The Womb of Buddhas

1. Deep is the tathagata-garbha / with seven kinds of consciousness / the two kinds of grasping that arise / are avoided by the wise
2. The mind is like a reflected image / the result of habit-energy without beginning / for those who see what is real / whatever is seen isn't seen
3. Like fools who see me point to the moon / look at my finger and not at the moon / those who cling to names / don't see this truth of mine
4. The mind is the hero in a play / the will is the hero's confidant / the five forms of consciousness are the cast / projections are the audience.
(Lankavatara Sutra, trans. Red Pine. Paperback edition pp. 243-244.)

I Ching for Monday December 17, 2018

The I Ching casting for today, Monday, December 17, 2018

First hexagram: #60, Discipline, with the first yang line changing to yin, giving a second hexagram, #29, Abyss

The reading, taken from the commentary written in 1769 by Taoist adept named Liu I-ming of the Complete Reality school of Taoism, in particular that stream of the Complete Reality school known as the Clear Serene branch. The translation is by Thomas Cleary in The Taoist I Ching.

After reading the commentaries, on should then meditate on their application to one’s personal life, as well as to one’s nation and the contemporary world.


60. Discipline
Discipline is developmental, but painful discipline is
not to be held to.
EXPLANATION

Discipline means having limits that are not to be exceeded. As to the qualities
of the hexagram, above is water ~, a pitfall, and below is lake
joyous. Being capable of joy in danger, warding off danger by joyfulness, it
is therefore called discipline.

This hexagram represents practicing obedience in unfavorable circumstances,
adaptably keeping to the Tao; it follows on the previous hexagram
joy. In joy, joyfulness reaches outside; one can delight in the Tao and
practice the Tao. But if one can only be joyful in favorable circumstances
and not in unfavorable circumstances, joy is not real, and ultimately it will
be hard to get out of difficulty and danger, so one will not find joy.
Therefore those who practice reality and delight in the Tao do not let
difficulty disturb their minds, and do not let peril and trouble affect their
will; the situation may be dangerous, but their minds are not endangered,
the times may be perilous but the Tao is not imperiled. Pleased with
heaven and aware of the aim of life, they are at peace wherever they are:
They use danger to nourish joy, and use joy to guard against danger. The
situation may be up to others, but creation of destiny is up to oneself. Yin
and yang cannot restrict such people, the created universe cannot bind
them; whether in adversity or comfort, they do not lose their bearings.
This is why discipline is developmental.
However, even though discipline can develop you, if you do not
know how to adapt to changes, and cling fast to one discipline, that will
become restrictive and stifling; this is called painful discipline. When discipline
gets to the point of inflicting suffering, it brings on danger itself
even where there was no danger; you will only suffer toil and servility,
which is harmful and has no benefit. Not only does this not constitute discipline,
it loses the appropriate measure. This is not joy in the midst of
danger; it is enjoying the act of courting danger. Therefore it is not to be
held to.
When superior people practice the Tao and establish virtue, they
don't act in any way that is not just; their every step is orderly and regulated,
their every word is timely and reasonable. In substance they are always
calm, like a lake without waves; in function they act like water,
which conforms to its environment. Their calmness does not reach the
point of losing mindfulness, and their activity does not reach the point of
straying from essence. There is a consistency about their movement and
stillness, adjusted appropriately according to events, not restricted to a
single pattern. When the time comes to stop, they stop; encountering danger,
they deal with it. When the time comes to go on, they go on; getting
out of danger, they do not bring on danger. Going along with the time,
they deal with everything unminding, and therefore can get beyond yin
and yang, not being constrained by yin and yang.
This is because heaven and earth can coerce what has form, but not
what is formless; can coerce the minding, but not the unminding. Discipline
is not according to mind but according to time; this is called discipline
according to the time, having discipline yet according with the
ti me. It is like the sections of bamboo; each section has a boundary, each
section has a passage. In this way, how could one fail to develop?

■ First yang changing: Not leaving home, there is no blame.
EXPLANATION
In the beginning of discipline, firmly remaining upright, first becoming
able to distinguish right and wrong and then after that acting—this is discipline
not leaving home. "Not leaving home" means if one can be careful
in the beginning one will naturally be blameless in the end. This is the
discipline of the strong who are able to be upright.

From the Confucian School Great Commentary:

60. Regulation
water above,
lake below
There is water over a lake, regulated. Thus superior
people determine measures and discuss virtuous
actions.

Regulation means having limits. Above is water below is lake _;
there is water over a lake. There is a limit to which a lake can hold water; if
there is too much water, the lake overflows. This is the image of regulation.
What superior people see in this is that establishment of virtue is the
basis of everything that people should do or not do, and they should not
act arbitrarily. This is called regulation. However, there is a way of changing
adaptively according to the situation; if one holds to one regulation to
the end, one's practice will not be successful, but will instead damage one's
character. Therefore regulations must be distinguished, so superior people
determine measures to discuss virtuous actions.
The three hundred sixty-five days of a year is one of four ways of
measurement; the yearly cycle is also divided into four seasons, eight divisions,
and seventy-two periods, each with its boundaries. These are "measures."
People are born with certain measures of earthly and celestial energies
of the five elements, so they have the virtues of the five elements;
when they act without losing those virtues, that is virtuous action.
Superior people determine the measures of waxing and waning of
the earthly and celestial five elements and discuss the virtuous actions of
benevolence, justice, courtesy, knowledge, and truthfulness; this is to
cause people to be benevolent when it is appropriate to be benevolent, to
be just when it is appropriate to be just, to be courteous when it is appropriate
to be courteous, to be knowing when it is appropriate to be knowing,
and to be truthful when it is appropriate to be truthful. They also discuss
how the five virtues are one energy, how the earthly and the celestial
work together, without bias or partiality.
This is because they want people to embody the virtues of heaven
and earth as their own qualities and the processes of the four seasons as
their own conduct. The science of nature and life is a process of work that
is entirely a matter of the measure of evolution; if you conform to the appropriate
measure, you can cultivate celestial qualities—this is virtuous
action. If you lose the proper measure, you turn away from celestial qualities—
this is the demise of virtue. Actions that destroy virtue are actions
without regulation, taking the false to be real, taking what is wrong to be
right. Even if you can hold fast to one regulation, this still is sticking to
voidness or clinging to form, and ultimately is of no benefit to nature and
life. The intention of superior people in determining this and discussing
this so as to enlighten people and fulfill their work was profound indeed.


After changing the first line, the new hexagram is number 29:

29. Mastering Pitfalls (Double Pitfall)
In mastering pitfalls there is truthfulness; thus the
mind develops. There is excellence in practice.
EXPLANATION
Pitfalls means danger, as of a precipice or pitfall; mastering pitfalls means
getting through danger. As for the qualities of the hexagram, above is water
dangerous, and below is also water E-E, dangerous; going from
one danger to another, yet able to get through successfully in spite of danger,
it is therefore called mastering pitfalls.
This hexagram represents the presence of white within black, restoring
yang within yin; it follows on the previous hexagram nourishment.
Nourishment means seeking fulfillment by emptiness, seeking the true
yang that has fallen in a pit. In human beings, after heaven and earth
interact, the one point of original yang runs to the palace of earth E E;
earth is filled in and becomes water and heaven— changes into
fire =. At this point yin traps the yang; the celestial root is obscured and
the mind gets involved with things. Though near to reality by nature,
people become estranged from it by habit—descending lower and lower
by daily repetition of habit, they fall into a state of ignorant obstinacy and
do not know how to stop.
However, if one practices evil one becomes evil; if one practices good
one becomes good—it is simply a matter of how people habitually act.
Practice of evil is a way into danger, practice of good is a way out of danger.
Getting out of danger requires that one believe it is dangerous—belief
rules the mind. If one can believe in the danger, then one will not be seduced
by external things. Practicing good, one can then be good; as it is
said, once you reform, it is the same as if you were originally thus. Therefore
"in mastering pitfalls there is truthfulness; thus the mind develops."
If there is truthfulness, then the mind develops; without truthfulness,
the mind does not develop. The mind with truthfulness is the mind of Tao;
when the mind of Tao becomes manifest, the human mentality does not
arise—sane energy grows, aberrant energy recedes, and one can thus go
in and out of yin and yang without being constrained by yin and yang.
But believing there is danger requires one to practice so as to get out
of danger; believing but not practicing is like not believing. Once one can
believe and can practice, without hypocrisy or deception, practicing truly,
one improves daily with daily practice, rising from lowliness to loftiness,
gradually learning a state of exalted illumination, developing one's nature
to the fullest extent and realizing one's purpose in life, returning to the
fundamental, without difficulty. Therefore the text says, "There is excellence
in practice." If one practices this one can rise; without practice one
does not rise. Knowing this is only valuable when one puts it into practice.

From the Confucian School Great Commentary:

29. Double Water
water above,
water below
Water travels, double water. Thus do superior people
consistently practice virtue and learn how to teach.

Double water means water reaching from here to there. Above is water
~, below is water; this is water traveling from here to there,
from there to here, traveling, flowing throughout. This is the image of
double water.

What superior people see in this is that the work of sages is twofold,
involving both self-development and development of others. Self-development
is the practice of virtue; development of others is teaching. If
virtuous practice is inconsistent, it is hard to enter the universal Tao; if
teaching is not learned, students will not understand.
Therefore they work on virtuous practice day by day and month by
month, becoming familiar with the old and aware of the new, increasing
their efforts as time goes on, aiming for profound attainment of self-realization.
Then when it comes to teaching, they gradually develop guidance,
making clear presentations and subtle indications, leading students
further and further on until they penetrate thoroughly and are free from
doubt.
The practice of virtue is the study of body and mind, nature and life.
It is a very refined and subtle science, in which the slightest deviation can
produce an enormous loss. It can be accomplished only by constancy and
consistency, thoroughly investigating its principles, fulfilling nature and
arriving at the meaning of life.
Teaching is a matter of receiving from forebears and educating successors.
It is very urgent and necessary. If instruction is unclear, people
will be misled as to the course they should pursue. One can develop others
only if one learns how to teach, which involves searching out the profound
and the recondite and clarifying that which is obscure.
The work of teaching is based on the practice of virtue; teaching
means teaching the practice of virtue. Only if one is consistent and constant
in the practice of virtue can one learn and practice teaching. If one
cannot be consistent in the practice of virtue, then teaching will be baseless
and unguided. When one is consistent in the practice of virtue and
afterward learns how to teach, then what is consistent and constant in
oneself is what is learned by others. This is like water traveling from here
to there; it is all the same water, able to flow everywhere.

The practice of a bodhisattva

At that time Mahamati the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva in consideration of
future generations made this request again of the Bhagavan: Pray tell
me, Bhagavan, about the perfecting of the discipline whereby the
Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas become great Yogins.

The Bhagavan replied: There are four things, Mahamati, by fulfilling
which the Bodhisattvas become great Yogins. What are the four? They
are: (1) To have a clear understanding as to what is seen of Mind
itself,2 (2) to discard the notions of birth, abiding, and disappearance,
(3) to look into [the truth] that no external world obtains, and (4) to
seek for the attainment of inner realization by noble wisdom. Provided
with these four things the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas become great
Yogins.

How, Mahamati, does the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva come to have a
clear understanding as to what is seen of Mind itself? He comes to it by
recognising that this triple world is nothing but Mind itself, devoid of an
ego and its belongings, with no strivings, no comings-and-goings; that
this triple world is manifested and imagined as real, under the influence
of the habit-energy accumulated since beginningless time by false
reasoning and imagination, and with the multiplicity of objects and
actions in close relationship, and in conformity with the ideas of
discrimination, such as body, property, and abode. Thus, Mahamati, the
Bodhisattva-Mahasattva acquires a thoroughly clear understanding as to
what is seen of Mind itself.

How again, Mahamati, does the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva discard
notions of birth, abiding, and disappearance? By this it is meant that all
things are to be regarded as forms born of a vision or a dream and have
never been created since there are no such things as self, the other, or
bothness. [The Bodhisattvas] will see that the external world exists only
in conformity with Mind-only; and seeing that there is no stirring of the
Vijnanas and that the triple world is a complicated network of causation
and owes its rise to discrimination, they find that all things, inner and
external, are beyond predicability, that there is nothing to be seen as
self-nature, and that [the world] is not to be viewed as born; and
thereby they will conform themselves to the insight that things are of the
nature of a vision, etc., and attain to the recognition that things are
unborn. Establishing themselves on the eighth stage of Bodhisattvahood,
they will experience a revulsion [in their consciousness] by transcending
the Citta, Manas, and ManoVijnana, and the five Dharmas, and the
[three] Svabhavas, and the twofold Egolessness, and thereby attain the
mind-made body (Manomayakaya). Thus, Mahamati, the Bodhisattva-
Mahasattva will discard the notion of birth, abiding, and
disappearance.1

Said Mahamati,1 what is meant by the will-body, Bhagavan?

The Bhagavan replied: It means that one [in this body] can speedily move
unobstructed as he wills; hence the will-body, Mahamati. For instance,
Mahamati, the will [or mind] travels unobstructed over mountains, walls,
rivers, trees, etc., many a hundred thousand yojanas they may be away,
when a man recollects the scenes which had previously come into his
perception, while his own mind keeps on functioning in his body without
the least interruption or hindrance. In the same fashion, Mahamati, the
will-body, in the attainment of the Samadhi called Maya-like and
adorned with such marks as the powers, the psychic faculties, and the
self-control, will be born in the noble paths and assemblies, moving
about as freely as he wishes, as he recalls his original vows and worlds
in order to bring all beings to maturity.

Then, Mahamati, what is meant by the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva having
a good insight into the non-existence of external objects? It means,
Mahamati, that all things are like unto a mirage, a dream, a hair-net; and
seeing that all things are here essentially because of our attachment to
the habit-energy of discrimination which has been maturing since
beginningless time on account of false imagination and erroneous
speculation, the Bodhisattvas will seek after the attainment of selfrealization
by their noble wisdom. Mahamati, furnished with these four
things, Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas become great Yogins. Therefore, in
these, Mahamati, you should exercise yourself.

Ten forms of mindfulness

From today's reading/study of Working Toward Enlightenment, by Master Nan Huai Chin, pg.116 ff.:

The ten forms of mindfulness are: mindfulness of the Buddha, mindfulness of the Dharma, mindfulness of the Sangha, mindfulness of discipline, mindfulness of giving, mindfulness of heaven, mindfulness of stopping and resting, mindfulness of anapana--that is, mindfulness of breathing in and out--which is the same thing as present day Esoteric Buddhist and Taoists method of refining the breath.  When Chinese Taoists talk of the channels of the ch'i, (the breath or vital energy) it is always because they have been subjected to the influence of the Buddhist method of anapana.  Next of the 10 forms of mindfulness include mindulness of the body, and the last one is mindfulness of death.  These ten forms of mindfulness include all methods of cultivating practice.  Mahayana Buddhism has Hinayana Buddhism as its basis: if you cannot manage Hinayana, don't even speak of Mahayana!

paramitas

All nirmanakaya emanations are manifestations of the paramitas -- Gyatrul Rinpoche (from his Christmas 2013 teaching
Paramitas: generosity, virtue, patience, diligence, meditation, wisdom

Thought Experiment: Debts & Obligations

Thought Experiments

Thought experiments are a means of trying out an idea as a means of getting a new perspective. They are an opportunity to learn from experience without the side effect of making serious mistakes that result in years of muddled and confused life.

The key to using these exercises is to be able to fully buy in to the scenario. What this means is that you must believe without any reservation that the situation is fact. This takes a bit of practice perhaps, however, it is completely possible. The result is that in your mind-as-such, the scenario is real. It has actually happened, and you get to examine how your, beliefs, attitudes and so forth are shaped by the expectations of yourself and others, which determines your actions, which shape how you live. These thought experiments are a means of creating space between our expectations and our actions, since in a sense, we are playing make-believe.

Make-believe, or fantasy – day-dreaming – have traditionally been only the province of children, with adults generally poo-pooing this mental activity as childish in a pejorative sense. There have even been movements by some adult groups to eliminate any kind of fantasy in the belief that the sooner children are introduced to “reality” the better. In a sense, their belief is that fantasy is some kind of weakness. However, what these individuals really are up to is to inflict their own nihilistic view of the world on everyone else. In this world view there are certain assumptions that simply must be accepted, or their mode of expression in the world would be seen to be completely idiotic.

 

Thought Experiment #1 -- Debts and Obligations

Imagine that everyone you know, everyone to whom you owe any kind of debt or obligation, including all money debts to banks and so forth – everyone, were wiped out in some kind of mass holocaust. What then, of your debts and obligations?

This would include everyone in your family: wife or husband, children, parents. The debts and obligations are not just limited to money and contracts. They include even a sense that you owe loyalty or fidelity. What if all those were gone too? Often we do not even think of how our own lives and values are influenced by the expectations of others. What if there were no one left who had any expectations whatsoever about you?

What would you be if there were no expectations whatsoever for you to conform to?

All of these expectations are conceptions. This kind of thought experiment highlights the power of conceptions.

Think about this: let us say that you felt some powerful obligation to someone who then dies. What then of your obligation? Does it remain with you in the form of some kind of marker on your consciousness? Does it remain with the other person in some like manner? Or is there some kind of storehouse of all these obligations, like a bank computer, that keeps track, and “what goes around, comes around”? Can they be transferred? For example, can the debt or obligation be fulfilled by someone else – whomever is available?

Or, alternatively, does doing some kind of massive good deed wipe out other debts? How many debts do you have anyway? How exactly does something like this work out?

All of these questions are “waves of conceptualizations” that Tilopa talked about in his teaching to Naropa:

Like the morning mist that dissolves into thin air,
Going nowhere but ceasing to be,
Waves of conceptualization, all the mind's creation, dissolve,
When you behold your mind's true nature.

Pure space has neither colour nor shape
And it cannot be stained either black or white;
So also, mind's essence is beyond both colour and shape
And it cannot be sullied by black or white deeds.

The darkness of a thousand aeons is powerless
To dim the crystal clarity of the sun's heart;
And likewise, aeons of samsara have no power
To veil the clear light of the mind's essence.

Although space has been designated "empty",
In reality it is inexpressible;
Although the nature of mind is called "clear light",
Its every ascription is baseless verbal fiction.

The mind's original nature is like space;
It pervades and embraces all things under the sun.
Be still and stay relaxed in genuine ease,
Be quiet and let sound reverberate as an echo,
Keep your mind silent and watch the ending of all worlds.

What all this means is that there really isn't any stain of sin that you have to wash away. There is nothing permanent. If you are always trying to work things out with others, there is no end to it. Karma is endless, because there is no beginning, and no end. Therefore, one should practice to let go of all clinging and grasping to worldly ends, since worldly ends only lead to more worldly phenomena, which are impermanent and invariably, inexorably, lead to suffering.

Locus cloud of karmic chi energies

In Measuring Meditation, by William Bodri on page 546, we find this:

Just as a weather front gives birth to a variety of winds flowing in all directions, there are a variety of chi fronts flowing through all the body’s internal organs, and each of these organs has its own specific, characteristic chi flows.  Here is an even bigger way to view things.  Since we also have our own individual personalities, habits, and forms of behavior, thus, as individuals we, too, can be represented as a unique set of habit energies, or habit chi flows.  There is no such thing as an individual self since all conventional existence is defined through interdependent origination, so what we are can be viewed as just a locus cloud of karmic chi energies.

Keeping this in mind, you can see from yet another aspect how the process of cultivation comes down to the task of transforming your physical and mental habit energies.We must try to purify them and make them more refined.  We must try to abandon any bad habits or evil ways we have become attached to, and replace them with good habits and more virtuous behavior.  Recurring bad habits are like a river of chi that cannot stop, so purifying our behavior can be viewed from the aspect of purifying our chi and its habitual flows.  Since chi is related to thoughts, this really means transforming the mind.

When you think of the individual as a flowing collection of dirty chi streams, you will more readily recognize why we say that cultivation comes down to transforming our habitual mental streams of activity.  Just like the seeds of the alaya, the chi circulations of the personality and physical nature are involved in an endless flow, and if we do not purify these streams or learn how to detach from them, we will never arrive at the ability to see the Tao.

From a humanistic viewpoint, this makes behavior the beginning, the process and fruitional result of the spiritual path as well.  From the standpoint of karma or astrology, this even tells us that when an unfortunate karmic period arises that connects with our chi flows, the only way to change the situation is to detach from the pull of these flows and what they might impel us to do.  Thus cultivation is definitely the only true way to change one’s fortune and destiny—by resisting or detaching from the karmic flows that would impel us into a certain karmic destiny – and the only way to truly actualize the meaning of “free will.”

It is hard to stop something that never ceases flowing, so in spiritual cultivation you learn to purify your physical and mental habits by transforming them at the root, which will in turn cleanse you chi flows and bring them into a harmonious state of balance.  In other words, the proper way to cultivate your chi channels is by cleansing the mind, and the way to purify the mind is to learn detachment through emptiness meditation.