Sunday, January 13, 2008

More than what meets the eye or ear



It is closer than you think! - Stay tuned to this site for where to hear the first program.
It may be a trendy 'thing' to be into - Non Duality and there are many who are avid readers of the many websites that have sprung up all over the place.
This new podcast will certainly entertain and inform - it will also provide many opportunities to hear some 'direct pointing' from various 'speakers' or so called 'teachers'.
The basic fact is that there is NO duality in Non Duality.
All talk about non duality is not it. - It can only be expressions, each one manifests in the immediacy of its appearance - it must come from that One Essence.
There is one significant difference that one can detect - An expression that is made from direct knowing is vastly different to an expression that is coming from 'mind stuff', theories, beliefs and such. - This podcast will include both kinds of expression, it is inevitable. - There will also be some light relief thrown in for good measure.
Stay tuned.

A SONG:
This is a song (link below) which was inspired by the title of Sailor Bob Adamson's first book "What's wrong with right now?" - It was the working on the transcribing of tape recordings of Bob's meetings (for the text for that book) which changed my life completely. - It is catchy, so don't be surprised if you find yourself singing the chorus line sometime.


"The What's wrong with right now?" a song by Willy Richardson (Gilbert) Click here to see the video

A film:
www.azenlife-film.org

D.T. Suzuki was instrumental in spreading the news about Zen in the West.
Some 20 years ago, I found value in his writings, they provided some vivid insights.
The link above takes you to a film on his life - for anyone interested.

Todays Note:
There is one point that can be made over and over. – Few ever really hear it but that does not matter. – When it is heard and investigated something quite remarkable happens. – That point is this: - The answer you seek so reverently for can never come from the mind. – We hear that and go on looking in the mind, imagining we are getting somewhere. – Many teachers encourage that ‘process’ by telling stories.
That is indirect teaching and is little more than kinder garden stuff. – It only serves to keep the mind busy.
The protracted teachings based on ‘time’ belong to ‘The Long Haul’ – a tiresome journey based on misinformation, ‘faith and hope’. - Faith and Hope are like an arrow pointing at the future.
They lead the mind away from the present evidence and the living being-ness of NOW.
The point that is not recognized is that all those 'time based ideas' are all so unnecessary and so misleading.

'Below' all those concepts, all that 'head in the clouds' stuff, lies the unlimited, immediate being and that is where one needs to look - the hearing of one single 'direct pointer’ can call forth an unmistakable resonation in being.
That resonation alerts the intelligence to look further into things. – In that experiencing a natural intelligence comes to the fore. – That resonation intensifies and ‘beliefs’ are obliterated which leaves you present and aware without any dependence on beliefs. – That resonation is presence awareness itself. – That is the natural essential being-ness that you are – totally genuine and totally free of concepts.
Concepts appear on it but each one disappears and the underlying sense of presence remains undisturbed.
Experiencing that confirms the knowing of what one is. – Even though it remains beyond description, because it is free of dependence on mind stuff and is direct KNOWING one also discovers an absence of anything that could be named as a ‘self-centre’. – Everything that is (was) associated with that apparent and believed in self-centre also disappears. – The ghost pattern of that old belief may still re-appear but it is known for what it is.
Those things are time bound and the KNOWING is timelessly present.
Somehow I never tire of pointing these things out. – The value of this is known completely and even though it appears that so few ever respond to the message, the fact is that it is available for everyone.

Is it enough?

It may be a shock to you but THIS Non Duality 'thing' is NOT about the guru…or the teacher. They are just messengers…..it is the message that counts and ONLY when it resonates in the BEING. - Once it is ‘heard’ the messenger is finished with at least one need not make a sacred object out of the messenger. – The messenger delivers the same message to 'many'. – Gratitude towards the messenger may be present but adoration is not necessary. - If adoration is a primary ingredient for you then you have not really ‘heard’ the message at all. - That adoration is a blindness - a self deluded state of mind. - If your guru encourages you to adore him or her and you play along, then you miss the reverberating nature of this absolute singularity - of one without a second - presence awareness.

What happens so often is the messenger himself gets sucked into the adoration hype and they lose touch with reality. - That is so obvious with just about every guru you can mention.

“The answer is not in the mind”. – That ‘pointer’ can 'crack the egg' for anyone as long as it is recognized - the meaning of it is not in the mind.

A mighty thunder crack can send a shudder through anyone and whatever the mind was engaged in is dissipated instantly. – The minds habitual activities cease for ‘a moment’. – The natural being-ness does not disappear. – All the pure functions are still present – hearing may be dampened for a short while – but actually the hearing is still present – it is the ear that has been given a shock. - Like the messenger, the ear is just an instrument. - When such discrimination arises naturally by itself, the concept of separation is already dissolving.

The subtle yet obviousness of what is ‘always’ present cannot be ascertained by the mind and its 'process of comparison'. - That naked awareness is ceaselessly present – one cannot ‘grasp it’ with the mind because IT contains the mind - We can name THAT as ‘naked awareness’ but the name is just a name.

Rubik’s cube has a solution but the mind’s quandary over trying to solve this riddle about consciousness can never come from the mind. – It is in BEING-KNOWING and these aspects are not in the mind – what we call mind appears IN awareness and is basically only an idea itself – What mind is there, if you don’t think about it?

Enough……is enough.