The Spirituality Ego Trip

The ONE is nonduality, it preludes reality, and it is the source of all existence and non-existence.

All consciousness from the simplest to the self-consciousness, rises from the ONE as waves rise from the ocean, and after their journey in the duality world, all consciousness returns to the source, to the ONE.

I have discussed this metaphysical concept, at large, in some of my previous blogs but today this will be just a brief introduction to the subject at hand “The Spiritual Ego Trip”  

So, what is the Ego and what is an Ego trip?

As we are born we still have the quality of non-duality, that means the newborn and very young babies have no knowledge of “Good” or “Bad” we are pure Spirit encapsulated in a meat, bones and skin bag. 

We must learn what pain is in order to know what pleasure is, we have to learn what a lie is in order to know what truth is, we have to learn what hate is in order to know what love is. In short, we must know the evil in order to know the good.

This may sound harsh but without losing our innocence we wouldn’t be able to survive in the material world. This is our original sin “eating the apple from the tree of knowledge”

Along with the knowledge, we also learn how to speak and how to reason using language and symbols.

We are also indoctrinated in the concept of identity.

You are no longer a manifestation of God part of all that there is but a separate individual, a human.

To enforce that identity, you are given a label, a name and a role you have to play – to be John the son or Mary the daughter of your parents. Usually, after that, you are assigned another role “the student role”

Sometime around 7 years old +-  our learned function “the reason” connects to the assigned identity.

and thinking becomes predominant over all the other functions of the Spirit; intuition, imagination, creativity.

If you are lucky some of your talents may be nourished and further develop or unlucky and have all your talents be suppressed and never develop.

It is in the teenage period when the reason reaches the stage of self-consciousness “the I think therefore I am” form. At that time, the Ego takes control from the Spirit and asserts itself as the true identity of the human experience. Our Ego trips multiply. We are sports fans, boyfriend, and girlfriend, democrat or republican, Christian or Muslim, athlete or cheerleader etc.

But these Ego trips are just the introduction to the big roles, father, mother, engineer, teacher, entrepreneur or worker etc. Just ask anybody who are you and they will answer with the assigned label and role. Nobody has any clue that, that is just an Ego trip not the real identity of the “I”

The development of the Ego imposes the Ego qualities over our personality overshadowing the qualities of our Spirit. All Ego qualities arise from the belief in its separate state from everything as opposed to the spirit that knows it is connected to everything.

Some of the Ego qualities derive from that are the belief of scarcity, poverty, ignorance, and fear but what keeps the Ego in power is the supreme quality of the Ego – Vanity. The I am better than you Ego game that all of us are involved in even if we are not aware of it,

The classical example of vanity Ego trip would be any person driving a Ferrari or similar car, any person decked in jewelry or a guy with a trophy wife. That is the Ego saying to the world look at me I am better than you. I am a winner and everybody else is a loser. But that is just a façade, an empty attempt to fill the void of Ego existence.

Another form of Ego trip is the spiritual Ego trip. Because of the explosion of information, we now know that material success doesn’t equate with happiness and we even look down on people with money.

Having money will not excuse you from being a douche bag so some people have found another way to be better than you. The spiritual pseudo “non-material” Ego trip.

One of my favorite spiritual Ego trips are the eco-planet-saving warriors. You know the type; vegan, hip, Prius driving apple book totting, save the planet preachers.

Here is the point: For millions of years, we have been living in harmony with the planet without generating any garbage or industrial pollution. Actually, there are people that do that even now. 

The Amish people live in perfect harmony with planet earth. 

They cultivate their own food, make their own clothes and have a zero impact on the planet.

So, all those hip types trying to make you feel guilty for using plastic bags or eating a beef steak are just little hypocrites. 

They are not here to save the planet they are here to show you how much better they are then you. 

If they really cared about the planet they should give up their Priuses, Apple laptops, and cell phones and go live on an Amish farm with zero impact on the planet they say they love. Right?

And then of course then is us the Zen Buddhist, Born again Christians, Hassidic Jews, and Fundamentalist Muslims. You know the type; My God is better than your God and my religion and beliefs the only right one. In other words, I am better than you Ego trip disguised as “I am doing you a favor saving your soul from the eternal flames of hell”

It is all a charade, a grotesque circus of hypocrisy. The Pope and the Vatican are the richest men and institution on the globe. How did they get all that money, treasures and land? From ripping off the poor and then turning around to lead the fight against the poverty they created. Just like our eco-warriors friends. If you want to end poverty why not do it? After all, you have all the means and nobody will stop you.  

So, the bottom line is, if you belong to any organized religious or non-religious group you are on an Ego trip. 

Jesus and Gautama had no church or temple. Christ was not Christian and Buddha was not a Buddhist. 

If you want to be a spiritual person you should be like Jesus “in this world but not of this world” and like Gautama a beggar, a nobody meditating under the Bodhi tree.

Demolition Zen

Zen will tear you apart, deconstruct and shred you to pieces, demolish every belief and piece of knowledge to the depths of your mental foundation, obliterate you and reduce you to NOTHING.

So now you know where that Zen obsession with nothing and emptiness stems from.

It is a Zen necessity a  primordial directive a must without Zen will not make any sense.

If that is not your Zen experience then you are doing it the wrong way or you are not  doing Zen but some sort of Westernized version of some Buddist  and Vedic superstitions wrapped up by the New Age gurus as Zen and marketed to the hyp crowd, cause you may say anything about Zen but one thing will all agree: Zen is cool and fashionable.

Of course, the process is maddeningly painful and only a half-crazed men will choose to go the whole way thru with his own mental suicide.

So the Zen experience, like any other suicide missions is strictly on a voluntary basis. 

Not only that but you will, have to beg for it and a true Zen master very rarely accepts a student and usually only after he has subjected the student to a lot of humiliating tasks.

But if self inflicted pain is not your thing, like I mention before, there are a lot of pseudo-spiritual practices out there from organized religion that for a small donation of your money will give you permission to any sin you may desire to commit from adultery to rape and murder and after that give you a free pass to heaven.

 Or you can go with the New Age crowd which is a lovely colorful spiritual circus under which tent the most bizarre freaks have gathered.

You can play with crystals, groovy music and sound frequencies collared lights and even some mushrooms and LSD trips cause the New Age motto is “Anything Goes” the more bizarre and irrational the better.

And of course, there is the “serious” scientific side of spirituality. The MD crowd.

Here we have the Ph.D. professors in psychology, the shrinks, a whole spectrum of therapists, family counselors and anything else that could squeeze under the cover of “scientific” authority.

Also, they have some really good drugs and as one that has been a patient I have to tell you that’s the only good thing about psychiatrists, they can hook you up with some really powerful shit.

So all these non-Zen paths can be summarised by the defining philosophy “we want to make you feel good”

This philosophy comes from the totally erroneous conclusion that pain is a problem and therefore getting rid of pain is the good mental and spiritual practice.

Here is the bummer. Pain is not a problem. It has never and will never be a problem. 

Pain and suffering are the symptom and as such not treatable, because treating a symptom will only make the problem worse.

I don’t want to brag about this but Buddha the original 100% genuine one lord Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni  Buddha, was the first modern psychiatrist and the one and only that understood that pain and suffering are the symptoms of internal inheriting human problem the “dukkha”  the noble truth of suffering AKA desire, craving, addiction, clinging etc

And the first one to develop a cognitive therapy based system to deal with this problem: “The eightfold path”

Have you ever had to rebuild your house? Maybe smaller like remodeling your kitchen?

OK even if you have not personally done it you are familiar with the process.

A bunch of men come in your kitchen and basically destroy your kitchen, tear everything down and the haul out all the old cabinets, appliances an all the debris generated during the demolition process.

Then when everything is cleared to the bare bone they go in and build the kitchen of your dreams.

So this process, this cycle of destruction and construction is very well understood in the construction business and no contractor no matter how stupid will tell you that you can remodel your kitchen while still keeping your old appliances and furniture. It is just common sense.

But not for the people involved in spiritual and mental growth

The cycle of destruction and rebirth was known to mankind since ancient times. Why do you think we celebrate Christmas. Yeah, I know the Jesy story but that is just plain BS. The Catholic church ripped off the pagan celebration of death – winter equinox – and rebirth – spring equinox and made it into their own ritual, hence the existence of  Christmas trees, the Easter bunnies and eggs, pagan symbols of life perpetuity and fertility still remaining in the rituals to our days.

It is interesting that in India the cult of  Kali and Lord Shiva the destructive and respective constructive were at one tie on equal footing although today the followers of Kali are dismal and dimming down under the overwhelming propaganda of  love peace and happiness BS

Mother Kali the destructive principle given birth to the lord of creation, Lord Shiva, what a profound mind-blowing understanding of the universe. 

Too bad we discard it because it didn’t sound “nice” and it irritates our sense of morality.

So going back where we began:

Zen will tear you apart, deconstruct and shred you to pieces, demolish every belief and piece of knowledge to the depths of your mental foundation, obliterate you and reduce you to NOTHING.

And in the place of your retched Ego will erect a structure of light, harmony, and beauty.

But then again enlightenment like house remodeling is a very expensive business proposition and not everybody is willing to pay the price.

We are not Humans

We are not humans, and I don’t mean we are more or less assholes, I mean we are NOT humans.

Being human is an illusion, a dream a falsehood programmed in our brains by social conditioning.

This error is the only reason we can judge, dislike, discriminate, hate, torture and kill another human being.

It is this false belief that there is an I and a YOU, a US and a THEM.

This disconnect, this anomaly that tells you that, is called the Ego.

The Ego is the reason we believe we exist independent of everything else.

Not to state the obvious but we are just “embryos” living in mother’s Gaia womb like unborn fetuses.

Without her loving protection and nourishment, we wouldn’t last a minute and that is a scientific fact not a figure of speech.

Yet we don’t give a damn about the pillage and destruction we perpetuate every day to the very thing that gives us life.

What makes the Ego think he is the most important thing, the center of creation, that everything in the universe revolves around “ME”?

Being “human” is an act, our bodies mere costumes, the world just a stage where the very complicated drama with billions of actors is playing for millennia.

You did not create yourself, you did not create your character and nobody else is taking that credit.

So who is the actor behind your act?

We are mere waves on the surface of an ocean of consciousness.

We are divine and nature and human only in form.

We ebb and flow and each time we forget where we raised from and where our journey will return us.

Birth and death are not beginnings and ends, they are just costume and role changes, but behind every human experience, the actors remains the same.

I once asked a Rabbi  “What was God NOT doing when six million Jews were butchered in the concentration camps?”

He could not answer me because he saw himself as “human”

He told me that a “human” cannot understand Gods plans.

I told him “God died six million times. And you cannot see or comprehend God as long as you see yourself separate from me, and us from HIM.”

Zen Rants IV

I see myself as a two-part entity.

One the material self, the product of social programming. The "I think therefore I am" a.k.a the Ego.
The second part the immaterial, spiritual, immortal soul, The "I am therefore I think" a.k.a the "I"

Without that distinction all my arguments are nonsense. 

Without that duality the search for one true self or true nature is futile.

If you are that you are, then there is nothing else to it.

There is nothing else to figure out.

But the question still remains "What was “you” before you were born?"
Because nothing comes out of nothing and nothing turns into nothing.
Birth and death are transformations not sudden appearances from nothing.
What were you before you became “I”?

There is something more than meets the “I”

And your purpose in life is to find out who you really are.

I know the path is tough and convoluted.
I know sometimes it feels like you are being punished by an unfair God.

I know you sometimes just want to give up.

But pain and suffering are necessary.

How can you climb to the top if there is no mountain?

How could you overcome pain and suffering if you didn’t know what pain and suffering are?

You have to step out of your experience and look at it with a nonjudgmental mind.

What would your pain and suffering mean a hundred years from now?

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Then you can look at pain and realize that pain is just an experience like anything else.

You may not like it but the way you react to it is up to you.

Pain is inevitable but suffering is a choice.

What good is suffering? It doesn’t change anything, it doesn’t solve anything.

It is just the Ego bitching and moaning, “why me, poor me!”

But you mustn’t let the Ego control your life.

It is the Ego that mostly gets you into trouble.

Enlightenment is a state of non-duality when a consciousness rises above good and evil above the duality.

An enlightened person sees pain and pleasure, suffering and joy as the two sides of a coin. As defining each other.
A buddha or a christ are consciousness returned to the source.
They are above gods and demons they are the ultimate realization of the universe

It is my life purpose to attain that state before another death.

These are my vows:

“There are innumerable sentient beings in the universe.

I vow to help them all to awaken

My imperfections are inexhaustible.

I vow to overcome them all.

The Dharma is unknowable.

I vow to know it.

The way of the Awakening is unattainable.

I vow to attain it.”

Zen Rants III

The idea of creation is based on the premises that the material world exists.

It is a common illusion like the illusion of solidity.

There are no solid objects.

They appear solid but under a microscope, you can see the empty space.

The material world is both existence and nonexistence blended together.

We have a bias in perceiving the "existence” part of it.
Our mind automatically discards the non-existence out of our perception.

We hear the sound but not the silence; we see the light but not the darkness.

But silence and darkness are nonexistence yet we don't count them as such.

We only see the YANG and not the YIN, We see the mountains but not the valleys.

For every + there is a - They could not exist without the other;

Pleasure cannot exist without pain, hot without cold, high without low, good without evil God without Satan.

The ONE that defines everything but cannot be defined is nonduality,

It is above and beyond existence and nonexistence.

Let’s have a little experiment

Please take a blank piece of paper and look at it.

What do you see?

Do you see a blank piece a paper?

I hope so, otherwise, we are in deep trouble with our little experiment.

But do you also see the “nonexistence” the hole?

No?

Then, take a pair of scissors and cut a hole in the middle of the paper.

Look at the paper again.

Do you now see the nonexistence the hole?

Yes?

What about the other non-existence, can you see that too?

(hint; the one outside the paper)

Nope you don’t, because your mind, our mind is programmed to see only what exist and not what it doesn’t exist.

Our brain cannot comprehend the nonexistence and that is reflected in our language.

We say: “There “is” a hole in the paper”

How can something that doesn’t exist “be”?

And if you still think the hole exists, try to pick it up from the paper and move it.

We see light but not darkness we hear sound but not the silence.

We see around us solid objects which in fact are mostly empty space.

We see the reality as existing when in fact the reality is both existence and non-existence blended together.

Try to imagine non-existence, an absolute nothingness, an infinite hole.

You can’t

Your brain tells you that a hole exists only if defined by something.

Nonexistence and existence are two sides of the coin. They define each other.

The funny part is that an infinite existence, an infinite universe is an accepted concept.

Although you have to realize that an infinite universe is as absurd as an infinite hole.

Just think about it: Millions of galaxies, made by zillions of stars and planets made bazillions of atoms made of god knows how many particles.

Do you have any idea what kind of energy it takes to make that machine tick, to move all that around at cosmic speeds?

How about this: Zero, nothing, nada.

The universe is effortless.

Have you ever seen “running” Chrisman’s lights?

You know, the bulbs do not actually move, right?

They just turn on and off. The movement is just an illusion.

Just think the universe as an ocean of quanta popping in and out of existence.

I don’t know about you but to me, that feels like a more plausible reality than the huge moving clockwork model we’ve been indoctrinated to.

You may not understand it but you know that to be the truth, because you are experience it, here and now.

Zen Rants II

Truth is a word, like apple. 

Apple is not an apple is a word. 

How do you define an apple?
"the round fruit of a tree of the rose family, which typically has thin red or green skin and crisp flesh"
But that isn't an apple either, that is just the definition of an apple"
Only an apple is an apple.

If I say "I've eaten an apple this morning" you know what an apple is because you have eaten apples too.
Try to define "apple" to a being from another planet with no fruits and trees.

How do you define truth?

The definition of truth” is the definition of truth.

Any other definition of “truth” would be not true.

The One is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Lies do not exist. A lie is just the absence of the truth.

When the truth is present lies disappear like the darkness when the light is present.

Confusion and ignorance are the qualities of the Ego.

The “I” doesn’t lack anything. You already know everything you need to know, you already have everything you need to have.

Poverty is a quality of the Ego

Scientifically speaking you don't exist, and neither anybody else for that matter.
When you look in the mirror you see a highly structured bag of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and a whole bunch of other different atoms.

Technically you are nothing but talking solar dust and so am I.

Technically speaking we are the universe talking to itself.

So who is "I"? What is this “I” everybody is taking for granted?
Has anybody seen it?
Has anybody seen a picture of their mind?
What proof do you have that what you call "I" exists?
Is God a dream of your mind or is your mind a dream of God?

The body is the domain of the Ego.

Like the body, the Ego is limited, imperfect, fragile and temporary.

The “I” is not limited by the body. The “I” is perfect, indestructible and immortal.

Science is the creation of the Ego.

The wisdom of the “I” is Spirituality.

The “I” believes in God because it knows God.

The Ego doesn’t believe in God because it cannot understand it.

You cannot teach and learn faith.

When the teachings of our Ego fail to deliver the promised success we return to faith.

Spirituality is the path to happiness.

The material path is the path to living hell

You may not understand it but you know that to be the truth, because you are experience it, here and now.

Zen Rants I

If you are not the Creator you are the Creation.

How many religions there are? Hundreds!

How many gods there are? One: The Creator.

You cannot choose your God.

If you go to an ice-cream parlor that serves only one flavor ice-cream “vanilla” you can only have vanilla.

Since there is only one God “The Creator” you don’t have a choice.

How you worship God is irrelevant.

When you will meet your God what you think about him is irrelevant.

The only thing that matter is what HE thinks about you.

Separation is an illusion of the Ego. There is no separation. 

All consciousness rise from the One like waves from the ocean.
Distinct but not disconnected. With specific qualities but with the same nature.
We are God but we can’t remember it until we return to the One.

The One is non-duality. The One is unbound, therefore amoral. (not to be confused with immoral)

When we are born (which is a transformation, not a separation) we have the quality of the source.
Newborn are unbound.
We experience lies, deceit, and betrayal in order to learn what truth, sincerity, and loyalty are.

We are exposed to sickness, violence, war, prejudice, racism, injustice, pain and suffering, not as some form of punishment for some imaginary sin but in order to see and learn the difference between good and evil. Our purpose is to elevate above good and evil, to evolve into a superior consciousness.

Siddhartha the buddha and latter Jesus the christ have become self-realized beings and taught us the path of enlightenment. Unfortunately, the Gnostic teachings of Jesus have been suppressed by the church and replaced with the dogma “you pay us will give you a heavenly pass” The Buddhist teachings have fared a little bit better. We still have the Buddhist Sutras and the 8 fold path but even those have been contaminated by endless interpretations and turned into religious dogma.

Ephemeral and illusory is the material world.

All humans die. Animals die, plants die, the planets and the stars in the sky; we all die.

Rich men die, poor men die. How rich is a dead man?

Sick men die, healthy men die too. How healthy is a dead man?

Powerful men die, weak men, die. How powerful is a dead man?

We seek money, power, and fame. Fascinated by the glitter of the material world we rush to our demise like moths into the fire.

Escape the grip of desire, shed your Ego, free yourself from the prison of reason and you will see the truth.

All teachings are false. Words cannot encompass the truth.

A dog cannot understand the mind of man. A man cannot understand the mind of God.

You cannot cram the universe into the hollow of your skull.

You cannot know the truth, you cannot know God.

You can only experience it.

Love is the bond of the universe.

Love is the thread between dog, man and God. Love is the universal language.

Only what can be expressed in love is true.  Everything else is false.

You may not understand it but you know that to be the truth, because you experience it, here and now.

Zen Thoughts

Buddha gathered his disciples at a lake on Gridhakuta for instruction.

His adherents sat in a circle about him eagerly awaiting his teachings.

Wordlessly Buddha reached into the muck and pulled up a single lotus flower.

He then held it high for all to see.

Practically everyone was bewildered. But then the disciple Mahakashyapa began to laugh.

Finally, Buddha handed the lotus flower to Mahakashyapa and said,

“What can be said I have said to you, and what cannot be said, I have given to Mahakashyapa.”

...

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

You cannot learn the truth, you can only experience and remember it.

You can learn a lot of things; you can learn how to cook, how to fix a car or you can learn a new language but you cannot learn the truth.

The truth you have learned is false because there is only one truth, reality.

Reality is the ultimate and only truth, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

And that cannot be learned.

I can tell you that you are a part of this universe, the manifestation, and materialization of the infinite intelligence of the universe.

I can tell you that your feeling of separation from the rest of the reality the belief that you are independent of the rest of the world is just a hallucination, a construct of your frightened ego.

I can tell you that you already know everything you want to know and that your ignorance is just an illusion of your Ego/

You may understand my words you will understand my meaning but you will not grasp the truth of my statement unless you recognize the truth, the reality behind my words until you remember who you are. until you break free from the prison of reason,

You cannot learn the truth.

Reality is too complex to understand. God is too complex to understand.

You can only experience and remember them.

You cannot learn and know who you are, you can only remember it.

Are you experienced?

“Eye cannot see IT, the tongue cannot utter IT, the mind cannot grasp IT.

There is no way to learn or teach IT.

IT is different from the known, beyond the unknown.

In this, all the ancient masters agree.

That which makes the tongue speak but which cannot be spoken by the tongue – that alone is God, not what people worship.

That which makes the mind think but which cannot be thought by the mind - that alone is God, not what people worship.

That which makes the eye see but which cannot be seen by the eye - that alone is God, not what people worship.

That which makes the ear hear but cannot be heard by the ear - that alone is God, not what people worship.

If you think that you know God, you know very little; all you can now are ideas and images of God.

I do not know God, nor can I say that I don’t know IT.

If you understand the meaning of “I neither know nor don’t know” you understand God.

Those who realize that God cannot be known, truly know; those who claim that they know, know nothing.

The ignorant think that God can be grasped by the mind; the wise know IT beyond knowledge.

When you see that God acts through you at every moment, in every movement of mind or body, you attain true freedom.

When you realize the truth and cling to nothing in the world, you enter eternal life.”

The Upanishads

YIN YANG

In the Chinese Philosophy and later in the Zen Buddhist metaphysical teachings Yin and Yang are the fundamental building blocks of the material or the dualistic world.

Yin and Yang are almost unanimously misunderstood and misinterpreted as opposite or contrary forces, mostly because that is the Western concept of the Universe as a battle field not as a cosmic dance floor.

Yin and Yang are complementary, not opposite, they do not cancel each other they define each other just like the woman and man do not cancel each other but complement each other.

Let’s look at this a little closer. Let’s look at two elementary states “HIGH” and “LOW”

Imagine a skyscraper. A person living on the 30 floor will be higher than a person living on the 10^th floor but lower than a person living on the 50 floor.

If you imagine a building in space with just one floor you cannot say if that floor is high or low.

Low and High define each other.

Let’s get a little more technical. Let’s look at an AA battery. You have a plus and a minus on it and the battery has a voltage of 1.5 volts which means between the + and the minus there is a difference of 1.5 volts. Let’ now take another battery and connect them together like this + - + -  Now the difference between the first + and the last – is 3 volts. Question is the voltage at the - + connection point negative or positive?

That is a trick question like asking is a person living on the 30th floor high or low.

You cannot define plus or minus, high or low without a reference point.

Plus becomes plus when there is a minus to compare with but it will become a minus if compared with a higher plus just like the high and low are relative to each other.

Are you getting a sense of what I’m trying to say here?

OK then let’s have another little fun fact experiment.

Please add the value of all your possessions. Bank accounts, 401K, investments, houses, cars, jewelry anything you possess – It doesn’t have to be accurate, a rough approximation will do J

Now when you get a rough figure in your head can you tell me are you a rich person or not?

Of course, if you paid any attention to my previous mumbling you will know this is a trick question.

There is no such thing as rich or poor without a reference point.

Rich and poor define each other.

Now you understand or you should begin to understand why this metaphysical BS is so important.

The reality we perceive is a figment of our imagination. When we say I’m poor or rich, tall or short, slim or fat, young or old, happy or miserable it is all relative.

If you think you are something or another, the question following your statement should be “Compared with what?”

By choosing our reference points we choose our happiness or unhappiness.

Pretty damn important don’t you think?

Inconvenient too, since you realize that you are the master of your own perception.

You are the creator of your own reality.

Zen Dialectics

Dialectic or dialectics (Greek: διαλεκτική, dialektikḗ), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to establish the truth through reasoned arguments. The term dialectic is not synonymous with the term debate.

-          Wikipedia

Zen philosophy is so darn weird and wonderful that has fascinated people since the Western civilization has come in contact with it.

Wherever you are a Buddhist, or a neophyte you have probably read or heard a koan or two.

Like the famous “Does a tree falling in the forest make any noise?” or “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

They are intriguing little quips of whimsical wisdom that entice us to think but at the same time seem impossible riddles to understand or solve.

That is the mistake all Zen students make. Koans are not meant to be understood.

It is that it is. There is nothing to understand.

Enlightenment cannot be taught.

Enlightenment can be only achieved and experienced.

Enlightenment is not something that you know; enlightenment is a state of mind, like being in love.

Reality is the ultimate truth. The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

So how do you tech reality?

How does a Zen master teaches what cannot be taught?

He can’t.

The only thing a Zen master can do is destroy your rational mind, to show you the inadequacy of logical thinking and thus to force you to accept the ultimate truth.

It is that it is.

Reality

So every time the student asks a question or comes up with an answer the teacher knows that those are just shadows of the reality.

So he devises a counter argument “a reality check” response to the student.

The counterargument is not meant to clarify the problem but to make it even more absurd.

In the end the student has no choice but to give up, to look beyond the words, to see the reality as it is, not as perception and fall in love with it.

This is the principle of Zen dialectic and has been used for centuries to create enlightenment in the Zen student,

The problem with that is when trying to encapsulate that wisdom in words, to put it in books, you lose the dynamic interaction, the dialectic that is the motor of the enlightenment process.

You end up with a bunch of anecdotes, of stories about stories that are supposed to teach you NOTHING.

And NOTHING is a damn hard thing to understand. 

SATORI

Q: What has four legs and one arm?

A; A happy pitbull.

It’s a joke.

Do you get it?

If you get it you’ll laugh, if you don’t you will be offended. 

If you are not even offended you’ll just stare confused and ask for an explanation.

I had a friend like that, he always asked me to translate my jokes for him. (You know the type )

So I would go: - Pitbulls are very aggressive dogs. They will rip your arm off..

But of course, when you explain a joke like that, the joke is not funny any longer.

So he would go: - Aaaha! Like he understood it. But he missed the whole point entirely.

I was telling him the joke because I wanted to make him laugh not to makehim understand.

When two hands clap there is a sound.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

It’s a koan.

Do you get it?

If you get it, you got satori.

If you don’t you’ll think it is a stupid or absurd question.

If you don’t even think that it is stupid or absurd, you’ll just stare confused and ask for an explanation.

So I’ll give you the answer: The sound of Silence

You need two hands to clap.

You need silence to have sound, and sound to have silence.

One cannot exist without the other, like the two sides of a coin or two ends of a rope.

Technically speaking a constant pressure on your year drums is silence not sound.

You need  a wave, a continuous switching between pressure and no pressure to make a sound.

Two hands pressed together make no sound either.

You have to clap to make the wave oscillation.

It's a yin, yang thingy!

But of course when a koan is explained like that you miss the whole point entirely.

The master has nothing to teach his students that they already don’t know. (Well at least the real ones)

A master does not give his student a koan so the students have something to study, understand and learn, because there is nothing to study, understand or learn.

A master gives his students a koan in the hope that the student will have Satori.

That sudden realization, that sudden awakening that AHA! I got it moment.

I know you purists out there will go:

-        So how come you are doing this?
How come you are teaching this if teaching is not possible?

I am doing it because I am a bad teacher. 

Actually I’m not even a teacher, I’m just a pissed off individual.

And I know what you are thinking:

-        So if you call yourself a buddha how come you are pissed off?
Aren’t enlightened people suppose to be serene, on a plane above mundane?

Oh well... of course, if they choose so.

Four Bodhisattva Vows

In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhisattva is the Sanskrit term for anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish and a compassionate mind to attain buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings

At the beginning of their journey to enlightenment, anybody wishing to follow the Buddhist path takes these “Four Bodhisattva Vows”

“There are innumerable sentient beings in the universe. I vow to help them all to awaken

 My imperfections are inexhaustible. I vow to overcome them all.

The Dharma is unknowable. I vow to know it.

The way of the Awakening is unattainable. I vow to attain it.”

For the non-initiated, the vows seem paradoxical and unattainable.

The vows are a challenge to accomplish things that no human can accomplish.

The misunderstanding arises both from the limitations of language translation and the Eastern –  Western philosophical differences.

In the Western philosophy, the human is born in a state of imperfection that cannot be overcome.  Only by divine intervention can we be absolved of our sins.

In the Eastern philosophy, the human imperfection is relegated to the Ego and it can be overcome by attaining enlightenment, or the state of No-Ego.

A regular person, the “Ego” cannot and will not accomplish any of the vows.

Only by becoming a buddha can a bodhisattva overcome the paradoxical impossibilities of the vows tasks.

Attaining enlightenment is like falling in love. It cannot be done purposely but millions of people fall in love each year.

You have to look at the world and fall in love with it.

The path to impossible starts in infinite compassion.

IT THE TRUTH

What is IT?

What is the absolute, the indefinable IT that defines all things?

The IT that cannot be named but gives names to all?

IT, is like a black hole that collapses all in its gravity; inaccessible, unobservable and untouchable.

Like a black hole we only know of its existence by its effects.

We know IT by its many names; The Matrix, Intelligence, Consciousness, Love, Energy Flow, The Truth.

IT, is the truth, the whole truth and nothing by the truth.

Nothing exists outside the Truth. All that exists is the truth.

Reality is the ultimate Truth against all that exists is measured.

Lies do not exist. And even so it feels like the world is overcome by lies, that is just an illusion.

It is the illusion of the darkness taking over the earth. But darkness does not exist.

Darkness is just the absence of the light. Lies are overcoming us because the truth was silenced.

Darkness fills in every time we turn off the light. Darkness cannot be turned on or off.

Darkness doesn’t exist. Darkness exists only in our perception.

Lies exist only in our perception. Lies do not exist outside of our Ego illusion of the reality.

Stop lurking in the darkness. Turn on the light.

Seek the truth and the illusion of lies will dissipate like the morning mist under the sun’s glory.

Seek the truth and you shall be set free.

What is Karma

The problem with the Eastern philosophy is that it has been introduced first to the Western civilization mainly by religious missionaries that had first contact with the Far East.

That first impression was thus colored by the Christian thought and dogma.

Karma is still to this day translate and understood as some sort of “Divine retribution” to our acts thou most recently a more accurate translation was made. In this new version, Karma is explained as “your own doing.” This second translation is a little bit more accurate in the sense that it takes the Divine intervention out of the equation –Karma has nothing to do with God -but it is too vague and incomplete.

The difficulty of the translation lays in the fundamental difference in the way the East sees and understands the universe and the way that we in the West see and understand the universe.

In the western civilization we have a scientific approach. We have a Newtonian model of the universe where action and reaction, cause and effect are a mechanical chain of events. In the East the view is Metaphysical. The universe is not seen as mechanic but rather organic. See INDRA’S NET  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra%27s_net  Action and reaction, cause and effect, particular and general, micro cosm and macro cosm are just sides of the same coin. They define each other, coexist and act together simultaneously from the individual to the universal.

OK Let’s get down and dirty: John was a bully in high school and for 4 long years has terrorized Nate.

John never finishes college and gets a job at a company where Nate is now a manager and John of course is his subordinate. 

To an Easterner this will be Karma. The fruition of John’s core values carried through his actions.

To a Westerner is just bad luck or the most, the law of unintended consequences in action.

BTW Karma = The law of unintended consequences, is not a bad translation.

The difference is that the Easterner understands that even if John didn’t get that job under Nate he will never the less suffer the consequences of his doing, in another place and another time, but that will not be a matter of chance. Karma is not an accident; it is the only possible outcome.

To a Westerner Karma is still not the supreme law of the universe and we still believe that somehow can avoid it. It is only in the Western civilization that you can have the cake and eat it too.

Hell is paved with good intentions but what drive the Karma is the principles of our actions not our intentions. Let’s us take another example of Karma in action; WAR

War It is not defined by our declared intentions: Peace, Stability, Democracy, Prosperity etc. etc.

War can be defined by the principle of dominance and control = bad Karma or by the opposite; Freedom = good Karma.

Control and dominance through brute force is always a bad idea. Love at gun point is always “rape” no matter what. Just look at what war as brought humanity so far.

The principles of freedom and harmony on the other hand are always good. The only true love is unconditional love.

So the lesson is: Your actions guided by bad principles. Greed, deceit, control, envy, ignorance, selfishness etc. will always result in a bad outcome no matter what the intention, excuse, for your action may be. Remember KARMA is the law of the universe even if you live in the Western hemisphere.

And for those who didn’t get it yet KARMA = KARMA

Namaste!

The Flow

Life is the Flow.

Sickness is obstruction or stagnation of the Flow.

Everything that happens is Life. Everything that happens is Flow.

When the Flow is natural and effortless Life prospers and evolves.

When the Flow is obstructed Life withers and devolves.

We are mistaken assuming that we know the purpose of Life.

Life must flow naturally and effortlessly, like water.

The water doesn’t have a purpose. The purpose of water is to flow.

In flowing water finds is course and destination.

Life doesn’t have a purpose. The purpose of Life is to Flow.

In flowing Life finds its path and destination.

Purpose is created by Life not dictated by it.

Don’t force your Flow.

Water doesn’t “fight” its way. Its flow is effortless but never the less it will cut through the hardest rock.

Don’t force your life. Just like water seek opportunity. Look all over. Look to all places and all people. Eventually, you will find the effortless path and your Life will Flow like water.

All water flows to the Ocean.

All Life flows to the “Oneness” to the ocean of consciousness from which it was born.

The return to your “original self” enriched and enlightened by your travel, your Flow.

Do not stay idle. Do not stop. Do not force.

Like a child, let wonder be your guide. Be restless, be curious, be brave.

Find your flow and stay in your flow.

You’ll know it by the joy that Life journey should be.

You’ll know it by the light glowing more intense in your soul.

You’ll know it by the power of your actions and the change you will bring to the world

Namaste!

SHOSHIN

Shoshin : A concept in Zen Buddhism mostly translated as “beginner’s mind” denominating a state of unbiased consciousness.
Also translated as - correct, genuine, original truth.

Popularized in the Western culture by the book “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind” by the Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki, who says about this approach to Zen practice: “In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.”
Mostly misunderstood and misinterpreted as “a child’s mind” - a mind without preconceptions and expectations, without judgements and prejudices a mind of pure and unbound curiosity.

A child’s state of consciousness is a “non dualistic state of consciousness” Arriving in the material world the child has no concept of danger, foul play or hurt. A new born doesn’t have any prejudices and preconceptions therefore he cannot judge one way or the other, he has no concept of right or wrong.

We like to believe of the children’s innocence as something wonderful without realizing that a child will harm himself or others left to his own means. (Imagine a bunch of toddlers left in a room with a box of knives, blades and axes.) We like to believe that a child’s curiosity is something wonderful but have you ever seen a child pulling off the wings of a butterfly? Would you drink out a bottle of detergent to see how it taste like? A child would.

Living in a material world the child has to develop a “dualistic state of consciousness.” In order to know what truth is he has to learn what lie is.
He has to learn the difference between love and hate and in order to know what good is he has to learn what is bad.
With just a mind of pure and unbound curiosity, without preconceptions and expectations, without judgements and prejudices a child is a helpless being heading for disaster. We have to lose our innocence in order to survive.

As we grow up we keep feeding into the “apple” of knowledge and in time we metamorphose into a dualistic state of consciousness.
As adults we live in a deeply divided state of mind, trying to navigate the hard and narrow path of righteousness in a constant battle between good and bad.

We fail more or less miserably at that and live a life of pain and frustration – (The first noble truth.)
As Buddha taught us the problem is “clinging” as I like to translate – (The second noble truth.)

In our dualistic state of consciousness we develop biases – we get “stuck” in attachments and detachments, we pick or reject one side over another – rich over being poor, famous over being humble, powerful over being meek etc. losing the truth that “duality” is just an illusion and starting to believe that our “side” is the right side and that the “other’s” side is the wrong side. We hence live in a constant battle within and without.

Shoshin is the practice of unbiased, unstuck, free mind akin more to the “middle way” of Buddhist teachings than to the unbound curiosity of a child’s mind.
It is the practice of no clinging – no attachments and no detachments.
To this practice we can reach a state of consciousness harmony.

Guided Meditation

One of the most powerful and useful tools in meditation is the “guided meditation”
If you believe that we exist on parallel universes or if you just believe that the human mind can conceive infinite outcomes of a certain scenario, is up to you.
The cert fact is that if we pose a certain question or quest to our subconscious mind, we will receive the optimum answer each time – some how :)

This is also the most difficult of the meditations techniques to perform.
It requires that you have already mastered the “relaxation” and the “contemplation” meditation.
(So you may have to wait a year or so before you try this :)
But I want to finish this series of posts on meditation, so here it is my final advice to you.
(Anything beyond this point would be for you and I, yet to be explored.)

Let’s say that you are a physicist working on the grand theory of unified physics, or whatever you are working on.
You go into your regular meditation and when you reach the state of contemplation with a good, clear visual, you gently start “guiding” the scene to the following scenario:

You are in Sweden at the Nobel Prize Ceremony and you are announced to be the winner of the Physics award for the work you have done.
You get to the podium and start explaining to the audience how you have solved and discovered whatever you want to discover.
You repeat this scenario until you are able to clearly see and understand everything.
(Incidentally many of great scientific discoveries have been made during a dream state.)

But you don’t have to be a scientist to use this method.
You can be a musician imagining the debut of your first symphony.
Or you can be a painter at the opening of your first gallery.
Or even you can imagine yourself on your first date with your future spouse.
The uses to this technique are limited only by your imagination.

Like I said before; these are my own “experiences” and this is how far I have come in my practice and understanding of the spiritual world.
There are many practices and techniques out there and you can experiment and find your own path.
I put a great deal of emphasis on practicality and not that much on religious side of spirituality.
Like my relationship with my physical father, my relationship with my spiritual father is intimate and personal.

So let me know how your practice and journey goes.
By this time I should be back from my vacation.
So I am curious of how is everybody doing?

Contemplative Meditation

Have you ever witnessed a sunset so beautiful, so majestic that it took your breath away?
Have you ever had that spiritual experience of wonder, that “wow” moment, when your mind and soul opened up to a higher understanding?
Of course that would be just for a brief moment because the instant we will feel that way we would try to analyze, to grab and hold the experience and of course that would be the end of it.

If you want to know what “contemplation meditation” feels like that would be the closest thing to it.
Contemplation meditation is an altered state of mind in which you experience a sense of wonder.

As you continue to practice the relaxation meditation you will observe on the back of your mind some strange, minute, random, things happening.
You will perceive glimpses of images and strange sparks of light.
You will perceive sounds and sensations, fragments of memories and emotions.

These “anomalies” popping up randomly, without any rhyme or reason, are the workings of your subconscious mind starting to surface into your conscious mind.
Actually the process would be exactly the opposite; your conscious mind is starting to peer, dive into your subconscious :)

We are using less than 10% of our brain power to reason and think.
The other 90% of our brain is running everything else from the complex system we call the human body to mental tasks like memory and emotion management.
We take all that work for granted.
We never think much about our immune system or digestive system, unless something wrong happens to us.
We also get only some glimpses of the workings of the subconscious mind when accidentally we become aware of our dreams.

So as we are practicing in our meditation this process of “contemplation” will be a natural progression.
You do not have to do anything special just to be aware of the “grabbing” and “analyzing” tendencies of your mind and gently let go.
In time, the little spark and glimpses will become clear images and you will enter what many call a “lucid dreaming” state.
This will be your first real exploration of your subconscious mind.

Here is a good video: HOW TO MEDITATE
The video would be fantastic if it did not make any references to religion but that is my personal preference :)
Have fun and keep up the practice!

Relaxation Meditation

“Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.”
Swami Sivananda

Like I mentioned in my last post “meditation” is just a label describing a certain state of mind.
We all have experienced this altered state of mind in a natural occurring form.
If you have ever exhausted yourself on a mental task – like doing your taxes or working long hours on computer – you might have experienced a momentary lapse of reason.
You might have found yourself staring at the computer screen with nothing in your mind at all.

If the brain was a muscle, meditation would be the complete relaxation and let go, completely limp of the brain.
It is the cessation of all conscious thought.
Or to put it in the simplest form – relaxation meditation is “spacing out” at will.

The first thing to do is to find a comfortable position.
There are many schools of meditation that insist in specific positions of meditation – the most mentioned being the “lotus” position.
But since I suffer from a lower back pain and being allergic to religious dogma I prefer lying on my back in my bed – which also gives me a really good excuse to fall asleep – another good side benefit of meditation.

The second step is tricking your mind into not thinking – which, if you think of it, is an oxymoron since you can’t control your mind not to be in control.
So the trick is to focus your mind on something else than your own thought process.
Once again there are different techniques.
The classical method is the breathing method.

In this method you follow, watch or concentrate on the air coming through your nose into your body and going out. Some people count, time, the length of inhale and exhale but I found that distracting to the process of quieting down of the mind.

Personally I prefer the “OM” meditation.
I have a CD with an "OM" chant for 15 -20 min.
I play the CD while I’m comfortably lying in my bed with my eyes closed and in my mind I join the chorus of monks in their chant.
The hamming will produce an instant cessations of the thought process.
The mind will quiet down and enter a state of total relaxation.

Here is a place you can download a clean OM CHANT
This kind of meditation is not much of a spiritual journey but it is an essential step in preparing your mind to become that vehicle of exploration.
You may choose to stay at this level and enjoy all the health benefits of meditation.
Or you may choose to go further in your practice and step into the ocean of spirituality.