Soh

From https://www.facebook.com/groups/AwakeningToReality/posts/9927404027300938/?__cft__[0]=AZX-blOl2LFDp4hy_H690y3tR7yfT2-SIl-HsIG9k-5Mv0wSvcETkWtyqChDMHBkLgf8JN5Yi1V1Lqoylwf9OdLyS8zam5z7OOCDoqQg352wXQxDUe3pwDm_LY-OukJnxsez7-u1zFpRmBVaebE-Vb4STr64Fa04AbnN2Bo4hCKJxwFp__xNHiuRQNXzt-OuljQ&__cft__[1]=AZX-blOl2LFDp4hy_H690y3tR7yfT2-SIl-HsIG9k-5Mv0wSvcETkWtyqChDMHBkLgf8JN5Yi1V1Lqoylwf9OdLyS8zam5z7OOCDoqQg352wXQxDUe3pwDm_LY-OukJnxsez7-u1zFpRmBVaebE-Vb4STr64Fa04AbnN2Bo4hCKJxwFp__xNHiuRQNXzt-OuljQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R]-R

 

 

This is damn good... cutting straight at the root.

 


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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    Malcolm's teachings are very clear. So I recommend those who wish to learn and practice Dzogchen to sign up and attend his teachings. www.zangthal.com
    Zangthal
    ZANGTHAL.COM
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    Sim Pern Chong
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    Soh Wei Yu Thanks for the link... I just bought the ebook version.


  • Soh Wei Yu
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    His entire talk series in videos commenting on each chapter of the book are also available online, but have to sign up to join the forum first before you can purchase it. I think need to receive direct introduction from him first also

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  • Sim Pern Chong
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    Ah I see... thanks.


  • William Lim
    So why when phenomenon is empty (has no inherent existence) = phenomenon doesn't arise
    * Note to Soh Wei Yu aka Anatta Bot, kindly summarize (instead of cut and paste) like the way your rival Chat GPT does 😂


    Soh Wei Yu
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    William Lim as Kyle Dixon wrote two weeks ago:
    Nāgārjuna states the following:
    That which comes into being from a cause, and does not endure without conditions, it disappears as well when conditions are absent - how can this be understood to exist?
    Going on to say:
    Since it comes to and end when ignorance ceases; why does it not become clear then that it was conjured by ignorance?
    This is the actual meaning, and the heart of dependent origination, which is nonarising [anutpāda]. For an object to inherently exist it must exist outright, independent of causes and conditions, independent of attributes, characteristics and constituent parts. However, we cannot find an inherent object independent of these factors, and the implications of this fact is that we likewise cannot find an inherent object within those factors either.
    The object itself, as the core entity which possesses characteristics, is ultimately unfindable. We instead only find a designated collection of pieces, which do not in fact create any discrete object. In the absence of an object the pieces are likewise rendered as incapable of being "pieces" or "parts" and therefore they are also nothing more than arbitrary designations that amount to nothing more than inferences.
    This means that all entities, selves, and so on are merely useful conventional designations, their provisional validity is only measured by their efficacy, and apart from that conventional imputation, there is no underlying object that can be ascertained or found.
    Dependent origination is the apparent origination of entities that seem to manifest in dependence on causes and conditions. But as Nāgārjuna states above, those causes and conditions are actually the ignorance which afflicts the mindstream, and the conditions of grasping, mine-making and I-making which are the drivers of karmic activity that serve to reify the delusion of a self, or a self in objects, and so on.
    This is why many adepts are explicitly clear that dependent origination is synonymous with a lack of origination [anutpāda], because phenomena that originate in dependence on ignorance as a cause, never actually originate at all, for example, Candrakīrti states:
    The perfectly awakened buddhas proclaimed, "What is dependently originated is non-arisen.”
    Or Mañjuśrī:
    Whatever is dependently originated does not truly arise.
    Nāgārjuna once again:
    What originates dependently is non-arisen!
    Thus dependent origination is incapable of producing existence of any sort, because dependent origination is incapable of producing entities. Entities and existence only appear because of the ignorance which afflicts your mind. When that ignorance is removed, all perceptions of existence are removed, all perceptions of selves are removed and all perceptions of origination are removed.


  • My Favourite Sutra, Non-Arising and Dependent Origination of Sound
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  • Sim Pern Chong
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    Just my opinion only. This is how i understand it... and its very simple and direct.
    I use an analogy.
    If there is just 'space' -originally-.. can any 'thing' be produced out of space? If for anything to be produced out of space, there will need to be a secondary medium. But can 'voidness' have a secondary medium? It cannot.
    Hence, there can be no arising at all. To imply arising is to have some 'thing' distinct that is separated from another thing. But it is not possible.
    Hence, even at this very experience now.. it is non dual.
    Since it is non-dual, any kind of grasping, implies that there is duality hence needing the correction. So, we just leave it as it is.. 'Perfection' is the approximation of this..

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    Soh Wei Yu
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    Yes indeed everything is nondual and equal to space.. although it is also good to stress that non-arising is to be understood from dependent origination, for luminous appearances continue to manifest in nondual and not in a haphazard nor random manner, and dependent origination and non arising is understood as the nature of this empty clarity. Nondual unbounded spontaneous presence ultimately and dependently originating when expressed relatively, the two truths are a union.
    John tan expresses nicely:
    The Only Way to the Ultimate Truth
    [10:10 PM, 4/12/2021] John Tan: The DO part is really good.
    [10:11 PM, 4/12/2021] John Tan: When did malcom say that?  Recently or in the past?
    [10:11 PM, 4/12/2021] Soh Wei Yu: oic..
    [10:11 PM, 4/12/2021] Soh Wei Yu: https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=36315&p=577078#p577078
    [10:11 PM, 4/12/2021] Soh Wei Yu: from above
    [10:12 PM, 4/12/2021] Soh Wei Yu: the others from here https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=36283&p=577115#p577115

    [10:30 PM, 4/12/2021] John Tan: Many misunderstand that oh ultimately it is empty and DO is conventional therefore conceptual so ultimately empty non-existence.  

    We must understand what is meant by empty ultimately but conventionally valid.  Nominal constructs are of two types, those that are valid and those that r invalid like "rabbit horns".  Even mere appearances free from all elaborations and conceptualities, they inadvertently manifest therefore the term "appearances".  They do not manifest randomly or haphazardly, they are valid mode of arising and that is dependent arising.  When it is "valid" means it is the acceptable way of explanation and not "rabbit horn" which is non-existence.  This part I mentioned in my reply to Andre.


    [10:36 PM, 4/12/2021] John Tan: Do you get what I meant?
     
    What it means is there is still a "right" or "acceptable" or "valid" way to express it conventionally.  Take freedom from all elaborations for example, it doesn't mean "blankness" or "anything goes".  There is right understanding of "freedom from all elaborations" that is why Mipham has to qualify that it is not "blankness", it does not reject "mere appearance", it must be understood from the perspective of "coalescence"...and so on and so forth. Similarly, there is right understanding of "arising" conventionally and that is DO.


    So when we clearly see how essence = true existence = independence of causes and conditions are untenable for anything to arise, we see dependent arising.
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    �.....
    “Pursuant to the middle view, Tson-kha-pa cites Nagarjuna's Yuk-tisastika and Candrakirti's Yuktisastika-vrtti.
    Nagarjuna:
    What arises in dependence is not born;
    That is proclaimed by the supreme knower of reality 😊 Buddha).
    Candrakirti:
    (The realist opponent says): If (as you say) whatever thing arises in dependence is not even born, then why does (the Madhyamika) say it is not born? But if you (Madhyamika) have a reason for saying (this thing) is not born, then you should not say it "arises in dependence." Therefore, because of mutual inconsistency, (what you have said) is not valid.)
    (The Madhyamika replies with compassionate interjection:)
    Alas! Because you are without ears or heart you have thrown a challenge that is severe on us! When we say that anything arising in dependence, in the manner of a reflected image, does not arise by reason of self-existence - at that time where is the possibility of disputing (us)!” - excerpt from Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real: Buddhist Meditation and the Middle View
    ——-
    Ultimate and Relative
    "If asked what I am most drawn to (in Tsongkhapa's teachings), I am most drawn to Prasangika's "mere imputation". The quintessence of "mere imputation" is IMO the essence of Buddhism. It is the whole of 2 truths; the whole of 2 folds. How the masters present and how it is being taught is entirely another matter. It is because in non-conceptuality, the whole of the structure of "mere imputation" is totally exerted into an instantaneous appearance that we r unable to see the truth of it. In conceptuality, it is expanded and realized to be in that structure. A structure that awakens us the living truth of emptiness and dependent arising that is difficult to see in dimensionless appearance."
    "In ultimate (empty dimensionless appearance), there is no trace of causes and conditions, just a single sphere of suchness. In relative, there is dependent arising. Therefore distinct in relative when expressed conventionally but seamlessly non-dual in ultimate."
    "When suchness is expressed relatively, it is dependent arising. Dependent designation in addition to causal dependency is to bring out a deeper aspect when one sees thoroughly that if phenomena is profoundly without essence then it is always only dependent designations."
    - Thusness, 2015
    Labels: Dependent Designation, Dependent Origination, Emptiness, Madhyamaka |
    Excerpt:
    Equation between Emptiness and Dependent Origination
    Yin Ling
    ·
    Tsongkhapa short verse on his profound enlightenment to the truth.
    ***
    In a short verse work composed as a letter to his first attendant, Tsakho Ngawang Drakpa, Tsongkhapa would
    articulate this crucial point about the equation between emptiness and dependent origination:
    When, with respect to all phenomena of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa,
    You see that cause and effect never transgress their laws,
    And when you have dismantled the focus of objectification,
    At that point, you have entered the path that pleases the buddhas.
    As long as the two understandings—
    Of appearance, the regulated world of dependent origination,
    And of emptiness, the absence of all standpoints—remain separate,
    You have not realized the intent of the Sage.
    However, at some point when, without alteration and at once,
    The instant you see that dependent origination is undeceiving
    If the entire object of grasping at certitude is dismantled,
    At that point your analysis of the view is complete.
    Furthermore, when appearance dispels the extreme of existence, And when emptiness dispels the extreme of nonexistence,
    And you understand how emptiness arises as cause and effect, You will never be swayed by views grasping at extremes.
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    John Tan
    This is perhaps the most important point for me post anatta insight. So profound and deep.🙏

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    Yin Ling
    John Tan yes and you emphasise this repetitively so thank you.
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    John Tan
    Yin Ling yes. Tsongkhapa is familiar with emptiness free from all elaborations in traditional tibetan schools and in fact in his earlier days, he accepted this view. But many in the traditional schools see the ultimate that lacks sameness or difference, i.e, non-arisen of "sameness" of "difference" as literally "no" sameness or difference thinking that "oh ultimately they r just conceptual notions". Instead, Tsongkhapa pointed out that this "unestablished" free from elaborations means dependent arising, dependent on conditons, "this is, that is".

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    Yin Ling
    John Tan not sure I get it. soteriologically does it mean one don’t say all is ultimate just conceptual notions, and immobilise and say all is ultimately conceptual,
    but understand because of DO there is strong sense of causality and functionality?
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    John Tan
    Yin Ling sort of but not easy to articulate for it involves a very very fine and profound insight that Tsongkhapa is trying point out that is difficult to put into words.
    Just like when we say non-dual, there is a difference between a non-dual experience that subsumes object into an ultimate pure subject and the non-dual experience that recognize the non-arisen of "subject" and "object", aka, freedom from extremes in buddhism.
    Similarly, seeing through conceptual elaborations, is also not just a blanket elimination of conceptual symbols nor should we jump into hasty and careless conclusion too quickly asif "nothing happens" ultimately or a rejection of cause and effect. It may appear to be so and easy to jump into that conclusion.
    It involves several finer insights that include how conceptual notions and it's linguistic structure confuse the mind and how we can validly understand the nature of what appears after we understand these issues of conceptual elaborations for although they r conceptual elaborations, they r not elaborating "nonsense" as appearances inadvertently appear.
    And when u see that, u see the ultimate free from elaborations does not contradict "dependent arising", "arising" through cause and conditions. But not within my capacity to put into words. 🤦🤪
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    Equation between Emptiness and Dependent Origination
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  • Sim Pern Chong
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    Soh Wei Yu Ah I see.. thanks so much. This is the part that often confuses me. Perhaps, i am not investigating it well enough.
    Perhaps adding to the confusion is that from my experience, what i meant by non-conceptual is not a blankness or cessation. that is (to me) the edge of the conceptual mind .. but a different 'realm' beyond the conceptual mind that perceives directly. Here is where the formation of thoughts and 'physicality' is seen. It is similar to what Ryan Burton has described as the spinning disk. And then able to experience via first person view of other lives or simultaneous life. It was via this 'realm' beyond the conceptual thoughts.. that the causes and effects were directly percieved.
    I think here is where I do not quite understand what is being described. because (in my experience) the dynamic of rebirths is directly perceived in the state of all times or no time.

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      I would like to thank everyone in this group, the admins, the people who worked on the many different versions of the AtR guide, the Buddhas and Sages of the past, present, future, the teachers who are patient enough to point the way.
      3 years ago, I learned about this business of waking up. At first I didn’t know where to begin. I had this deep desire to escape from my suffering and from myself and I can’t seem to find a way out. But late last year Soh reached out to me, perhaps out of pity, in one of the reddit forums. I was probably so lost and SO OFF THE MARK back then!
      But now I see it clearly. The only way is here. There is no fancy way. It’s simple, direct, honest. This process of elimination is the greatest endeavor I will be doing in this lifetime.
      🙏❤🙂

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    • Soh Wei Yu
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      “The only way is here”
      I know you are saying this as a general statement to the effect of “the only way is insight into our true nature” etc.. but just like to add:
      I often refer people to qualified teachers outside AtR. If AtR resonates, then great, and you can focus on the inquiries and contemplations and practices. Many have indeed awakened through AtR resources. But if you can find an awakened mentor or teacher near you, then that is perhaps even better.
      What AtR presents is one way to insight but there are many approaches.. and even after attaining insight, it is still important to continue practicing, studying the dharma, learning from qualified dharma teachers, etc. I started to attend Acarya Malcolm Smith’s Dzogchen teachings online since 2021 and still do. I also watch youtube videos of dharma teachers by venerable masters, etc

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      Mr. KM
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      Soh Wei Yu oh definitely that's what I meant! I also like that there are references to different teachers and techniques to insight in the AtR. As for teachers, I am not actively looking at the moment! But I am casually looking haha. I checked Acarya Malcolm Smith and am waiting if there will be an opening soon. Would definitely want to attend! 🙂 Thanks so much Soh!

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    Soh Wei Yu
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    Sim Pern Chong John Tan said: "Because the nature is empty, rebirth is possible. Parts r possible, designations are possible. Parts, designations, cause and effect cannot function if they inherently exist.
    If we analyse with essential view, then it seems untenable and impossible."
    "So we must examine thoroughly whether we r seeing from a substantialist pov."
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    Soh Wei Yu
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    Sim Pern Chong There's a message I wrote this year in Chinese to someone, that John Tan and Yin Ling liked: 

    据我所知,金刚经都在讲空无自性。当然,需要明白空性不是断灭,不是什么都没有。

    比如:有小乘修者问龙树菩萨,你说诸法皆空,那不是断见吗?若是如此,怎么有苦集灭道、佛、阿罗汉、等等。

    龙树菩萨的解释简单是:不是诸法有自性才能苦集灭道,而是precisely/因为诸法空无自性,才有可能苦集灭道。诸法性空不代表一切不存在。(就如有提过,若是实有又如何幻化)

    诸法性空不是断灭见,就是因为一切缘起无自性才可能运作,若一切法有自性,就不是缘起(因缘聚合的假相)的,而是有自体性存在的。无自性才能缘起,才可能谈因果,不然一切皆有定性,若无明和苦是有定性的,那么修行又怎么能有效,就不可能有苦集灭道、佛、菩萨、阿罗汉等等。

    这里不是说苦集灭道、佛、菩萨、等等是真实存在的(心经:无苦集灭道),而是一切法,苦集灭道、佛、菩萨、等等都是缘起空无自性,空无自性才能妙有,一切如幻,苦集灭道,六度,八正道,菩萨道、阿罗汉道、等等才会有它的作用。一切法不真实存在(本无自性)但不是说一切不存在,如果说一切法不存在就是断见,如果说一切真实存在那么可能又落入常见,而是说一切法都是缘起性空、众缘和合的假名假相,”自缘起而生的法,只不过是依靠其自身的设施处而安立的假名而已,如同马车一样。所谓缘起性,也就是远离常断有无等边戏的中观道之真实大义。“

    所以是从这个角度,金刚经说,”如来说世界,非世界,是名世界。“,X 非 X, 是名 X。一切法缘起性空,不落两边(常、断,存在、不存在等等)的边见。

    对我来说,这其实也是在讲心性。一切相本空明,缘起无自性,如梦幻泡影,不落两边(存在/不存在等)。

    龙树菩萨:

    “若汝见诸法,决定有性者。

    即为见诸法,无因亦无缘。”

    ”若一切不空,则无有生灭。

    如是则无有,四圣谛之法。

    苦不从缘生,云何当有苦?

    无常是苦义,定性无无常。

    若苦有定性,何故从集生?

    是故无有集,以破空义故。

    苦若有定性,则不应有灭。

    汝著定性故,即破于灭谛。

    道若有定性,则无有修道。

    若道可修习,即无有定性。

    若无有苦谛,及无集灭谛。

    所可灭苦道,竟为何所至?

    若苦定有性,先来所不见。

    于今云何见?其性不异故。

    如见苦不然,断集及证灭,

    修道及四果,是亦皆不然。

    是四道果性,先来不可得。

    诸法性若定,今云何可得?

    若无有四果,则无得向者。

    以无八圣故,则无有僧宝。“

    ”汝破一切法,诸因缘空义,

    则破于世俗,诸余所有法。“

    - https://mingguang.im/reading/中观根本慧论释/二十四 观四谛品
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    Soh Wei Yu
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    Also...

    "The Mādhyamika therefore has to explain how we can account for an object changing and persisting through time without having to assume that there is some unchanging aspect of the object which underlies all change. Nāgārjuna claims that this can indeed be done. Understanding how this can be the case becomes particularly important in the context of the Buddhist conception of the self when the temporal continuity of persons has to be explained without reference to the concept of a persisting subjective core (ātman)."
    Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka Pg 126 by Westerhoff

    ....

    Malcolm:

    "One, whoever told you rig pa is not part of the five aggregates? Rig pa is knowledge of your own state. In its impure form one's own state manifests as the five aggregates; in its pure form, it manifests as the five buddha families.

    Nagārjuna resolves this issue through using the eight examples. There is no substantial transmission, but there is serial continuity, like lighting a fire from another fire, impressing a seal on a document and so on. See his verses on dependent origination:

    All migrating beings are causes and results.
    but here there are no sentient beings at all;
    just empty phenomena entirely produced
    from phenomena that are only empty,
    phenomena without a self and what belongs to a self,
    [like] utterances, lamps, mirrors, seals,
    lenses, seeds, sourness and echoes.
    Although the aggregates are serially connected,
    the wise are understand that nothing transfers.
    Also, the one who imputes annihilation
    upon extremely subtle existents,
    is not wise,
    and will not see the meaning of ‘arising from conditions’."
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    Soh Wei Yu
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    For the benefit of English readers:

    Here's the translation of my Chinese text into English from ChatGPT, unpolished so it is not a good translation but you can sort of get some of its meaning from it, although I replaced a part of the Nagarjuna passage with Garfield's translation:

    To my understanding, the Diamond Sutra speaks about the emptiness of inherent nature. Of course, it's important to understand that emptiness is not annihilation, it's not about there being nothing at all.

    For instance: A Theravada practitioner asked Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, "You say all phenomena are empty, isn't that a view of annihilation? If so, how can there be the Four Noble Truths, Buddha, Arhats, etc.?"

    Bodhisattva Nagarjuna simply explained: It's not that phenomena need inherent nature to give rise to the Four Noble Truths, but precisely/because all phenomena are empty of inherent nature, that the Four Noble Truths are possible. The emptiness of phenomena doesn't mean everything doesn't exist. (As mentioned before, if things truly existed, how could there be illusory appearances?)

    The emptiness of phenomena is not a view of annihilation, it's because all things arise dependently without inherent nature that they can function. If all phenomena had inherent nature, they wouldn't be dependently originated (based on conditional assemblies), but would exist with their own essence. Without inherent nature, dependent origination can take place, and causality can be discussed. Otherwise, everything would have fixed essences. If ignorance and suffering were fixed, then how could practice be effective? There wouldn't be the Four Noble Truths, Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, etc.

    This isn't saying that the Four Noble Truths, Buddha, Bodhisattvas, etc. truly exist (Heart Sutra: no suffering, cause, cessation and path), but that all phenomena, including the Four Noble Truths, Buddha, Bodhisattvas, etc. are dependently originated and empty of inherent nature. Only with this emptiness can there be marvelous existence, everything is like an illusion, the Four Noble Truths, the Six Perfections, the Eightfold Path, the Bodhisattva Path, the Arhat Path, etc. have their function. All phenomena don't truly exist (they lack inherent nature), but this doesn't mean they don't exist at all. To say all phenomena don't exist is a view of annihilation, to say all truly exist might fall into eternalism, but all phenomena are empty due to dependent origination, they are mere names and appearances due to the convergence of conditions, "Phenomena that arise from conditions are just conventionally designated based on their own parts/characteristics, like a chariot. The so-called nature of dependent origination is the true meaning of the middle way, which is free from the extremes of existence and non-existence."

    From this perspective, the Diamond Sutra says, "The Tathagata speaks of the world, is not the world, and thus is called the world.", X is not X, is called X. All phenomena are empty of inherent nature due to dependent origination, not falling into extremes (eternalism, annihilation, existence, non-existence, etc.).

    For me, this is also talking about the nature of mind. All forms are inherently clear and empty, arising dependently without inherent nature, like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, not falling into extremes (existence/non-existence, etc.).

    Bodhisattva Nagarjuna:

    "If you perceive the existence of all things
    In terms of svabhava,
    Then this perception of all things
    Will be without the perception of causes and conditions.

    Effects and causes
    And agent and action
    And conditions and arising and ceasing
    And effects will be rendered impossible.
    (Garfield 1995, p.69)"

    "If everything is not empty, then there is no birth and cessation.
    Thus, there is no Four Noble Truths.

    Suffering does not arise from conditions, how can there be suffering?
    Impermanence is the definition of suffering; a fixed [inherent] nature doesn't have impermanence.

    If suffering is of a fixed nature, why does it arise from aggregation?
    Therefore, there is no aggregation, because it breaks the meaning of emptiness.

    If suffering has a fixed nature, it shouldn't cease.
    You adhere to a fixed nature, refuting the truth of cessation.

    If the path has a fixed nature, there's no practice of the path.
    If the path can be practiced, it doesn't have a fixed nature.

    If there's no truth of suffering, and no truth of origination or cessation,
    Then what is the path that can end suffering aiming at?

    If suffering has a fixed nature, it wasn't seen before.
    How can it be seen now? Its nature isn't different.

    If suffering is seen differently, the origination and realization of cessation,
    The practice of the path and the Four Fruits, these too are not different.

    The nature of these four paths and fruits was not attainable before.
    If the nature of all phenomena is fixed, how can it be attained now?

    If the Four Fruits are not there, then there's no attainment.
    Because there are no Eight Noble Ones, there's no Sangha Jewel."

    ...

    "If dependent arising is denied,
    Emptiness itself is rejected.
    This would contradict
    All of the worldly conventions.

    If emptiness is rejected,
    No action will be appropriate.
    There would be action which did not begin,
    And there would be agent without action.

    If there is svabhava, the whole world
    Will be unarising, unceasing,
    And static. The entire phenomenal world
    Would be immutable.

    If it (the world) were not empty,
    Then action would be without profit.
    The act of ending suffering and
    Abandoning misery and defilement would not exist.
    (Garfield 1995, p.72)

    - https://mingguang.im/reading/中观根本慧论释/二十四 观四谛品

    (Note: The translation tries to maintain the original meaning of the Chinese text, but some adjustments had to be made for clarity and fluidity in English.)Reply
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Soh

  Anonymous said...

Bro, u r not qualified to talk anything abt the Divine coz u hv ZERO idea wat the Supreme/Absolute truly is .....

Sep 6, 2023, 11:53:00 PM

 Delete
Blogger Soh said...

On the contrary, I have realized that with absolute certainty since my I AM realization in February 2010. There are lot of further realisations, many of which you truly have zero ideas and understanding of, primarily the anatman and emptiness insights. 

You may think otherwise but I think you really wasting time here if you insist on trying to convince me otherwise. There is 0 doubts here about my realizations.

If you wish to understand the anatman and emptiness realization, then you have to approach AtR materials with open mindedness and sincerity. 

Otherwise, you are free to think as you wish, and I have no time to entertain your comments.

Soh

Wrote to someone interested in Dzogchen but stuck at the I AM to one mind phase:


https://www.reddit.com/r/Dzogchen/comments/166w2yu/comment/jz3sns0/?context=3


xabir

·

2 days ago

What was that experience like?


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Icy-Public6761

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2 days ago

It lasted an instant. The overall experience so to speak I cannot say anything about it without it becoming something it's not. No distinctions nothing not even emptiness but emptiness


These further words are the concepts I had surrounding it which lead me to loosing it as it arose


The timeless instantaneous moment of all wisdom the very first ignition of awareness itself, the source of all buddhas all confused all manifested and not manifested but also not timeless as no time exists, no wisdom, no source as its nothing at all, no buddhas no sentient non of that just it which is not it but also everything simultaneously.


Only my individual wisdom and it existed nothing existed also simultaneously, only this was known but not known because to know it you lost it as i did when I felt it


The unconditional love of the universe as if this was pure love of everything but also contained all the pain all the suffering all but not all simultaneously


Everything I had concepts surrounding it I also had concepts undoing itself simultaneously


This is the source prior to all my lifetimes that was certain but as for how I don't know. It was like instantly waking up to all my infinite lifetimes not remembering those lifetimes but waking up to the origin of which my awareness came from. It was known as this is the thing buddhas know that we don't know and is why they're even buddha, to know this was to know all but know nothing to know this was to only know this and nothing else at all but this. Direct straight cut to all instantly.


But those distinctions is why I lost it all as it came.


I wasn't able to sustain it, if I was I am certain to thr core of my being that this was absolute fundamental basis of all and I would only be it not exhaust into it like going from a to be but being it


The heart sutra sounds exactly like what I had because notice how all words undoes all its collapsing all.


Buddhas words, no emptiness no form emptiness Is fork form is emptiness no dharma no confusion nothing no nothing no nothing of nothing. Anything you say about it simultaneously undoes itself simultaneously


I understand that nothingness is being experienced individually, let's say a buddha state of enlightenment so to speak, the buddha does not awaken and all awaken simultaneously it awakens individually, even buddha Is a distinction


No buddha no not buddha nothing because for anything to be anything is just an expression regardless whether or not it knows the secret or not its still an expression,


All confused all enlightened is just an expression amd also nothing to express


I cannot tell you the experience because that's impossible. Do nlt take these words as absolute but without saying anything at all you wouldn't know what I knew. I don't know it now as its gone but I cannot shake that I knew it


A nyam is like intense clarity being experienced or nothingness being experienced or dullness being experienced and held onto


This was lost iv not held to the experience which makes it not a nyam. Cannot be replicated neither


But it doesn't change the fact I knew that it was it without a shadow of a doubt it was it but yet I can't say why


The above are just words which mean nothing at all because each word is so separated from the experience


It wasn't even an experience because their would need to be something to experience it wasn't even that it was knowing truth. But to know would mean something was know but it also wasn't


I can go on forever saying and undoing it so I'll just stop here



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xabir

·

2 days ago

·

edited 2 hr. ago

It is just the aspect of clarity aspect. It needs to be matured with guidance and training. When rigpa is matured one realises emptiness. You will need to find and train under a qualified Dzogchen teacher if Dzogchen resonates with you, there is no way around it for Dzogchen.


Dalai Lama - "Nature - there are many different levels. Conventional level, one nature. There are also, you see, different levels. Then, ultimate level, ultimate reality... so simply realise the Clarity of the Mind, that is the conventional level. That is common with Hindus, like that. So we have to know these different levels...."


Dalai Lama - "Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā


According to Sūtra, meditation on the clear and cognizant nature of the mind or on the transforming buddha nature alone will not eradicate afflictions. However, it does lead us to have more confidence that afflictions are not an inherent part of the mind and therefore that becoming a buddha is possible. This, in turn, leads us to question: What defiles the mind and what can eliminate these defilements completely? Seeking the method to purify the transforming buddha nature, we will cultivate the wisdom realizing the emptiness of inherent existence and eradicate ignorance.


According to Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā, meditation on the clear and cognizant nature of the mind could lead the coarse winds to dissolve and the subtlest clear light mind to become manifest. When this happens, practitioners who have previously cultivated a correct understanding of emptiness then incorporate that understanding in their meditation and use the innate clear light mind to realize emptiness and abolish afflictions.


It is important to understand the Sublime Continuum correctly from a Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā point of view. Some people take it literally, leading them to incorrectly believe that primordial wisdom is permanent, inherently existent, independent of any other factors, and does not rely on causes and conditions. They then make statements such as, “If you unravel this secret, you will be liberated.”


Dodrup Jigme Tenpai Nyima (1865–1926) and his disciple Tsultrim Zangpo (1884–c.1957), who were great Dzogchen scholars and practitioners, said that the mere presence of this primordial wisdom within us alone cannot liberate us. Why not? At the time of death, all other minds have dissolved, and only the primordial mind remains. Even though it has manifested in all the infinite number of deaths we have experienced in saṃsāra, that has not helped us attain buddhahood. These two sages say that in order to attain buddhahood, it is necessary to utilize the primordial wisdom to realize emptiness; only that will liberate us. This is consistent with Tsongkhapa’s view.


Some commentaries on Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā say: This wisdom that abides in the afflictions is the true wisdom, and on this basis every sentient being is already a buddha. Although we have been buddhas from beginningless time, we have to be awakened again. The wisdom that we have now is the omniscient mind of a buddha, and the three bodies of a buddha exist innately in each sentient being. Sentient beings have a basis of essential purity that is not merely emptiness but is endowed with three aspects. Its entity is the dharmakāya — the mode of abiding of pristine wisdom; its nature is the enjoyment body — the appearance aspect of that mind; and compassion is the emanation bodies — its radiance or expression. In short, they say that all three buddha bodies are present, fully formed in our ordinary state, but since they are obscured we are not aware of their presence.


Such statements taken literally are fraught with problems. While some people are partial and unfair in their criticism and refute misconceptions in only some traditions, Changkya Rolpai Dorje (1717–86) was unbiased and pointed out incorrect interpretations in all four Tibetan traditions, including his own Geluk tradition. In his Song of the Experience of the View, he says, “I say this not out of disrespect to these masters, but perhaps they have had less exposure to rigorous philosophical investigation of the great treatises and were unable to use certain terminology appropriately.” That is, the difficulty in their assertions lies in a broad use of terminology that is not grounded in the authority of the great treatises. Of course, Changkya’s comments do not apply to Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā masters such as Dodrup Jigme Tenpai Nyima and his teacher Awa Pangchu, who have done serious philosophical study and examination of the great treatises and who ground their understanding of Dzogchen in them. Their interpretations and writings are excellent.


All four Tibetan traditions teach practices that search for the mind — where it came from, where it goes, what its shape and color are, and so forth. Speaking of this shared practice, Changkya said that after searching in this manner, we find that the mind is not tangible, lacks color and shape, and does not come from one place or go to another. Discovering this, meditators experience a sensation of voidness. However, this voidness is not the emptiness of inherent existence that is the ultimate reality of the mind; it is the mere absence of the mind being a tangible object. Although someone may think this voidness is ultimate reality and meditate in that state for a long time, this is not meditation on the ultimate nature of the mind. There are two ways to meditate on the mind. The first is as above, examining whether the mind has color, shape, location, tangibility, and so forth. This leads to the sense that the conventional nature of the mind lacks these qualities. The second is meditation on the ultimate nature of the mind, in which we examine the mind’s ultimate mode of existence and discover its emptiness of inherent existence. People who confuse these two ways of meditating on the mind and think that the mind’s absence of tangibility, color, and so forth is the mind’s ultimate nature may criticize masters such as Dignāga and Dharmakīrti for their precise expositions on debate, logic, and reasoning, saying these only increase preconceptions. Gungtang Konchog Tenpai Dronme (1762–1823), another master who was impartial in his critical analysis of Tibetan Buddhist traditions, said he found this amazing.


Some people believe there is no need for reasoning or investigation on the path, that simply by having faith and receiving the blessing of a guru primordial wisdom will arise. In this light, I have been very happy to see the establishment of more shedras — academic institutes — that teach the classical philosophical texts from India and Tibet.


Some Westerners similarly do not value Dharma study and investigation, perhaps because Buddhadharma is relatively new in the West. Without a comprehensive understanding of the Buddhadharma, people tend to seek the easiest and shortest path to awakening, a path that does not require giving up their attachments. Such an attitude exists among Tibetans as well. Tsongkhapa said that many people think that the Buddha’s qualities are wonderful, but when a spiritual mentor explains through reasoning and scriptural citations how to attain them, they become discouraged and say, “Who can actually achieve such realizations?”



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Icy-Public6761

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3 hr. ago

It most certainly verifies that buddhahood is attainable. If I hadn't had felt this even though it was for a instant I can honestly say my faith would be based on some level of blind faith following a teaching which resonates with me but simultaneously lacking any verification that what's being said is even possible


As for being buddha, we'll of course we are an ignorant version of buddha.


What is a buddha? Ask the question of what a buddha is and then ask what a sentient is


And tell me the difference between the two before I even go deeper into this aspect of it.


As for why primordial wisdom isn't enough, I have my own thoughts surrounding this which are


When we arose from the ultimate of the ultimate transcendental origin of all, the absolute which you I Samantabhadra arose from we still arose as primordial awareness, however how this awareness was perceived from this arising was what made the biggest difference between the two


Samantabhadra arose knowing that primordial awareness was presently arising as an expression of the ultimate beyond the beyond, Samantabhadra arose knowing he was an arising of this then further sering the lights knowing the lights were arising from his presence which is the same thing but also different because we're primordial awareness is just the presence of the absolute and we on the other hand seen the lights as being the presence of pur primordial awareness


Two very different things.


For example when we die we go into primordial awareness which is only recognising itself which is no different to how we first arose from this absolute of absolute


Primordial awareness knows itself but does it know its origin? No


Let's say for example we have hypothetical scenario of absolute being left and the lights being the direction of right. Primordial awareness is at the centre of both of these directions but which way is it aware of the arising is it aware that its arising and then lights are arising from it or is it aware that its arising from this absolute which in effect the lights are arising from the primordial awareness? It's only aware of the arising of its presence not that its the presence of the arising of nothingness which being this presence things are arising from that


But that's just my own take on it that's what it felt like when I felt that experience whether it's true I don't know iv not studied enough to clarify this its just how it felt



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xabir

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12 min. ago

What you realized and experienced is just the aspect of clarity and then wrongly reified into an absolute. This is a deeply rooted paradigm based on the false view of inherent existence and subject-object duality. It is no different from the non-Buddhist Atman-Brahman view. The great (non Buddhist) mystics offer various names to it, the great I AM, the I-I, which is not the egoic self but the infinite, oceanic and all-pervading Presence, the Great Self with the capital S, denoting its status as the ontological Ultimate Reality, the Absolute, the "unborn and undying", the Universal, overarching, all-subsuming, transpersonal, One Without a Second, your own Godhead, your own formless, spaceless, timeless, infinite Ground of Being, your own Atman that is Brahman, your Keter, Christ consciousness, radiant Shekhinah, [insert your favourite among all the countless epithets], so on and so forth.


Like a river flowing into the ocean, the self dissolves into nothingness. When a practitioner becomes thoroughly clear about the illusionary nature of the individuality, subject-object division does not take place. A person experiencing “AMness” will find “AMness in everything”. What is it like? Being freed from individuality -- coming and going, life and death, all phenomenon merely pop in and out from the background of the AMness. The AMness is not experienced as an ‘entity’ residing anywhere, neither within nor without; rather it is experienced as the ground reality for all phenomenon to take place. Even in the moment of subsiding (death), the yogi is thoroughly authenticated with that reality; experiencing the ‘Real’ as clear as it can be. We cannot lose that AMness; rather all things can only dissolve and re-emerges from it. The AMness has not moved, there is no coming and going. This "AMness" is God.


Your view and what you have gone through is currently similar to that, and because of this dualistic paradigm it continues to elude you in your everyday experience, or remain as glimpses, as the relationship between Pure Perfect Presence and everyday ordinary transient world and experience remains unclear and dualistic. As long as there is the slightest delusion and view that there is an Ultimate or a Beyond or an Absolute or a Behind that is more ultimate and special than the sound [sgra], lights ['od] and rays [zer] as your own self-display, as pristine consciousness, beyond the dualism of subject and object, 'absolute' and 'relative', then there is no liberation but constant struggle and effort. As Acarya Malcolm Smith wrote in 2020, "There is no absolute, so how can Zen have a standpoint regarding it?" The reification of Pure Perfect Presence into an 'Absolute' that exists behind or beyond 'the relative' is itself the root cause of duality. And as long as there remains the slightest delusion that there is an ultimate background/beyond/behind behind relative phenomena, this will serve as the greatest hindrance to the effortless spontaneous actualization of pure perfect presence in every natural manifestation.


Firstly, what exactly is the ‘background’? Actually it doesn’t exist. It is only an image of a ‘non-dual’ experience that is already gone. The dualistic mind fabricates a ‘background’ due to the poverty of its dualistic and inherent thinking mechanism. It ‘cannot’ understand or function without something to hold on to. That experience of the ‘I’ is a complete, non-dual foreground experience.


When the background subject is understood as an illusion, all transience phenomena reveal themselves as Pure Perfect Presence. From the chirping sound of the bird, to the vibration of the moving train, to the sensation when the feet touches the ground, to the greenery of the leaves and trees and the blueness of the blue sky, all these experiences are crystal clear, vivid, alive, pellucid, radiant, luminous, no less “I AM” than “I AM”. The Presence is still fully present, nothing is denied. So the so called “I AM” is just like any other experiences when the subject-object split is gone. No different from an arising sound. It only becomes a static background as an after thought when our dualistic and inherent tendencies are in action. So to answer your question of what is Alaya: it is precisely this reification of Clarity into a background substratum. As long as there is the slightest reification of a background substratum, a view that a background substratum is real and truly exists, a belief that a primordial awareness truly exists as something other than what appears, that alone is Alaya.


These mystics who realised the "Great I AM" reify an inherently existing Source and Substratum that lies prior to all phenomena, exists in and of itself before all phenomena and gives rise to all phenomena, do not understand the true Buddhist view, let alone Dzogchen. They are unable to overcome the view of a truly existing ground of Being and Source as a background of phenomena, a view rooted in a paradigm of dualism and inherent existence. As such, Pure Perfect Presence is seen as the ultimate Beyond, hiding behind everything, and this prevents the realization and full actualization of that in each and every single diverse manifestation. There is in truth, no Beyond at all, the Beyond or "background" is just an illusory image the mind made of Presence out of its cognitive poverty to comprehend its nature.


Continued below



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xabir

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11 min. ago

For example, I have a dharma friend by the name of Joel Agee, he wrote before that "Here are two sentences from one of the oldest Dzogchen texts, The All-Creating Monarch (Kunjed Gyalpo) quoted in Longchenpa's Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding (Richard Barron's translation):


“Seek the location of the heart essence through phenomena that derive from it


and come to appreciate it through the skillful means of not conceptualizing in any way whatsoever.


Since the heart essence occurs naturally, dharmakaya is not elsewhere.”


Coming across these lines had a vividly awakening effect on me.


Simple but profound and ongoing: a deconstruction of an unconscious habit of locating awareness anywhere else than in the moment-to-moment transient phenomena. Whoosh! No observer, no witness. No location!"


I wrote a post in 2018, "Dzogchen: Beyond Cause and Effect


(r) "Because (followers of anuyoga) do not understand that the phenomena of the universe, however they appear, are the Source, just-that-ness, they see space and wisdom (respectively as) cause and effect. Because they affirm the cause and deny the effect, (they have) obstacles until (they develop) confidence in (dzogchen) that transcends both affirmation and negation."


"Followers of anuyoga do not understand that all phenomena of the universe, however they appear, are the state of Pure Perfect Presence, the Source, just-that-ness. They see a duality of cause and effect, in which the two aspects -- the emptiness of space and the luminosity of wisdom -- are, respectively, earlier cause and later effect. They affirm the production of the effect from the cause, but deny the dependence of the cause upon the effect. They do not understand that all phenomena are the essence of self-originated wisdom, which primordially transcends arising, ceasing, accepting, and rejecting based upon cause and effect. Thus they have the obstacle of not understanding the authentic state, the real condition, until they correctly acquire confidence in the fundamental principle of ati dzogchen that transcends both affirmation and negation."


- Ornament of the State of Samantabhadra: Commentary on the All-Creating King, Pure Perfect Presence, Great Perfection of All Phenomena



My own comments: If you have some notion that there is a space behind phenomena out of which phenomena is later created, that is dualism. All phenomena are one's own state, one's own essence, nature and energy.


The notion of true origination is erroneous. For example, there is no such thing as sunlight truly created by the sun as the sun is designated in dependence on sunlight, it's not that sun precedes sunlight. Sun has no sun-essence apart from shining and shining has no essence of its own apart from sun. Father is also designated in dependence on the son, the cause does not truly precede its effects. If you think the father could exist without the son, then you are affirming the producer of the effect independently of the effect. In truth, the son, the love for the son 'actualizes' the father. Both are merely designated in dependence without any independent reality. In truth, sunlight/manifestation is non-originated, non-arising. There is no that which produces and that which is produced when both are merely/dependently designated." - A post I wrote in 2018


Joel Agee also added in 2013 to his original post, "Until fairly recently, the metaphor of the mirror and its reflections seemed a fitting image of my contemplative experience: that there is an unchanging, ever-present, imperturbable awareness that is the absolute ground and the very substance of phenomena, and that while this motionless, contentless awareness-presence is inseparable from the ceaseless coming and going of appearances, it also transcends everything that shows up, remaining untouched, unstained, absolute and indestructible.


A couple of years ago I discovered Soh’s blog, Awakening to Reality, and in it Soh’s account of his exploration of the Bahiya Sutta and the Zen Priest Alex Weith’s report on his realization of Anatta through practical application of the Bahiya Sutta. I saw then that Anatta was not fully realized in my experience. The illusory nature of a separate unchanging personal self had been seen through, but an unconscious identification with “Awareness” or “rigpa” had taken its place.


Since then, an unstoppable deconstruction of that impersonal background identity has been happening in my contemplation and in my daily life. There is still a noticeable attachment to the memory of that subtle Home Base. It shows up as a tendency to "lean back" from the unpredictable brilliance and dynamism of the moment into a static, subtly blissful background presence. But there is no longer a belief in an Awareness that is anything other than, or greater than, or deeper than, THIS sound, THIS smile or stirring of emotion, THIS glance of light. There is no Mirror that is not the reflections.


So the shift in my experience and practice is not a preference for one teaching over another. It’s an ongoing realization that direct contact with the grain and texture of moment-by-moment experience is what Dogen meant by “being awakened by the ten thousand things.” - https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2013/09/joel-agee-appearances-are-self_1.html


Continued below



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xabir

·

7 min. ago

What the Dalai Lama was eluding to is also this, the importance to realize the empty nature of that primordial wisdom, otherwise its discovery at the time of death does not liberate: and this is something my mentor has said more than a decade ago as well:


"When we die, the thoughts and emotions that are karmically linked to the body are temporarily suspended. The contrast in experience that resulted from the dissolution of the ‘bond of a body’ gives rise to a more vivid experience of Presence; although the experience of Presence is there, the insight into its non-dual essence and emptiness nature isn’t there. This is similar to the experience of what the mystics call “The Great I AM”. Thoughts and emotions will continue to arise and subside with the bond of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ after death.


Pristine consciousness is always non-dual and all pervading; obscured but not lost. In essence all manifestation, transient (emotions, thoughts or feelings) is really the manifold of Presence. They have the same non-dual essence and empty nature. All problems lie not at the manifestation level but at the fundamental level. Deep in us we see things inherently and dualistically. How the experience of Presence can be distorted with the ‘bond’ of dualistic and inherent seeing maybe loosely categorized as:


There is a mirror reflecting dust. (“I AM”)


Mirror bright is experienced but distorted. Dualistic and Inherent seeing.


Dust is required for the mirror to see itself.


Non-Dualistic but Inherent seeing. (Beginning of non-dual insight)


Dust has always been the mirror (The mirror here is seen as a whole)


Non-Dualistic and non-inherent insight.


In 3, whatever comes and goes is the Rigpa itself. There is no Rigpa other than that. All along there is no dust really, only when a particular speck of dust claims that it is the purest and truest state then immediately all other arising which from beginning are self- mirroring become dust."


But if one's insight remain the level of 1 and 2, one has not gone beyond the non-Buddhist views and one's pristine consciousness is distorted and misinterpreted by false views.


Likewise, Acarya Malcolm Smith has said,


"One, whoever told you rig pa is not part of the five aggregates? Rig pa is knowledge of your own state. In its impure form one's own state manifests as the five aggregates; in its pure form, it manifests as the five buddha families.


Nagārjuna resolves this issue through using the eight examples. There is no substantial transmission, but there is serial continuity, like lighting a fire from another fire, impressing a seal on a document and so on. See his verses on dependent origination:


All migrating beings are causes and results.


but here there are no sentient beings at all;


just empty phenomena entirely produced


from phenomena that are only empty,


phenomena without a self and what belongs to a self,


[like] utterances, lamps, mirrors, seals,


lenses, seeds, sourness and echoes.


Although the aggregates are serially connected,


the wise are understand that nothing transfers.


Also, the one who imputes annihilation


upon extremely subtle existents,


is not wise,


and will not see the meaning of ‘arising from conditions’."


....


“The relative is not "reliant" on the ultimate, since they are just different cognitions of the same entity, one false, the other veridical.


There is no separate entity called "buddhanature" that can be established to exist in a sentient being composed of the five aggregates. If one should assert this is so, this position will be no different than the atman of the nonbuddhists.”


Not to mistaken Dzogchen as a system that asserts based on paradigm of dualism and inherent existence, some ultimate absolute. Dzogchen view is not the same as Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, Christian Mysticism, Islamic Sufism, Judaist Kabbalah, etc etc. As Krodha wrote before, "This idea of a single reality described differently in various cultural contexts is called “perennialism,” and is more of a new-age spiritual idea that originated with the theosophists.


This idea is rejected in Buddhist teachings which go to great lengths to demonstrate how and why it is untenable.


The Dzogchen tantras for example, list 60 views, which can be expanded to 360, that were found in the Indo-Tibetan region and are very clear that none of them are equivalent to Dzogchen. Advaita Vedanta is listed and actually cites Adi Sankara by name. These are not just arbitrary differences based on superficial differences, and are meant to be taken seriously."


In a separate post I wrote last year, I said, "In Dzogchen, it is said that our basis, our nature, is said to have the qualities of purity (i.e. emptiness), spontaneity (lhun grub, associated with luminous clarity) and compassion (thugs rje).


IMO: all three are equally important. To skew towards emptiness while missing the luminous clarity radiance is to fall into a kind of intellectual idea of emptiness, or a state of nihilism. To skew towards luminous clarity while missing out on emptiness is to fall into the eternalist views of non-Buddhist yogis, reifying an essence and substratum out of luminosity. To skew towards the emptiness and clarity but missing out the compassion that is the spontaneous responsiveness of our nature is to miss out on the full actualization of our nature in activities. Also, to conceive of the radiance apart from activities and manifestation is also to reify the radiance as having self-nature, thus not truly penetrating its empty nature. Also you are missing out the heart in all these if your entire being is not filled with spontaneous compassion. Yet, to skew towards compassion while missing out the emptiness and clarity is to fall into a kind of foolish compassion, compassion but without wisdom. So on and so forth..."


Continue reading below



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level 8

xabir

·

6 min. ago

Lastly I'll leave you two more quotes from Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm:

"The very short explanation is, according to the upadesha class tantras such as the root tantra of Dzogchen, sgra thal gyur, that there is a neutral awareness [shes pa] that arises out of the basis because of a stirring of vāyu [rlung], sometimes mistranslated as prāṇa (prāṇa is a vāyu). Because there is a movement, accompanied by sound [sgra], lights ['od] and rays [zer]*, there are appearances that arise out of the basis. When these appearances are recognized as one's own state, this recognition is what is called "rig pa", it is also given the name "shes rab" or prājña. When these appearances are not recognized as one's own state, this is called "ma rig pa", avidyā."


"And this so-called "god" aka basis [gzhi] is just a nonexistent mere appearance, that is, our primordial potentiality also has no real existence, which is stated over and over again in countless Dzogchen tantras.

For those whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible.

For those whom emptiness is not possible, nothing is possible.

-- Nāgārjuna." 
 
Malcolm: The basis is not a backdrop. Everything is not separate from the basis. But that everything just means your own skandhas, dhātus and āyatanas. There is no basis outside your mind, just as there is no Buddhahood outside of your mind. gad rgyangs wrote:
 
Then why speak of a basis at all? just speak of skandhas, dhātus and āyatanas, and be done with it. Malcolm wrote:
 
Because these things are regarded as afflictive, whereas Dzogchen is trying to describe the person in his or her originally nonafflictive condition. It really is just that simple. The so called general basis is a universal derived from the particulars of persons. That is why it is often mistaken for a transpersonal entity. But Dzogchen, especially man ngag sde is very grounded in Buddhist Logic, and one should know that by definition universals are considered to be abstractions and non-existents in Buddhism, and Dzogchen is no exception. -- read more at https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2014/02/clarifications-on-dharmakaya-and-basis_16.html
 
And you'll know you have overcome Alaya and actualized Rigpa in its maturity when you have realized and actualized this insight expressed by Krodha: 
 
"'Self luminous' and 'self knowing' are concepts which are used to convey the absence of a subjective reference point which is mediating the manifestation of appearance. Instead of a subjective cognition or knower which is 'illuminating' objective appearances, it is realized that the sheer exertion of our cognition has always and only been the sheer exertion of appearance itself. Or rather that cognition and appearance are not valid as anything in themselves. Since both are merely fabricated qualities neither can be validated or found when sought. This is not a union of subject and object, but is the recognition that the subject and object never arose in the first place [advaya]. ", "The cognition is empty. That is what it means to recognize the nature of mind [sems nyid]. The clarity [cognition] of mind is recognized to be empty, which is sometimes parsed as the inseparability of clarity and emptiness, or nondual clarity and emptiness." 
 
Also, by Krodha: "The Buddhist view is that there is no actual seer of sights, no hearer of sounds, no feeler of feelings, no knower of known. When this is experientially recognized in a nonconceptual way, that is “awakening.”” 
 
By the way have you managed to unblock Krodha yet?


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Icy-Public6761

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3 hr. ago

Also my thoughts to back up my claim which I will accept otherwise if told any differently


Knowing that sentients has buddha fully manifested which is true


However does it explain how wisdom awareness is being actualized?


Is it actualising its presence and all being an appearance of that or is it actualising its presence is just presence of its own arising which are two extremely different things


Correct me if I'm wrong and again this iv found no ground to base this claim but I trust you'd had read something about this if it has any ground at all....


Buddha knows the origin of its wisdom so to speak but also knows that all is arising from wisdom simultaneously


Have you noticed in your own practice that wisdom is only actualising the wisdom aspect of what's arising from the wisdom and not the origin of the wisdom? The beyond wisdom is still completely ignored its ignorant of that completely even in trekcho practice its completely ignorant of this its only faced one way so to speak



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xabir

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just now

See my other post that deconstructs an absolute source.


Also, someone once wrote to me,


“Ok... I am seeing your point as "awareness" outside of conditioned experience is an imputation. When could one ever have such an experience outside of experience? The "knowing" of being would also be an experience, as opposed to the "not knowing". And if there was "not knowing", then how you could prove there was "awareness" in such a "not knowing"? Very interesting.


Well, its not really new... it is just clear now how there is an imputation we put on Awareness as being "separate' from experience, as some sort of "stand alone" awareness". I have always experienced awareness as experience inseparably so, but didn't notice the subtle imputation that gives still a separate implication of being a remainder, when all things are absent. Being wouldn't know itself outside of experience. If being did know itself in total voidness, that very "knowing" would itself be an experience, hence the void would not be void. God cannot be separated from creation, because the potential for creation is already Known.” - Mr. J, 2012


“What is presence now? Everything... Taste saliva, smell, think, what is that? Snap of a finger, sing. All ordinary activity, zero effort therefore nothing attained. Yet is full accomplishment. In esoteric terms, eat God, taste God, see God, hear God...lol. That is the first thing I told Mr. J few years back when he first messaged me 😂 If a mirror is there, this is not possible. If clarity isn't empty, this isn't possible. Not even slightest effort is needed. Do you feel it? Grabbing of my legs as if I am grabbing presence! Do you have this experience already? When there is no mirror, then entire existence is just lights-sounds-sensations as single presence. Presence is grabbing presence. The movement to grab legs is Presence.. the sensation of grabbing legs is Presence.. For me even typing or blinking my eyes. For fear that it is misunderstood, don't talk about it. Right understanding is no presence, for every single sense of knowingness is different. Otherwise Mr. J will say nonsense... lol. When there is a mirror, this is not possible. Think I wrote to longchen (Sim Pern Chong) about 10 years ago.” - John Tan


“It is such a blessing after 15 years of "I Am" to come to this point . Beware that the habitual tendencies will try its very best to take back what it has lost. Get use to doing nothing. Eat God, taste God, see God and touch God.


Congrats.” – John Tan to Sim Pern Chong after his initial breakthrough from I AM to no-self in 2006



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2 hr. ago

Primordial awareness needs to exhaust that's how we realise absolute. This awareness itself the base of all which is both base for dharmakāya and alaya itself needs to exhaust


When you think what's different between dharmakāya and alaya? Presence of the arising of this ground


Krodha has attempted to say I'm in alaya but it's impossible to say whether I'm not unless you're experiencing my awareness, impossible to truly know unless you are within my mandala of experience experiencing it as it comes


Mind recognising mind is alaya cognition


Awareness recognising mind is arising from the ground of awareness which phenomena are simultaneously arising along mind is recognition of dharmakāya


Correct me if I'm wrong?


Dharmakāya has cognitive recognition, its realising the container of habits of the arising of phenomena, its realising that phenomena and mind are arising simultaneously but in some sort of delayed way.


To realise mind and phenomena are arising together theirs some degree of delayed arising from awareness to mind and phenomena arising simultaneously which is why you're able to watch it happening. Although extremely short it's still kind of delayed which is why its a layer from one to another


Primordial awareness is watching mind arise as mind


I can't fully place into words that experience But I'm seeing it happening as its presently so to speak happening. Almost as if mind arising as mind ( phenomena arising simultaneously with mind ) is the objective of that experience


I then recognise that this knowing of that is itself an illusion then I'm instantly just arising as awareness no mind just clear lucid presence


But this presence is also failing to see its arising as presence which is also a distinction from the absolute the presence itself is not absolute



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xabir

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just now

Dharmakaya is this:


Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm Smith:


"I would not put it this way because it make it seems like the five elements are extraneous to wisdom. They are not. The nature of the five elements is wisdom. It is like the front and back of one's hand. You only have one hand, but it appears differently based on perceiving its front or its back. As Magnus implies, it is when we rectify our perception of the elements that they then appear as wisdom.


Also the cause of ignorance is the wisdom of the basis itself. So vidyā becomes avidyā, lights become elements, and so forth simply due to our ingrained traces of ignorance built up over countless lifetimes.


In order to reveal the wisdom light that is the empty substance of the universe and living beings, we have to purify our perception of our personal elements. This is done through togal or klong sde practice."


"The elements are wisdom, they simply are not recognized as such. There is a Bon logic text, very nice, that proves appearances are dharmakāya. The objection is raised, if appearances are dharmakāya why isn't everyone liberated instantly? The answer is that those who recognize appearances as dharmakāya are liberated instantly since instant liberation is as desiderata. Those who are not liberated instantly are those who have not recognized appearances as dharmakāya.


Upon what does recognition of appearances as dharmakāya depend? Introduction. Without having been introduced to appearances as dharmakāya, one will not recognize appearances as dharmakāya, just as if one has been sent into a crowd to find a person one has not met, even when one sees them face to face they are not recognized.


So the elements are wisdom. Vidyā and avidyā is the deciding factor in recognition. That recognition depends on an introduction, just as our recognition of a face in the crowd depends upon whether we have been introduced to that face or not."


- https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2014/02/clarifications-on-dharmakaya-and-basis_16.html



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7 min. ago

What's your cobstruct of absolute though? Let's debate from personal encounters of insight not reference because I feel that is important for both of us to progress



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xabir

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6 min. ago

I don't want to repeat myself but if you're interested, I documented my personal insights and journey and experience in my e-journal: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2010/12/my-e-booke-journal.html


Many hundred pages. Actually I hesitate to share this here because this was written even before I got into Dzogchen. Let's keep this discussion Dzogchen teachings focused. This is not a forum to discuss your personal journey.



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