"To this meditator who arises in unceasing play,
may I realize the inseparability between samsara and nirvana."
There is movement in a meditative state. The preceding verse of the Supplication To The Takpo Kagyu mentions "resting" without altering what is, and then in this verse speaks of arising. There is a movement, and I like the picture of the stream of being.
Meditation wasn't meant to be a static function. What we accomplish there in our sit is supposed to go with us when we arise. Our thoughts, or no thoughts, should flow like a stream, not becoming fixed on any thing. Part of that stream is realizing that both samsara and nirvana exist in the mind. I have read in one place that some say that nirvana and samsara are the same, one just being the virtuous example. I suppose that's moot. What matters is that we attain a flexibility and that our meditative state not be fixed to the cushion.
The play will be unceasing, it is the nature of the stream. What shape it takes, whether samsara or nirvana, evil or virtue, is entirely up to us.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Everything From "Nothing"
"The essence of thought is dharmakaya, as is taught,
nothing whatever, but everything arises from it."
So states the Supplication to the Takpo Kagyu. A nice concise little statement that to the untrained ear sounds a lot like mumbo-jumbo you don't want to wrap your hear around. But a funny thing happens when you say this Supplication every day. You start to understand it.
My first question always was, what the hell is dharmakaya? As it turns out though, the question is answered by the verse itself, in a poetic form actually where the second statement restates the first. The essence of thought is nothing whatever.
Oh really? "Why, yes," the yogin replies. Really.
The essence of your thoughts, and in fact, their existence is actually nothing. If I asked you to show me the thought you had Thursday last, at 9:00 AM, I am willing to bet you couldn't do it. As a matter of fact, I bet you couldn't tell me where it is right now. Where did that thought go? Where in your body do your thoughts come from? Where do they go? Where does memory reside? All of these questions have answers today that are constantly changing as we continue to learn about the human existence we share. It seems that cells themselves store memories. Which is far different than just thinking it's a region of our brain that does that. And even knowing precisely where it is, still does not allow one to actually show me that thought as anything concrete. It's essential nature is emptiness, but obviously not in the void understanding. Well, maybe not all the time.
The idea for the keyboard I utilize at this moment didn't exist 60 years or so ago. Back during WW2, the Turing Machine was the first computer. Input was done by making binary code marks on tape in one form or another, and the machine read the instructions and complied. Then somebody got the idea, "Hey, let's figure out a way to marry the Machine with a Royal Typewriter, and skip the whole tape thing." I think it was one of the Guiness Brothers. The other shouted out, "Brilliant," and raised his glass.
And so, seventy years later, we can sit at this amalgamation of plastic and steel, maybe some gold and silver, and type out the letters, numbers, punctuations we want, and they instantly appear all housed in a box just bigger than a notebook. All that power in computing and shrinking from a thought that has no solidity to it at all.
Nothing whatever, but from it arises all things.
So what is dharmakaya? Well, that essential nature which is the nature of everything. By extension then, I share in the energy put into making this keyboard. The oil may have come from Venezuela to make the plastic. So imagine all the energies of all those Venezuelans to make the barrel of oil that was shipped somewhere by other people to a place where it was converted by still more people to plastic, then shipped to some other place to be heated and pressed into the shapes we tap on, and then paint, a whole new set of people, added to the tops of metal posts, yet another group of people who mine the ore and smelt, ship, shape, cut, and then the people who make the machines who make the plastic, paint, oil, boats, trucks; those people living and dead, all those energies are following that keyboard.
Amazing isn't it?
And if I took out all the empty space of all the atoms that make up the cells that make up the keyboard, it's total mass might not even be visible. The essential nature of all things is emptiness. The same goes for you and I. Our nature is perhaps best reflected by the essence of our thoughts. What a mirror that is at times, huh?
What do you want to see arise from you?
nothing whatever, but everything arises from it."
So states the Supplication to the Takpo Kagyu. A nice concise little statement that to the untrained ear sounds a lot like mumbo-jumbo you don't want to wrap your hear around. But a funny thing happens when you say this Supplication every day. You start to understand it.
My first question always was, what the hell is dharmakaya? As it turns out though, the question is answered by the verse itself, in a poetic form actually where the second statement restates the first. The essence of thought is nothing whatever.
Oh really? "Why, yes," the yogin replies. Really.
The essence of your thoughts, and in fact, their existence is actually nothing. If I asked you to show me the thought you had Thursday last, at 9:00 AM, I am willing to bet you couldn't do it. As a matter of fact, I bet you couldn't tell me where it is right now. Where did that thought go? Where in your body do your thoughts come from? Where do they go? Where does memory reside? All of these questions have answers today that are constantly changing as we continue to learn about the human existence we share. It seems that cells themselves store memories. Which is far different than just thinking it's a region of our brain that does that. And even knowing precisely where it is, still does not allow one to actually show me that thought as anything concrete. It's essential nature is emptiness, but obviously not in the void understanding. Well, maybe not all the time.
The idea for the keyboard I utilize at this moment didn't exist 60 years or so ago. Back during WW2, the Turing Machine was the first computer. Input was done by making binary code marks on tape in one form or another, and the machine read the instructions and complied. Then somebody got the idea, "Hey, let's figure out a way to marry the Machine with a Royal Typewriter, and skip the whole tape thing." I think it was one of the Guiness Brothers. The other shouted out, "Brilliant," and raised his glass.
And so, seventy years later, we can sit at this amalgamation of plastic and steel, maybe some gold and silver, and type out the letters, numbers, punctuations we want, and they instantly appear all housed in a box just bigger than a notebook. All that power in computing and shrinking from a thought that has no solidity to it at all.
Nothing whatever, but from it arises all things.
So what is dharmakaya? Well, that essential nature which is the nature of everything. By extension then, I share in the energy put into making this keyboard. The oil may have come from Venezuela to make the plastic. So imagine all the energies of all those Venezuelans to make the barrel of oil that was shipped somewhere by other people to a place where it was converted by still more people to plastic, then shipped to some other place to be heated and pressed into the shapes we tap on, and then paint, a whole new set of people, added to the tops of metal posts, yet another group of people who mine the ore and smelt, ship, shape, cut, and then the people who make the machines who make the plastic, paint, oil, boats, trucks; those people living and dead, all those energies are following that keyboard.
Amazing isn't it?
And if I took out all the empty space of all the atoms that make up the cells that make up the keyboard, it's total mass might not even be visible. The essential nature of all things is emptiness. The same goes for you and I. Our nature is perhaps best reflected by the essence of our thoughts. What a mirror that is at times, huh?
What do you want to see arise from you?
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