This Mirror

2023, October, Issue 67

This Mirror

This Mirror reflects all possibilities,

This Mirror that is not there,

this illusion of self,

Though obscured by clouds or mist rising,

This illusion, primordially perfect,

Self-perfecting from beginningless

Beginnings;

This Mirror

reflects what is present

In mind, in mind

In mind,

In

Mind;

This reflection

Is

Not

Real,

Even though

Infinite potentiality

Has made it seem so;

It has

Appeared,

Arisen, arisen in this light,

Appearing as though it is something,

Of what is both reflected

This apparent object of mind,

Beyond ordinary constraints,

Beyond what we think is real;

Ultimate Truth

Is simply beyond

Beyond belief,

As it is.

~Robert Aho~

A simple poem created on a misty frosty Autumn morning © 2023.

My past few newsletters reflected something that I tried to deny in myself.  From my first few years as a toddler, meditating without instruction, to a lifetime of careful study of Western culture, religion and science, trying to understand these people, as well as this land where I was born, I have been working towards something important.  It seems that, despite my best efforts, I can no longer limit myself.  When I try to hold back, it doesn’t work, as my body starts to fail when I try.  My samaya is linked to this very life.

In the few years after I became a Buddhist, many people asked me how it is that I can teach across so many levels of Spiritual Traditions, as they hadn’t seen such a thing before.  I would correct people and say that I am just leading meditation, just helping when I can.  It’s no big deal.  They shouldn’t read too much into it or think that I’m actually teaching.  They should go talk to a real teacher if they wanted advice.  People started to wonder about this more and more until it started to cause problems.

In general, people have been happy with what I have had to say about the spiritual matters.  Even people who were not so spiritual, maybe being fully engaged with science, philosophy or various intellectual activities, would go away feeling satisfied when I spoke with them about meditation.  I knew how to speak across various platforms of thought and spiritual experience, simply because of past lifetimes and in how I’ve been carefully, methodically, studying Western cultures for my entire lifetime.  Within this, I feel as though I’m still relatively new here in the West.

If you’ve read The Frog, you have some idea why this it true with me.  My past lifetimes have a great deal to do with it.  I study everything very carefully, very efficiently, really boiling things down to a rather intense level, which I should add can make some people very uncomfortable. 

From a nonsectarian, or Rimé, point of view, I observe what appears, looking at how things are connected, what they mean to people, the culture where I am.  It has been important to understand where I am, and I try to be very efficient about it.  I also don’t make a big deal about it.  I simply look at the big picture, as well as the small details at the same time.  Sectarian views do not impress me, and they don’t help much, either in how I communicate or what I learn.  I feel limited by such things as sectarianism, and that will simply not do.

My death was my returning, which meant that I can fulfill some promises.  My determination to awaken began some time ago.  It’s not new to this lifetime.  My resolve has not wavered over many lifetimes.

Padmasambhava taught that awareness itself liberates all.  Since my death experience, I’m simply starting from that one point, that amazing light of Dharmakaya.  If we understand this one point, then all will be revealed.  You don’t have to die in order to gain access to that light, we merely need to recognize who we really are—and that is Dzogchen, it is the Nature of Mind.  We’re not an object, nor are we a self.  This self that we think is real, defending it, feeling anxious about it, limiting what it can do, is simply an illusion; and, that illusion has infinite potentiality.  We create this illusion, not knowing that it has no limits, none at all.

When we discover this amazing truth, we become liberated, totally free, without any constraints.  When we fixate on objects, as well as subjects, we impose limitations.  If we impose limitations, there is no way to awaken.

What I teach applies to everyone.  That is why people of various capacities have all found something useful that can help them with their own Spiritual Practice, or even intellectual endeavors.  I start from this one point of Dharmakaya.  I start from the complete open realization that we all try very hard to avoid when we grasp at self, at this delusion of life that we don’t really understand.

When we are curious about our journey, understand that a Spiritual Path really only begins with Bodhicitta.  All sentient beings are somewhere on these levels:

•         Not on a Spiritual Path.

•         Seeking a Spiritual Path.

•         Entering a Spiritual Path.

•         Practicing on that Spiritual Path.

•         Gathering teachings and practices.

•         Recognizing our Real Nature.

•         Practicing awareness.

•         Awakening.

Be genuinely honest, proceed, then awaken.

Blessings in Light,

Robert Aho