Yin Ling
Stability of insights and insights post
Don’t have any other photos 😂🤦🏻♀️ but want to pen down some thoughts before it fades off my consciousness.
when we talk about stabilisation of insight,
It is not hard because that insight when stabilised won’t feel like an insight anymore unless you make comparison to before, it will feel like a new default mode of perception, and then we can let go of that practice and ascend to the next insight which needed to former as condition.
Insight they build on each other. The grossest must drop off first before we talk about subtler stuff, for eg mind is grosser than mind’s nature. Or sense of self is grosser than sense of Inherency in phenomena. But one will take one into another due to the change of perception, reality taste different and one can see deeper. That’s what I believe from my own experience.
Once insight matures and stabilise, we won’t even consider or talk much about it because another way of perception completely take over and previous way of perceiving doesn’t even leave a shadow, that’s when we know we are quite “there”. “Stable” as I call it. For eg, for insight of anatta, third fetter.
At first you will feel as though something “drop off” and one “becomes big”. You lost the sense of separate self when the contraction of self drop and mind opens up, rather than stuck inside the brain. You feel as though the whole world knows itself in its place, you say funny things like song hears, scenery sees. Haha. It is usually sudden at first then gradually matured over a few years, and one day you realise you don’t even feel different anymore, the shadow of a subject is completely gone! U cannot generate even the sense of it. Everything is “pushed forward” without any shadow of subject anymore, clean. You think it u were born this way, u wouldn’t even know about personal self! It is just everything in everything. And when you dream, u slowly realise ur dream is like that too! No background. Then u completely forgot no-self and u rarely talk about it. Because it is as normal as dualistic perception in others and no one talk about them perceiving dualistically. U just get on with ur life. U don’t think u r stream enterer blah3 lol. It’s so normal.
I remember asking a friend with many years of this insight would he go back to dualistic view if he has a choice?
He said, “I wouldn’t know where to look!”.
It is like this. The insight transforms one perception completely and this is our aim. We practice the instructions and time to time evaluate ourselves our own mind, not others. We will know our own cultivation level. Don’t fake it with yourself or others.
Don’t teach the stuff you don’t know and not stable, because ppl knows u r faking it and they will lose confidence , and that is a lack of integrity too.
For emptiness of phenomena insight, the essence or substances of “stuff” will efface until you can’t sense it in ur mind anymore one day. It is zero doing, and very very natural. Zero contrivance comes from a very diligent and dedicated practice day after day on dependent origination. You keep meditating on it again and again a million times and you rest in the insight. Read the Madhyamaka to get confidence. The results will show and you will know so clearly.
You wake up groggily seeing ur room vividly, but no substance at all! Not in ur body, not in ur room, nor outside, the wall feels substanceless too, so ur mind “transcend the wall”, so to speak.
Everything moves in tandem, at once, the sound of the bird not separated from the cold air on ur body, tree connected to your bed etc.. the interconnection is not in words but experience. Not in thinking but a real felt sense. If you are born this way you wouldn’t even know there’s such thing call essence or separation of things!
I believe high bodhisattvas will be born this way.
Once it is stabilise, this happens at all times.
And then…. (There’s no end to insight..)
when emptiness is stabilised, you actually feel abit strange calling it “emptiness” anymore, because somehow the right thing to say is “it’s not really about empty or not empty, this feels like it is what it is originally.. everything sensed is vividly felt as empty the same instant, it is like the bitter and sweet of dark chocolate, you cant say bitter or sweet, it is dark chocolate.. if u taste it u know it. Then u know it is the mind’s nature. You wonder for the 100th time if it is going to be the end? (But I know of course not from experience and I dare not ever call myself enlightened lol unless I want to embarrass myself next month when mind transform again.)
And I can’t talk about further insights bec I do not know. I don’t talk about anything I don’t yet experience stably .. so tbc!
Just remember, for those who want to say “do nothing”, or “nothing to meditate, no path to cultivate, nothing to realised”..
Make sure you are there and really “non doing” - one performs action without a shred of a sense of self or phenomena at all with full integration, which means you must be able to handle war, surgery without anaesthesia and the likes.. because no sense of self means no attachment to body.. because that would be what is expected of you speaking these words! Or else it will be a sense of shame 😝
---
I watched “The Little Buddha” movie again the other day.
Keanu reeves acted as Buddha. Haha.
The best thing in the movie was the spirit of Buddha which was beautifully portrayed in the movie, something I didn’t appreciate when I was 7. His level of determination to find the end of suffering, to not bother about hunger and pain, to say no to riches and women, to sit under the bodhi tree and tell himself I am going to sit here until I realise the truth, despite all the
beautiful Mara daughters and Mara himself attacking and persuading him - a symbolism of our own afflictions, he didn’t give up and I am so grateful forthat
Why did Buddha do that? The 6 years of intense asceticism, the time under the Bodhi tree, the determination to teach even tho ppl wanted to kill him, defame him, to meditate everyday.. he is showing us the spirit of the Dharma with his one short human life
As I reflected, how I miss seeing such spirit in the children of Buddha. His resolve, his determination, his fierceness against afflictions, the fire in his whole being to go against odds, I sensed it and I felt it vividly, and second day for the first time in a long while, I make myself wake up to my alarm at 4, and sit on my cushion. Let’s get my act together, ¬ waste Buddha’s sacrifice and compassionate effort
To conquer oneself and our own afflictions through right view of emptiness and dependent origination is the hardest job there is.. to rid off self conditionings, to be discipline and abide by nature of reality is not something for the meek.
“Remember that all conditioned phenomena is impermanent, and strive hard for your own liberation”- the Buddha last words before parinibanna reverberating in my consciousness.
“There is no where to look for enlightenment, except your own mind.” I remember the Buddha under the bodhi tree, one hand touching earth, earth as witness and not separated from one, and I encourage myself to be fearless, determined, to uphold the teachings in my whole being, to have conviction, to have confidence in my mind.
Buddha exhibited determination, fearlessness and compassion in his life.May we all walk in his footsteps, carry his spirit & practice hard
Sim Pern ChongMr RB ... sent me this video about Maha Bua talking about his Arhant
attainment moment. He talks about the Luminous Mind being the ultimate
danger/deception as well as his recollection of countless lives. Very
inspiring (to me).
There
are people who commented that Maha Bua's description of citta is out of
line with Buddha's teaching... but i guess i will never know. But
relics from his cremation don't lie ... i guess..
Sim Pern ChongEmm.. i don't think i am qualified to comment on the realisation of an arhant .. but this is just my take.
I
hope i understood why he say the brilliance of the Citta is also the
ultimate danger. Could it be similar to my experience of the alaya
consciousness brilliance and vastness... 'overriding' the inclination to
propel rebirths. I see that very exalted state as the core state that
is actually generating rebirths due to residue imprints of
regrets/dissatisfactions/trauma/desires and hence subject/object splits
into a big self (at the level). The exaltedness of the experience
overshadows the dynamics or rebirths. In my experience, the imprints
were not recognised as defilements.. but were instead used as the
driving force of rebirth.. in the seek for resolution. This is how i see
it.
In
a way, not recognising that nature of anatta and emptiness, even at the
level of the vastness/exaltedness.. is driving the rebirth.. For from
the level of the 'citta' (prior to awakening).. there is the focus of
deathlessness.. but not the recognition of suffering..
At
that level, the lower gross thoughts, physical sensations all are cut
off.. and the 'citta' is in all brilliance, vastness. I was confused and
blinded by that exaltedness. In NDEs, people are talking about the
awesomeness and brilliance of that experience.. its blinded them.. into
thinking that all that matters is that .. while the pain of their
physical existence is insignificant. I don't know how to explain this
well. But switching back and forth from that brilliance and 'physical
attention'.. helps to confirm that the dichotomy and the subsequent
amnesia (of both that exalted state and the 'physical') is a problem.
Sim Pern ChongThis
post of yours seems to explain very clearly... and not sure whether
Maha Bua is also talking about the Alaya when he says the Brilliance of
the citta is the ultimate danger.
Yin LingSim Pern Chong
thanks! I like what you said and I agree. We sometimes focus alot of
the luminosity, citta, hence some teachings focus so much on awareness..
but for me that is not the point of Buddhism. Any grasping even to the
luminosity of awareness is still a grasping… we have not yet recognise
the problem - which is Inherency or essence.
Diamond sutra says “应无所住而生其心” ，is literally talking about this problem- grasping onto essence, we don’t see our true nature.
That
is what I think is the heart of Buddhism for our liberation, not the
citta but the emptiness of appearances so we r not able to hold at all,
total release and we 见如来。
Soh Wei YuI
agree with Sim's posts and notes, although it is true that Ajahn Maha
Boowa falls into eternalism. He went through I AM (which he mistakenly
calls Anagami), and then his Arahantship is the falling away of the
subject-object Witness into nondual consciousness. I have read his
books. However he still reifies a transcendent and unchanging
citta/consciousness or luminosity, even though it is now nondual. It is
not yet the anatta insight or proper stream entry. Acarya Malcolm also
mentioned before that sharira/relics does not necessarily indicate that a
person is enlightened or liberated.
Ajahn
Maha Boowa's insight does not go beyond substantialist nondualism or
Thusness stage 4. Still, his book is very inspiring and nice to read.
Soh Wei Yu"
Ajahn maha boowa is a very sincere and experienced practitioner and his
account of his journey is very inspirational. I dont necessarily agree
with his definition of arahatship but he details very well the journey
to developing samadhi, overcoming of mental hindrance, I AMness
realisation to the collapse of the witness into nondual awareness. Whats
missing is the overcoming of inherent view of the transition from
substantial nondualism (one mind/thusness stage 4) to anatman and
emptiness. That being said his practice in terms of samadhi may be more
advanced than myself.
(11:26 PM) AEN: read dhammanando's posts.. lol
(11:26
PM) AEN: ......As for Ajahn Mun & Co., does anyone seriously wish
to argue that their doctrine of a transmigrating consciousness that
lives for ever (and that is a reality, not a prajñapti) can be
reconciled with the Abhidhammic account of momentary consciousness?
Leaving aside Abhidhamma, can it even be reconciled with the teaching of
the dependent arising of consciousness in the Mahata?hasankhaya Sutta? I
once put this very question to a senior disciple of Ajahn Maha Boowa,
and was told that it couldn't, but he didn't care. His very words: "Our
ajahn's an arahant and doesn't make mistakes. If what he teaches
contradicts the Suttas then so much the worse for the Suttas." So here
we have a monk who, in effect, acknowledges that his teacher's dhamma is
indistinguishable from that taught by the stupid and ignorant bhikkhu,
Sati the fisherman's son, and yet he isn't the least bit nonplussed
about it!.....
(11:26 PM) AEN: ....
Yes,
I'm referring to him and to all those of his disciples who propagate
the partial-eternalist doctrines of the "pure, everlasting,
transmigrating citta" and the "one who knows". As a western monk in
Thailand you often get approached by credulous lay followers of these
monks who try to talk you into going to stay with their pet ajahn. I try
to explain to them, with reference to the Suttas, why I don't accept
their teachings and don't believe the stories about their supposed
attainments. The result is always the same: they can't defend their
ajahn's teachings with reference to the texts, nor with reason, and so
they blow up and start resorting to argumentum ad baculum. It usually
takes the form of old wives tales about people who criticized Ajahn Maha
Boowa and were suddenly struck down in a fatal accident or with a
mysterious illness, or who mysteriously disappeared. So, if I should
suddenly vanish from E-sangha you'll know why. scared.gif
Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu...
(11:32 PM) AEN: .......
It
seems to me that it is, though not by all of them. The exporting to the
West of the forest ajahns' errors is largely the work of those who
ordained as bhikkhus from the mid-60's to the late 80's. Back then only a
minority of western monks in Thailand had any substantial background in
Buddhism prior to ordaining. This minority was greatly outnumbered by
footloose hippies, backpackers and sex tourists who would flee to places
like Wat Nong Pa Phong or Wat Suan Mokkh after their appetites for
cheap drugs and cheap sex had become jaded. Being almost wholly ignorant
of the Dhamma they just swallowed hook, line and sinker whatever
flapdoodle their ajahns told them, supplementing it only with readings
of pop Zen books and Carlos Castaneda. So, if they went to Ajahn Chah
they tended to end up as eternalists, and if they went to Buddhadasa
they tended to become annihilationists. However, since none of the
western monks ordained by Buddhadasa lasted long in the robes (except
Santikaro) it is the eternalism of Ajahn Chah that has gained the
stronger foothold among western Theravadin
(11:32 PM) AEN:
Admittedly,
in passing on their ajahn's eternalist misconceptions, their
presentation is not as unambiguous as it is in, say, Ajahn Maha Boowa's
writings, but it's there all the same. One can detect it nearly any time
they start discoursing about "the heart". Look at what they predicate
of this so-called "heart" and it's clear that it's not the hadaya-vatthu
of the Pali Abhidhamma, nor the physical heart, nor even the western
conceptual fiction of a human being's emotional centre. What they call
"heart" is an essentialist atman-like entity that is not mentioned or
implied anywhere in the Pali texts. Moreover, this "heart" is not a
minor aspect of their Dhamma exposition but is central and pivotal to
it.
On
the other hand, from the 1990's onwards the Ajahn Chah scene in
Thailand (and indeed the western bhikkhu scene in Thailand in general)
changed considerably. There were fewer and fewer social degenerates
coming out here to ordain, and more and more monks with a reasonably
solid Dhamma foundation, albeit confined to the Suttas — there are no
abhidhammikas among them yet, as far as
(11:32
PM) AEN: as far as I know. I'm not quite sure how this came about, but I
suspect the advent of widespread internet use may have been a major
factor. It made it much easier for would-be monks to do a bit of
homework beforehand. Anyhow, the upshot of it is that one can't really
generalize about the views of the younger generation of monks in the
Ajahn Chah tradition, for they are actually highly variegated.
Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
(11:32 PM) AEN: ..........
(11:33 PM) AEN: -----------
(11:33 PM) AEN: Hi caveyogi,
QUOTE(caveyogi @ Jan 25 2007, 06:49 AM)
Though
I am not a Theravadin, I highly respect the tradition, and have read
the life stories of certain Arhats with a lot of joy. I am wondering
though what for you the pure Dhamma is.
There
is the pure Dhamma of the scriptures, consisting in the three baskets
of the Tipi?aka when correctly expounded. And then there is the pure
Dhamma of realization, comprising the four ariyan paths, four ariyan
fruits, and nibbana.
QUOTE
I
always thought the Ajahns Mun and Maha Boowa were beyond reproach, so a
little bit more explanation for this ignorant chap (me) would be much
appreciated.
A
bhikkhu who announces to the general public that he is an arahant, as
Ajahn Maha Boowa has frequently done, is not beyond reproach:
The
Vinaya only permits a bhikkhu to notify fellow upasampannas (i.e.,
bhikkhus and bhikkhunis) of any high attainment that he has, or that he
believes he has. As a Dhammayutt-trained monk Ajahn Maha Boowa canno
(11:34
PM) AEN: As a Dhammayutt-trained monk Ajahn Maha Boowa cannot possibly
be unaware of this rule. It might also be noted that this rule is one of
those which it would be impossible for a real arahant to transgress,
and so MB's public declarations of arahantship are effectively public
declarations that he is not an arahant.
Furthermore, a bhikkhu who teaches nonsense like this is not beyond reproach:
"The
citta itself never dies. Do you understand this? The citta never dies.
Kamma is buried there in the citta. Good kamma leads the citta upward to
the heavens and the Brahma realms. Then, when the good kamma is
exhausted, the bad kamma that remains buried there pulls the citta back
down into the hell realms. As if the citta were climbing up and down a
flight of stairs. Do you understand? Such is the way it is, so wake up
and take notice."
(Ajahn Maha Boowa, Shedding Tears in Amazement with Dhamma)
Soh Wei YuThis is how the Buddha reproached a foolish bhikkhu who taught such a dhamma:
Sati: "As I understand the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One, it is this same consciousness that runs and wanders through
(11:36 PM) AEN:
Sati:
"As I understand the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One, it is this same
consciousness that runs and wanders through the round of rebirths, not
another."
The Buddha: "What is that consciousness, Sati?"
Sati: "Venerable sir, it is that which speaks and feels and experiences here and there the results of good and bad kammas."
The
Buddha: "Misguided man, to whom have you ever known me to teach the
Dhamma in that way? Misguided man, in many discourses have I not stated
consciousness to be dependently arisen, since without a condition there
is no origination of consciousness? But you, misguided man, have
misrepresented us by your wrong grasp and injured yourself and stored up
much demerit; for this will lead to your harm and suffering for a long
time. [....] Bhikkhus, what do you think? Has this bhikkhu Sati, son of a
fisherman, kindled even one spark of wisdom in this Dhamma and Vinaya?"
(Mahata?hasa?khaya Sutta, MN 38)
(11:36 PM) AEN:
QUOTE
So, what is wrong with Mun's teachings,
(11:36 PM) AEN:
Assuming
that Ajahn Mun taught what his disciples teach (and I'm not saying he
necessarily did; I really don't know), what is wrong is firstly that
it's eternalism (and thus a wrong view that deviates from the middle
way), and secondly that it's being peddled as Buddhadhamma. And so those
who teach such a dhamma "misrepresent the Tathagata by their wrong
grasp, injure themselves, and store up much demerit. It will lead to
their harm and suffering for a long time."
I
will make this my final post on this subject (well, for now at least),
as I should prefer to focus upon exposition rather than polemic. If
after all that I've written on it, people are still so intellectually
befuddled and emotionally besotted as to think that the dhamma of the
Ajahn Mun forest tradition is faithful to the Buddha's Dhamma, or that
the ajahns in this tradition who teach the "eternal citta" doctrine have
"kindled even one spark of wisdom", then no further words from me are
likely to persuade them otherwise.
Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
(12:12 AM) AEN: i looked into the glossary of ajahn maha boowa's book:
(12:12
AM) AEN: citta: The citta is the mind’s essential knowing nature, the
fundamental quality of knowing that underlies all sentient existence.
When associated with a physical body, it is referred to as “mind” or
“heart”. Being corrupted by the defiling influence of fundamental
ignorance (avijjã), its currents “flow out” to manifest as feelings
(vedanã), memory (saññã), thoughts (sankhãra), and consciousness
(viññãõa), thus embroiling the citta in a web of self-deception. It is
deceived about its own true nature. The true nature of the citta is that
it simply “knows”. There is no subject, no object, no duality; it
simply knows. The citta does not arise or pass away; it is never born
and never dies.
Normally,
the “knowing nature” of the citta is timeless, boundless, and radiant,
but this true nature is obscured by the defilements (kilesa) within it.
Through the power of fundamental ignorance, a focal point of the
“knower” is created from which that knowing nature views the world
outside. The establishment of that false center creates a “self” from
whose perspective consciousness flows out to perce
(12:13
AM) AEN: perceive the duality of the “knower” and the “known”. Thus the
citta becomes entangled with things that are born, become ill, grow
old, and die, and therefore, deeply involved it in a whole mass of
suffering.
In this book
the citta is often referred to as the heart; the two are synonymous. The
heart forms the core within the body. It is the center, the substance,
the primary essence within the body. It is the basic foundation.
Conditions
that arise from the citta, such as thoughts, arise there. Goodness,
evil, happiness, and suffering all come together in the heart.
Samãdhi
meditation provides confirmation of the heart’s significance. When the
citta gathers all of its outflowing currents into one point, the calm,
still state of samãdhi arises. From the meditator’s perspective, that
experience is centered in the middle of the chest. The stillness, the
brightness, and the awareness of this experience appear to emanate
prominently from the region of the heart. The knowing nature of the
citta is pronounced right there. Thus, the true seat of consciousness is
108 Glossary
in the heart; an
(12:14
AM) AEN: in the heart; and it is wise, therefore, to avoid thinking of
the “mind” as essentially cerebral and located in the head.
There
is a strong tendency to think that consciousness results purely from
complex interactions within the human brain, and that when the brain
dies, consciousness ceases. This mechanistic view is wholly mistaken.
While there is evidence that certain parts of the brain can be
identified with certain mental functions, that does not mean that the
brain produces consciousness. In essence, the brain is a complex
processing organ. It receives and processes incoming data impulses that
inform about feelings, memory, thoughts, and consciousness, but it does
not generate these mental functions; nor does it generate conscious
awareness. That is entirely the province of the citta. (for a more
detailed discussion see the Appendix on page 95
Soh Wei YuConsciousness is Momentary
Life, personhood, pleasure and pain
— This is all that's bound together
In a single mental event
— A moment that quickly takes place.
Even the spirits who endure
For eighty-four thousand aeons
— Even these do not live the same
For any two moments of mind.
What ceases for one who is dead,
Or for one who's still standing here,
Are all just the same aggregates
— Gone, never to connect again.
The states which are vanishing now,
And those which will vanish some day,
Have characteristics no different
Than those which have vanished before.
With no production there's no birth;
With becoming present, one lives.
When grasped with the highest meaning,
The world is dead when the mind stops.
There's no hoarding what has vanished,
No piling up for the future;
Those who have been born are standing
Like a seed upon a needle.
The vanishing of all these states
That have become is not welcome,
Though dissolving phenomena stand
Uncombined from primordial time.
From the unseen, [states] come and go,
Glimpsed only as they're passing by;
Like lightning flashing in the sky
— They arise and then pass away.
Also,
the Buddha was quite clear that phenomena, including minds, were
momentary. The Buddha may not have elaborated in detail upon what a
"moment" was, but in the end, the basic unit of time in Buddhism is
number of moments it takes to form a thought. In reality, moments are
partless. Partless moments that perish as soon as they arise have no
observable duration and are immune from Madhyamaka critique.
The notion that the mind is permanent (i.e. not momentary) is just a Hindu idea, Vedantic.
Labels: Ācārya Malcolm Smith, Impermanence, Sariputta |
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A short excerpt from Yuan Yin Lao Ren writing on post realisation practice. Every sentence is gold.
His realisation here is re two fold emptiness - self and phenomena, a deep insight in Buddhism.
How to stabilise this realisation through meditation and post meditation, how to improve, what will happen regarding the powers, regarding the kind of powers post realization has and what powers are not due to realisations(which is useless).
I don’t have capacity to translate but u can use some AI if you think it will be helpful to you at ur stage of practice, not useful for pre-realisations.
上面说过，我们于悟道后，不是一悟就休，还要好好地保护它，⻓养它，把习气除尽，犹如婴儿成⻓为大人了，那时候才 能随心所欲放手空行。于初悟时不保是不行的，怎么保呢?一面上座养定，一面在日常事务中磨练 培养，既不住空，也不住有，一切随缘，任何工作都能做，虽做而不着做，毫无爱恶之心。宗下所 谓:“于心无事，于事无心!”终日忙碌，而心中无事;心中无事，而不妨终日忙碌是也。假如做事 时被事做了去，那就不行，要赶快拉回来，放下来，勤于觉照，精于锻炼;假如自觉力量不够，那 就要多打坐。为什么呢?因为打坐能培养定力，使你在境界之中有主宰，有力量。你不打坐，定力 不够，在境界中锻炼的时候，一浑就浑掉了，被境界拖着走了，落于悟后迷，就不行了，这是最重要的关键。
复次，刚刚打开本来时，是没有什么奇特的。修行人往往不识，以为没有什么神奇，不是自性，而
忽略错过，哪知这灵妙真心是一丝不挂、一法不立的绝相妙体。初⻅性时，习染尚在，只是素法
身，一无所有。须待修者于识得后，勤于磨练，将无始旷劫的妄习消尽，方能显发神用。故修行人
须弄清修行的次第，千万不要因暂时未发神通，不敢承当而错过开悟的良机，更不要因自己不识而
以讹传讹，贻害他人。其实开悟⻅性并非难事，因为这妙明真心不在别处，镇日在各人自己面⻔放
光，无有丝毫离异，只是人们迷相着境忽略不识罢了。
有人虽修行多年而不悟者，都是为自己所瞒，以为发神通才是，而不知所谓神通者，就是日常动 用。若不是神通怎会说话、工作?怎会穿衣吃饭?又怎会嬉笑怒骂?在在处处都是它的神用而不自 知，偏偏要个奇特，自遭败屈，岂不冤苦?有些人自己不识，甘愿在苦海中头出头没也只罢了，还 要贻害别人，说未发神通为未开悟，开悟的人是六通俱全的。他哪里知道悟道在先，发通在后的序 次。《大日经》云:“菩萨住此(即⻅道位)勤苦修习，不久即五通⻬发。”悟道后还需经过一番打磨， 将历劫多生的妄习消尽，方能显发神通。
所以我们修行人，不要自暴自弃，于初打开时，识得它，当仁不让，敢于承当。不为神通奇特所淆
惑，然后勤于保养，尽除妄习，不久将来，自然神通大发。又因修行人根机各各不同，也有先通后
悟的，但现在这种人并不多⻅。现在有些特异功能的人，也没有经过修行，就有了神通，这是报得的神通，是暂时性的，过后就慢慢地消失了。我们佛教所说的神通有好几种:有报得的、修得的、
证得的与依得的种种不同。修得的，是用一种法专修一种通，密宗修神通的法就很多;依得的是依
靠外来的助力，如神、⻤、妖等而得的通。但这些都不究竟，一口气不来就没有了，没用处，还是
在生死轮回中，不出苦海。只有证得的通才是真正的通，那是我们⻅性人经过事上的磨练，消尽了
习气，恢复了本性的功能，焕发出来的无穷无尽的神通，它是永远不会磨灭的，而且尽管妙用无边
而不着神用，镇日如痴如呆相似，诚所谓大智若愚者也。
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Soh Wei Yu
As said above, awakening isn’t “wake up once and you’re done.” You must protect it, nourish it, and wear old habits thin—like an infant maturing into an adult. Only then can you range freely with nothing to hinder you. At first awakening, you must protect it. How? On the one hand, sit regularly to build steadiness; on the other, train amid daily affairs. Neither abide in emptiness nor in existence; flow with conditions; do any work that needs doing—yet, though doing, don’t cling to doing, and keep the heart free of liking and disliking. As the Chan tradition puts it: “No affairs in the mind; no mind in affairs.” Busy all day, yet inwardly nothing to do; nothing to do in the mind, yet it doesn’t hinder a day of busyness. If, when you act, you get acted by the task, that won’t do—pull the mind back, lay it down, be diligent in clear knowing, and skilled in training. If you feel short on strength, then sit more. Why? Sitting cultivates samādhi-power so that, amid circumstances, you have mastery and strength. Without sitting, your steadiness isn’t enough; when you “train in the midst,” one blur and you’re swept away by conditions—falling into “delusion after awakening.” That won’t do. This is the crucial point.
Further, when you first “open the original,” there’s nothing flashy about it. Practitioners often fail to recognize it, thinking, “Nothing marvelous—so it isn’t the self-nature,” and they overlook it. They don’t realize this numinous, wondrous true mind is the utterly bare, signless, marvelous body. At first seeing the nature, habits still remain; it is merely the plain dharma-body—nothing added. Only after recognition, with diligent tempering to exhaust the beginningless habits, can its spiritual functions shine forth. So you must be clear about the order of practice. Don’t miss the chance to awaken just because powers haven’t appeared yet and you don’t dare to accept it. Still worse is failing to recognize it yourself and then passing on errors that mislead others. In truth, awakening and seeing the nature isn’t hard, because this bright, wondrous true mind is nowhere else—it shines at your very face all day long, never the least apart. People only miss it by being deluded by appearances and chasing conditions.
Some practice for many years without awakening because they deceive themselves, thinking “only when powers appear is it the real thing,” not knowing that what we call “powers” are your everyday functioning. Without “powers,” how could you speak and work? How could you dress and eat? How could you laugh, scold, get angry? Everywhere and always it is its spiritual functioning, though you don’t know it. Craving the strange and marvelous, you defeat yourself—isn’t that a pity? Some don’t recognize for themselves and are willing to bob up and down in the sea of suffering; but then they also harm others by claiming, “No powers yet means no awakening; the awakened must have all six powers complete.” They don’t know the sequence: awakening first, powers later. As the Mahāvairocana Sūtra says, “When a bodhisattva abides here (at the seeing-the-path stage) and diligently cultivates, before long the five powers arise together.” After awakening you still need a round of polishing; only when the long-accumulated habits are exhausted do powers manifest.
Therefore practitioners should not give up on themselves. When it first opens and you recognize it, take it up without shrinking back; don’t be confused by marvels and powers. Then tend it diligently, remove delusive habits, and before long powers will naturally flourish. Of course, capacities differ. There are cases of “powers first, awakening later,” but such people are rare nowadays. Some with “special abilities” who never cultivated have powers—these are karmically received powers, temporary and fading with time. In Buddhism, powers are of several kinds: received (by past karma), cultivated, realized, and dependent. Cultivated powers come from training a specific method (Tantra has many such methods). Dependent powers rely on outside aid—from spirits, ghosts, demons, etc. None of these are ultimate: when a single breath stops, they’re gone; they can’t carry you out of birth and death—they don’t cross the sea of suffering. Only realized powers are true powers: after seeing the nature, through tempering in affairs you exhaust habits and restore the functions of the nature; then inexhaustible powers blaze forth. They never wear out, and yet—even with boundless functioning—there’s no clinging to “function.” All day one may look like a simpleton: truly, great wisdom looks like foolishness.
Jack Huang元音老人的“复次“那段太好了 初见本来面目 真的没有神奇的 千万不要路过近山而不识
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Yesterday I met with my training supervisor for a review of my performance.
He told me I have one of the highest GP exam scores in the Midlands. He also looked shocked and flabbergasted that I have done a lot of work in my first year.
Well. Honesstly, it didn’t really matter to me.
I’m
talking about this because this is the first major post-grad exams I took after awakening and heavy meditation. I have been meditating 3-4 hours for almost 4 years plus.
I was meditating 3-4 hours in my first year of training.
I cut it down to 2 hours 12 days before exams and use it to study.
I was doing everything I need to do as a trainee and everything I need to do as a practitioner.
I want to say, awakening and meditation won’t affect worldly intelligence and I have not become dumb.
I am able to understand concepts very well even though I am practicing heavy non-conceptual meditation.
I think some ppl wants that reassurance.
Including my mom who thinks I will go mad!
Well I’m functioning extremely well!
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