Open KNOWING, not open CLINGING. New MJ Awakening Blog May 31, 2019

“Just be open, openly knowing… which includes everything, not just the object that you’re fixated on, normally, like thoughts or whatever.

Look now… there’s only here and now knowing.”

-Salvadore Poe

MICHAEL: Notice thoughts may arise that argue that it can’t be as simple as Salvadore is making it. Because he’s pointing to the fact that you already are what the thoughts are so desperately seeking for!

Not stopping long enough to fully realize this, and instead going back into believing our empty thoughts, is what allows the seeking to continue. Thus the admonition is to stop now and just be open to everything, yet attending to nothing. Open knowing here now. Being. Nothing to seek, nothing to push away. A thought comes, fine, let it come… it will go. Open knowing, not open clinging.

Advertisement

The importance of EXAMINING vs. BELIEVING your THOUGHTS. New MJ Awakening Blog May 30, 2019

THE IMPORTANCE OF EXAMINING VS. BELIEVING YOUR THOUGHTS

“It’s important to get a handle on your thinking process because it’s the belief in the thoughts themselves, and the action of the thinking process itself, that is the cause of the illusion. It’s the cause of why we believe that the self is more than just an idea. We don’t examine the thoughts as they come up, we automatically believe them.”

-Chris “Buddhist Sympathizer”

MICHAEL: The sense of a “me” (to whom the thought seems to refer to) is created out of thin air every time a thought is believed.

 

Making PEACE with the PRESENT MOMENT means making peace with your mind. New MJ Awakening Meditation May 28, 2019

Making peace with the present moment means making peace with your mind.

-Michael Jeffreys

The 3 Poisons. New MJ Awakening Blog May 25, 2019

THE 3 POISONS

“In the Buddhist teachings, the three poisons (of ignorance, attachment, and aversion) are the primary causes that keep sentient beings trapped in samsara.

These three poisons are said to be the root of all of the other kleshas. The three poisons are represented in the hub of the wheel of life as a pig, a bird, and a snake (representing ignorance, attachment, and aversion, respectively).

As shown in the wheel of life (Sanskrit: bhavacakra), the three poisons lead to the creation of karma, which leads to rebirth in the six realms of samsara.”

-Wikipedia

MICHAEL: It’s our ignorance that leads to our attaching and averting. Thus, all 3 poisons work together (illustrated by all 3 animals biting each other by the tail) to maintain our wheel of ignorance.

Question from FACEBOOK

SREDHARAN: “Can elaborate on aversion? Other two makes sense.”

MICHAEL: Due to ignorance, i grab toward some objects and try to avoid or avert others. It’s this continual grasping of the moment or trying to avert it that fuels the samsaric dream. Attachment and aversion go hand in hand. You cannot get involved with one without the other showing up. A clear mind being empty contains no grasping or averting.

The Middle Way… New MJ Awakening Blog May 22, 2019

THE MIDDLE WAY

Tonight at the West LA Satsang, I talked about how everything both exists and doesn’t exist. Is real, yet not real. Is there, yet not there.

What do I mean? I mean, for example, that this computer I am writing on is impermanent. It will not last forever. So, you can’t say it’s real in an absolute sense. And yet, you can’t say that the computer doesn’t exist at all since here I am using it to write these words!

Thus, the middle way. As the old zen story goes, the zen master said to his student, “Does the table exist? If you tell me yes, I will hit you 20 times with this stick. But if you tell me no, I will hit you 20 times with this stick. What is your answer!!?”

In a flash the student understood and remained silent.

Michael Jeffreys

 

The 3 components to PERCEIVING ANYTHING. New MJ Awakening Blog May 22, 2019

“Now in order for any perception to happen or any aspect of consciousness to take place there are three main components that must come together, the object of perception, the presence of the sense faculty and the presence of that particular aspect of consciousness. When these three components are present at the same time the perception can take place, can operate.”

-Topga Rinpoche

MICHAEL: So for example, when we hear the sound of a bird chirping, although we may not be aware of it, in order for the experience to take place there must be a bird, the capacity to hear the bird chirps (a working ear) and the awareness that both holds and “connects” the two, as well as understands what is apparently happening, i.e., a bird chirp is registered and what that means.

Suddenly, a process that we’ve always taken for granted is realized to be much more (profoundly more) complex than we first thought. And these three components of one seamless process applies to all 6 of our senses (5 senses + thinking = 6 gates with which we perceive content.)

 

DEPENDENT OCCURRENCE means that one thing relies upon another thing for its existence. New MJ Awakening Blog May 20, 2019

THE RICE SEEDLING SUTRA

“Maitreya, today while looking at a seedling of rice, the Buddha, the Bhagawan said to the monks, O monks, he who completely understands the process of dependent occurrence, understands what is the dharma. He who understands what is the dharma, understands what is Buddha, the enlightened state. Having spoken thus, the Buddha, the Bhagawan fell silent.”

-Sariputra

MICHAEL: Dependent Occurrence means that one thing relies upon another thing for its existence. For example, a window depends on glass for its existence. Glass depends on sand for its existence, etc.

The Buddha is saying that if this is truly realized, then one’s own empty Buddha nature will also be realized.

And so now you know the answer to the famous riddle: “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” The Answer is neither (or both), because you can’t have one without the other. Hence they depend upon each other to exist.

 

 

 

YOUR GHOSTLY THOUGHTS. New MJ Awakening Blog May 19, 2019

(Painting of “The Hungry Ghost” from The Buddhist Wheel of Life… always craving, never fulfilled. It represents your mind.)

 

YOUR GHOSTLY THOUGHTS

 

If you look for the Source of your thoughts, but do not find an actual thinker, what then?

 

Yes, thoughts seem to arise, but what is making that happen?

 

If you look, you won’t find anything.

 

Thus, are not all thoughts that of a ghost?

 

Nothing is bringing them about.

 

1. The generator of my thoughts cannot be found.

 

2. Who/what hears/reacts to a thought?

 

Can that one actually be found?

 

Have a look.

 

No thought generator can be found,

 

and no thought receiver can be found…

 

 

Michael Jeffreys

Where do the THOUGHTS I appear to think come from? New MJ Awakening Blog May 18, 2019

Where do the THOUGHTS I appear to think come from?

What is their Source?

Where do the WORDS I appear to speak come from?

What is their Source?

To maintain my IGNORANCE, I must ignore/not take seriously/remain distracted from looking deeply into these two fundamental questions.

Michael Jeffreys

THIS cannot be captured in words, cannot be thought about. New MJ Awakening Blog May 17, 2019

The upper 1/2 of THE BUDDHIST WHEEL OF LIFE.

The monster named Yama (death) is holding the world, which is impermanent. On top of his head are skulls which represent our stories. And because these skulls have holes in them, we can collect them/string them together and wear them like a necklace. And then we look to these stories/skulls to tell us who/what we are. But the skulls are dead, just like all our stories from the past. There is only ever Now, just This. And THIS cannot be captured in words, cannot be thought about.

Michael Jeffreys