Gaining freedom without losing our mind - 049

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(Everything -- body, speech & mind -- is already equal, pure, perfect, divine here & now;
indivisible displays of Life / Reality / Buddha-nature, beyond all dualities.)

𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗗𝗢𝗠 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗗!

( 10 quotes and a conclusion )

1: Using our intellect to understand life ~ Chögyam Trungpa

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 has a bad connotation, associated with distancing ourselves from our feelings, refusing to look at ourselves or examine ourselves in a fundamental way. However, using our intellect to understand life is actually quite good. Intellect represents the sharpest point in our experience. Sharpening our intellect brings precision. Intellect brings a direct way of seeing things as they are, so that we don’t neglect the potential in our experience. It teaches us to be aware and precise on the spot.

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– Chögyam Trungpa

from the book "Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery"

https://quotes.justdharma.com/using-our-intellect-to.../ 

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2: Reason based Path ~ 14th Dalai Lama

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 well from the beginning and then there will never be any need to look back with confusion and doubt.

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-- 14th Dalai Lama

from the book The Path To Enlightenment

https://quotes.justdharma.com/reason-based-path-14th.../ 

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3: The path of knowledge ~ Lama Yeshe

Buddhism isn’t some fanatical religious trip. It’s a philosophical way of living life. And also, to study Buddhism you don’t need to believe in something extreme. It’s a matter of investigating, examining and experimenting on yourself. It’s not just belief. Without understanding, belief can be very dangerous. So what Lord Buddha emphasized was that 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 is the path to liberation, 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 is the path to liberation.

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-- Lama Yeshe

from the book Freedom Through Understanding: The Buddhist Path to Happiness and Liberation

https://quotes.justdharma.com/the-path-of-knowledge/ 

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4: Thinking while resting in the natural state ~ Thrangu Rinpoche

Resting in the natural state does not mean that you cannot think about things or work. The idea is to rest in the natural state and 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲. If you can do that, you can think things through and work but there are no painful or sharp feelings.

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-- Thrangu Rinpoche

https://quotes.justdharma.com/thinking-resting-natural.../ 

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5: Idiot meditation ~ 17th Karmapa

In order to meditate, it is very important to first identify what we are meditating on. If we meditate without identifying that, there is the danger it will become idiot meditation or idiot Dharma. If we do not 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗱 through listening and contemplating the meaning of what we are meditating on, how can we practice?

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-- 17th Karmapa

https://quotes.justdharma.com/idiot-meditation/ 

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6: “I am not devaluing 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀.
Just do not mix up what we think with what actually is.”

-- Taizan Maezumi, Roshi

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7: Neither REJECT nor cling (ACCEPT) to 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀,

Both are wrong; like a ball of fire,

Useful but dangerous.

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-- From Song of Precious Mirror Samadhi, 

by Ch'an Master Tung-shan Liang-chieh

https://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/zen/hz/hz.htm 

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8: Never disturbed ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

Even though 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 come and go, the mind’s natural clarity is never disturbed or interrupted.

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– Mingyur Rinpoche

from the book "The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness"

https://quotes.justdharma.com/never-disturbed-mingyur.../ 

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9. It is not necessary to get rid of 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀, 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 & 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀,
just cease deriving your sense of identity from them.

-- Rupert Spira

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10. Falling in love with the universe ~ Chögyam Trungpa 

You can almost fall in love with the universe, with the general situation. At that point, there is no reference point to anyone (subject) or anything (object). It is just being in love, just appreciating your world. You don’t have to crank anything up. The main point is developing some kind of appetite for the universe, that everything is workable and lovable.

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-- Chögyam Trungpa

https://quotes.justdharma.com/falling-in-love-with-the-universe/ 

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(All appearances are parts of the magical dance / play of the Universe,
the dance of what is, the dance between emptiness and appearance,
a dance of luminosity, a dance of insubstantial appearances -- beyond all dualities.)

i.e. 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡:

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Again, it is about trying to find 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲.

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Being able to use our (actual 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 / physical fabrications, 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵 / conceptual fabrications, 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 / mental fabrications) x (individual, collective, cosmic) (including our feeling, thinking, remembering, planning, conceptualising, classifying, discriminating, etc... ),

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to use them as simple tools, without grasping, without attachment, without becoming slaves to them, without thinking they are inherent, universal, absolute with inherent / universal / absolute qualities; 

𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 them in absolute terms ... 

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Being able to use them while being aware of their true nature & dynamic as pointed by concepts like: the 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵𝘀, 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀, 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 / 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀 & 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗮 ...

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That is the meaning of being free from them, liberated.

"𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺" ... 𝗡𝗢𝗧 "𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁", 

NOT rejecting / abandoning / demonising them.

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Realising that 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹, 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁, 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 of our true nature (Buddha-nature), of the true nature of Reality, of the indivisible Buddhaverse. They are the magical dance / play of the Universe, the dance of what is, the dance between emptiness and appearance, a dance of luminosity, a dance of insubstantial appearances.

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We should be celebrating LIFE / our true nature, not trying to escape it.

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Our capacity to think, talk, conceptualise, discriminate, compare, analyse, create, transcend our limits ... is what differentiate us from animals and rocks.
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲. 

𝗟𝗲'𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁.

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More quotes

Illuminating life ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Enlightenment is referred to as en-lighten-ment. It is further luminosity; it illuminates life. Up to this point, we had a very bad lighting system; but now we are getting a better lighting system, so we begin to see every curve of skin, every inch of our world, properly. We might get irritated by such sharpness and precision, but this seems to be part of the perspective that Buddha is everywhere.

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-- Chögyam Trungpa

from the book Ocean of Dharma: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa

https://quotes.justdharma.com/illuminating-life/ 

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The flow of life appears as a rainbow ~ 7th Dalai Lama

Your mind absorbed in bliss and void inseparable, the flow of life appears as a rainbow. 

One body endlessly sending forth clouds of emanations to set this world ablaze with joy.

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-- 7th Dalai Lama

from the book The Dalai Lama's Secret Temple

https://quotes.justdharma.com/the-flow-of-life-appears-as-a-rainbow-7th-dalai-lama/

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Living an Appearance-Emptiness Life ~ Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche

You know the supreme path that is free from coming and going,

And you teach the true nature of all phenomena,

While never leaving a single being out of your compassion’s embrace,

Great mother, noble Tara, I bow at your feet.

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Since all phenomena, outer and inner, are dependently existent mere appearances
(1st truth - conventionally dependently co-arisen relative functional impermanent appearances),

They have no inherent nature (2nd truth - emptiness of inherent existence),
they are just [Union of] appearance-emptiness (one aspect implies the other (<==>)).
[Union of the Two Truths about all dharmas]

If you know how they resemble dreams and illusions,

All comings and goings will be open and relaxed.

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Since appearances of friends and enemies are dependently existent,

Both are appearance-emptiness, like rainbows, and if you know this,  
[Union of the Two Truths about the opposites of any duality / tiad / quad / etc.]

That is called, “meditation on illusion.”

Within openness you will achieve inner peace.

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A planet and a particle are equal,

An aeon and an instant are equal, the Buddha taught.

If you gain uncontrived certainty in this,

Within spaciousness, any work you do will come out alright.
[Equality / purity / perfection of all dharmas]

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When you are expert at studying your own mind (subject)

All that appears (objects) becomes your guru,
[Union of the Two Truths about the three spheres -- subject, relation / action, object]

And even your enemies become friends of your Dharma practice –

E ma! What a wonderful miracle!
[Union bliss and emptiness]

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-- Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche

https://quotes.justdharma.com/living-an-appearance-emptiness-life/ 

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Taking life on the path ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

Looking at the way we look
(i.e. at the Union of the Two truths about the three spheres -- ex. subject / actor / perceiver / knower, relation / action / perception / cognition, object / result / perceived / known --)
is the essence of taking life on the path.

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-- Mingyur Rinpoche

from the book Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom

https://quotes.justdharma.com/taking-life-on-the-path/ 

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Enjoy your Life ~ Shunryu Suzuki

The only way is to enjoy your life. Even though you are practicing zazen, counting your breath like a snail, you can enjoy your life, maybe much better than making a trip to the moon. That is why we practice zazen. The kind of life you have is not so important. The most important thing is to be able to enjoy your life without being fooled by things (not rejecting, not accepting).

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-- Shunryu Suzuki

https://quotes.justdharma.com/enjoy-your-life-shunryu-suzuki/ 

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Use your life ~ Pema Chödron

Use your life to wake you up.

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-- Pema Chödron

from the book The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving Kindness

https://quotes.justdharma.com/use-your-life/ 

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The approach of mindfulness of life ~ Chögyam Trungpa

The approach of mindfulness of life is that if you are meditating in a room, you are meditating in a room. You don’t regard the room as a cave. If you are breathing, you are breathing, rather than convincing yourself you are a motionless rock. You keep your eyes open and simply let yourself be where you are. There are no imaginations involved with this approach. You just go through with your situation as it is. If your meditation place is in a rich setting, just be in the midst of it. If it is in a simple setting, just be in the midst of that. You are not trying to get away from here to somewhere else. You are tuning in simply and directly to your process of life. This practice is the essence of here and now. In this way, meditation becomes an actual part of life, rather than just a practice or exercise. It becomes inseparable from the instinct to live that accompanies all one’s existence. That instinct to live can be seen as containing awareness, meditation, mindfulness. It constantly tunes us in to what is happening.

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-- Chögyam Trungpa

from the book The Sanity We Are Born With: A Buddhist Approach to Psychology

https://quotes.justdharma.com/the-approach-of-mindfulness-of-life-chogyam-trungpa/ 

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The mandala of our life ~ Pema Chödron

Each person’s life is like a mandala – a vast, limitless circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life. We enter a room, and the room is our mandala. We get on the subway, and the subway car is our mandala, down to the teenager checking messages on her iPhone and the homeless man slumped in the corner. We go for a hike in the mountains, and everything as far as we can see is our mandala: the clouds, the trees, the snow on the peeks, even the rattlesnake coiled in the corner. We’re lying in a hospital bed, and the hospital is our mandala. We don’t set it up, we don’t get to choose what or who shows up in it. It is, As Chogyam Trungpa said, “the mandala that is never arranged but is always complete.” And we embrace it just as it is.

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Everything that shows up in your mandala is a vehicle for your awakening. From this point of view, awakening is right at your fingertips continually. There’s not a drop of rain or a pile of dog poop that appears in your life that isn’t the manifestation of enlightened energy, that isn’t a doorway to sacred world. But it’s up to you whether your life is a mandala of neurosis or a mandala of sanity.”

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-- Pema Chödron

from the book Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change

https://quotes.justdharma.com/the-mandala-of-our-life-pema-chodron/ 

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Tuning in to life ~ Chögyam Trungpa

Since mindfulness is part of one’s stream of consciousness, the practice of meditation cannot be regarded as something alien, as an emulation of some picturesque yogi who has a fixation on meditating all the time. Seen from the point of view of mindfulness of life, meditation is the total experience of any living being who has the instinct to survive. Therefore meditating — developing mindfulness — should not be regarded as a minority-group activity or as some specialized, eccentric pursuit. It is a worldwide approach that relates to all experience: it is tuning in to life.

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-- Chögyam Trungpa

from the book The Sanity We Are Born With: A Buddhist Approach to Psychology

https://quotes.justdharma.com/tuning-life-chogyam-trungpa/ 

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You who have a precious human life ~ Shabkar

A sailor should cross the ocean if he has a boat; a general should defeat the enemy if he has an army; a poor man should milk the ‟cow of plenty” if it is within his reach; a traveler who wants to go to distant lands should pursue his journey if he has an excellent horse. As for you, who have a precious human life for the moment and have received instructions from a spiritual master, the embodiment of all the buddhas of the three times, think with joy and enthusiasm of traveling the great path of the supreme Dharma and getting ever closer to the ultimate goal: enlightenment and liberation.

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-- Shabkar

quoted in the book On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters

https://quotes.justdharma.com/you-who-have-a-precious-human-life-shabkar/ 

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Our life is vast ~ 17th Karmapa

Our life is vast. It does not stop at the limits of what we personally experience. It is not something concrete or bounded. I do not think it is valid to view our life as limited to just ourselves — as if our human life extended only as far as our own body. Rather, we can see that a life extends out in all directions, like a net. We throw a net, and it expands outward. Just like that, our life extends to touch many other lives. Our life can reach out and become a pervasive part of everyone’s life.

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-- 17th Karmapa

from the book The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out

https://quotes.justdharma.com/our-life-is-vast/ 

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An appointment with life ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

You have an appointment with life, an appointment that is in the here and now. 

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-- Thich Nhat Hanh

from the book You Are Here

https://quotes.justdharma.com/an-appointment-with-life/ 

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Life preferences ~ Pema Chödron

Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear?

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-- Pema Chödron

from the book The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times

https://quotes.justdharma.com/life-preferences/ 

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Fundamentally pure and good ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

In parting, I would like to give you one small piece of advice to keep in your heart. You may have heard me say this before, but it is the key point of the entire path, so it bears repeating: All that we are looking for in life — all the happiness, contentment, and peace of mind — is right here in the present moment. Our very own awareness is itself fundamentally pure and good. The only problem is that we get so caught up in the ups and downs of life that we don’t take the time to pause and notice what we already have.

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-- Mingyur Rinpoche

from the book In Love with the World: A Monk's Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying

https://quotes.justdharma.com/fundamentally-pure-and-good-mingyur-rinpoche/ 

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Peace, joy, and happiness right where we are ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Spirituality is not religion. It is a path for us to generate happiness, understanding, and love, so we can live deeply each moment of our life. Having a spiritual dimension in our lives does not mean escaping life or dwelling in a place of bliss outside this world but discovering ways to handle life’s difficulties and generate peace, joy, and happiness right where we are, on this beautiful planet.

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-- Thich Nhat Hanh

from the book The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now

https://quotes.justdharma.com/peace-joy-and-happiness-right-where-we-are-thich-nhat-hanh/ 

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"A huge part of wisdom is to understand the problem, 

rather than understanding the answer. 

Maybe the answer is to understand the problem."

-- Gil Fronsdal

(i.e. It is not about trying to fix our mind (DIY), 

but about trying to understand its true nature & dynamic.

And maybe the solution is to realise & accept the true nature & dynamic of everything : self-arisen dependent co-origination, unfabricated fabrication of everything, unchanging constant change / flux, permanent impermanence, non-empty emptiness, perfected imperfection, pure impurity, absolute absence of any absolute, a ground of groundlessness ... beyond all dualities like: good & bad, right & wrong, stillness & movement, acceptation & rejection.

Maybe the problem is to be permanently unsatisfied (with both unhappiness & happiness) and to try to fix everything all the time seeking absolute perfection.)

===========================

From: Ten Bulls or Ten Ox Herding Pictures: #6. Riding the bull home:

"Riding free as air he buoyantly comes home

through evening mists in wide straw-hat and cape.

Wherever he may go he creates a fresh breeze,

while in his heart profound tranquillity prevails.

This Ox requires not a blade of grass."

===========================

Relax. You already have everything that you need.

Your nature is already whole.

Your nature is already pure.

There is nothing to obtain (accept / seek).

You just have to give up and let go (reject / abandon) what is covering it.

~ Chamtrul Rinpoche

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💖 Relax, there is also nothing to reject / abandon / give up / let go. 💖

"What is covering it" is also part of 'it',

 inseparable from our true pure nature (Buddha-nature / Reality).

The so-called 'covering' is 'purified' by realising this (its true nature & dynamic; its inseparability with our true nature; like waves and ocean).

The Middle Way: nothing to accept / seek, nothing to reject / abandon / let go.

So, just "Let it be!." (instead of letting it go)

And enjoy the magical show.

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Understanding what our mind is and how it works ~ Lama Yeshe

Why is it so important to know the nature of our own mind? Since we all want happiness, enjoyment, peace and satisfaction and these things do not come from ice-cream but from wisdom and the mind, we have to understand what our mind is and how it works.

– Lama Yeshe

from the book "Universal Love: The Yoga Method of Buddha Maitreya"

https://quotes.justdharma.com/understanding-what-our-mind-is-and-how-it-works/ 

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Choices available to us ~ Mingyur Rinpoche

At any given moment,

1) you can choose to follow the chain of thoughts, emotions, and sensations that reinforce a perception of yourself as vulnerable and limited, or

2) to remember that your true nature is pure, unconditioned, and incapable of being harmed.

1) You can remain in the sleep of ignorance,

2) or remember that you are and always have been awake.

Either way, you’re still expressing the unlimited nature of your true being.

1) Ignorance, vulnerability, fear, anger, and desire are expressions of the infinite potential of your buddha nature.

There’s nothing inherently wrong or right with making such choices.

The fruit of buddhist practice is simply the recognition that these and other mental afflictions are nothing more or less than choices available to us because our real nature is infinite in scope.

– Mingyur Rinpoche

from the book "The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness"

https://quotes.justdharma.com/choices-available-to-us/ 

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The root of samsara and nirvana ~ Saraha

Realize the nature of mind,

Because it is at the root of both samsaric suffering

And nirvanic bliss.

When you realize this,

Rest the mind without meditating,

Because only deluded people seek enlightenment

By abandoning their own minds (i.e. rejecting / demonising their body, speech & mind; their 5 aggregates; ex. thoughts, concepts, dualities ...).

-- Saraha

quoted in the book The Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje's Ocean of Certainty

https://quotes.justdharma.com/the-root-of-samsara-and-nirvana-saraha/ 

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