The only problem for sentient beings is their insistence on renewing their samsaric insurance of keeping and choosing nihilist and eternalist habits over  many lives and not believing in Buddha nature. White Sail pg. 41

Individuals are cowards, and hedge their bets.  Almost all give lip service to the teachings of the great masters like Christ and Buddha, but when it comes right down to it, they put all their money and life energy on samsara, trying fruitlessly to make it work, thinking that Om Mani Padme Hum means that salvation is found through the world.  This is a profound mistake.  You cannot make determinations about Dharmakaya or enlightenment from samsara. Samsara must be abandoned for the path.  And there is only one path that will work: that of Vajrayana.

Saying this is not dogmatic stupidity.  It is simply the way it is.

White Sail, p. 41 But abandoning God is only the subject creator betraying the object creator.  There is no proof of who has betrayed whom, and these people just continuously circle between betrayals with nihilist and eternalist habits that lead to each other with ominous monotony.

The same goes for just about everyone.  Jumping back and forth between happiness and despair, wondering why life never really makes any sense.  Individuals just keep doing this until exhaustion brings on death. Then start the whole thing over again, endlessly, never reaching enlightenment because they are looking for it in the wrong place. They are lost in the arrogance of false knowledge, either as a religious zealot (eternalist) or scientifically or empirically oriented idiot (nihilist).  This blind arrogance prevents any arising of true faith, which would lead to a practice that would lead to enlightenment.

It’s a repetitive pattern and brings on suffering upon suffering. Trying to make sense out of that which cannot provide sense, individuals are caught up in phenomena.

As Norbu says, the monotony of all this is truly ominous, because pain really hurts.  And, it is totally predictable. By not turning from ignorance to the path mandala of vajrayana, we are murderers, usurpers, users, whores, pathetic idiots, causing ourselves as well as everyone we care about inconceivable eons of suffering.

Although sectarians may seem to be studying spiritual teachings, they are only disguising dualistic mind’s ruminations with a spiritual veneer.  The reason for studying spiritual teachings is to subdue ordinary ego and open wisdom mind.  No matter what traditions are studied, the purpose of study is to go beyond sectarian views.  When wisdom mind opens, there is automatically a total loss of interest in outward, intellectual study and sectarianism, since the immeasurable knowledge of wisdom opens from the treasure of wisdom mind.  If wisdom mind opens without studying, the meaning of studying is still achieved, which is the manifestation of wisdom Buddha.  Abiding in wisdom mind is nonsectarianism.

The world’s bookstores are filled to the roof with books on Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, Zen, the Western Mystical tradition, Shamanic paths, and so forth.  It is a good thing that so many branches of wisdom mind are represented in such an open and available way in this brief time that we are together.  But once the mind opens, there isn’t much point in casting about any further.  That is why there is a loss in the motivation to read and study intellectually further.  That path was useful to get your wisdom mind opened.  Then, one studies in a different way.  One cultivates.  This is very different from continually getting all excited about the latest book or teacher.  Cultivation is done without books.  Cultivation is done in real life, with real people. 

Many get a powerful glimpse of unitive conscious wisdom mind.  It’s like the clear light of wisdom mind Buddha breaks through a shrouded shell and suddenly all is light, but we still fall back into dualistic intellectual combat.  In this state of mind, we are not yet awake to the inconceivable, infinitely vast buddhafield in which we live and breathe.  What these people do is to immediately patch up the breach due to cowardice or fear that results from attaching to dualistic, nihilistic phenomena as ultimately real.  More real than this freedom/light buddhafield thing!

The best way to handle the precious glimpse of Buddha Mind is to cultivate deity yoga until one’s habits are eventually cleansed of nonsense.  Then it is easier to purify one’s practice until finally one awakens permanently in the Clear Light Wisdom Mind, and so arises Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya, and no more mistakes are made.

On another note, does the awakening mean that there will no longer be interest in intellectual pursuits such as science, mathematics and so forth?  Absolutely not.  In truth, it is next to impossible to totally escape karma, and so there will always be inclinations, which will be expressed in talents for certain kinds of disciplines as a specialty.  There simply isn’t the attachment to the samsaric aspects of samsaric activities. The bottom line is that there is no longer any need to convert anyone to your own way of thinking, since you aren’t “thinking” in that way anymore.  Everything sparkles and dances in the eternally playing light of Wisdom Mind.

In brief, practice means to annihilate the suffering samsaric beings created by dualistic conception.  If one does not want to kill conception, then one cannot even meditate, since meditation is the cessation of grasping mind, which is the actual object of killing.  Without doing this, one actually causes continuous reality killing because one causes continuous dualistic habit.

Unfortunately, the last thing most people want to do is to annihilate conception.  For the most part most people attach to pleasure, and avoid what limits pleasure.  They have expectations, and refuse to abandon them.  The feeling among those who do not want to abandon their expectations is that if they do, then it means they don’t have standards, and then how could you tell the difference between a realized being, a bodhisattva, and a bum?

Good question.

There are other ways in which people cling to conceptions, which means, essentially, that if they are practicing, it is pretty much a worthless activity.  What many do is try to sit quietly, focusing on breath.  Unfortunately, in the West, our practice is divorced from any kind of cultural depth.  We only have things like using foreign spices, or maybe wearing some accessory that hints at some foreign influence… that  is about as deep as it generally goes. What’s missing is a strong sense of the divine… a feeling not much unlike the old pagan notion of divinity in every bush and spring.  In reality, this is actually literally true!  But, because of some really stuffy academic types who did some early translations, we have this nutty idea of “emptiness” or “void”, which implies vacuum.  No Buddhist writing or teaching denies the phenomena of ghosts, deities, spirits, devas, you name it.  The same goes for yoga in India.

What this extirpation of spirit has done to the West is to turn us all into soulless reptilian consumers, whose only salvation is the gratification of materialistic desires,  because that is the only sensations we even are capable of registering… it is the only empirical reality and so the only reality.  The rest is just hocus pocus nonsense…  childish fantasy.

Nihilists are engaged in continuous reality killing in that they are blinding themselves to the full reality of wisdom mind, in order to bolster their conception of material reality.  This is dualistic habit.  It is nothing but poverty of mind and spirit, so sad.

Ordinary karmic air is like pollution that depletes pure energy and causes heaviness.  If karmic air is purified through practice, then immeasurable stainless wisdom sound and clear light Buddhafields pervade.  this is Sambhogakaya.

One way to translate the Sanskrit term, Sambhogakaya, is “enjoyment body”  Sambhoga = pleasure or enjoyment.  Kaya – body or vehicle.

Practice means some kind of spiritual practice that is physical, or at least based in form, through which heavier, more solid forms are dissolved and more subtle, purified forms then open the channels of the body through which chi or prana moves.  When the channels are finally purified completely, then, as Norbu says, there is nothing bur “immeasurable stainless wisdom sound and clear light Buddhafields” and so the body radiates light and perfection.  This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll walk on water,except to say that in the full realization of sambhogakaya, it is much like the characterizations of Jesus when he came to John the Baptist at the river Jordon. John was a mystic and was able to recognize his sambhogakaya.  At the time of the Baptism, the descent of the Holy Spirit marked this bhodi, or achievement. 

Later, at the transfiguration, we see the achievement of nirmanakaya that was discussed earlier.  He held to this nirmanakaya until the crucifixion, which was the transcendence of this material life.

When sambhogakaya arises, an inconceivably vast and blissful body expresses itself. This is that radiance that people experience in the presence of their guru (if he’s for real).  It has nothing to do with the physical form, per se, but more to the boundless light that radiates out from them, from the heart and from the eyes – a sense of peace, wisdom and unconditional love.  Complete lack of judgment or expectation that gives you a glimpse of the inexpressively vast spaciousness that is your true state.

“Ordinary karmic air” refers to the conceptions, thought forms, and habitual forms that constrain your physical expression (body) and which inevitably lead to suffering.  Ordinary karmic air makes the mind and the body restless, agitated and over stimulated, depleting your energy because it takes so much energy to constrain the vibrations of this “air” into these constricted and limited forms that our limited minds think is all there is.  As you purify the nadi of the crystallized, obscuring phenomenon that are precipitated from the habitual thought and energy patterns of the karmic air, it releases all the tension, and you finally feel the energy that is available to you when not being used up to maintain un-maintainable forms.

The the true state of being can be sensed… These are the buddhafields… spaces in you that are open and spacious and totally pure, so that the immense, inconceivable opulence of buddha expresses itself, or arises.  Each Buddhafield is an inconceivably small yet inconceivably vast and open paradise of unconditional love and bliss.

Ordinary karmic channels are like a net that encompasses and restrains the karmic body.  If karmic channels are purified through practice, then wisdom manifestations are unobstructed.  This is Nirmanakaya.

The manner in which we live our lives restricts us to the karma of our individual relative expression of self – the ego and everything that goes with it.  Our intention is ego driven, so that even in trying to help others, we often do more harm than good, because what seems right for us, may not have any relevance for the other.  We are locked into dualistic, subject/object perception and understanding, so we really aren’t seeing anything but our own ego projections.  This is nothing more than pathological self absorption.  Then entire world is carried along by immense numbers of individuals all projecting their ordinary mind forms onto the world, so that the world is really just a huge Tower of Babel, with each individual speaking a language only he or she can understand. We measure truth by how well it accords with our own personal karmic inclinations.

So, in other words, when our ego decides someone else needs help to change themselves, to make their life better, we really don’t even see the other person.  We are judging another according to our own preconceived, probably totally manipulated or even unconsciously held ego belief structures.

The only true practice is to clear out the karmic channels and purify them.  In other words, “Physician, heal thyself!”

The only useful kind of spiritual practice is one that leads you away from ego generated limited and dualistic judgment and into the vast spaciousness of non-dual being, which is called samadhi.  This is also called yoga.  This is the only way to clear out, or purify, the karmic channels, so that wisdom mind can arise, which then fills the body, transforming the karmic expression vehicle, and making it possible to actually doing something of value to someone else or others.  This is what is meant by Nirmanakaya.

The practice stimulates wind (air) chi (prana), and creates inner heat.  By further cultivation, this heat gradually, or suddenly, burns away at the obscurations that are causing blockages in the body and the consciousness of an individual.  You can think of it as billions, actually it is an inconceivable number of nadis or chi (prana) channels that collectively make up your body and all the other layers or sheathes (physical, emotional, intellectual, etc.)  Through purification, these channels then are ready for the wisdom deity (Buddha, Christ Light, etc.) to fully express itself.

First, there is Dharmakaya, which is what yoga is all about…. emptying the mind and body of all conceptions, both aversions and desires, so that absolutely nothing is in the way of Bodhicitta.  Then when wisdom mind arises, it fills the vehicle with a radiant, healing light, transforming the body into Sambhogakaya, or enjoyment body.  This is directly analogous to Jesus Christ being born from the virgin womb of mother Mary in the Christian tradition.  It is exactly the same thing.

Then, through further cultivation, the sambhogakaya becomes a perfect channel for unobstructed clear light wisdom, which is perfect, and which is not conditioned by limited, dualistic ego awareness, but instead is completely, really inconceivably poised to follow the unconditioned, perfect movement of Tao, or wisdom deity, as it flows without limit into the gaps of conditioned mind.  This is what appears to the limited  mind of ego awareness as miraculous, supernatural healing  This is the only way that truly transformative activity can possibly take place.

Anything short of this perfection is nothing more than spinning ever more sticky tar pits in samsara, which trap you and others in endless rounds of suffering.

Until you know, without any reservation, that you, of yourself, can do nothing, you are unredeemed and there is no salvation.  You must empty out yourself of you, for only then can Tao flow; only then can Buddha, Christ, Allah, Krishna, find ultimate and perfect expression.  Only then can you escape karmic suffering.

The practice being talked about here has been outlined over the lifetime of the universe by many teachers.  The most comprehensive treatment of this practice is in Bhagavad Gita.  In the Western eternalist religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, we see exactly the same breakdown of method, which is according to the karmic inclinations of each individual.  There is jnana yoga, or study of scripture, or even pure science.  There is karma yoga, which is to achieve purity by selfless service, or work in the world without any judgment of dualistic motivation.  There is raja yoga, which is the employing of meditation techniques, hatha yoga, etc., and finally, there is Bhakti yoga, or pure devotion to God.  You see this in Krishna worship in India, Sufism in Islam, and Christianity is really focused on pure devotion to Jesus the Christ… that is why among so many people in these times, Christians talk of a personal relationship with Jesus.  Yoga is possible in all religious contexts, as long as the practitioner is consciously cultivating perfect unity with God so that the full power of God can then arise in your karmic vehicle, transforming it to a pure channel for its healing, wisdom generating heart/mind transformation.

Advanced workers in any tradition begin to describe states of pure ecstasy that comes with awakening (buddha, descent of Holy Spirit, etc.)  This ecstasy is not simply one pole of an alternating between mania and depression (bi-polar), but instead is firmly rooted in perfect truth.  Oriented here, as Patanjali says in the yogasutras, “the seer is firmly established in his own true nature.”

In mahayoga, it is called the immeasurable pervasiveness of purity because it is the boundless radiance of the expanse of awareness wisdom.

In the Christian tradition, this is represented by the Virgin Mary, whose love for God is so perfect, so pure, that she is elevated to the station of The Queen of Angels.  All the angels are described is brilliant, associated with fire.

What is being said in this passage from White Sail is that by annihilating dualistic grasping mind, the yogi or yogini achieves a boundless purity of limitless consciousness that is not conditioned by ego.  Everything becomes enlightened.  There is no duality, no expectation, no measurement, no analysis, no morality, no good or evil.  This doesn’t mean that there is no movement in the Wisdom Deity itself.  Far from it.  But in enlightenment, all arisings are simply seen as wisdom display, in other words, all is simply movement without the conceptions that are projected upon them by the dualistic grasping ego mind.

In the path of enlightenment, continuous mind becomes an aspect and quality of the power of wisdom.  When continuous mind  becomes indistinguishable from the emanation of complete, clear wisdom, it becomes its originally stainless purity.  Then, continuous mind is transcended, and there is only the  manifestation of wisdom display.  ~ White Sail, p. 10

What does this mean?  What is “the path of enlightenment”?  What is “continuous mind”?  What is “clear wisdom”?  What is “wisdom display”?

The path of enlightenment

You cannot be anywhere, do anything, without being in the path of enlightenment.  In other words, wherever you are right now, in the company of whomever you are, and doing whatever you are doing, you are in the path of enlightenment.  Nothing around you has to change.  You can think of the universe as in a continuous state of being.  It just is.  Enlightenment does not necessarily require any changes in personnel or location.  It doesn’t necessarily require a change in diet.  It doesn’t necessarily require a change of clothes.  It doesn’t necessarily require listening to different music.

Does this mean that it’s fine to just do nothing, or just hang out, do your time, and enlightenment is assured?  It is abundantly clear, is it not, that everywhere in nature, just letting things take their course always leads to decay and disintegration.  A garden left to itself will go to weeds, which then choke out the vegetables and fruits.  A house that is not maintained will inevitably fall into ruin.  The same applies to human character.  If we don’t exercise and maintain the body, the muscles will atrophy.  If we don’t eat mindfully, but instead eat whatever our cravings impel us to, fat accumulates and we begin to develop all kinds of chronic infirmities.  This is simply the way of things.

On the other hand, there are activities that one can do: meditation, japa, prayer, pranayama, yoga, and so forth, that gradually increase the ability to rest the mind in stillness, eventually leading to samadhi, which is complete absorption in deity. Eventually, attachments begin to dissolve away, and in the freedom that comes with this development, it is much easier to begin to make progress in the cultivation of wisdom mind and compassion.  Another way of saying this is that with spiritual practice, or sadhana, one begins to realize a vast spaciousness of the heart into which all negative emotions, thoughts, experiences simply dissolve away, since there is nowhere for them to attach.

Next post will discuss continuous mind.

Until we have confidence in our own undistorted wisdom mind, we must continuously have faith in the Triple Gems and practice.  In order to release our minds from the habit of heavy, general phenomena, we must try to develop and increase the habit of the light, personal phenomena of wisdom deity until the habit of all general and personal phenomena has been completely exhausted into the habitless, naked ease of the naturally manifesting deity and clear wisdom sky space.

White Sail, p. 15

Just like the ancient Egyptian notion of the soul going before Osiris at death and having their heart weighed against a feather.  If the heart weighed more than the feather, the soul was cast to the pit of alligators and they were then to be reborn to Earthly life.  If, on the other hand, their heart was as light as a feather, then they ascended to the heavenly, celestial duat.

Also, the same thing is happening in Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras: Yoga? citta-vritti-nirodha? – Another way of seeing what Patañjali is talking about is to realize that by stopping the grasping and attachment to the samsaric formations of the mind, we are left with nothing to obscure Sam?dhi -  which is absorption in God.

In the Christian tradition, we would say that one gives up all activity that is not centered on God, or Jesus Christ, such that we are completely cleansed of all sin (ignorance) and filled with the Holy Spirit.

All these are the same thing.