Traveling Today

Nothing new.

When this auto-post becomes available online, I'll be traveling long distances.

Of course, the longest distance is not from here to there; rather, it is from here to here -- from your heart to the wall of the cave, so to speak -- from the spark to the flame, if that feels better.

Some readers come to read many times throughout the day. I see the cities they come from, and I occasionally know who they are.

So, here, while I am flying, is a little pixie dust for the ones I know.

If you wish to practice Buddhism, it is very necessary to stubbornly continue with your practice, even when there are all sorts of diversions -- you know: politics, witch-hunts, scandals, alarms, emergencies, bullshit, who shot John and who screwed Sally, Lama said this, Lama did that, blah, blah, blah -- it is all so unnecessary and counterproductive.

That crap is going to arise no matter where you are, so don't go romanticizing about how much "easier" it would be in a place like that pictured above. Actually, it is so much more difficult in places like this. You are tempted to believe you are actually "in" the soap opera of something, and that is the stickiest trap of them all. You know... "we're Buddhists," and "we're practicing," and there are all these sentient beings, and they are all suffering, and here comes the cure.

If you wish to practice Buddhism, it is very necessary to explore that which you perceive as the boundaries of your practice -- you know: politics, witch-hunts, scandals, alarms, emergencies, bullshit, who screwed John and who shot Sally, Lama is this, Lama isn't that, sob, sob, sob -- it is all so redundant and wearisome.

Sooner or later, these boundaries are going to collapse, and that is a very good thing. It takes so much energy to keep them in place, looking shiny, and seeming ever-so-necessary.

When the boundaries collapse then the schemes evaporate, and it is no longer necessary to do anything about anything --- you know, it is no longer necessary to "do."

You no longer have to search for a word. You no longer have to wait for a silence. How very free! How very relaxing! You are no longer a consultant! You are no longer an official! You are no longer a broken lover! You are no longer a hateful cult monkey!

You don't like that, do you?

"When it comes to matters of the heart,
there is nothing a fool won't get used to."

--Bonnie Raitt

It is comfortable to wake up and renew the self-deception that whispers, "I know exactly what is happening today. I know exactly what to do. I know what to say. I know what to do. I know what to do. I know what to do. I know what to do."

If you wish to stop practicing Buddhism and actually be the Buddhist you inherently always were and in fact are, right this minute, then you have to allow yourself to be comfortable with that which, right this minute, might habitually seem uncomfortable.

It is comfortable to wake up in a world full of parents, children, lovers, muggers, saints, thieves -- all cooking in the cannibal's pot -- and to seduce yourself into believing that you are the cannibal!

But, the thing is... you are not the cannibal.

You are the soup.

Your bubbling boil-over of politics, parents, children, witch-hunts, lovers, scandals, muggers, alarms, saints, emergencies, thieves, bullshit --- projections rollicking on the road to hell like menopausal dwarves: itchy, bitchy, sweaty, sleepy, bloated, forgetful, and psycho.

Turn down the stove.

Take the lid off the pot.

Taste it.

Tastes like shit, doesn't it?

So, you leave it to fester and draw flies, and decide to go get anything you want at Rinpoche's Restaurant. Over there, something doesn't taste right, you can blame the chef. Stay home, you got only yourself to blame. Can't afford Rinpoche's? You can always get a Spiritual Salad Bowl... or take-out from Hamburger Lama's... they're on every corner... full of 'holics trapped in a perpetual morning after.

You could always stop eating, but then, your attachment to emptiness would still follow the course of all your other attachments.

Isn't it wonder, the day can come when you take up giving and give up taking: when you give up giving up, and stop hugging the idea of suffering and savior.

"You are not enlightened through fabricated dharmas;

....You need a dharma beyond fabrication.

"You are not enlightened through explained dharmas;

....You need a dharma beyond explanation.

"You are not enlightened through cultivated dharmas;

....You need a dharma beyond cultivation.

"Don't do anything.

Don't go anywhere.

Don't think.

Don't construct.

Don't judge.

Don't focus.

Don't support.

Don't take aim.

Don't cling.

Without anything whatsoever, simply remain.
Don't even label this "Buddha."
Dharmakaya is beyond thought, word, and description."

--Padmasambhava
as quoted in Juniper Ridge

I don't know if Padmasambhava said that or not. Still, based on experience, I have come to trust the source, so I have agreed with myself to believe that he said this, and to examine what use it might have. I think Padmasambhava was probably a supremely kind and gentle being; that he had no reason to deceive anybody about anything. I would like to think that those who came after might respect him enough to not spin the dials too awfully much.

Nonetheless, through the years I have preferred not to think of Padmasambhava as a "him," or a "what," and for this reason, every morning when the sun rises there is an unstructured, ever-unfolding, ever-renewing, fundamentally pure, base-line opportunity to be open and kind --- this possibility of open kindness, that shines all over the place, pours down all over the place, animating the stage and its scenery, the stage and its actors --- all the colors of your heart's spontaneously beneficial imagination.

Diamonds and dust will, equally and eventually, fall through your fingers. Wind will scatter some, water scatter others. While there is still time to do so, learn how to regard them as equal blessings, and become the kindest part of us all: beyond fabrication, explanation, cultivation.

Padmasambhava's improvisations.


19:20:30:06:09香港時間 for 00:01:01:07:09