May 31, 2012

"For the phenomenal universe is in perpetual transition from 'was' to 'will be'; while the Atman is eternally 'now.'  And though the human, time-bound mind can make this statement, it cannot possibly understand what it really means." - Christopher Isherwood

It can be experienced, however, sans concept and percept or any trace of ego, as pure, undifferentiated consciousness.  Vigilance is a must.  Mind is an inveterate polluter, ever interjecting itself as a pot calling the kettle black--from a place of total darkness.  Thus, the term "no-mind" is used in Zen as an apt pointer to describe that which defies description.

May 14, 2012

Shankara on nirvakalpa samadhi: "There is a continuous consciousness of the unity of Atman and Brahman."  [Call it implosion, dissolution of boundaries, Ramakrishna's salt doll dissolving into the sea, call it what you will, the body-mind is no longer central.  A new orientation of emptiness unbounded fills to brimming with myriad form, and all of these apparently real forms are recognized to be insubstantial and illusory, transience born ceaselessly out of eternal consciousness.]  "There is no longer any identification of the Atman with its coverings."  [The pushing and pulling of body-mind and phenomena are witnessed dispassionately as ephemera.]  "All sense of duality are obliterated."  [This is so, and all attempts at description merely constitute further obstruction.  My own "feeling" is roughly an absence of personal self (although continually witnessed), and in its place oceanic, transparent, knowing recognition, like light of dawn permeating morning sky.  But words just obscure it.]  "The man who is well established in this consciousness is said to be illumined."  [Well established.  Ah, there's the rub, for now.]   

May 10, 2012

Zennists term it "big mind" or "no-mind."  I had assumed that this state implied a suppression of thought or separation from normal thinking.  Not so.  No-mind actually encompasses everyday thinking and sensing, but attention rests or abides beyond conceptualization in unbounded, unqualified stillness and clarity--alert, relaxed, open, surrendered.

To be engaged in a process of awakening, to have time for it in a world of perpetual distraction, to take this time--what a privilege!  Even so, the ripening can not be hastened any more than the first streaks of light at dawn--the joy is in the noticing.  This is Being-Knowledge-Bliss. 

May 4, 2012

"...the mind is not the seer, but only an instrument of knowledge, an object of perception like the outside world.  The Atman, the real seer remains unknown."  And the Atman is us.  So comments Christopher Isherwood on Patanjali's "How To Know God," the bible of yogic tradition.  He adds a wonderful analogy, comparing our mistaken identity with the body-mind to a light bulb regarding itself as electricity.  This is our fundamental error of orientation, leading to all manner of ignorance and suffering: we assign subjectivity to a system of objective components, the body-mind complex, give it our name and focus untold energies on its maintenance, while all along this fabricated personhood actually eclipses our recognition of what we really are, the ultimate subject without boundary, the Self.  The irony is deep, the consequences tragic.  But surrendering this fiction leads us into the total freedom and deep peace of Realization.

"This false identification is the cause of all our misery--for even the ego's temporary sensation of happiness brings anxiety, a desire to cling to the object of pleasure, and this prepares future possibilities of becoming unhappy.  The real Self, the Atman, remains forever outside the power of thought-waves, it is eternally pure, enlightened, and free--the only true unchanging happiness." - Christopher Isherwood

A koan forces endless mental chin-ups until eventually the mind drops from the bar altogether.  They are ingenious examples of using the thorn to remove the thorn.

May 2, 2012

Samskaras are deeply ingrained tendencies of mind conditioned in us since birth.  They are figurative grooves worn over time by our repetitive, reflexive thought and behavior, and they always stem from and support our mistaken identity with a personal self, the "I," "me," "mine" of our story.  Most samskaras are by now unconscious or subconscious to us, rooted within our pervasive fears and anxieties, and our impulsive desires, like tiny thorns buried in infected flesh.  Yoga brings them to light, where the more they are illuminated, the less power they hold.  Consider karma yoga with its stress on selfless work with no expectation of reward or even acknowledgement.  How does that tally with behaviors sown from earliest memory on praise and encouragement?  We have come to expect reward for our actions.  Most of us feel at very least uncomfortable and for some even angry when praise for our mighty efforts or helpful gestures is withheld.  Samskaras may seem benign, but they are subtly malignant and must be rooted out.  Karma yoga activates this process through selfless action, bhakti through devotion and love, and jnana through mindfulness and detachment.  Once brought to light, samskaras are drained of efficacy like moonlight on a sunny day.

"You cannot possibly say that you are what you think yourself to be!  Your ideas change about yourself from day to day and from moment to moment.  Your self-image is the most changeful thing you have.  It is utterly vulnerable, at the mercy of a passer by.  A bereavement, the loss of a job, an insult, and your image of yourself, which you call a person, changes deeply.  To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are not.  And to know what you are not, you must watch yourself carefully, rejecting all that does not go with the basic fact: 'I am.'  The ideas: I am born at a given place, at a given time, from my parents and now I am so-and-so, living at, married to, father of, employed by, and so on, are not inherent in the sense 'I am.'  Our usual attitude is of 'I am this.'  Separate persistently and perseveringly the 'I am' from 'this' or 'that', and try to feel what it means to be, just to be, without being 'this' or 'that.'  All of our habits go against it and the task of fighting them is long and hard sometimes, but clear understanding helps a lot.  The clearer you understand that on the level of the mind you can be described in negative terms only, the quicker you will come to the end of your search and realize your limitless being." - Nisargadatta Maharaj