Maintaining

2024, August, Issue 110

We catch a glimpse,

Just a glimpse, we see

We experience this ineffable

We see, we see with our mind

We see bright light beyond knowing,

Beyond knowing with our mind,

We cannot discuss, for what is

The point?

That bright light is not light at all,

That brilliant condition is beyond,

Beyond belief, and must be

Must be experienced directly;

We cannot speak about this,

We cannot speak about this secret

Discovery;

We cannot speak because it is beyond

Beyond senses and mind, beyond reason

And conceptual understanding of the greatest intellect;

Beyond the genius of our time;

When we discover for ourselves

We see, we feel, we taste, we hear,

We smell the scent of fresh open vastness,

We visualize bright beyond bright, beyond time,

Brilliant beyond object and subject;

We cannot know the Nature of Mind

Unless we go beyond, beyond

All these constraints that have held us back

Through every lifetime

From before beginningless

Beginnings of time.

A poem by Robert Aho © 2024

When we realize the Nature of Mind, we realize that there is nothing to change.  Up until this point, we have been obsessed with changing our mind, purification, developing a strong foundation of Bodhicitta, observing how mind is, transforming so many things.  The Spiritual Path is like that.  It’s a real struggle until it’s no struggle at all.

Throughout all of this turmoil that is our Spiritual Path, it becomes abundantly clear that we must maintain our Spiritual Practice.  We must maintain our view, as well as our foundation.  We must do this in a way that is also ready to let go.  Since we are working with mind, it must be understood from the outset that mind does not actually provide awakening.  Our own awakening happens when mind unifies with the Nature of Mind.  At that point it is self-perfected, being released into the ineffable realization at once.  It’s not possible to change anything any longer.

To understand the Nature of Mind, or Dzogchen, there is really nothing to discuss.  This understanding is not conceptual.  Awakening is not an intellectual activity.  It must be directly understood through a recognition of our Real Nature.  It is very simple.

It seems that we should understand at the outset that awakening is an irrational endeavor.  It is about removing all of our constraints, such as emotions, beliefs, and rational thinking.  Awakening takes us beyond all this mind activity.  It completely deconstructs our lives by becoming fully integrated with that bright condition.

We awaken, and all that has bound us to our useless suffering simply vanishes.  We no longer yearn to return to this madhouse.  We no longer see any reason for any of it.  A rational person hangs onto their madness, seeking to perpetuate that for all eternity, seeking comfort with thoughts of the afterlife, as well as intellect that closely mimics their daily life and all that it is attached to. 

For the most part, people want to be stroked, receiving reassurance that the afterlife will be like ordinary life, except that everything will magically be fixed and quite pleasurable.  Some find comfort in the idea that they will simply disappear into the void.  A small number want to awaken.

To awaken means that you will no longer want to be stroked.  You will endeavor to see this madness as it is.  Awakening means facing reality no matter what; and, this takes tremendous faith, as well as devotion to the Spiritual Path.  You’re not interested in fantasy if you are interested in awakening, truly awakening to our ineffable condition as pure bright awareness.  Awakening means that you will let go of your life, seeing the pointlessness of life in general, which means understanding the folly of dualistic existence.  If you awaken, you no longer fabricate self or other, you no longer live in a fantasy. 

To be rational means that you think your fantasy is real.  You do what you can to cling to self, to maintain egotistical constraints on your life.  Awakening means letting go of such madness.

So, we have determined that we wish to awaken, and we’ve begun to develop genuine Bodhicitta in our lives.  We understand that this is the key.  This is very important to us, as we realize that having great compassion for our own life, our own journey through this bardo, is the key to Timeless Luminosity, beyond thought and belief, beyond ordinary constraints and hindrances.  How do we maintain that most important key to our own awakening, without becoming distracted or abandoning the Path?

Even though awakening is the simplest thing that we can do, it requires some effort in maintaining that realization.  There is virtually no chance, without continual meditative practices and deep contemplation, along with personally necessary Spiritual Practices, that we will awaken.  Even if we are fortunate enough to realize the Nature of Mind, without finding a way to maintain our Spiritual Practice, we will quickly fall back into distraction and confusion.

How we maintain our Spiritual Practice depends upon where we are in our practice, how we perceive the world around us, how we keep from becoming distracted.  We certainly do not want to become distracted.  Awakening means taking good care and having great compassion.  We do our best.

Blessings in Light,               

Robert Aho