The unborn undying mind of the Buddha

Here is one of my favorite little stories:

"Two Buddhist Monks were on a journey, one was a senior monk, the other a junior monk. During their journey they approached a raging river and on the river bank stood a young lady. She was clearly concerned about how she would get to the other side of the river without drowning.

The junior monk walked straight past her without giving it a thought and he crossed the river. The senior monk picked up the woman and carried her across the river. He placed her down, they parted ways with woman and on they went with the journey.

As the journey went on, the senior monk could see some concern on the junior monk's mind, he asked what was wrong. The junior monk replied, "how could you carry her like that? You know we can't touch women, it's against our way of life". The senior monk answered, "I left the woman at the rivers edge a long way back, why are you still carrying her?"

Originally posted by OmegaPoint


A Buddhist monk, who didn't understand the first thing about Buddhism. How ironic!

One does not automatically get it when one becomes a monk,

it's not a member status but a status of the mind

[edit on 14-7-2009 by third_eye]

[edit on 14-7-2009 by third_eye]

Ack! InthekNOwla I didn't even see you posted the same thing! Jinx you owe me a coke

There are countless stories accumulated through the years of the wisdom of the great masters ...... but not all great stories are of the masters only.

There are many of not only great success ..... but also of failures , but these are not usually known in the west because publishing companies dont usually print those ..... so the condition is as such that it's becoming one of those pre packed instant karma concoctions ...... buy their book .... listen to their seminars ..... pay a couple of hundreds of bucks and you're getting a ticket to nirvana.

makes me sick to tell the truth

reply to post by WhiteWash


Isnt that hilarious.....lol. I gotcha on that coke.

reply to post by Mr Green


The Power of Now was a joy to read. His other books are equally as interesting. I recommend A New Earth. It's about 2012 without talking about 2012. Also check out Conversations with God- Neale Donald Walsh and Living Buddha, Living Christ-Thich Nhat Hanh

"Read the book of Heart."


tprf.org...

I’d like to share my experiences of the unborn undying mind, or enlightenment. I understand how difficult it is to describe, or to teach and I appreciate the time and thought that went into thousands of years of philosophical and spiritual thought and principles. I’m not much of a writer, so I'll use plain common sense language to describe what is really indescribable.

As some background: for many years I read spiritual type of books because I needed to understand how things work, how God or Source works, why I’m on this earth, but I still couldn’t get it. Glimpses or thoughts that resonated with me kept me going. The idea of enlightenment was an exotic idea and I never thought it relevant to my life and what I could become. I was just trying to become the best person I could be. I’m explaining this so that you can understand that enlightenment per se wasn’t what I was looking for, but it happened anyway, and through no special effort or attempts to become a perfect being.

Enlightenment is a process, I still believe, and may look different for different people. I’m posting my experiences simply as an alternative, and perhaps it may resonate with somebody.

My first consciousness shift was simply mind-boggling. I was lying on the grass in my garden in sun, relaxed, when suddenly I experienced this shift. I found that I Am, that I exist, but that I have no sensation of my body. That was pretty cool, and a range of similar experiences started to happen. The next step was a dimensional shift. Again, the I AM experience, but it shifted into another level, accompanied by a feeling similar to lift off in an airplane. With a shift like that, the perspective changes, and this is really difficult to explain or describe, because I’m not seeing anything, yet I just know.

Then further dimensional shifts happened, and the experience and perspective to it changed as my I AM consciousness expanded. You come into contact with - the best I can describe it - a Divine Consciousness, a Knowledge, an Intelligence and Understanding, a Love of which you are part of and has always been part of.

The more and more the I Am consciousness expands, the deeper I go into a state of consciousness to reach a point where there are no thoughts, no nothing, just being. Sometimes there is communication between the Big Consciousness and I AM, and sometimes there is not. There are no emotions. (Emotions are human, or a manifested tool to experience.) But you understand that you are loved, that you are love, it is and nothing can change that. And you get to understand love is a state of being, and not an emotion or even mental construct. In this expanding and contracting consciousness of I AM, insight and understanding of who you really are, how life really works, your own limitations as a human being (which is also perfectly okay, because that is how it is designed) becomes clearer and clearer.

Perhaps I need to point out that the analyses, or ideas or understanding, feelings of bliss, love and joy only manifest in my mind as I come out of this “merging process”. Whilst in it, there is just being. (I think there is a type of download taking place )

Merging with the unborn undying mind is really indescribable, but here is where I get a little radical, it is also a bit” boring” This is very difficult to describe, but lets give it a try. Up and out “there”, there is no duality, and no polarity, and no emotions, and no experiences as we understand. We are in a human body precisely for those reasons – having those experiences. Being human becomes an extraordinary thing, becoming an enlightened human being even more extraordinary. Not because of the “escape” from it all, but it brings with it wisdom and insight on how to become the best human being I possibly could be. And with it comes an acceptance and understanding for when I’m not the best I possibly could be.

Continue below....

Enlightenment is not the end goal, but a means to an end. It is discovering and remembering, whilst being in a human body, where we come from and where we will return to when we die.

The challenges of living become sometimes easier and sometimes even greater. Where previously I had been unaware of all the nuances and all the possibilities of what a human being can be and become, I know and understand more, which makes the knowledge and insight all the more difficult to apply. The game is upped, the difficulty levels increase with each understanding, and I get as confused as anyone else dealing with my everyday life. There are a couple of slight differences. My need to engage in the drama of it all has ended for the most part. My question and answer process has been streamlined. The connection to this Consciousness or Mind is always there. Actually, and it is there for anyone whether you want to know/ acknowledge it or not. It is up to each individual to cultivate the connection it if that person wants to, in whichever way or paradigm that is chosen by the individual. Enlightenment is not necessary for that connection to flourish.

I believe that anyone can deeply and fully connect to that Consciousness, and perhaps it will not take place in the way that it was for me. All that required, I think is a commitment and understanding of the implications (it doesn’t make your life easier, on the contrary, and it isn’t an escape, unless you choose to sit on a mountain top away from people, relationships, work etc. It is often a temptation, I must admit).

And then, get out of your own way. More intellectual understanding of this process is not going to bring it any closer. What is needed is a deep seated need to connect to that Consciousness, and to make the time (a dedicated neutral meditation process with no expectations). There will come a time when, instead of reading a book, you will have a greater need to meditate to find the answers. You will start having experiences, even in your physical body. What you’re looking for is within- there is a portal within you that will open. The rest will take care of itself when the heart is ready and the moment is ripe.

I’m looking at all this writing and suddenly I understand why few people ever try to recount their experiences. We do need analogies and mental constructs for it be understood, but for now, all I have is this. There are still more stories about how my ego got stripped in the process, but that is for another day... And apologies if it seems as if I'm trying to impose my way. It's not the intention.

Originally posted by InthekNOwla
reply to post by Mr Green

 

The Power of Now was a joy to read. His other books are equally as interesting. I recommend A New Earth. It's about 2012 without talking about 2012. Also check out Conversations with God- Neale Donald Walsh and Living Buddha, Living Christ-Thich Nhat Hanh

Thank you yes I have also read A New Earth. I did see the connection to 2012 about how the New Heaven (shift in consciousness) is actually to be found within the New Earth. Heaven can be found on Earth and we do not actually have to "physically ascend" any where! We are already there we just need to become aware of this.

reply to post by OmegaPoint


I think the secret is to not get upset about anything. You can approach so many activities ( I for one play drums, suck at guitar, do martial arts, soccer, football, volleyball. work, study, read meditate, teach meditation, and do Jesus' Christ's work etc, cant do it all in one day right? But my mind lets me be "professional," focus like a professional athlete in all these things and more in each day as it comes

Thats my sense from it

reply to post by OmegaPoint

Just some resources for those interested in finding out more about primordial mind, at least according to a large percentage of the Buddhists -

Rigpa

... (Tibetan; Sanskrit vidya) is the primordial, nondual awareness advocated by the Dzogchen and Mahamudra teachings.

“ Rigpa is a Tibetan word, which in general means ‘intelligence’ or ‘awareness’. In Dzogchen, however, the highest teachings in the Buddhist tradition of Tibet, rigpa has a deeper connotation, ‘the innermost nature of the mind’. The whole of the teaching of Buddha is directed towards realizing this, our ultimate nature, the state of omniscience or enlightenment – a truth so universal, so primordial that it goes beyond all limits, and beyond even religion itself. —Sogyal Rinpoche

Source : Wikipedia

Luminous mind

... (also, "brightly shining mind," "brightly shining citta") (Pali, pabhassara citta) is a term attributed to the Buddha in the Nikayas. The mind (citta) is said to be "luminous" whether or not it is tainted by mental defilements.

The statement is given no direct doctrinal explanation in the Pali discourses, but later Buddhist schools explained it using various concepts developed by them. The Theravada school identifies the "luminous mind" with the bhavanga, a concept first proposed in the Theravada Abhidhamma. The later schools of the Mahayana identify it with both the Mahayana concepts of bodhicitta and tathagatagarbha. The idea is also connected with features of Dzogchen thought.

Source : Wikipedia

Tathagatagarbha Sutra

The Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra is an influential and doctrinally striking Mahayana Buddhist scripture which treats of the existence of the “Tathagatagarbha” (Buddha-Matrix, Buddha-Embryo, Buddha-Essence, lit. “the womb of the thus-come-one”) within all sentient creatures. The Buddha reveals how inside each person’s being there exists a great Buddhic “treasure that is eternal and unchanging”. This is no less than the indwelling Buddha himself. Only a Buddha can see this “inner Buddha” - ordinary, “unawakened” persons lack the necessary vision, as the “Tathagatagarbha” is covered and obscured by innumerable mental/moral contaminants (notably desire, anger and ignorance). The Buddha comments:

“ …when I regard all beings with my Buddha eye, I see that hidden within the klesas [mental afflictions] of greed, desire, anger, and stupidity there is seated augustly and unmovingly the tathagata’s [the Buddha's] wisdom, the tathagata’s vision, and the tathagata’s body. Good sons, all beings, though they find themselves with all sorts of klesas, have a tathagatagarbha that is [primordially pure], and that is replete with virtues no different from my own. ”
—Buddhism in Practice p. 96

Source : tathagata.com