Archive for May, 2008
Saturday, May 31st, 2008
Chapter 6 — Practice
When the Buddha is gone, look to the Dharma as your teacher. Make the practice your teacher. The Dharma and the Sangha will be your teacher.
—The Buddha
Do not shout thy prayer publicly, nor yet speak it low in secret, but seek between these a middle way.
—The Koran
I will now close my eyes, I will stop [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 6 - Practice by Michael
Friday, May 30th, 2008
Authentic Communication
Communicating either with those not familiar with the Path or with those who reject it outright can be challenging. Unconsciousness is just about the most contagious ailment that humans carry, but Awakening doesn’t depend on another’s ability to share each step with us along the Path. Rather, Awakening can only ever depend on our ability [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 5 - Presence by Michael
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
The Pain Cycle
Whenever relationships are discussed in the context of spiritual practice, most of the questions concern unhealthy attachment. Whether we are conscious of it or not, dysfunction continually offers the ego a place to hide. For example, the ego would much rather attach itself to the known quantity of bad relationships than deal with the unknown [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 5 - Presence by Michael
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
Relationships
Among the richest areas for practice is relationship. Many of us, whether we are in a committed relationship or not, tend to have our connections with people inform most if not all of what we do. Romantic relationships, work relationships, as well as friendships and family relationships, can pull us from a Big Self expanse [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 5 - Presence by Michael
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
In Body: Compassion
Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma see no Dharma in everyday actions; they have not yet discovered that there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.
—Eihei Dogen
Too often, people think that solving the world’s problems is based on conquering the earth rather than touching the earth, touching ground.
—Chogyam Trungpa
By showing grace [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 5 - Presence by Michael
Monday, May 26th, 2008
Relating to the Knowing
At some point on the Path, we find that we are in an unsettling place where our minds begin to realize that they don’t have the capacity to take us any further. It’s as if the small self has been busy extending a board over the side of the ship of consciousness, but at some [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 5 - Presence by Michael
Sunday, May 25th, 2008
Awake in This Life
Check out the link. The book is currently up at Amazon.com
Awake in This Life
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Michael
Sunday, May 25th, 2008
Capital “K” Knowing
When the Eighth Sense reveals itself from the tenderness of the Ninth Sense, we give our experience over to what we might call a “conscious awareness.” We have previously called this Knowing. Using the capital “K” implies that it is an unattached version of recognition, far different from the regular, attached, egoic, lower case “k” [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 5 - Presence by Michael
Saturday, May 24th, 2008
The Ninth Sense
Just as the Eighth Sense is the felt sense of Awareness that is the Source of all things, it is also our ever-so-slightly contracted sense of this primordial Source. When we put our Witness to use, we see that it is the Awakened space that welcomes the very arising of all things. On the other [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Chapter 5 - Presence by Michael
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
The Eighth Sense
Another way to refer to the Witness is to call it our “Eighth Sense.” By this I mean that we have our five senses of our physical experience: those of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. Then, in our mental experience, we have our thoughts, which can be counted as our sixth sense. Unlike the [...]