Dharma Wheel

Effort and learning are necessary in order to get to the point where buddha nature becomes self-evident. The rest follows on naturally.

Thank you for your feedback, Astus. An experience is meaningless without an explanation. But is meaningfulness a necessary pursuit in the case of "radical openness"? Does it add anything useful to the experience, which in itself is very clear? Since "radical openness" is posited as the very goal and...

Wayfarer wrote:Hi DharmaGoat, hope you're well.

Hello Wayfarer!

I am very well and happy to be back.

Malcolm wrote:The person whom I am addressing has no relationship with the Buddhist tradition, much less Zen.

Feel free to engage him on a general or non-Zen subforum.

So? You just don"t get it. Lack of a proper teacher is likely the root of it. Don't forget Malcolm, you are in Zen territory here. This subforum is populated by members that do not uphold the Vajrayana or Dzogchen view, and are generally willing only to accept the guidance of fellow Zen practitione...

With a bit of application in meditation we eventually recognise the essential nature within, and nothing else is then required to support and maintain a basic practice of mindful presence. Further explanations or aspirations serve no purpose.

It all gets very simple.

smcj wrote:Thanks Malcolm for your contribution to DW. This place would have much less of value without your posts. I don't agree with you on many points but I quite often learn from what you have to say.

Six posts ago you do offer a similar gratitude (which I noticed only after I posted). Seconded.

If you are a student of ChNN, you have three main jobs: 1) Guru Yoga as a means of finding and then sustaining knowledge of your own state (rig pa). 2) Being present and aware, i.e. mindful and aware. 3) Working with circumstances. Hello Malcolm. How would you describe what "working with circumstan...

Astus wrote: What is "radical openness"?

If I may take a page from the now infamous black book of oneupmanship plays for a moment...

"Radical openness" describes an experience, it serves as a description rather than an explanation. The explanation is found in the experience.

I have just hit upon a great way to enjoy reading seemingly combative threads such as this (quite by accident, because I am still not sure of the mood and intention of the players): Just imagine that everyone is being lightheartedly ironic with each other. It works a treat. Maybe this could even be ...

ལྷོ་ (lho) will be an abbreviation of ལྷ་མོ་ (lha mo) meaning "goddess". Dharmagoat, where did you learn this? I've never heard of an abbreviation of ལྷ་མོ་ ( lha mo )... It was a guess based on the pattern of other abbreviations. I really should have made it clearer it was an uneducated guess. Oops.

Evolutionarily speaking, gators aint goin' nowhere.

Sohei wrote:

DGA wrote:I can verify that the OP is, indeed, an ignorant lout.

Me too! So fortunate to find such good company.

Me too.

If only wisdom was as simple as admitting our own ignorance.

Isn't one sign of stupidity the tendency to think in terms of stupidity vs. intelligence?

It is kettles and pots. We all succumb to the Dunning-Kruger Effect to some degree.

Darn, trying to think of a song with 'love' in the title...

I do feel that if I had made it as far as mahamudra practice, I would have found my element. That would still be an option, if you'd be interested, right? I do know Karma Kagyu teachers who focus completely on the path of shine-lhagtong-mahamudra, without any, or hardly any, sadhanas or rituals. It...

Otherwise, it would have greatly helped if the Lama that I was residing with for some of that time was able to help me work through my obstacles instead of taking the role of the harsh taskmaster and leaving me to my own devices. I guess when you were reading the stories of Milarepa's life you skip...

My case might be somewhat different, as I do actually have a very deep connection to, and faith in, certain aspects of Vajrayana practice. It's not something I could leave behind. Might need to find another way of doing it though. I do feel that if I had made it as far as mahamudra practice, I woul...

Wow, thanks for sharing that. I recognize a few bits, including the health trouble unfortunately. So now, looking back, what would you have done differently? What could have been done to avoid this situation? And how do you feel about Vajrayana nowadays? Happy to hear you're in a better place now! ...