deci belle

Try it~ I have the tincture for small spots on my skin-- although it is recommended for 10mg sublingually (under your tongue) for general health and well-being (applicable to mood disorders evidently). I happen to like my mood disorders. There is also a topical ointment (both products I use have a coconut oil base) for pain and maybe rash, but I only use the tincture sparingly on my skin. I wouldn't hesitate to try these products— maybe they will accomplish what you are hoping, MsNobody❤︎!!

hi ShugendoRa~ I've added to the commentaries of several sections since you responded to this thread. This teaching is as ancient as it gets, yet the most recent historical account of its re-transmission occurred during the British rape of China during the 18th century. A corrupted version of this book was first translated into the German language by Richard Wilhelm in 1929 that subsequently became fashionably popular with the intelligentsia in Europe by its association with C. G. Jung's commentary. It is essentially a taoist/buddhist lay manual for the benefit of ordinary people, without regard to religious affiliation, being a concentrated revival of an ancient universalist teaching, according to Thomas Cleary 's translation, copyright 1991. I believe that I became aware of this current and correct version of the Golden Flower teaching's translation of the T'ai i chin hua tsung chih, sometime around the turn of the century and found that it fully corroborates my direct experience in inherent enlightening function pertaining to the means relative to recognizing potential and furthermore carrying out the operation of impersonal adaption to situations which is properly termed the absorption of potential. This current volume's version is associated with the great taoist alchemic teacher, Lü Tung-pin, who, by some accounts. is believed to have been born in 798 CE. He is purported to have appeared at various times during the last millennium. ed note: typo 1st sentence; add "by some accounts" in penultimate sentence

The Secret of the Golden Flower is an ancient transmission directing people towards a subtle recognition of inherent capacities underlying habitual patterns of self-reifying psychological activity. The general mind-ground constituting these inherent capacities can be termed nonpsychological awareness. There have been attempts at giving this transmission a cultural attribution, but, to quote the Avatsakam Sutra (Hua Yin or Flower Ornament Scripture), "Civilization is by virtue of Universal Good, not a country." Ultimately, the true teacher is in one's heart of hearts. I am quoting directly from some of the 16 paragraphs comprising the tenth chapter of the volume translated by Thomas Cleary to serve as an introduction to the book, The Secret of the Golden Flower, Harper San Francisco ISBN 0-06-250193-3, as well as to help point out basic tenets of 24/7 subtle observation which is beyond the scope of rote reformative meditation practice done in private or in cloistered settings by beginners and those habituated to such methods of comfort. I have already introduced the elements of general practice in differentiating the psychological and nonpsychological capacities comprising human awareness. The title of chapter X makes this differentiation obvious in terms that should be recognized as having the same source, that is, the light of awareness. Chapter X is titled, The Light of Essence and the Light of Consciousness. The opening of potential is a very slippery term. By the end of the chapter, what comprises potential may become clearer. The point is that "turning the light around" is not a matter of time, place, activity or conditions. What matters is finding the opening of potential. The key to recognizing the opening of potential is in spontaneous activation of mind without falling into the habitual patterns of discriminatory consciousness. Spontaneous activation of mind is up to conditions. When it arises, subtle observation comes into play. Just see without entertaining views relative to self and other, right, wrong, good or bad and the opening of potential is ephemerally present …before the first thought, it's your own mind right now. When the light turns into ideational consciousness relative to self and other, the opening of potential is once again obscured, in that it cannot be seen by seeing. One must then concentrate subtle awareness and await the arising of the light of potential in the midst of situations unbeknownst to anyone. The real (potential) is found only by virtue of the false (delusional karmic evolution). One must await conditions to see reality. The taoist phrase, "Water produces metal", symbolizes an alchemic formula referencing the refinement of the body or vitality, (sensory awareness) into real knowledge. Answer~ not you. Your own mind before the first thought is not you. The special use of the term "not you" is just the selflessly aware potential essence not attributable to the psychological apparatus of the being that is going to die (the being that is going to die is you). Therefore, potential is termed "other", as in the saying, "Essence is the self, use it to call back sense", that is, use essence to recognize the real knowledge of the impersonal sense of potential. That's "not you." Calling it back is seeing potential. Seeing potential is itself absorption. "Mistaking the thieving human mentality (the light of consciousness) for the light of essence is the number one error of students.", is a very ancient warning for those whose introspective practices are not producing evidences of efficacy after even 5, 10, 20, or more years spent on the meditation cushion. Therefore the opening of potential is recognized in the quality of awareness which is not thought. Specifically, this is the mind which underlies the thinking, self-referencing function of the personality. When the thinking human mentality is forgotten, this is the true arising of essence. Therefore, this mind is not some other mind; there are no two minds: Mind is one. This is why it is said that all beings are already this enlightenment, but they are simply unable to recognize and permanently stabilize selfless potential in the midst of conditions due to habit energy (karmic psychological momentum). This is the alchemic correlate of the refinement of body/sense/water/vitality mentioned in section 4. This section refers to mind/essence/fire/energy, where energy refines into essence. This is the heart of the meaning of the Golden Flower transmission. Objects and sense organs are not the issue. There is no need to deny, restrict, or renounce anything in the Golden Flower method. The Secret of the Golden Flower is just recognizing, activating and using essence directly without intermediary (being the working definition of enlightening activity) in the midst of ordinary situations simply as a matter of effective use of mind which does not employ self-reifying consciousness habitually or unawares. It is fluid and impersonal communion with inconceivable reality as the totality of being within Suchness, that is, emptiness which has no such emptiness. This is one's spontaneously adapted expression of selfless unity neither conditional nor absolute. This is innate enlightening function which is not dependent on sudden enlightenment. The sudden is one such result of accrued virtuous activity carried out secretly in public over a long period of time. These are terms denoting advance practice. If one cannot forget the self that thinks, consciousness will not be stopped and the medicines will not become accessible for further refinement. Seeing potential is seeing unrefined potential. After a period of maturation, refined potential is released from the matrix of karmic evolution, that is, Creation (which is "crystallization of the elixir"). This is the meaning of the saying, "planting lotuses in fire, transcending endless transformations and entering the Way in Reality." ed note: typo 3rd; add "vitality" in 4th section's commentary; add to commentary of 6th section; change "enlightened" to "this enlightenment" in the commentary after 11th section; add commentary after 15th section

Bobby wrote: My buddhist related knowledge is fairly restricted. I have however spent years wading through much of the taoist information that is available in English (although, truth be told, the constant use of metaphor and symbolism in alchemical texts, and the various possible/Schools' interpretations, makes it quite difficult to profess any solid understanding). I'm finally posting as discussions of Actual Freedom, and the Actual Freedom website have stood out, reminding me of much of what i've read in Taoist texts through the years. Now, it could easily be the case that, Taoist texts being as vague/metaphorical as they are, I am reading in Actual Freedom concepts, but I thought it would be worth the discussion nevertheless. To start, this is a link to Chang-Po Tuan's Understanding Reality, translated by Thomas Cleary, with detailed commentary by Liu I Ming. Cleary's summary of the Complete Reality School's view of Yin Yang introduction (starting page 3). Google books: Understanding Reality (specifically 'Yin Yang' pge 3) Whilst this is definitely a brief summary by the translator, Thomas Cleary, it gives an idea of the sort of things that seemed to relate to Actual Freedom. Liu I ming's commentary in the main body of the text, is much more concerned with process. Or am I way off? Some snippets from the translator's summary of Chang Po-tuan's Understanding Reality, University of Hawaii Press ISBN 0-8248-1103-8: hi Bobby~ In terms of the title of this thread, actual freedom is the state of wallowing in complete reality right now. Complete Reality taoist teaching calls this "jumping in and floating around in the center of the compass". "Jumping in" is recognizing, realizing, acknowledging and accepting one's inherent enlightening function, and using it to adapt to conditions without relying on one's personalistic ego-reifying efforts while functioning within the context of situations unbeknownst to anyone. This Center is the immaterial incipient presence of the real body of awareness, which has no location. This "no location" is not somewhere else; it's nowhere else: it's already you before the first thought. The freedom of inherent enlightening function can only be in terms of its relative, which is conditions. Enlightening aware being is free of conditions as is, yet there is no state of separation from conditions. It is not even different than the unattributble nature of conditions (creation), — as the nature of freedom (and conditions) is itself uncreated. Complete Reality tradition exemplifies the thrust of all authentic teachings based on reality. Reality is the substance of conditions, not the trappings of conditions. Those who see reality see through the conditional and use its potential as the means to adapt impersonally to situational energy-cycles whereby they transform along with creation without experiencing Change unawares. Where does freedom come in? It's freedom from karmic momentum. Karmic momentum is psychological. It's also dependent on one's ignorance of it's nature. Freedom is awakened to its nature. It's the same nature. Freedom is the capacity and will to function in the world, the eternity of creation, all time, in partnership with creation, meaning without being subject karmically to changes wrought by circumstantial process. Therefore, the Causeless, or unchanging nature of reality is its absolute nature only for the purpose of discussion. The word(s) cannot be confused with reality itself, as there is no thing. Bobby wrote: The beauty of authentic alchemic devices is that there is nothing to understand. Therefore, it is just a way to facilitate "sneaking past" the barriers that ego has set up to maintain its arbitrary authority by the body's intellectual/emotional apparatus over the being that is going to die. This arbitrary authority's perspective is the "false" that perpetuates the illusion of separate selfhood. It's not necessarily a bad thing, yet as long as its ignorance of its real nature is maintained by an existential fear of other, the "pure" will not be accessible to the being that is going to die for the fulfillment of its enlightening purpose during its lifetime. Spiritual alchemy is using the pure from within the false by not being subject to the false: that's the relativity of freedom, in terms of Complete Reality taoism. Though we are none other than the totality of world-cycles (and beyond), who this is, is neither conditions nor their absolute nature. Who are those who actually know this, and can act on this knowledge? In taoist terms, the world is the sage. Sage is the embodiment of Suchness, the buddhist term to denote reality as is, neither conditional nor absolute. Sages, saints, buddhas, wizards, prior and present illuminates and all enlightening being(s) know the totality of the being that is going to die. This real knowledge is the potential of being, not created. Relative to unity, what is there to be free of? Enlightening beings are comprized of the Virtue of the Receptive. The world comes to them naturally. Such is the nature of the Way, which is the nature of the true self which has no self. Freedom is a relative term denoting knowing better. "Better" is a relative term too. This is not philosophy. It is a description of the functional basis of adepts of Complete Reality. That's not taoism-- taoism is just a name. Reality is inconceivable. Most people go through their entire lives as this inconceivability without ever discovering it within themselves, much less carrying out its innate enlightening function. Complete Reality taoism is a teaching of realization of primordial unity and its manifestation by subtle means through those who can act on nonpsychological awareness. Seeing reality is seeing potential. Seeing potential is the reality of nondifferentiation. Those who know the essence of conditions operate in terms of essence while in the midst of the incremental, that is, temporal existence. Freedom is knowledge and actualization of selflessness (unity) adapted to ordinary situations unbeknownst to anyone which is the the purpose of enlightening being. Taoism calls those who are receptive to Virtue "real people". The Way has its Power, and those who carry it out do so without relying on their own power. This is why "the master carpenter does no cutting." I have only responded to "actual freedom relative to complete reality"~ as for the "snippets" you provided by Thomas Cleary, those are sublimely self-evident of themselves. Even so, arriving at the functional edification of the words you recognized as significant enough to include in your post, is itself the purpose of all authentic teaching. ed note: italicize "Understanding Reality" in 6th; add "The freedom of inherent enlightening function" in 16th; typo 17th; add "Freedom is the capacity and will to function" in 18th paragraph

I wrote this quite a while back on one of the Dharma Overground forums in response to one of the thoughtful contributors to the thread and someone recently quoted my post and left a nice comment last month. Formal meditation is a temporary expedient. Initially, its purpose is to create a habit of overarching, then subtle observation of mind at all times. There is a reason for this, but it is provisional, and I don't do that. Formal meditation is not "good", per se. Unless it is serving the purpose of consciously cultivated temporary expediency, its relevance to the self which thinks good or bad, right or wrong and before or after in terms of self and other is a significant error in which effective authentic self-refinement is obstructed. Since the initial "high" produced by the kind of "artificial meditation" practiced by some beginners habituated to identification by their "achievements" in contemplative arts wears off anyway and is essentially ineffective, for the most part, in dealing face to face with ordinary situations to any great extent, it is best to do whatever is necessary to hit the ground running, so to speak, in terms of turning the light around in order to effect seeing reality, as is, cold turkey— and wean oneself of self-reifying identity issues with practice done in private, as soon as reasonably possible. I'm not saying one shouldn't pursue "just sitting" in private meditation venues— the point is that formal meditation is a TEMPORARY expedient. The point of effective self-refinement is to see reality, as is, without any filters perpetuated by the psychological apparatus of the being that is going to die by activating the inherent potential of nonpsychological awareness. Seeing the essence of complete reality is seeing reality with the Dharma eye of nonpsychological awareness— it's your own mind right now. What is reality? Unity of absolute and relative is the working definition of reality. Nondual nature is your nature. Consequently, Nirvana and Karmic evolution are not only equal, they are identical. This is the basis of the saying "sameness within difference", though there are several aspects in terms of dealing with the conceptual device relative to the various provisional teachings within buddhism. Arriving at nonduality in terms of everyday ordinary affairs is essential to buddhist practice. Actually, it is the working definition of enlightening being. Enlightening being is the function of awareness. Awareness is your nature. Awareness, your own mind right now, is not created. Seeing reality is activating the mind without dwelling on anything. The only reason this is possible is because your own mind right now is unborn. Mind is one, undifferentiated, selfless, void of identity. It's you. People aren't just already enlightened— they're enlightened mind incarnate. I need to remind people that it's not the person …but it's not somewhere or something else either. Real 24/7 meditation practice is seeing through phenomena without denying their characteristics. Taoist alchemy calls this refining the medicines. Buddhism calls this using the sickness to cure the disease. It's not about meditation, after all. You can take all the provisional entry-level teachings and use them as applications of the real in the midst of the false in broad daylight unbeknownst to anyone. This is having the gumption to move beyond the zero-point of the intent of all provisional teachings and thereby gain entry into the inconceivable. It's about using the world to refine the self; using conditions to arrive at essential nature. This cannot be accomplished by quiet sitting alone. That's because, reality is already Mind— your mind, right now. Perhaps you are not ready to hear this. Reality is relative to your mind in terms of the degree of one's clarified enlightening potential. As long as your mind is habituated to the view of its separate nature, you will not see essence in everyday affairs. After a long process of self-refinement carried out correctly and effectively in everyday ordiary situations, the self-reifying mental habits that perpetuate the illusion of the separate self-identity as ultimately existent will die off, bit by bit, and that much of your primordial potential will be activted as the selfless function of awareness. Actually using this is selfless adaption; activating the subtle operation of spiritual transformations in the midst of worldly situations. Nonduality realized all the time is seeing the physical, psychological, psychic, emotional, causal matrix of karmic evolution (Creation) as void of self— because that's what it is (no different than you, that is, void of self). Going along with this, just as it is, knowing it as utter illusion— how could you possibly bring yourself to act on behalf of situations arising from this insane chaos, good, bad or indifferent? Acceptance of conditions is "going along— not denying characteristics". Not acting on conditions is "seeing through phenomena". The sense of nonattachment to outcomes aids in adapting to the inevitable where unavoidable— the ups and downs look just like reality: therefore "perfection is easy for those with no preferences." Soon enough, you may come to the working strategy that this entire malestrom of karmic momentum is just your perception of it. Otherwise, it just doesn't make ANY sense …to leave it up to the world, and fortunately, you don't have to. YOU take total responsibility for your sensory perception and mental postures. It doesn't require doing— just meeting and accepting conditions for what they are— illusion. If you can come to the temporary working realization that phenomena is what reality looks like without having the slightest shred of belief it its ultimate nature, then it might be possible to endeavor to work at adapting to conditions as they present themselves out of a sense of inevitability without clinging to good or bad outcomes. It's not a thing. There is no moral implication in terms of selflessness— it's impersonal. That's mind. This is actually an entry to the buddha's teaching of Suchness and thus carrying out the activation of enlightening potential and partaking of the Great Vehicle of Tathagatas. This is penetrating reality, in fact. Right in front of your nose is this nondual reality 24/7. As such, it is so whether you are aware of it or not. In terms of the point of meditation in the first place, and the fact of reality, it is Mind alone. The lesser vehicle of personal liberation is a temporary expedient as well …why is this? It's another lie to trick you into the path, that's all. That Suchness is reality is nominally due to the fact that it is neither absolute nor conditional. Both Nirvana and Creation are the same illusion. One is your mind before creation and the other is after. Clinging to one or the other is delusion. Neither absolute stillness nor karmic momentum is the essence of reality unified, present and naturally so, without ever entering creation, which is your nature already. Even those who experience sudden enlightenment must learn to realize this truth by APPLYING it in the midst of situations seamlessly according to its potential. You can begin to see this if you can dismiss your dependent relationships on circumstantial interpretations. Reality doesn't look any different than delusion when your relationships to circumstances are not dependent on outcomes, good or bad. Perpetual unity with reality is just subtly activated nonpsychological awareness of the essential underlying nature of impersonal circumstantial process as your own potential void of attributabilty in terms of an absolute personal identity. When you act based on karmic dependence, you change inherent selfless enlightening potential into karmic debt. Ouch! ed note: add to the 2nd line, 3rd paragraph; add "of" in first line of 15th paragraph

There are those whose virtue enables the activation of the dharma-eye expressing the inevitable without resorting to personalistic inner-vision. Ironically, there are those whose misuse of reason is evidence of the mis-application of one's inherent enlightening capacities which is like hiring a rocket-ship to scratch your navel— obviously much will go unnoticed from a perspective relative to the rat-eye of ego-consciousness. Intellectualism simply isn't the correct tool to use to discern enlightenment, much less work with its potential. The point is, enlightenment isn't somewhere else. It's your own mind right here right now. Because reality is perpetually resultant within the delusional sensory perception of those bound by changes without their knowledge, formal illusion of the three times and psychological aspects is called ignorance. For those whose Dharma-eye sees Change by knowledge, the pattern of inevitability is the basis of enlightening activity's transcendent function whereby its responsitivity has no dependence on conditions. This is because selfless response springs from the essential nature of the situation itself, not admitting one's own power. The situation, being bound by karmic evolution, is a mass of fire with nothing for one's nonpsychological awareness to discriminate outside the inherent potential of the aware energy constituting the formal. This is a way to describe the operation of turning the light around. Turning the light around is working with what is the same. The elements of causality are not the same; they are difference. Those who depend on crutches of intellectual pursuits are unable to see beyond the conventional myopic perspective of selfish personalities of self and other. Those who are familiar with working directly with essence, know the meaning of the alchemical saying, "Work with what is the same". Sameness is the basis of reality of one flavor. So inevitability is objectively sensed by those who see potential within the parameters of any given situation without their getting caught up in "weaving hairs" with elements of difference, that is, clinging to the created aspects of reality constituting karmically evolving psychological momentum. Another taoist saying is "Don't use what is seen, use what is unseen". The unrefined elixir is gathered from what isn't seen, so taoists only use the essence. Inevitability defining situations is the pattern of reality inherent in the situation itself from its inception; its incipient point of perpetual light issuing forth from the pivot of awareness of enlightening beings no different than the ineffable essence of the situation itself. Mind is one. This singularity is nonoriginated unity not apart from one's self or other. That's how one can operate selflessly. Selflessness is the nature of reality— not the relative "goodness" of the person. The fact of the matter is that there is absolutely no difference between form and essential nature. The working definition of enlightening being is seeing this. Ignorance is defined by not seeing this. Therefore, an approach to enlightenment justifying adding or denying anything to reality is simply error. Nothing is outside of oneself. Nothing is not oneself. One simply rides the pattern of inevitability in the course of adaption to conditions, advancing and withdrawing the fire according to the time. What is fire? It is application of insight, nothing more. Not applying insight is "withdrawing the fire", nothing less. Habitual application of insight unawares is called "a running sore". Resultant justification of such activity is "adding salt". For those who see sameness constituting Complete Reality, nothing much really happens~ it's the darnedest thing. They know nothing has ever, nor will ever violate one's potential resting at the cusp of on the verge of going into action in perpetuity. Those who see the emptiness of Cause know there is nothing comprising the great mass of fire blazing in your skull spinning galaxies eternally. It's just the void. STEP OVER THE WHOLE OF IT. Fascinations are of your own making. Reality awaits. Because situations are empty from beginning to end throughout the course of kalpas without beginning, enlightening beings have never strayed from the inevitable constituting situations. Throughout the totality of evolutionary status, one has never moved from the inevitable result without beginning. Enlightening activity is intimate sensitivity to inevitability; what follows is selfless accord within each situation. Since one is embedded in the pattern of reality, what would one dare to choose? It's all the same perpetual result for those who see. Those who see reality play in Samadhi. ed note: change tense in 8th paragraph; change word in 10th; add paragraph 14

How wonderful that the recreational philosophers have camped out on this thread! Just because there's nothing to understand, it seems that off-topic discussion (started by a moderator no less) is appropriate. Reminds me of the Dao Bums forum …sigh

So to transcend myriad karmic cycles isn't a matter of knowing knowledge. It is all just one's own virtue developed in the course of self-refinement that partakes of virtue's natural resonance in potential, the immaterial essence of creation. One, in fact, does not enter into doing. This is the meaning of freedom from karmic evolution. Abiding in subtle observation and gradual clarification of one's basis in Complete Reality, all thing are as they are: open, untrammeled, void of cause; a pristine result ever present and ever-ready in perpetuity. As for arriving at cessation of fascination with states of mundane and transmundane characteristics… one simply stops.

Whew~ and that, folks, was a situation — too bad for mr "prior to that". The situation, being bound by karmic evolution, is a mass of fire with nothing for one's nonpsychological awareness to discriminate outside the inherent potential of the aware energy constituting the formal. This is a way to describe the operation of turning the light around. The basis of situations is itself the means to develop one's ability to transcend situations; one by one. It's kinda like feeling lucky— lucky to be alive, in that it just turns out that way, again. There is just no knowing beforehand. So "full-blown clairvoyance" is like a fascination with clouds. It is simply more ephemeral phenomena. Big whoop (if one's intent is being through with the world). The world is all there is. For one to entertain such notions of separateness, hell is the world such a one is already living in. What other world could there be? Since there is nothing to know anyway, one simply has to find the gumption to arrive at the heart of immediacy by a constant mindfulness of perpetual clarification of personal and impersonal views. Arising is accompanied by observation, and keeping a constant unbroken subtle continuity of attention to the coming and going of potential in terms of the situation, is turning the light around and following it back to its source to rest in the highest good. The only difference between watching over the aperture of the Mysterious Female and not watching is …watching. Obviously, seeing is the critical aspect of enlightening response. So subtle observation of the incipience of movement (or not) of mind is paramount in developing the capacity for transcending the movement of time(s). The mechanism is in the eyes. Again, it is simply a matter of seeing. Seeing is itself reality; the contents of perception is literally immaterial. Coming and going isn't in things: it's Mind. Yet Mind is that which has no coming and going. Sensing potential is the nature of seeing brought to bear in terms of the effective clarification of Mind, which is said to be the culmination of stillness, which has no such stillness. This is said in the same sense as any illuminate who says that true emptiness isn't empty. Seeing's correlate is potential. Being the same, these are the substance and function of taoist Complete Reality and buddhist Suchness, which is neither created nor uncreated; temporal nor absolute. It is your own mind right now. In terms of the unattributable, these are its knowledge; formlessly, selflessly without beginning or remainder. This is the heart of subtle operation. It takes situations to illustrate the course of adaption which is simply a matter of seeing knowledge. In seeing knowledge, there is nothing else to do except take the bumps and spills of sensory and psychological awareness by virtue of having a body. Jesus wasn't any different (ouch!!). Yet such a one as he ascended into heaven in broad daylight— that's a taoist term that long ago passed into the folk vernacular of ancient China. Do you suppose so many people of yore have ascended into heaven in broad daylight? Who would suppose to doubt it? There is a term used in alchemy: the body outside the body. First of all, the body outside the body is a function, not a thing. Yet there is a body outside the body for those who, having seen their nature, are availed of by further advanced self-refinement. Secondly, it is more of one not having a body at all than it is of having another body outside of one's material body (not that the double isn't able to be conjured). It is. There have been all kinds of occult cultivation throughout the ages conjuring up this body outside the body. The highest teachings are pure simplicity itself. Whether the situation is in terms of the microcosmic, macrocosmic, or cosmic, there is no thing. Arrive at this no thing in all situations, times, places, events and people, and the homeland of nothing whatsoever is yours forever. Do you suppose there would be so much to do there? What is there to do here? ed note: add "is turning the light around and following it back to its source to rest in the highest good" to 5th paragraph; add colon in 10th paragraph; fix last quote

Yawn… how many years is nonorigination, hmmmm? Just try letting go of this thread, mr 20+ zazen man. Betcha can't… But do try— it would be good practice for one such as you who didn't know that he was looking for an argument and didn't know it. I did— and told you so, but you denied it. pfffff… buddhist study indeed.

At least you know how to argue❤︎ As for "getting it", not so much. Selflessness is being absorbed into the situation of other— even as other. Selflessness is not being a Mother Teresa, and it's not a matter of getting into someone else's shoes, rather, it's being no one other than what is dictated by the situation according to the time. It's being selfless. It's not "the person", as oppose to "a person" and identifying as such. Selflessness is appropriating the nature of awareness, of reality, as one's actual impersonal identity in order to adapt effectively, transcendentally, in the course of actual affairs without anyone knowing, or caring— including oneself. One's selflessness is totally natural— supremely natural. This is resting in the highest good, beyond convention. No buddha can approach one here.

The concepts are of your own making, dear. Try to go prior than you own conceptual distinctions. The word is "the person" not "a person". Indeed.

Ok~ The statement is relative to people who spontaneously recognize real knowledge and dismiss it out of hand due to the fact that they are not able to deal with anything beyond an habitual reliance on self-referencing psychologically patterned habit energy. Conventional self-reifying patterns of conscious awareness would be relative to a concept of "personal agency" I suppose. But seeing reality is not relative to the person. This means that spontaneous recognition of real knowledge without being able to act on that knowledge is akin to being ignorant of real knowledge in spite of seeing it~ that's all. The point is that real knowledge is accessible to all people all the time— not just for those who have already experienced evidences of efficacy demonstrating an awakening spiritual potential. It's just that ordinary people can't recognize it, and when they do, all they can do is go, "So what." That is, when they spontaneously "get it", they don't know how to apply it in everyday ordinary situations. I think you "get it", non? haha! To clarify: there is nothing "personal" nor is there anything relative to the person involved, (outside of inherent impersonal awareness) in terms of seeing— that is the whole point of enlightening activity. It's selfless, due to the nature of reality and hence, our enlightened nature. In taoist terms, it is none other than the "true human with no status" floating around in the center of the compass of the immaterial body of awareness which has no location. That means that real knowledge doesn't "come from somewhere" (else), nor does it have a pointed perspective relative to anything other than the situation itself. The focal point of real knowledge is a pointless 360˚ horizon keyed to the situation's potential of inevitability. Enlightening activity is ultimately just "finding out what happened", from the perspective of the situation itself. It's just your enlightened mind void of self-reifying psychological patterns right now, therefore recognizing real knowledge is completely natural, yet somehow foreign to the psychological apparatus of the conditioned personalities of those who are not sufficiently adapted to effective methods of authentic self-refinement.

You're welcome, Jack— I use these terms/style of writing as my decades of study/experience are keyed to certain ancient traditions stemming from Chan buddhist, Complete Reality taoist and Toltec Nahual teachings. That these influences are adaptable is due to your own affinity with their source. ed note: change last line

mr Serotonin needs to complete the thought— you left part of your comment unstated. Please say your whole argument, ok, mr Serontonin? Furthermore, this thread is not based on any philosophical argument. Philosophy is a billion eons away from the context of this thread. But do add the part of your statement that you left out to facilitate its resolution. ed note: spell mr Serotonin's name correctly!

Hi Jack~ there is no attachment; there is no one. Seeing is selfless; the very nature of seeing is selfless nonpsychological awareness. There is no one to turn it on and off. Seeing isn't the person. Seeing is the situation as is without any sort of self-referencing. The quote you referenced is illustrative of how people who spontaneously recognize real knowledge, dismiss it out of hand due to there being nothing for the personality to cling to.

Hi Jack~ I call "intelligence" the conditionally relative aspect of conscious knowledge overlying the nonpsychological nature of real knowledge. But if you mean to employ the word "intelligence" as a reference to one's [spontaneously effective] use of immediate nondiscursive knowledge, then I would make a slight modification to the wording: Seeing is objectively sensing what is, as is, in terms of selfless nonpsychological awareness, no different than your own mind right now— yet in terms of spiritual subtle adaption, there is no energy employed as an act of affirmation or denial as knowledge is immediate. It seems I am splitting hairs, but the reason I am making the distinction is that acceptance/denial is relative to created energy, whereas enlightening activity as defined by "turning the light around" is already keyed to potential, so my modification to the quote is: People must be careful to keep in mind that such "intelligence" is not found beyond one's own mind right now. Real knowledge arises spontaneously as a matter of course (not just for those awakened to their selfless nature) and those who practice subtle observation of mind are eventually able to recognize its appearance in the midst of habitual thought-streams. This is why 24/7 subtle observation of mind is such a critical aspect of authentic self-refinement. There are other reasons as well that I won't go into at this time. The critical aspect of spiritual adaption to situations is borne by the inherent pattern of the situation itself, so I am being hyper-sensitive to the use of the word "accept" in the context of your statement because virtuous nonresistance would seem to imply just what you wrote, yet I am making the distinction between "accept" (so as not to imply that it means "affirm"), as opposed to "deny", for the benefit of others who may read this and mistakenly assume that "accept" is relative to the person— which it isn't. Since seeing is relative to selfless nonpsychological awareness, there is no superfluous affirmation or denial to speak of in the context of enlightening perception. Inevitability as a watchword for enlightening activity means that the karmic nature of all created things (including situations) are destined, in that every created cycle is embedded in its own matrix of potential or "situational DNA". Enlightening activity is just the practical knowledge of karmic patterning and furthermore watching for its critical junctures. All situations are cyclical. This is what make their study (in terms of taoism) a science. The Art of War states that "victory depends on the enemy" in that conditions conducive to apropriate action in response to developments cannot be manufactured beforehand. One must await their inexorable inevitable development. One must know what is being awaited. One must know the ground of life and death and be situated advantageously unbeknownst to anyone. The word "enemy" signifies the nature of the situation itself in that one's impersonal adaption depends on its (the situation's) parameters exclusively. This is why victory depends on the enemy. The Art of War is an ancient classic long included the taoist spiritual canon. This is why I say that one must, in fact, be ultimately vulnerable in order to carry out the subtle operation of the Great Vehicle as a Tathagata in terms of Complete Reality neither ordinary nor holy. The critical junctures of Change that I speak of are the ground of life and death. The alchemical term is the Aperture of the Mysterious Female: Chapter 16 of the Tao te Ching Return is the critical juncture(s) of all situations, material and immaterial. As in all things, the celestial pattern is expressed as the function of its process. Ego is a valid function, therein lies its value to the organism. It is not a thing. It is empty, utterly attributable to conditions. All created cycles have these critical junctures: the times when the gate and door defining the aperture of the Mysterious Female occur. Chapter 6 Therefore, it is to be understood that it is, in fact, used. It is also to be understood that its function is the unchanging unified fabric of inconceivability (referred to as gossamer silk in some volumes of the TTC) which is subtly operated in the context of ordinary situations according to the time by those with the power to comprehend its function in order to influence events. These two chapters from the Tao Te Ching do not just refer to mystical experience, as the celestial pattern permeates reality. Adepts arrive at partnership with creation, and are therefore not subject to its karmic cycles. There is no escape, yet liberation in the buddhist sense means that in the midst of delusional process, one does not go along with creation in that conformity with essence is preternaturally outside the primal organization of created incremental time and space. As I have mentioned many time before, it's an utter inconceivability, which is our nature in terms of human being. There is a chapter in the Kuei ku-Tzu called Opening and Closing. Let me clarify a few terms: heaven refers to the inner mind; earth refers to nature, the essential ground of reality; society, man, the sage, refers to a function of human potential. Assessing objectively and adapting impersonally is sage activity, whether it is accomplished by generals, buddhas, or enlightening beings. In every case, it is accomplished by those whose hearts have the power to take hearts. "Sages are not humane; they see all people as straw dogs." The Mysterious Female is not a place; it has no location. It arises naturally in the course of created karmic cycles. It is indicative of the celestial design. Those who see the opening and closing of the gate and door of the Mysterious Female are able to transcend Change while abiding in the midst of its changes. This is enlightening activity. Grain by grain, one gathers the elixir. Occasionally, a person will spontaneously comprehend an aspect of the phenomena of the secret of the celestial mechanism and conclude, "so what". This is what is referred to as knowing without the ability to act on knowledge. If one knows but is unable to act on that knowledge, it is the same as not knowing. It is simply not having the requisite personal power to act on knowledge. Authentic self-refinement is the means to gather and amass the potential (personal power) to see reality and act on knowledge by non-doing. Ordinary ignorant people whose personal power is inadequate to use energy aren't thus. Using it is a matter of amassing the energy to partake of energy. This energy is the nature of the Way and its Power. The power of the Way is another name for Virtue. Virtue is the inherent quality of enlightening being. Awakening to enlightening qualities is the result of self-refinement. What is refined? The human mentality. ed note: parenthesize "enemy" in 8th paragraph

Don't be too concerned with the equation, Brivido— yet non-attachment to outcomes is a beautiful and profound thing. It's a very subtle and effective tool. Will and patience (without attachment to outcomes) is all a warrior has to work with. Intent is a matter of will operating independently of reason/talking. Together with freedom from attachment to outcomes one can realize an unstoppable singleness of purpose. Action, per se, is a misnomer— operating from the nexus of will, the limits of reason/talking can be subtly passed through by virtue of nonpsychological (non-discursive) intent. That's really what it is. I say it is a misnomer because nonpsychologically aware intent lies within the realm of non-doing. I hope it will take you far.

The Buddha said to refer everything to the self. Most people consider this to mean conceptual consideration by intellectualism, holding the self mentioned in the Buddha's powerful statement as the self propped up and perpetuated by this same intellectual reasoning which is the seat of karmic bondage. If it were what the Buddha meant, how could that have any power? Any ignoramus refers everything to himself from birth to death. Who has ventured to ponder what the Buddha meant by this revelatory pronouncement into the nature of one's true being in terms of correct study of the self? Taoism states that it is necessary to work with what is the same. Sameness is essence. Essence is the self. Life is other. One already has this immaterial essence. That is why buddhism says to see essence on your own, then see a teacher. Taoism says to use essence to call life back from another's house. Essence is one's own aware nature. Life is real potential, real knowledge. This is why it is necessary to deal effectively with ordinary situations impersonally by activating impersonal nonpsychological essential awareness to see through situations and gather the unrefined potential inherent in situations by unminding, forgetting one's intellectual and emotional consciousness in the midst of ordinary affairs. "To study the Buddha way is to study oneself" means that activating one's own unborn awareness, empty of relative cause, is the basis to conduct oneself in the midst of affairs by subtle observation, subtle concentration that does not use intellectual interpretations to rationalize self and other. This is true study resulting in forgetting oneself. To study oneself is to forget oneself does not refer to an instance of sudden enlightenment. Forgetting oneself is activation of the unborn mind that sees without calling habitual perspectives relative to the personality of the false conditioned karmic identity. True study of the real self is activation of the selfless self. This is the authentic practice of forgetting oneself. The effect of authentic practice in the midst of ordinary affairs is studying the real self without removing the world. This is enlightening activity. When Dogen says, "To forget oneself is to be enlightened by the myriad dharmas.", it means effective practice is carried out by seeing the world as oneself. In one heightened experience during a preliminary 1000 day cycle, I awoke to the awareness being such that the overwhelming perspective was one of "it (the entire worldly situation) is just me". In other words, there was no me to speak of constituting an existence separate from all the elements and timing aggregating to define the evolution of a great cycle. The situational evolution was such that its pressure-cooker reality was just what it was with no reflective perspective on others struggling as others separate from myself. Its inconceivably psychological and emotional brutality was simply the conditions under which I found myself, and each cycle within this cycle resulted in the same open-ended basis of times alternating successively without a break. The myriad dharmas are simply conditional phenomenal unreality, but they are all there is to work with. It is by virtue of the karmic matrix that there is the context for self-refining enlightening activity. One's sense, being real knowledge of true reality, nurtured by essential aware purity of impersonal open sincerity permeates myriad dharmas. Though it is oneself, it is not one's own. This is because the nature of the universal is itself aware nonbeing. The totality of reality is thus. This is how enlightenment by the myriad dharmas is forgetting oneself. In forgetting, the myriad dharmas become oneself. "To be enlightened by the myriad dharmas is to bring about the dropping away of body and mind of both oneself and others", is arrival of cessation, the absolute, seeing one's naturre, seeing one's original face. Upon culmination of the great cycle, experience of nonorigination, the empty kalpa, where no buddha can reach you is attained. Nothing further can be said. This is where the matter of life and death is finally finished, and one has completely thrown away all knowledge: this is the absolute of the homeland of nothing whatsoever. In his last line Dogen states that, "The traces of enlightenment come to an end, and this traceless enlightenment is continued endlessly." In the aftermath of the sudden, one reeks of enlightenment. This must be worn off, washed off, rinsed completely away. This is why I say that the "vertical must be dissolved before one can make use of it". Alchemic manuals say that once one has used the true lead (real knowledge), one must then get rid of it. "Having used lead to refine mercury into the gold pill of immortality, one then gets rid of the lead". Dogen's "Traces of enlightenment" is identification with the experience of the foregoing achievement clinging to essential aware nature in the aftermath of complete perfect enlightenment. Taoist alchemical manuals state that "openness must then be emptied". "One overturns the polar mountain, shatters space, sublimates oneself physically and spiritually and enters the tao in reality, planting lotuses in fire, going through endless transformations". This is the meaning of "and this traceless enlightenment is continued endlessly." Hakuun Yasutani states in his commentary of Dogen's Genjokoan on this section, "…that since one has with great effort become the original buddha [in selfless sudden illumination], from here the work of the buddha begins." Attaining further enlightenment upon enlightenment in terms of endless transformations of subtle operation within Suchness, one becomes a person deluded within delusion: enlightenment being no different than delusion. This is the expression of the activation of one's selfless enlightening being where there is a body outside the body. It is just nonbeing within being. This is the significance of the taoist term, Complete Reality, and also the source of the ancient taoist teaching tradition that has endeavored to keep this knowledge alive.

It is a pedantic formality to refer to "dependent origination" which is ordinary consciousness in the throes of appearing to justify Cause. This is pure intellectualism on the part of a recreational philosopher. What would be the point in pinching pebbles of which anyone can discern the source? Who can refer to one's inherent causeless nonoriginated essence, hmmmm? Furthermore, what might be your part in its application, sir? You are stuck in borrowed words… but carry on as you will, dear. Moving right along for the benefit of those with the will to enlightenment. But though it is possible for those having penetrated a practical experiential basis in the real can see how it is possible to apply Dogen's elevated living words on multiple levels of understanding, there is only one mind which all levels of experience have in reference to recognition of one's being that is nonoriginated. Therefore, in terms of this mind, and in terms of effective and immediate wordless insight by those whose practical work of self-refinement is real, there are no levels. What is the mind of the nonoriginated self the Buddha says to refer everything to? It is the mind that does not think. One's own awareness not construed by the thinking mentality is immediate wordless insight. Just this mind is the Unborn. When wordless insight is present, don't think about it— in developing a subtle continuity of unminding concentration in the midst of everyday ordinary situations by open-minded wordless stable insight one enters into the only kind of practice worthy of the name. The Unborn is truly all there is. When you get this, just don't let it turn into other states. After a long, long time of stability in resting in the Unborn, eventually there is awakening to reality as is which finally obliterates one's uncertainty and doubt. This mind is the same in all sentient beings be they buddhas or ordinary deluded people. But "only those who cultivate themselves to conform to essence can direct the course of nature and not be caused to wax and wane by nature". It is all well and good that all sentient beings have this and are this enlightenment already, but even for those who have seen essence, their original face, if they cannot avail themselves of this knowledge, it is the same as if they had no knowledge. Bankei never wore out his unborn mind. He just told ordinary folk the same thing over and over without ever changing his story until the day he died that one simply must apply one's own everyday ordinary unborn mind by not turning it into anything else by compulsions following thoughts based on selfish perspectives relative to the personality that thinks. The galloping mind is the scourge of human being. Just don't let the unborn awareness perpetually present without beginning turn into other states by thinking unawares. It is thinking unawares that carries one away from the perpetually pristine unborn mind. Don't stop this thinking mind— just don't follow it unawares. When you let the human mentality go on without you, the unborn is already just your true self activated in terms of the capacity of impersonal objective observation. That's your mind. As for those who cultivate themselves to conform to essence— it is just resting in the Unborn as all things act in concert. This is the place where one sees Return. Return is just the celestial arising from within the mundane. Those who see the spontaneous arising of the celestial see the source of Change, and therefore do not go along with change. It is not a matter of mundane or elevated aspects differentiating people. Those who can rest in the Unborn for an instant are buddhas for an instant. Those who rest in the Unborn for a lifetime are buddhas for a lifetime. It's only just now. This mind is the same in all sentient beings be they buddhas or ordinary deluded people. But "only those who cultivate themselves to conform to essence can direct the course of nature and not be caused to wax and wane by nature". This may help those who truly wonder why understanding reality matters.

PM wrote: Wonderful post, deci. I'd like to add a much more mundane aspect of this approach that I think is extraordinarily valuable. To study oneself in the more literal sense is also of great benefit on the path, especially for those to whom the more subtle levels of awareness and insight are elusive. I would advocate that we look at ourselves unflinchingly - our thoughts, our moods, our sensory experience, our motivation - all of it. Just watch, no need to even change anything or interfere. Develop familiarity with what is going on rather than simply riding the thought/emotion train day in day out, reacting in unawareness and living as an automaton. Live in awareness, no matter where we are on our path. As we being to really take stock of all of this and free ourselves of our conditioned responses and patterns, we are naturally guided to look at the looker as well. That is when investigation and insight begin to reveal the more subtle and profound aspects of our true nature to which your refer. So while I do not disagree with anything you wrote and appreciate your ability to express deep insight, I believe those same words and teachings can be applied at multiple levels to guide us at different stages along the way. Merciii~ yes, layers of transcendent application of reality's expression accord within and without simultaneously, absolutely.

Jack wrote: Exactly. It's just how it is. It's not something one does.

Any time, Jack~ no hurries …not like the one who said I use too many words-- heehee!!❤︎ Arkandeus wrote: Oh it's exquisitely ordinary, mon ami~ it's no different than your own mind right now, just without any (or muuuch less) psychological momentum influencing your perception within the midst of ordinary situations. Enlightenment feels just like you, because it is you (you are not it). Yes, because mind is already so (selfless), your affinity with impersonal functionalities is attractive (everything is just so), therefore Suchness as is, is just so. The tendency to project psychological patterns reflecting personality bias is a long process of gradual fading away called self-refinement. It's the trajectory of selfless intent or will, locked on to the inevitable "dissolution" of one's psychological momentum (that which is the cohesive gravitational nexus of the personality). The word "dissolusion" is a tip of the hat to Emanyalpsid's definition of enlightenment as "dissolve". As far as "your" enlightenment supposedly feeling like a delusion~ I can't say… just keep watching over it without a word.

It's an immersive device, mr hellspeed. It's what it is, namely a description of ineffable enlightenment activity by virtue of delusion. At any rate, it's not my choice— it's the nature of the beast; my writing isn't composed. There is no explanation to be had, so you didn't miss anything. Don't even think of the Avatamsaka Sutra~ hahhahaa!! @Emanyalpsid Yes I saw what you posted on another thread. Your grasp of buddhism is obvious. I don't treat the word definitively because reality is not a state unto itself— to be objectified by intellectualization. My writing is a description of the actualization of enlightening being's potential, which has no definitive identity. In terms of the buddha way of self study, there is no "you", so "you" are not defined in terms of "understanding", primarily because there is no understanding to be had. Reality, seeing reality, i.e., potential relative to situations, and immaterial essence without remainder is an inconceivability that is not within the ken of the psychological apparatus. Those who have clarified the human mentality to the extent that real knowledge or nonpsychological awareness has become accessible to an individual conscious awareness are able to begin to see with the Dharma Eye, and they enter into Suchness as is. They are said to play in Samadhi. It's your own mind right now, which is already the seat of enlightenment (regardless of how sensing is identified with the personality). It's not a thing, it's just not thinking (habitually referencing the personality), so perception is objectively sensed impersonally without the influence of psychological momentum. The basis of reality is so because what is, is not different than seeing. Just seeing is what is left without remainder in terms of the experience of sudden complete and perfect enlightenment. Therefore, the entire buddhist canon can be summed up in the phrase, "activate the mind without dwelling on its contents." Practicing this is authentic 24/7 meditation seeing through phenomena without denying its characteristics. We don't need to stoop to clinging to definitions of what enlightenment is/isn't outside of its application in everyday ordinary situations because for enlightening beings, harmonizing enlightenment to conditions by virtue of the inherent potential comprising conditions is all there is to do— which doesn't require any doing that relies on one's own power. It's called selfless spiritual adaption for a reason. That's because delusional karmic evolution is none other than enlightenment for those who see it because the personality is out of the way (in the back of the bus, so to speak). ed note: modify 1st paragraph