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Kindle Notes & Highlights
In the Buddhist lineage, knowledge is not handed down like an antique. One teacher experiences the truth of the teachings and hands it down as inspiration to his students. That inspiration wakens the student who passes it on further. The teachings are seen as always up to date, they are not thought of as “ancient wisdom”.
The Buddhist experience relies on experiencing the truth for oneself,
The Buddha encouraged his followers to put everything he said to the test, and therefore, through the ages, followers of the Buddha have trusted their own wisdom, rather than trying to interpret what might have been meant in old texts.
It is said that the world rejoiced because of Siddartha’s determination to seek freedom, but this aroused the anger of Mara. As well as being an embodiment of death, Mara symbolizes all the obstacles that prevent one from attaining enlightenment.
The peace and equanimity of the Buddha comes from an acceptance of the transitory nature of life.
Moments when the self-important “I” does not interfere, moments of total immediacy when the mind is not caught up in memories of the past or in daydreams of the future but is totally involved in the present moment – such moments can happen at any time. These glimpses of nowness are vivid and give a stark contrast to habitual mind and its struggles.
Enlightenment is the total sense of freedom that comes from letting go of the concept of being an individual “self”. It is a long journey towards being able to trust that such freedom is possible.
Since the essence of the Buddha’s teaching is contained in the practice of meditation, following the path means a commitment to following that discipline wholeheartedly.
In meditation practice, we learn to let go of the thoughts and fantasies that block the direct intuitive experience of who and what we really are. Our constant mental activity is what maintains the illusion of a separate self, and this effort makes us weary.
Meditation practice is not concerned with perfecting concentration, or getting rid of thoughts, or trying to be peaceful. The practice merely provides a space in which we can relate simply with our body, our breath and the environment.
Karma literally means “action” – it is the law of cause and effect. Karma is both the power latent within action and the results our actions bring. Each action, even the smallest, will have consequences. To a Buddhist, therefore, every action, thought or word is important and has consequences.
Wittgenstein and Nagarjuna would have understood one another.
Although to scholars the Madyamika appears as a philosophical critique, its main purpose is meditational, being to expose the absurdity of holding all views, thereby allowing the mind to rest free of all dualistic thought formations. This is the realization of sunyata.
Things exist only as processes of knowing, not as “objects"; thus outside the knowing process, they have no reality. The external world is thus “purely mind”.
Bodhidharma’s teaching methods remained essentially Indian in character. It was a later 7th century teacher, Hui-Neng, who gave Zen its characteristic Chinese flavor.
The original religion of Tibet was called “Bon”. The spirituality of Bon is founded in a cosmological reality;
Padmasambhava was a tantric siddha - one who was accomplished in practising the Vajrayana, or tantra as it is also known.
Crazy wisdom is totally fearless: its power is that it can improvise according to the situation. Fundamentally, that kind of wisdom doesn’t hold on to any particular doctrine of discipline. It is totally spontaneous and acts on whatever situation is presented without judgement.
Pleasure is generally seen as the enemy of spirituality. Tantra’s approach is very different. Instead of seeing desire and pleasure as something to be avoided, tantra recognizes the powerful energy aroused by desire as an indispensable resource for the spiritual path. Tantra seeks to transform every experience no matter how “unreligious” it may appear to be.
In Vajrayana there is no value in a spiritual discipline which denies the everyday pleasures of life. It is not the experience of pleasure which is the problem, but the grasping and attachment which puts personal gratification before the needs of others.
This is like improv in a way. The only reason to take the leap is because the teacher shows that it is possible.
In tantra, deities are not seen as representatives of some kind of external existence; they are simply expressions of enlightened mind.
The deities in Tibetan Buddhism have countless manifestations, because they display the countless aspects of enlightened mind.
It is said that Padmasambhava, after leaving his palace, made a home in the charnel ground. He saw no difference at all between the charnel ground and his palace and took delight in living there. In doing this, he related with death fearlessly.
This is also tantra in the vedas. Much like the aghoris.
Death is the desolate experience in which our habitual patterns cannot continue as we would like them to.
In Tibetan Buddhism there is a detailed analysis of the states that arise between one life and another. This gap is called Bardo. Bardo means in-between-state or gap.
The Bardo describes a succession of experiences, beginning at the moment of death with the experience of a brilliant light.
Much of the existing vitality springs from the forest tradition, with its emphasis on meditation. The forest monks live remote from the cities and away from state politics.
Samye Ling, the first Tibetan centre in Britain, named after the first monastery to be founded in Tibet by Padmasambhava.
According to Buddhism, the only source of energy that is useful is compassion, because it is safe.
The authority assigned to the teacher by the students is based on a shared understanding that the teacher has realized something about the nature of reality that they have not, and that the teacher can therefore guide them to realization better than they can themselves. However, even though students have accepted the teacher’s role in cutting confusion, there is antagonism to this and the teacher is often seen as a spokesman of repressive authority.
The heart of the teaching remains–the Four Noble Truths, the fact of suffering, its origin, cessation and the path of meditation which puts it all into practice, again and again.
