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Kwabena Akuamoa:
Very enjoyable conversation. Thank you for sharing.
All there is the foreground, the manifestation/appearances. "The pulse and throb of life" as UG Krishnamurti would passionately put it. There is no substance underlying appearance.
A substance never emerged from the appearances. A self never emerged from the aggregates. A house-reality/substance never arose from the collection of bricks, wood, glass, shapes etc. Weather never emerged from wind, cloud, sunlight, raindrop. Interesting. The substance is imagined on the parts, but it never arose.
There is no ultimate point. No centre. No ground. No reality. No beginning. No middle. No end. No growth. No decay. No shapes. Just empty appearance, which is full, real, everything, true, yet empty, nowhere yet vibrant, shiny, bright, alive, explosive.
In my current experience, Buddha Nature is also an appearance, a label, a perspective, nothing substantial, nothing ultimate.
...
Haven’t been on FB for a few years. Returned so I can follow different Dharma Groups and participate in discussions etc. Thought I’d revisit this convo, now that my understanding has matured a little. Your point above is perfect. “Awareness is the appearances itself”. Ignorance is to think the appearances have inherent nature. Wisdom is to see that the appearances do not have inherent nature, but are just mere appearances (still real).
Mere appearance without a source or centralising point anywhere.
I think I’ve been having glimpses since 2015, when I encountered UG Krishnamurti/Emptiness teachings and I stopped trying to get in touch with a source. Gradually over time it became clearer to me that all ultimates were just conventions and so I began focusing on understanding appearances. At this point I still had a lot of doubt in my mind - “what about the Awareness that is spoken by all the realises beings? How do I make sense of this? I cannot find it” etc...
Your website (among other resources like D.Ingram’s material) was extremely useful in making me see that the appearances themselves, the very movement of life is the awareness... that I didn’t have to fixate on the idea of Awareness. I gained confidence in my practice and that confidence made this view emerge more and more with less effort.
The intensity of the experience intensified after I went on my first meditation retreat in June 2018. It was a 1 week self-led retreat, and I spent my time contemplating emptiness primarily with the help of the text “How Things Exist” by Lama Zopa Rinpoche & “Emptiness/Joyful Freedom” by GG and Thomas Sanders.
Lama Zopa described in the text, with very simple language: how the self and all other objects are empty I.e nonexistent from their own side, and yet existing via mere imputation. I applied the analyses on my aggregates and recognised the complete absence of an inherent self, I.e something other than the psycho-physical aggregates, which possessed them and performed actions through them. I would take many breaks during my meditation sittings, and during my breaks I’d just experience the flow of life.. the colours, tastes, sensations etc.. the thoughts, and think “what is this really)... and I’d see that there was just the selfless appearance appearing. There was just forms/appearances/LIFE, yet there was nothing behind the forms, no substance...
I kept on reapplying the analyses daily and this lead to good progress. My experiences dissipated once I returned from retreat but I had more confidence.
I went on another retreat in Nov 2018... Lam Rim retreat, where I focused more on other aspects of the teachings - Bidhicitta, Shamata, Rebirth, Death Karma etc. This really helped support eeverything I was doing, and now the understanding seems more stable.
But i wouldn’t say the view is stable as yet... sometimes it feels more intellectual, than direct experience. The direct experience emerges through some contemplation during the day... though this is getting a lot easier now - I just think: all these appearances creating a sense of self, where is the self amongst all these appearances? And I’m just left with the appearances... no background. No container. No linker etc.. just the vibrancy of life.. just the manifestation.
I am experiencing this currently. Almost as if everything is magically appearing from absolutely nowhere. Even the thoughts. There is no collector. It’s as if life is just living itself freely. I cannot find any centre in the movement, but all appearances speak for themselves. Moment by moment. There is a sense of being released from “stuckness”.. disentangled...the flow of life/appearances is unrestricted, and there is nothing really there doing anything to make it so
But the intensity of this view will change. Usually when I sleep and wake up I have to re apply the analyses to see things as such once more. That is my current situation: constant effort applying the analysis, but I think there is progress 😊
My current intent is simply to let things happen, be patient, offer benefit where I can and develop limitless compassion - reflecting on how all these experiences mean nothing if it doesn’t relieve other precious sentient being from existential distress... how it all ultimately belongs to the enlightenment of all beings.. how unless all other beings are totally free from the slightest trace of suffering, I have achieved nothing... etc.
Very enjoyable conversation. Thank you for sharing.
All there is the foreground, the manifestation/appearances. "The pulse and throb of life" as UG Krishnamurti would passionately put it. There is no substance underlying appearance.
A substance never emerged from the appearances. A self never emerged from the aggregates. A house-reality/substance never arose from the collection of bricks, wood, glass, shapes etc. Weather never emerged from wind, cloud, sunlight, raindrop. Interesting. The substance is imagined on the parts, but it never arose.
There is no ultimate point. No centre. No ground. No reality. No beginning. No middle. No end. No growth. No decay. No shapes. Just empty appearance, which is full, real, everything, true, yet empty, nowhere yet vibrant, shiny, bright, alive, explosive.
In my current experience, Buddha Nature is also an appearance, a label, a perspective, nothing substantial, nothing ultimate.
...
Haven’t been on FB for a few years. Returned so I can follow different Dharma Groups and participate in discussions etc. Thought I’d revisit this convo, now that my understanding has matured a little. Your point above is perfect. “Awareness is the appearances itself”. Ignorance is to think the appearances have inherent nature. Wisdom is to see that the appearances do not have inherent nature, but are just mere appearances (still real).
Mere appearance without a source or centralising point anywhere.
I think I’ve been having glimpses since 2015, when I encountered UG Krishnamurti/Emptiness teachings and I stopped trying to get in touch with a source. Gradually over time it became clearer to me that all ultimates were just conventions and so I began focusing on understanding appearances. At this point I still had a lot of doubt in my mind - “what about the Awareness that is spoken by all the realises beings? How do I make sense of this? I cannot find it” etc...
Your website (among other resources like D.Ingram’s material) was extremely useful in making me see that the appearances themselves, the very movement of life is the awareness... that I didn’t have to fixate on the idea of Awareness. I gained confidence in my practice and that confidence made this view emerge more and more with less effort.
The intensity of the experience intensified after I went on my first meditation retreat in June 2018. It was a 1 week self-led retreat, and I spent my time contemplating emptiness primarily with the help of the text “How Things Exist” by Lama Zopa Rinpoche & “Emptiness/Joyful Freedom” by GG and Thomas Sanders.
Lama Zopa described in the text, with very simple language: how the self and all other objects are empty I.e nonexistent from their own side, and yet existing via mere imputation. I applied the analyses on my aggregates and recognised the complete absence of an inherent self, I.e something other than the psycho-physical aggregates, which possessed them and performed actions through them. I would take many breaks during my meditation sittings, and during my breaks I’d just experience the flow of life.. the colours, tastes, sensations etc.. the thoughts, and think “what is this really)... and I’d see that there was just the selfless appearance appearing. There was just forms/appearances/LIFE, yet there was nothing behind the forms, no substance...
I kept on reapplying the analyses daily and this lead to good progress. My experiences dissipated once I returned from retreat but I had more confidence.
I went on another retreat in Nov 2018... Lam Rim retreat, where I focused more on other aspects of the teachings - Bidhicitta, Shamata, Rebirth, Death Karma etc. This really helped support eeverything I was doing, and now the understanding seems more stable.
But i wouldn’t say the view is stable as yet... sometimes it feels more intellectual, than direct experience. The direct experience emerges through some contemplation during the day... though this is getting a lot easier now - I just think: all these appearances creating a sense of self, where is the self amongst all these appearances? And I’m just left with the appearances... no background. No container. No linker etc.. just the vibrancy of life.. just the manifestation.
I am experiencing this currently. Almost as if everything is magically appearing from absolutely nowhere. Even the thoughts. There is no collector. It’s as if life is just living itself freely. I cannot find any centre in the movement, but all appearances speak for themselves. Moment by moment. There is a sense of being released from “stuckness”.. disentangled...the flow of life/appearances is unrestricted, and there is nothing really there doing anything to make it so
But the intensity of this view will change. Usually when I sleep and wake up I have to re apply the analyses to see things as such once more. That is my current situation: constant effort applying the analysis, but I think there is progress 😊
My current intent is simply to let things happen, be patient, offer benefit where I can and develop limitless compassion - reflecting on how all these experiences mean nothing if it doesn’t relieve other precious sentient being from existential distress... how it all ultimately belongs to the enlightenment of all beings.. how unless all other beings are totally free from the slightest trace of suffering, I have achieved nothing... etc.
