#awakeneing

[wisdom-and-such]

Pratyutpanna Sutra (The Book of Being in the Presence of All Buddha’s)

"...having thoughts which are not disturbed, thereby obtaining wisdom; not giving up energy; joining together with good friends in the practice of emptiness; eliminating sleepiness; not congregating; avoiding bad friends; drawing close to good friends; having energy which is not disorderly; in eating, knowing when one has had enough; not craving robes; not begrudging one's own life... practicing equanimity, mastering the attitudes of compassion and rejoicing, and the practice of circumspection; eliminating the coverings; practicing the trances; not following after forms... not losing one's temper; not being attached to life; eliminating impurity; not forsaking the people of the ten quarters; saving the lives of the people of the ten quarters; regarding the people of the ten quarters as one's own; regarding the people of the ten quarters as not one's own; not wanting to grasp at anything; not altering the precepts; practicing the activity of concentration; wanting to recite the sutras; not falling into violation of the precepts;

not losing one's mental concentration; not doubting the Truth; ... avoiding wild talk; assisting men of the Way and of virtue; steering clear of fools; not enjoying or wishing to hear worldly talk; wishing to hear and enjoying all talk of the Way; ...discarding the eight forms of sloth; practicing the eight advantages; practicing the nine reflections and the eight thoughts of the man of the Way, yet not becoming attached to trance; not being conceited about one's learning; eliminating pride; listening to the preaching of the Dharma; wishing to hear the sutras; wishing to practice the Dharma; not reckoning things in terms of years; not accepting the conception of a self; avoiding the people of the ten quarters, and not wishing to grasp them; not craving long life; ...not desiring birth-and-death, having great fear of birth-and-death; regarding the dark ones as thieves; regarding the four great ones [the elements] as snakes; regarding the twelve diminishers [the sense-fields] as empty; being in the Triple World for a long time but finding no contentment there; not forgetting the attainment of nonaction; not wanting desires; aspiring to the elimination of birth-and-death; not getting involved in disputes with people; not wishing to fall into birth-and-death; always standing in the presence of Buddhas; regarding the body one receives as a dream; no longer doubting, having acquired faith; doing exactly as one intends; destroying all conceptions; having equanimity towards past, future, and present; always thinking of the meritorious qualities...; attaining mastery of mental concentration; regarding all dharmas as one; not arguing with the world; not arguing with one's duty;

16 gaining understanding of birth according to causes and conditions;... understanding emptiness, thinking of people as neither existing nor perishing; realizing nonaction for oneself; purification of the eye of wisdom; everything being non-dual; having a thought of awakening neither in the middle nor at the sides; all the Buddhas being as one thought; 3 entering a state of freedom from obstruction; having wisdom beyond reproach; through succeeding in understanding the thought of awakening, having a Buddha-wisdom not dependent on others; treating good friends as if they were Buddhas, and not thinking of them as different; being always among bodhisattvas and never apart from them; being unshakable, even by all Maras; all people being like reflections in a mirror; seeing all the Buddhas as being like pictures; following all the practices...; embarking on the pure bodhisattva-course in this way."

[alifeofayogi]

Yogi Lifestyle #55 This is All One Experience 

    This is all one experience.  When I say and type “this” there is an egoic sense that I know what “this” actually is.  The only thing one can know is that the experience can only be of one primordial singularity.  That of course would be our birth.  I don't speak of the birth that brought our physical, human body into our current incineration, but rather the birth of your soul…the birth of my soul.

    Yet, how can that which is infinite…have a beginning?  For sake of argument let’s allow it to be a “from here on” type of infinity.  The nature of transcendence is a different topic.  For infinity is a state of transformation.  Regardless, let’s allow ourselves to say the big bang is the way it all began.  We state the big bang as an event that started the entire universe as we know it.  Then, so far as we can tell, brought us to this point in evolution.  At this point one may say, well of course…what else could it have been?  But, as individuals, we have separated ourselves from the big bang with a thing called “time.”  Because simply, I can only be me.  And that event is distanced from the self.  That is the general illusion we may have succumb to.  We separate the actions outside of us as separate from us when in fact without you that experience would have never existed.  You may not have been of flesh and mind at the time of the big bang, but the energy still runs through you…it creates your breath and movements.  

    The only fact that remains at this point is you are the product of the evolution of the universe.  We all are.  The evolution of the universe has brought you to this point in your life.  Every single supernova and galaxy formation, each and every rotation of the planets and cosmos has brought you to the point where you are right now.  Space isn't something “out there,” it is right here.  We are part of it.  We don't have to make our liver work or our stomach churn…it does it and is a part of us none the less.  The universe gives birth to us  akin to a leaf on a tree birthing from something greater than us whereby our existence is reliant upon this greater energy.  You are the process of creation that holds the eternal Godhead ability to create yourself.  

    So then, what is the singular experience?  If it is all one experience what is it?  Well naturally it can be only one thing.  You.  Everything is you.  What you see, feel, touch and smell…all your pain, joy, happiness is all an inner experience.  But what can you do with this?  Why is this of importance and how can you use it?  Thats very simple…it is an understanding that there is a greater purpose for this.  It is an understanding that your words and actions do matter.  That your pain is something greater than yourself…it is the modality for transformation.  You are greater than the pain and suffering which you feel hold you down.  You create the entire universe every time you wake up in the morning.  So then, what will you create today?

[alifeofayogi]

Yogi Lifestyle #51 What Are You Even Holding Onto?

Let it go…let go.  Just let it go.  How many times are we going to be told this in our lives before we actually understand what it is saying?  Let go…but why?  Yes, cutting attachment frees our energy back into our center of being rather than constantly giving it away.  But if letting go is a core of many great spiritual teachings, we should really understand why.  Understanding does not come through the intellect.  We are already stuck in this problem for we know what letting go means, or at least we think we do.  Understanding comes through experience.  The conundrum is we try to attempt to place intellect above experience.  

So then, what is the experience of letting go?  Let’s take a cup for example.  Bruce Lee told a story to his students whereby the moral of the story was the usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness.  When a cup is full it holds no value.  With intellect we feel there is always something more to learn or more to do.  So then we live a hurried life not only consuming knowledge but also time at an exponential rate.  When we let go it it puts a whole in the bottom of the cup.  At which point everything we pour in falls through.

Then something very interesting happens, which you don't even need to ‘try’ to do.  You come to the realization that the cup doesnt even exist.  The cup provides nothing but limitations on what is considered full or empty.  It is impossible to be either empty or full.  All knowledge and wisdom is simply passing through like wind blowing within a valley.

Meditation and yoga isn't about gaining anything.  We all have so many things already within us on many different levels.  We have these practices to lose and empty ourselves.  One of the problems plaguing humanity is idea that we do not change, or we cannot change and are stuck.  Meanwhile, every single person is different from last year, last week…even yesterday.  The change is gradual and oftentimes the subject is not aware of itself.  Dark cannot make itself dark…light cannot brighten itself…water cannot wet itself.

The reason we have difficulty letting go is because we do not see ourselves as in a constant state of change and transformation.  We hold onto impression of the self that are far gone yet they impact our being.  These are called samskaras.  From personal experience, I stopped drinking alcohol and smoking pot a few years ago.  But there is still a part of me that misses it.  I don't miss the act but the life.  Which at the time was fun, but all the while temporary.  It isn't a part of me that is strong enough to come back but it did shape me to be the person I am now.  This impressions tells us that if I were to drink and smoke again I would have the same experience as when I was actually habitually using.  Which is not the case in any way, shape, or form.  Cutting these attachments allows one to live more fully and more happily.

If your energy is wasting away in the past you can be receptive to the future, within the present moment.  The more actions, thoughts, and relationships we allow to define us the harder it will be to be receptive to what our soul is attempting to give to us.  

So then, we must ask the final question.  If you are told to let go…what are you even holding onto.