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Can you tell me how to get to the other side?

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:42 am
by muni
One day a young Buddhist on his journey home, came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he pondered for hours on just how to cross such a wide barrier. Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue his journey he saw a great teacher on the other side of the river. The young Buddhist yells over to the teacher, "Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river"?
The teacher ponders for a moment looks up and down the river and yells back, "My son, you are on the other side".

Guru Rinpoche: looking into the thinking mind (this side) and see it is completely insubstantial, a cognizance which cannot be apprehended (the other side).
This side dissolves into the other side.

Re: Can you tell me how to get to the other side?

Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 8:04 am
by muni
I got that complete note of Guru Rinpoche, since what I wrote above is very briefly, apologize and I'll share here:

"The term this shore refers to samsaric phenomena, the other shore to that beyond samsara. When applying this experientially in your own stream of being, look into the normal thinking mind belonging to this shore, and thereby see that it is utterly insubstantial, a cognizance that cannot be apprehended. This is known as 'arriving at the other shore' and is the vital point of dissolving this shore into arriving at the other shore". Guru Rinpoche.

:namaste:

Re: Can you tell me how to get to the other side?

Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 11:08 pm
by username
WHEN I WAS FOUR, ... LATER, ON THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY of that same month,
I went to play on the banks of the Ser River when it was quite swollen.
At the bottom of the Nakté Mountain, a huge boulder sat at the river’s center;
at its base was an old man with white hair and a white beard. He stared directly
at me and I felt a little intimidated.

He said, “Hey there!” three times and finally called out, “Well then …?”
He peered at my face, so I asked, “Who are you?”

He replied:
Ye Ye! This majestic mountain that rises to the midheavens
Is like dust particles collected by the winds of timeless existence.
Above, this light blue sky we see
Is like sentient beings’ primordial oblivious delusion.
The space between these is empty blankness,
Like the fault of seeing your inner state manifesting outwardly, yet assuming it’s
something else.
The appearance of stars reflected on this great river’s surface
Is like perceiving partitions in space.
A single thing that seems to morph into many
Is like self-manifest perception imprinted with false characteristics.
Given that no one is here, I appear as an old man
Who is like the old fellow in your own confused perception.
This solid stone behind me you can stare at
Is like the reification of your own deluded dualistic fixation.
I am you, as an old man of existence.
In your confused perception of an old man of existence
There is this appearance of a young boy — how astonishing!

“Do you understand my metaphors or not?” he asked, and I told him I did not. “Ha ha!” he
laughed, and vanished into basic space like an optical illusion.

-A Clear Mirror: The Visionary Autobiography of a Tibetan Master by Dudjom Lingpa

Re: Can you tell me how to get to the other side?

Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 12:53 am
by username
I TURNED EIGHT in the Tiger Year [1842]. On the morning of the fifteenth day of the middle
summer month, I went along with my sister and a little neighbor girl down to the waters of the
Ser River, which was extremely turbulent. Between the peaks and crests of the massively soaring
waves, I saw the elevated apex of a large boulder.

I thought, “I’ll go on top of that,” and then I saw a path of rainbow light like an outspread blanket.
As I tread along there, it felt like walking on the ground. I reached the top of the boulder and sat down.
Then two men on horseback called Abo Tarchin and Sokpo Serré came to the water’s edge.
They cursed aloud, reprimanding me.

Serré said, “Should the two of us throw ourselves into the water [trying to reach him]?”
Tarchin said, “I’m definitely unable to give my own life. A demon led that boy there. If you look
at it that way, death by drowning is unavoidable in this situation. Let’s go deliver this news to his
family.”

As soon as they’d gone, I crossed over the water: Like a waterfowl, I returned to where I was
before. When I arrived home, the two men from before exclaimed, “An obstructer demon has
possessed this boy — an elaborate rite must be performed for him! Make divinations! Do
astrology readings!” Then they left.

-A Clear Mirror: The Visionary Autobiography of a Tibetan Master by Dudjom Lingpa

Re: Can you tell me how to get to the other side?

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 5:24 am
by username
THE YEAR I TURNED FOURTEEN [1848],
...
IN UPPER NYI, a large river flowed to the left of Sera Monastery, and there was a cave in a
mountain. A nomad encampment was set up at the cave’s mouth. That same year at night on the
fifth day of the twelfth month, to the west of that encampment, a young boy called my name
three times in a clear voice, but I didn’t answer his call. I laid down and slept. In the middle of
the night, he called me again, though I didn’t respond.

At the end of the night when he called me anew, Nöjin Shenpa Marnak, Dark Red Noxious Spirit
Butcher, appeared in the realm of space roaring Kya! like a thunderclap. “Take this wooden bow
and arrow and go where you were summoned,” he said. I took hold of the bow and arrow, and
went to that place. A naked little boy sat on the stirrup of a horse’s saddle. As he stared up at me
with wide-open eyes, I shot him with my arrow. This caused him to cry and shrink back. My
grandmother heard this as well.

The next morning we saw that my arrow made of barberry wood had pierced straight through the
saddle’s stirrup. My grandmother said, “Iron pierced by wood — is this a sign of
accomplishment or is it the miraculous display of gods and demons?” They asked a lama, who
replied, “This child seems to be an exceptional individual, so it’s possible this is a sign of
accomplishment.”

The next night, an extremely savage woman, too terrifying to look at, told me, “As payment for
killing my son last night, I’m definitely going to tear out your raw, warm lungs and heart!” When
she aimed her iron fingernails, long as a hand is wide, at my chest, out of a gap in space the
magnificent Nöjin struck that woman’s body with his blazing sword, splitting her like a bamboo
stalk. Then she vanished.

-A Clear Mirror: The Visionary Autobiography of a Tibetan Master by Dudjom Lingpa

Re: Can you tell me how to get to the other side?

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 5:26 am
by username
THAT YEAR, AT NIGHT on the tenth day of the twelfth month, as before, an immense river of
blood surged and changed into dark blue light like a raging river. My mind became space: I
experienced the river of light flowing down from that expanse, and then all apparent phenomena
dissolved into it. At that point a youth with a blue body wearing blue attire appeared, saying he
was Orgyen Tsokyé Dorjé, Lake-Born Vajra. He said, “Isn’t this — your visionary
experience — extraordinary?”

I replied, “At first this vision arose as blood, which was terrifying. Later, it appeared as utter
darkness, and my mind was exhausted. Finally, it manifested as rainbows. Now it appears like a
waterfall of dark blue light. If I examine how this unfolds, I can compare it to a rainbow
appearing in space or a reflection appearing upon water. I think that all phenomena are nothing
apart from space, yet at the same time, how is it that space is wide-open emptiness, without faults
or qualities? As for what is called ‘mind,’ for example, if there is no fire, there are no sparks; if
there is no water, there is no sound of water, and the reflections of planets and stars won’t
appear. If mind has no basis, thoughts and appearances can’t possibly arise. If this mind dwells
in my body, outer appearances can’t possibly arise. To whom does a dreamscape — earth, rocks,
mountains, cliffs, firmness, solidity — appear? In the morning it vanishes without a trace. When
I examine that, the true nature of mind appears within mind’s expanse. That’s what I think.”

“You’ve almost realized the view! Now tell me of your meditation practice.”

“Since I don’t know how to meditate, you should teach me how,” I insisted.

“Oh child of my spiritual family, each master employs a different style of teaching meditation.
Some claim that you must block thoughts. Some say that you must gaze directly at thoughts and
be aware. Some claim that you have to cultivate thoughts, then rework the negative ones. Some
contend you must merge mind and space. It’s astonishing the myriad forms of happiness and
suffering that occur due to the fault of not [naturally] settling, as is the mind’s nature. Some even
assert that mind is emptiness, and yet you also have to maintain a very subtle perception of
mental consciousness.

“Whatever you name these, however you label them — they are definitely not the correct path!
Now, if you wish to enter the true path, [understand that] the pure lands above, impure cyclic
existence below, and all environments and beings are nothing other than the nature of reality’s
space. Once you’ve recognized their single, innate flavor within space, space is fully evident.
Settle undistracted within that continuous nature. What does it mean to be ‘undistracted’? It is to
have neither a focal point nor clinging, no meditation or fixation, no nurturing or preserving. It is
beyond description or expression. Just as it was before, leave [the mind] to itself, unfettered.”

I asked, “How should I handle all these thoughts?”

The youth answered, “It’s incorrect to block or to hold on to thoughts in any way. Know that
without attachment to any sort of understanding, sensation, or experience, let thoughts go.”

(...This Q&A Continues in the book plus much more experiences so recommended to get the book)
-A Clear Mirror: The Visionary Autobiography of a Tibetan Master by Dudjom Lingpa

Re: Can you tell me how to get to the other side?

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 3:27 pm
by muni
Many thanks Username! :namaste: