Excerpt from an old meditation text…..

The German translator Richard Wilhelm, who presented to the world the first English translation of the old Taoist meditation text—-the Secret of the Golden Flower—-in 1929 (and just before dying in 1930), also introduced another text that, he wrote,  “combines Buddhist and Taoist directions for meditation”.    Wilhelm published a portion of this meditation text—–the Book of Consciousness and Life or the Hui Ming Ching—-in the 1920s in the fifth German edition for the Secret of the Golden Flower.  That same excerpt is in the 1962 edition published here (and which I have had for many years).    This text (which Wilhelm only publishes the introductory section of) is described in this quote provided on page XV (“Forward to the Fifth Edition” by Salome Wilhelm in 1957):

The Hui Ming Ching, or Book of Consciousness and Life, was written by Liu Hua-yang in the year 1794.  The author was born in the province of the Kiangsi, and later became a monk in the monastery of the Double Lotus Flower (Shuang-lien-ssu) in the province of Anhui.  The translation is from a new edition of a thousand copies printed with The Secret of the Golden Flower in 1921 by a man with the pseudonym of Hui-chen-tzu (“he who has become conscious of truth”).

Wilhelm describes how he became acquainted with both this text and the Secret of the Golden Flower (which Carl Jung, in his foreward, asserts was very important to him in his own work).  From page 3 of the 1962 edition of The Secret of the Golden Flower (A Chinese Book of Life), translated and explained by Richard Wilhelm and with commentary by Carl G. Jung:

This book comes from an esoteric circle in China.  For a long time it was transmitted orally, and then in writing; the first printing is from the Ch-ien-lung period (eighteenth century).  Finally a thousand copies of it were reprinted in Peking in 1920, together with the Hui Ming Ching, and were distributed among a small group of people who, in the opinion of the editor, understood the questions discussed.  That is how I was able to get a copy…..

The oral tradition for these texts goes back to the 8th Century and is traced to a Taoist sect called the Religion of the Golden Elixir of Life.  This was founded by a famed Taoist adept named Lu Yen (or Lu Tung-pin).   Lu Yen identified with the much older teaching perspectives of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, the esoteric and philosophical core of Taoism.

Here (taken from pages 69 t0 79) are the verses that were published from the Book of Consciousness and Life  (only a portion of the full text):

~ Cessation of Outflowing

If thou wouldst complete the diamond body with no outflowing, Diligently heat the roots of consciousness and life.  Kindle light in the blessed country ever close at hand, And there hidden, let thy true self always dwell.

~The Six Periods of Circulation in Conformity with the Law

If one discerns the beginning of the Buddha’s path, There will be the blessed city of the West.  After the circulation in conformity with the law, there is a turn upward towards heaven, when the breath is drawn in.  When the breath flows out energy is directed towards the earth.  One time-period consists of six intervals.  In two intervals one gathers Moni (Sakyamuni).  The great Tao comes forth from the centre.  Do not seek the primordial seed outside!

~The Two Energy-Paths of Function and Control

There appears the way of the in-breathing and out-breathing of the primordial pass.  Do not forget the white path below the circulation in conformity with the law!  Always let the cave of eternal life be nourished through the fire!  Ah!  Test the immortal place of the gleaming pearl!

~The Embryo of the Tao

According to the law, but without exertion, one must diligently fill oneself with light.  Forgetting appearance, look within and help the true spiritual power!  Ten months the embryo is under fire.  After a year the washings and baths become warm.

~The Birth of the Fruit

Outside the body there is a body called the Buddha image.  The thought which is powerful, the absence of thoughts, is Bodhi (liberation).  The thousand-petaled lotus flower opens, transformed through breath-energy.  Because of the crystallization of the spirit, a hundred-fold splendour shines forth.

~Concerning the Retention of the Transformed Body

Every seperate thought takes shape and becomes visible in colour and form.  The total spiritual power unfolds its traces and transforms itself into emptiness.  Going out into being and going into non-being, one completes the miraculous Tao.  All separate shapes appear as bodies, united with a true source.

~The Face Turned to the Wall

The shapes formed by the spirit-fire are only empty colours and forms.  The light of the human nature [essence], shines back on the primordial, the true.  The imprint of the heart floats in space; untarnished, the moonlight shines.  The boat of life has reached the shore; bright shines the sunlight.

~Empty Infinity

Without beginning, without end, Without past, without future.  A halo of light surrounds the world of the law.  We forget one another, quiet and pure, altogether powerful and empty.  The emptiness is irradiated by the light of the heart and heaven.  The water of the sea is smooth and mirrors the moon in its surface.  The clouds disappear in blue space; the mountains shine clear.  Conciousness reverts to contemplation; the moon-disk rests alone.

The Six Vajra Verses (of Dzogchen)

The following version of The Six Vajra Verses is from Namkhai Norbu’s book, The Crystal and Way of Light:

‘Although apparent phenomena manifest as diversity —
yet this diversity is non-dual.
And of all the multiplicity
of individual things that exist,
none can be confined in a limited concept.
Staying free from the trap of any attempt
to say ‘it’s like this’, or ‘like that’,
it becomes clear that all manifested forms are
aspects of the infinite formless,
and, indivisible from it,
are self-perfected.
Seeing that everything is self-perfected
from the very beginning,
the disease of striving for any achievement
is surrendered,
and just remaining in the natural state
as it is,
the presence of non-dual contemplation
continuously spontaneously arises.”

 

Two old clear texts revealing the nature of the Enlightened Condition

First, an old classic Advaita Vedanta Sanskrit text called the Ashtavakra Gita shares a conversation between a student and a Realized teacher.  I’ve had a printed out copy of this for a long time.  This work was a favorite of Ramana Maharshi’s as well as other contemporary Realized teachers.

See this freely available translation of the Ashtavakra Gita (by John Richards) here:

http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0004.htm

Now, shifting to the Buddhist (and Dzogchen) tradition, I recently came across a sampling of 12th  century writings in an article by a Tibetan teacher, Dilgo Khyentse (1910-1991), that was part of an anthology called The Best Buddhist Writings (2004; published by Shambhala Sun and edited by Melvin McLeod).  Dilgo Khyentse provided in-depth commentary on 19 of 100 verses from The Hundred Verses of Advice by an Indian teacher (Kamashila) who shared his advice (shortly before his death) to the people of the Tibetan village of Tingri.  Dilgo Khyentse’s article in the anthology is called: Like a Mirror, Like a Rainbow, Like the Heart of the Sun.

He provided commentary for these 19 verses (#51 – 69):

~ In a state of emptiness, whirl the spear of pure awareness;  People of Tingri, the view is free of being caught by anything at all.

~ In a state without thoughts, without distraction abandon the watcher; People of Tingri, the meditation is free of any torpor or excitement.

~ In a state of natural spontaneity, train in being free of any holding back; People of Tingri, in the action there is nothing to abandon or adopt.

~ The four bodies, indivisible, are complete in your mind; People of Tingri, the fruit is beyond all hope and doubt.

~ The root of both samsara [illusion] and nirvana [reality] is to be found within your mind; People of Tingri, the mind is free of any true reality.

~ Desire and hate appear, but like birds in flight should leave no trace behind; People of Tingri, in meditation be free of clinging to experiences.

~ The unborn absolute body is like the very heart of the sun; People of Tingri, there is no waxing or waning of its radiant clarity.

~ Thoughts come and go like a thief in an empty house; People of Tingri, in fact there is nothing to be gained or lost.

~ Sensations leave no imprints, like drawings made on water; People of Tingri, don’t perpetuate deluded appearances.

~ Thoughts of attachment and aversion are like rainbows in the sky; People of Tingri, there is nothing in them to be grasped or apprehended.

~ Mind’s movements dissolve by themselves, like clouds in the sky; People of Tingri, in the mind there are no reference points.

~ Without fixation, thoughts are freed by themselves — like the wind; People of Tingri, which never clings to any object.

~ Pure awareness is without fixation, like a rainbow in the sky; People of Tingri, experiences arise quite unimpededly.

~ Realization of the absolute nature is like the dream of a mute; People of Tingri, there are no words to express it.

~ Realization is like a youthful maiden’s pleasure; People of Tingri, joy and bliss just cannot be described.

~ Clarity and emptiness united are like the moon reflected in water; People of Tingri, there is nothing to be attached to and nothing to impede.

~ Appearances and emptiness inseperable are like the empty sky; People of Tingri, the mind is without center or periphery.

~ The mind with no thought and no distraction is like the mirror of a beauty; People of Tingri, it is free of any theoretical tenets.

~ Awareness and emptiness inseperable are like reflections in a mirror; People of Tingri, nothing is born there and nothing ceases.

Some initial notes on Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection or Completeness”

Okay, my notes here will entail the use of a different terminology and vocabulary.

Dzogchen is regarded by many as the highest expression of Buddhist teachings and is associated with Tibetan Buddhism (in particular one “school” of that) and also was incorporated into the native Tibetan shamanic “religion” of Bon.  Even though the Dalai Lama is the leader of a school different than the one which Dzogchen reportedly arose out of, he has written about, and taught, it.

I personally resonate with it’s teachings, probably because (for me) it outshines even  notions that perhaps are fostered in so many other non-dualistic teachings, like the notion “I am Enlightened” or “I am Realized” or “I am Liberated”.  (Ramana Maharshi, btw, also confronts these forms of self-imagery in various recorded conversations he had with those visiting him.) 

I first read about Dzogchen in some depth in a book by a Dzogchen teacher, Namkhai Norbu: The Crystal and the Way of Light.

Namkhai Norbu asserted that this way of the “Great Completeness or Perfection” involved awakening to the  “primordial” conditon of all that is, pure and non-dual awareness.  Like the crystal that reflects all shifting conditions, this awareness (void and spacious) remains inherently unaffected by the flux of ever changing conditions. 

In the Dzogchen teaching, the teacher initiates the student via a “Great Introduction” to this primordial condition.  Spiritual practice then involves a process of “learning” to abide in that condition in the face of all arising circumstances.  Over time, presumably, the sense of an underlying distress evaporates.  (This is what the Buddha meant by the “end of suffering” in his Four Noble Truths.)

The reader can read a summary introduction here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzogchen

Ramana Maharshi video with narration on his teaching and last days

There is a small amount of discussion related to his teaching, and manner of teaching (which was largely via his silent presence, but included conversations with those visiting him).

This video shows the May 30, 1949 Life Magazine profile of him.  It was that year that he was diagnosed with a serious cancer in his left arm.

He died on April 14, 1950.  Fully conscious as hundreds passed by him with he greeting them with his radiant gaze. 

Video from YouTube.

Brief notes on dualism and non-dualism.

As I mentioned in the post on “Classical Yoga”, that school or system promoted a dualistic picture and program of practice.  Practice is designed to free oneself from what I called the disturbing flux of the world and of one’s own mind.  So as to arrive at some “other” place, a better place presumably.  (Of “Spirit”, or what could be said to be “God’s Place”.)

The Upanishads (first penned around 2800 to 2500 years ago) actually sing a different tune than that.  These writings form the foundation of the predominant “school” (of Hinduism) called Advaita Vedanta.  Advaita means “non-dual”, or not two.  Practitioners in non-dualistic traditions (which includes even the Christian tradition) are not attempting to escape this world into some better place.  Instead, they are interested in awakening to That which they truely are (and which is the core Identity of everything and all beings).  Therefore, this world does not ultimately represent some problematic condition from which they must escape (to a better Place).

Some articles introducing “non-dualism”:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nondualism

http://www.nonduality.com/faq.htm

Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world

Ramana Maharshi

First western translations of the principal Upanishads.

Max Muller, a nineteenth century German scholar of comparative languages and mythology, provided the first translations in the west of the so-called principal Upanishads.

Here is a website that provides these translations:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/upan/index.htm

Where is this “Kingdom of Heaven” anyway??

It’s probably a safe bet that most people that I see when I go out for a walk, or any other purpose, are self-identified as “Christians”.  Though, it seems a preponderance of people that I know most well have a somewhat secular, non-Christian perspective.  Really committed Christians talk about a “Kingdom of Heaven” and appear to adopt one of the two “takes” on this in the canonical Gospels, which is the “Kingdom of Heaven” is a place somewhere else apart from their current circumstance.  This despite the fact that Jesus is quoted at one point as saying that it was right here, always, staring us in the face (so to speak).

Based on many conversations with self described Christians over the decades, my impression is that the most common notion re: the “Kingdom of Heaven” is of an afterlife Place.  If you accept Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, you have in effect obtained not only a Passport to  this Kingdom, but you have also been sworn in as a Citizen of that Kingdom.

Biblical scholars have asserted through careful analysis (chiefly through the project called The Jesus Seminar) that the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas likely represents the most accurate reporting of what Jesus actually said about things.  A lot in that Gospel resonates quite well with a non-dualistic “Eastern” perspective.  (Non-dualism, btw, is not an “Eastern” thing; it’s just more blabbed about in the traditions from there).

Thanks to the Gospel of Thomas, which for me was like MapQuest in finding this “Kingdom of  Heaven”, I would like to report that I think this Kingdom is located in what I have recently been calling “the nothing is happening Place”.  A “place” with no Center and no Circumference.  “Here” there is no movement whatsoever.  It’s the place where all movement and experiences arise and fall with no sense of distress attached to all that movement and experience.  And, perhaps most importantly, “Here” there is no “other”.  Therefore, this Place is also the BirthPlace of true compassion.