very wonderful or beautiful state, however, for it is characterized by great suffering and difficulty. One undergoes a total loss of free will and is driven here and there by the forces of karma, until finally one finds an appropriate place of rebirth. The beings in this state subsist on smell rather than on ordinary food and it is this search for food that eventually leads them to seek rebirth. After a certain period in the bardo state they take rebirth in accordance with their karmic situation.

There are many different realms into which one can take rebirth, and each of these has its own causes and conditions. For example, in order to take rebirth as a human being, the future parents must unite in sexual union, their white and red cells (sperm and ovum) must combine and enter into the womb of the mother, and so forth. Then when the bar-do being, driven by the force of his own individual karma, reaches his karmically determined parents, there arise certain circumstances which cause the end of bar-do life. After this death of the bar-do body, the consciousness enters into the mixture of the two cells of the parents.

The moment the wind leaves the bar-do body and enters the united cells of the parents the link of rebirth is instituted. This is the seventh link. Mere union of the parents, however, is not a sufficient cause for engaging this link. As well, the womb of the mother must be free from obstacles which can cause interference to the birth of the child; the material causes of the physical body of the child, that is the cells of the parents, should also be free from the defects; and the three beings involved must have a karmic connection with one another in order to establish this kind of father-mother-child relationship. When all these circumstances are complete, rebirth takes place.

The moment the consciousness enters into the seeds of the parents the actual seventh link is established. From then until the sensory organs of the child are developed is the eighth link, which is called 'name and form.' Why is it called 'name and form'? The particular material substances—the elements which constitute the cells of the parents—art the form, and the consciousness which dwells within that material basis is called name.

After all the sense organs of the child have developed into a mature, functionable state one enters the ninth link, the link of the six senses. This is like the construction of a building in which the finishing work, such as windows and doors, has been completed.

The tenth link is contact. After the outer senses have evolved, they function through the inner senses to establish contact with outer sense objects, such as visible forms, sounds and so on. This contact gives rise to the eleventh link, sensation. Pleasant sensations arise from contact with pleasant objects, unpleasant sensations from unpleasant objects, and so forth. This produces the aging process, the twelfth link of the chain of interdependent origination, which is called 'aging and death.

All of us are locked in this process of repeatedly circling on the wheel of birth, old age, death, bar-do and rebirth. The process is not a special situation that applies only to a few types of beings, something which happens to somebody else. It is a process embracing every one of us. We are in that process and going through that process at every moment. This is a very important point to contemplate. If we are aware of this constant process of evolution, we will come to a correct realization of the problems of samsara.

By meditating in this way we gradually generate a very sincere aspiration to achieve liberation. That aspiration is pure renunciation. However, it is not enough merely to have this aspiration; one must work further and practise the methods which bring about liberation. On the one hand we need the help and guidance of the objects of refuge, but from our own side we must learn and put into practice the actual methods that have been taught. By the combination of these two the assistance of refuge and our own self- effort—actual liberation from samsaric suffering can be achieved.

Edited from an oral translation by Gonsar Rinpoche. From Teachings at Tushita, edited by Nicholas Ribush with Glenn H. Mullin, Mahayana Publications, New Delhi, 1981. A new edition of this book is in preparation. Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre is the FPMT centre in New Delhi, India.

http://www.lamayeshe.com/other_teachings/rabten/12links.htm



There are many different sects of Buddhism.

Some Buddhists teach that the mind is the ultimate reality. Everything physical is impermanent and has not independent reality - an 'illusion' (maya) - that comes from the mind.

They don't mean that reality is not worth living but rather all the suffering comes from subconscious attachments that we self- programmed and have self hypnotised ourselves with - habits, perceptions, illusions.

We live by preprogrammed ideas and judgements that are not often revised.

eg. I need a fast car, I need a lot of money,

I need.... and then I will be happy!!

If I don't get it I will be angry or frustrated!

(Rubbish you can be happy now!!)

Buddha taught that suffering comes from selfish craving - attachments to objects, relationships and outcomes.

The world is full of sensory pleasures - many of us are too addicted and attached to these pleasures, without awareness.

Our minds are constantly grasping to things / thoughts / desires. We need to drop this clinging and grasping and simply see things as they really are.

Tibetan Buddhism teaches that you can still enjoy these pleasures but in moderation and with mindfulness.

Tibetan Buddhism teaches that it is more worthwhile to train the mind than the body, for the obvious reason that you can't take the body with you, however your mind / level of consciousness / vibration, carries on life after life. Also your mind has certain control over your body. At any rate your body is connected to your mind and spirit.

Life is an illusion that we all co-create - with predictable results!

We control our Karma and thus control our destiny. We need to pay off past karma and accumulate good merit - through service and harmlessness.

All your choices (free will) have led you right up to this moment!

You co-create everything that will happen to you in the future -You co-created all your past experiences!

Take responsiblity for your actions, but have no regrets. Learn from mistakes.

How you experience reality is based on your perception - attitude, beliefs, values and previous experiences.

The tools for manifesting a better reality are your words, actions and feelings. Hence right understanding is needed.

Use positive affirmations, meditation, mantras, visualization and life mapping to manifest what your heart (not ego) desires.

read about Buddhism


Hindus and Yogis -Brahma's Dream

Some Brahmans see life like a cosmic dream / play of life (Leela / Samsara - God playing hide and seek). Which, one day we will wake from.

This means that a tree is not a tree. It is only called a tree because we labeled it 'tree'. An enlightened master simply sees things as they truly are - without fear or desire - seeing the essence through intuition.We are here so that God can experience the play of opposites (polarity) through us and our awareness.

The ego is the veil of separation. Bliss is when we reunite with God and the veil is lifted - end of suffering!

The truth is that we never left God in the first place. Our mind creates a separation - I and other

Which part of the mountain do you see?

Feng Shui

Everything on the outside is just a reflection of the inside ( eg , or psychology, dreaming etc.)

Our outside environment reflects inner one.

Psychology

You don't like in others what you aren't comfortable within yourself!!

eg. you hate vain people, means you are not comfortable with the vanity inside. Maybe you are vain yourself, or maybe you feel unworthy of good looks.

We project our prejudices onto people and we filter out information. We hear what we want / need to hear. We see what we want / need to see.

Read about epistemology, psychology, rays

Essenes

Life is like a mirror - same as psychology. We attract situations and experiences that reflect our inner issues that need to be resolved.

Philosophy & Spirituality,

What makes a chair a chair. Two legs and some wood don't make a chair.

It is the essence of 'chairness' that makes a chair a chair. The chair was created in the unmanifest (invisible - creativity /inspiration) and then created by a carpenter in the manifest (physical)

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Synergy

God is "isness" and the flow of "isness" . Everything possesses isness.

Advaita

God is All There is!

God is the only doer. We are the awareness of action.

There is no free will. There is no independent entity

Only the will of GOD and a planet full of mind / body organisms.

According to Sri Ramana Maharshi The only freedom we have is to detach from our mind / body and thus not be affected by suffering, ego, samsara, and rebirth.


 

More Thoughts - 'Holographic Universe.'

Physicist Michael Talbot has written about his theory that we live in a 'Holographic Universe.'

In the tiniest part of a hologram, you will still find the whole holographic form (just smaller). If this is true we all have within us the blue print for the whole of creation. Many people agree that this theory is possible and it fits in with mystical experiences.

So you just have to access your inner records.

However don't think that just because this physical reality is type of an illusion that nothing matters. In fact a with a deeper understanding one grasps that everything was / is / will be created by God / Source / Void. This means every creature is equal and that the stone is as sacred as the sun.

treat yourself and others with respect.

If this resonates with you then carry on reading and try some links.

'If we ask where reality can be found, it is nowhere but in the direct experience of the inner knower' Deepak Chopra

The Gnostics of the 12th century cognized the ultimate universal reality as "an intelligible sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere." -- Joseph Campbell, Transformations of Myth Through Time

Conclusion

What you say, think, feel, & do directly co-creates your subjective reality.

Be aware of thought, feeling and emotion

We are Non-dual! (Absolute Reality)

"I often think of the great masters and imagine beings who have their depth of realization as magnificent mountain eagles, who soar above both life and death and see them for what they are, in all their mysterious, intricate interrelation.

To see through the eyes of the mountain eagle, the view of realization, is to look down on a landscape in which the boundaries that we imagined existed between life and death shade into each other and dissolve. The physicist David Bohm has described reality as being “unbroken wholeness in flowing movement.”

What is seen by the masters, then, seen directly and with total understanding, is that flowing movement and that unbroken wholeness. What we, in our ignorance, call “life” and what we, in our ignorance, call “death” are merely different aspects of that wholeness and that movement." Sogyal Rinpoche


In a sense everything is dreamlike and illusory, but even so, humorously you go on doing things. For example, if you are walking, without unnecessary solemnity or self-consciousness, lightheartedly walk toward the open space of truth. When you sit, be the stronghold of truth. As you eat, feed your negativities and illusions into the belly of emptiness, dissolving them into all-pervading space. And when you go to the toilet, consider all your obscurations and blockages are being cleansed and washed away.

DUDJOM RINPOCHE


 

related reading

related sites:

What is the Mind?
His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
There is little agreement among Western scientists about the nature and function of mind, consciousness—or even about whether such a thing exists. Buddhism's extensive explanations, however, stand firm after twenty-five centuries of philosophical debate and experiential validation. Here His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains the Buddhist concept of mind to the participants of a Mind Science symposium at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
From MindScience, edited by Daniel Goleman and Robert F. Thurman, first in 1991 by Wisdom Publications, Boston, USA.

Reprinted with permission in the November/December 1995 issue of Mandala, the newsmagazine of FPMT.

http://www.lamayeshe.com/hhdl/mind.htm


related pages:


 


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