awouldbehipster's practice notes

The following is a reflection based on what has been on my mind lately. Feel free to discard it if you don't feel that it applies to you...

One of the significant characteristics of mature spirituality is openness to experience. In general terms of Eastern spirituality, one could say that the ego is that which resists experience(s) in some way in favor of some other experience(s). Jack Kornfield refers to this identity of resistance as "the body of fear." Along with being of the nature of resistance, the ego will also attempt to maintain its supremacy by co-opting legitimate spiritual realizations as I, Me, or Mine.

There are times that through our practice we realize the essential Unity underlying all of reality, manifest and unmanifest. The ego most assuredly chimes in and says, "Oh wow! Look, this is me! Look how big I am!" Or one may directly experience the nature of mirror-like awareness that reflects the myriad things but is not affected by them. The ego may take on either of these perspectives as a new identity, which provides a way of resisting the realm of personal existence, dismissing it as "illusory."

But, what is truly illusory about the realm of the myriad things is not the myriad things themselves, but rather the false identification with them. That being the case, the same is true of the essential Unity. If we take up an identity as the All, we are still living in illusion. For, as they say in Zen, there is "no fixed position."

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The Japanese Kegon (Chinese Huayan) philosophy, based on the Avatamsaka Sutra, is the basic philosophical framework for Zen/Ch'an. It teaches that there are Four Dharma Worlds. They are: (1) ji - the world of the myriad things, (2) ri - the world of essential Unity, (3) ri ji muge - the world of "no block" between Unity and the myriad things, and (4) ji ji muge - the world of "no block" from thing to thing, implying non-differentiation between Unity and particular.

Many of us are practicing with the hopes of moving from 'ji' (particulars) to 'ri' (Unity). Knowing this, many spiritual teachers present their teachings in such a way as to embody 'ri' as a pointer to where the yogi is headed. This is very apparent within the Advaita tradition, where teachers often speak in an other-worldly fashion as if they were permanently outside of the experience of personal existence. Some gurus may actually perceive this other-worldliness as the goal of spiritual practice. But the more down-to-earth teachers know that there's more to this enlightenment stuff than realizing Unity.

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As Hokai Sobol has said (which I have quoted elsewhere), "Awakening to primordial awareness seems like a good starting point, and finding out that this awareness was never about staying out of the game is the realization." I believe he is right. After identifying with Unity for some time, it eventually becomes obvious that this split between One and many is itself another dualism to pass through along the path. I'm no Zen expert, but this may a good time to apply the following teaching of the Zen master Linji: "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!" In other words, when you reach a state experience of innate perfection - keep going. Keep opening. Do not invest too much energy attempting to remain in a certain state or a particular perspective.

Rather than try to remain fixed in the transcendent, "We need to remember that where we are going is here - that any practice is simply a means to open our hearts to what is in front of us. Where we already are is the path and the goal" (Jack Kornfield, "After the Ecstasy, The Laundry"). This simple reminder can help us re-focus, so that we may continue down the path of mature spirituality.

"There are times that through our practice we realize the essential Unity underlying all of reality, manifest and unmanifest. The ego most assuredly chimes in and says, "Oh wow! Look, this is me! Look how big I am!" Or one may directly experience the nature of mirror-like awareness that reflects the myriad things but is not affected by them. The ego may take on either of these perspectives as a new identity, which provides a way of resisting the realm of personal existence, dismissing it as "illusory.""

Thank you Jackson. I've been finding all your notes very clarifying lately, but this one hit me dead center. That dismissing personal existence as "illusory" is simply another way of being stuck in the ego had never occurred to me before. I always figured that dismissing the personal was always the safe bet, but as you point out, there are some certain pitfalls here as well. Today's enlightenment is tomorrow's mistake indeed!

Good luck and please continue posting here. Its inspiring to read your notes "live", so to speak.

Quote of the day...

"Practising with the mind until it's smooth, refined and beautiful is similar to producing a finished wooden pillar or plank: before you can obtain a pillar that is smooth, varnished and attractive, you must first go and cut a tree down. Then you must cut off the rough parts - the roots and branches - before you split it, saw it and work it. Practising with the mind is the same as working with the tree, you have to work with the coarse things first. You have to destroy the rough parts: destroy the roots, destroy the bark and everything which is unattractive, in order to obtain that which is attractive and pleasing to the eye. You have to work through the rough to reach the smooth. Dhamma practice is just the same."

[Ajahn Chah, The Path to Peace]

That's a very interesting quote. I would have said that rather than eliminate ("destroy") all the rough parts you have to accept them just as they are. So...I guess I'm no Ajahn Chah

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That's a very interesting quote. I would have said that rather than eliminate ("destroy") all the rough parts you have to accept them just as they are. So...I guess I'm no Ajahn Chah

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Hi Chris,

Good point. Though, from reading the rest of the text I get the impression that what he thinks needs to be eliminated are the tendencies of mind that cause us to get caught up in what you have so poignantly referring to as CRAP!

Phenomena are just phenomena. The habits of clinging/grasping are the crap. I guess in this way the practice using mindfulness (sati) and panna (wisdom) to clean up the mind is akin to using a pooper-scooper to clean one's yard.

Jackson

"You have to destroy the rough parts: destroy the roots, destroy the bark and everything which is unattractive, in order to obtain that which is attractive and pleasing to the eye. "

Joshu Sasaki Roshi said that the reason zennist practice as a group is like rough diamonds rubbing against each other to slowly polish the rough edges..

as told by roshi student.

And I've experienced this effect especially in a sesshin situation. Even though each participants are not talking to each other... (maybe that's the reason .

Yeah, this is the "purify the mind" version of practice.

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Yeah, this is the "purify the mind" version of practice.

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True.

I'm beginning to see how even the direct path approaches seem to include "purification" or "cultivation" aspect. Though, it's not emphasized as much. Even Dogen's Genjo-koan states, "In attachment blossoms fall; in aversion weeds spread." Ramana Maharshi taught that although we are the Self, direct knowledge of the Self works to purify us of the vasanas (latent tendencies) that obstruct this knowledge.

So is it true that we are "IT", and may recognize that in this very moment? Yes!

But does further cultivation/purification occur as a result of practice? Yes!

Yet another paradox of practice and realization.

"But does further cultivation/purification occur as a result of practice? Yes!"

Yes, Jackson, and I don't believe there is ever an end to practice. I don' think there can ever be a time when anyone, no matter how old, how wise, accomplished, realized or attained, would ever be able to say, "I am completley, entirely, finally and forever done." The universe and its intersection with the mind is infinite, chaotic (both experientially and mathematically) and endless, and thus there can be no time at which there will be nothing further to.... realize (I'm not sure what the proper word is there).

I'm going out on a limb here, of course, but that's how this practice appears to me now.

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Jackson, those are some nice comments and I think you're right on. I've come to know myself as an entirely different being: one that is part and parcel of the universe. One that has a unique perspective because that's just where the senses are located (in this body). One that has mental activity being generated by the reception of sensory data. But not the one I thought I was, dreamed I was, or believed I was going to discover through my practice.

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Chris, that is beautifully stated - especially the last sentence: "But not the one I thought I was, dreamed I was, or believed I was going to discover through my practice." This is my experience as well!

A heap of mundane concerns (buying a home, applying to graduate school, filing taxes, increasing responsibilities at work, etc.) are getting in the way of me updating this journal as regularly as I would like. In times like these, I feel very fortunate to have spent as much time practicing meditation as I have. When external circumstances are poised to bring stress and anxiety, the happiness beyond conditions which I have discovered through practice is the best, the only, refuge. I am more and more able to approach life's challenges with mindfulness and equanimity, and for that I am most grateful. Grateful to whom? To the Buddha, the Dharma, and all of you folks here - my Sangha.

I second that shout out! Without this online sangha, it would be a very lonely experience to full enlightenment. I am so grateful for all you guys too.....as well as the big B and the Dhamma.

Delusion is being on auto-pilot. It is unconsciously clinging to one's stream of bodily and mental phenomena as one's self. This is the cause of suffering.

Mindfulness is the bridge between delusion and wisdom. Wisdom arises naturally as we pay attention to the truth about phenomena, rather than just carrying on with business as usual. When wisdom arises, freedom follows.

If we but learn to pay attention, we will truly see. When we truly see, we are free.

Finally, a note on my actual practice. How about that

A couple days ago I seemed to have kicked into another Review Phase 'A': that is, cycling through ñanas 4 through 11 of the Progress of Insight, getting cessation/fruition, and then starting over. This phase usually starts after having completed a brand new full Progress of Insight cycle, so I guess that may have happened. I'm not sure.

As far as technique is concerned, all I've been doing is focusing on the breath for a few moments to drop into access concentration and then resting in mindful attention (aka, "the One who knows" or "the no-dog") while the various sense phenomena come and go. I get distracted on occasion, getting twirled up into some neat-o visionary manifestation or story. But those instances are short lived.

I've also been watching for "suffering" during all hours of the day. In any situation, when I catch myself suffering, I probe it with mindfulness and equanimity. Wisdom will say, "Ah yes, that is grasping/aversion/delusion," and it eventually subsides. The suffering usually arises as a noticeable somatic charge, especially when it is related to grasping/greed. I'm pretty sure I would classify as a greed type in regards to Buddhist personality types.

I guess that's it for now.

The more I practice, the more the truth comes into focus. I'm realizing more and more that approaching dharma in a primarily intellectual or philosophical way leads to dire misunderstandings. Though it can be frustrating for a student to ask a question of their teacher only to receive an answer such as, "just practice more and you'll see," I think this may be an appropriate response in many cases.

When seen for what it truly is, the thinking mind is oftentimes an ever flowing fountain of incoherent jibber-jabber. A funny thing happens when we dwell as the Witness (2nd Gear): the less energy we give to the thinking process, the more nonsensical it is revealed to be. To think that so many of us are so deeply embedded in the thinking mind! When the stream of thoughts produces dissonance, we are unhappy. When it produces consonance, we are happy. But since there's really no way to control whether consonance or dissonance will result from whatever thoughts happen to be arising, being caught in the current of thoughts results in suffering.

I'm not saying thoughts or concepts are bad. There just comes a time when we are no longer satisfied with relying solely on concepts to translate our experience, as no amount of translation is equal to the freedom and happiness of true transformation. If there are aspects of View that you find confusing or paradoxical, that's all right. You're not going to think your way through them, at least not in the way that you are accustomed to.

Practice, practice, practice.

'I have many names, and none of them matter. Names are not important. To speak is to name names, but to speak is not important. A thing happens once that has never happened before. Seeing it, a man looks upon reality. He cannot tell others what he has seen. Others wish to know, however, so they question him saying 'what is it like, this thing you have seen?' So he tries to tell them. Perhaps he has seen the very first fire in the world. He tells them, 'It is red, like a poppy, but through it dance other colors. It has no form, like water flowing everywhere. It is warm, like the sun of summer, only warmer. It exists for a time on a piece of wood, then the piece of wood is gone, as though it were eaten, leaving behind that which is black and can be sifted like sand. When the wood is gone, it too is gone.' Therefore the hears must think that reality is like a poppy, like water, like the sun, like that which eats and excretes. They think that it is like to anything they are told it is like by the man who has known it. But they have not looked upon fire. After a time, fire is as common as grass and clouds and the air they breathe. They see that, while it is like a poppy, it is not a poppy, while it is like water, it is not water, while it is like the sun, it is not the sun, and while it is like that which eats and passes wastes, it is not that which eats and passes wastes, but something different from each of these apart or all of these together. So they look upon this new thing and they make a new word to call it. They call it '˜fire'.'

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'If they come upon one who still has not seen it and they speak to him of fire, he does not know what they mean. So they, in turn, fall back upon telling him what the fire is like. As they do so, they know from their own experience that what they are telling him is not the truth, but only a part of it. They know that this man will never know reality from their words, though all the words in the world are theirs to use. He must look upon the fire, smell it, warm his hands on it, stare into its heart, or remain ever ignorant. Therefore 'fire' does not matter, 'earth' and 'air' and 'water' do not matter. 'I' do not matter. No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers words. The more words he remembers, the cleverer do his fellows esteem him. He looks upon the great transformations of the world, but he does not see them as they were seen when man looked upon reality for the first time. Their names come to his lips and he smiles as he tastes them, thinking he knows them in the naming. The thing that has never happened before is still happening. It is still a miracle. The great burning blossom squats, still flowing, upon the limb of the world, excreting the ash of the world, and being none of these things I have named and at the same time all of them, and this is reality '“ the Nameless.'

From Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light. Just wanted to share... : )

A few quick notes regarding recent practice and reflection...

- The Witness (2nd Gear) comes off as indifferent and/or aloof only when the self-contraction (i.e. ego) co-opts the perspective as yet another self-preservation tactic. As controversial as this may sound, sometimes one may need to work on their ego in order to drop identification with the Witness as a defense mechanism. This is one of the ways in which personal psychology and trans-personal psychology must work together in order to result in true wholeness and sustainable well-being. The self-contraction is both friend and foe at different points on the spiritual path.

- I've been enjoying the process that the Insight Meditation community refers to as RAIN (Recognition, Acceptance, Investigation, Non-identification). When my practice gets snagged by a thought, feeling, or whatever, this process is helpful for gaining equanimity. Since we can only transcend what we accept (or are willing to own), RAIN is a useful tool to have in one's "yogi toolbox" (as Kenneth puts it).

- I've been appreciating Ken Wilber's work regarding the difference between translation and transformation in regards to the world's great spiritual traditions. Translation (adopting a worldview or set of beliefs from which to translate your experience) is what most spiritual people do. It can only take one so far, and can actually be used to support one's delusions and maladaptive beliefs and behaviors. Transformation, on the other hand, is occurs as one's practice breaks them free from the confines of mere translation. Translation is convenient, transformation is radical. Translation keeps the self-contraction safe, transformation brings about its death and re-birth into a whole new context. This is important to keep in mind, for it can help us steer our practice in the right (and often more challenging) direction.

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As evidenced in the above paragraphs, I'm becoming more and more interested in the ways in which personal psychological and spiritual development (e.g. Western) may be used to support trans-personal psychological and spiritual development, and vice versa. Too many problems arise when we favor one too strongly over the other. There are so many ways in which delusion can fester and cause suffering in our lives, making it important to understand how to appropriately heal the sickness at its root. Sometimes it's spiritual, other times personal. Honoring both the personal and transcendent dimensions of our being leads us down the path to both freedom and fullness; liberation and love. In other words, a genuine expression of the interpenetration of emptiness and form.

May we all find freedom and fullness in this very life.

Jackson, where can I go on the web or what can I get in order to learn about RAIN?

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Jackson, where can I go on the web or what can I get in order to learn about RAIN?

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www.jackkornfield.org/index/articles?id=doingthebuddaspractice
www.awakeninthenow.com/2009/09/mindfulne...ce-of-rain/#more-488
www.burningturban.org/mindsprings/?p=342

Thanks... Jackson

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www.jackkornfield.org/index/articles?id=doingthebuddaspractice
www.awakeninthenow.com/2009/09/mindfulne...ce-of-rain/#more-488
www.burningturban.org/mindsprings/?p=342
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Thanks Gary

That Jack Kornfield article comes right out of his book "The Wise Heart" in a chapter on The Liberating Power of Mindfulness. It's a great book. I highly recommend it.

Chris... you're welcome (ha, ha)

~Jackson