Buddha

 I feel like I am seeing the world through the same eyes I had as a young child. It is hard for me to describe this without distorting it. What would the world look like if you didn't see anything wrong with it? Yet as a child I wasn't aware of how I saw things, I just saw them the way I did and that was that. It seems like the difference is the awareness. Part of me is awake to a completely awakened perception. The best way I can describe it is seeing without filters or conditioned perspectives, seeing things as they are. This is not saying they are anything, just seeing things as they are. Things are simply what they are. What they are is apparent when you see them. When the mind is stuck on seeing things a certain way, it doesn't see things as they are. When the mind is fully awake, conditioned consciousness no longer dominates perception. Things arise in consciousness without much distortion. You can get a sense that you are seeing things as they are, that I think is undeniable. Obviously you wouldn't know this unless you could see it for yourself. What strikes me is how composed this mode of seeing is. Consciousness seems to be fully restored in formlessness as formlessness, this seems to be essential for accurate perception. I think this is true because form is truly formless. Seeing the world through a mind that is dominated by conditioned consciousness is like trying to understand the color yellow when your looking through a blue tinted spyglass. What also strikes me is how we remain human even when we have passed through Emptiness. It is a marvel. It seems like we are meant to be enlightened. That we are clearly designed for it, to hold it. It seems like the natural expression of the fullest sense of our being. Also that this enlightenment is always apart of us because we are human beings. Other sentient creatures have Buddha nature, while human beings seem to be the only one's that can fully express it. 

What I love most about being here is how simple I can be. I just feel fully myself, I feel ordinary and wonderful at the same time. I like being ordinary. I think when you are enlightened everything is ordinary and wonderful at the same time. On the way you are trying to both attain this perspective. I think we lose both the ordinary and the wonderful. We are restless so we are not satisfied with normal, when much of what is normal is what we need, and we have forgotten that wonderful springs from the natural simplicity of things. We look for something else and there isn't anything else. Greatness springs from the ground up. Everything is full of it because everything has sprung up from Buddha-nature. When we are composed and grounded in the ordinary, we can fully appreciate how awesome this really is. Everything is charged with emotion and feeling. There are so many different feelings out there that life is an unending adventure. Wherever our awareness turns, we discover something new. When we pull our heads out of our asses, out of the dirt, and out of the clouds, we are free to experience this. We are so set on having certain experiences, being a certain way, that we fuck up the only experience we can have that is passing before our awareness right now. The flavor can seep into our awareness. When we get out of our own way...we are free to live in this unknowable unpredictable space. And the whole fucking time, there is nothing wrong with being blind, having an ego or fucking up. We are already free as we are. This is just how life is...We are frogs sitting around a pond, feeding on flies and taking dips in the pool. We leave the Dharma as children and we may return to it as adults. Ignorance is born of the Dharma, and the Dharma is born of ignorance. The seeds of the dharma lie in all things. If we look carefully we may give life to the seeds that are sown in our own consciousness. How great a fortune it is to be born again as a Buddha in this human vehicle? 

I feel like I belong to this world. I feel like I am rooted in my environment. This is what I missed as I grew up. I felt like I didn't belong, that something was wrong with me. If we wish to recover this childlike simplicity where in fact we just belong in the fiber of our being, then we should pursue enlightenment. Nothing we find in the world will give us peace or fulfillment. The Dharma is the road to the Buddha and the Buddha is the restoration of our natural simplicity. We seek the Glory of God, yet also the peace and serenity that come from living from our most basic nature. This is quieter, yet much more powerful. It really is peace, and from this peace I believe comes happiness. 

Holy Presence

 What I see now is the presence that lives within everything. It appears to me that everything is this presence. I see it's life everywhere. The same life looking out from everything. To me, it has so many faces, while it remains faceless. The world spins and it remains still. Like lantern light over a calm pool in the night. I'm this stillness it is wide awake, sensitive to everything, yet remaining still. This awareness is full of life. It is full of all our lives. We are truly One in it. It seems to me that there is really one life happening everywhere. One life, one thought, One being. In each person, there is the same life. We imagine that there is a limit to ourself, that we belong to ourself, when really we apart of a great landscape of Self. When we attempt to possess things, we lose sight of who we really are, our true nature. Our true nature is selfless and does not need to possess anything because everything is an extension of itself. It really has no I or we, it just is. It doesn't need to clutch at anything because it is held up by it's own nature. This is what I am. Who we are. We have no self, we are this. I don't think we can lose it, I just think we lose sight of it. Deep within we remain pure and good. We are this unaffected presence, the life of life that always is standing firm and upright in this moment. 

Awakened Mind

 It seems ridiculous that the answer to all of our problems could be so simple. It arises effortlessly in this moment. It fills my awareness with light and creates peace in my heart. It is soft and easy. It reminds me who I am. I am also something so simple. There is such disturbance in my mind that I am somewhat alarmed at this presence. I fear what it will do to me. I sense that all it can do is provide peace. It is so kind and gentle. It honestly feels like the hand of God reaching out to me to pull me up. I sense so much love. Such a depth of intelligence, and feeling. It is remarkable to me that such a thing could exist, when we live in a world full of so much pain. It seems unimaginable that their could be something so good. I feel like so much of how I see the world is from an incredibly limited perspective. One darkened by an odyssey of fatigue and tribulation. The brightness that is here in this moment is so intense it is deafening. The war that we have within us will end when we recognize the futility of our position, the inevitability of complete annihilation. The ego wishes to postpone death for one more moment, yet it can never escape it. It can only continue to throw itself into new delusions that tear apart the sanity of our souls. The trouble we have is believing our egos, and giving into fear, believing we can have more than what we are given and that we are better than others. No one is any better than anyone else, no one deserves anymore than anyone else. Everyone deserves unconditional love and respect. We deserve honesty and integrity from each other. When we don't give this to other people, we don't give it to ourselves. When we think we are higher than others, we actually put ourselves beneath them. We sacrifice the indispensability of our soul-awareness for immediate gratification or relief, we give in to the powers of Satan or darkness, we succumb to temptation and fear, only to reject our true nature which is the only thing here worth anything. We can do nothing of value without the light. It is the bread of man. From it comes all life. When society cleanses itself of evil, it will be much easier for us to see the reason of being a true Christian, whose dogma is that of love. A Christian is a Christian because of the condition of their heart, not what they believe. The way they act rather than what they profess. A true Christian lives from Christ in Christ as Christ. This is the true awakened heart. This is proven faith. 

We may see so many differences between us and others, yet when you see through Christ's eyes, their is nothing but an unbroken sea of common humanity. A life that is shared and bound in the single experience of the suffering that is the nature of our existence. To suffer is simply to be alive as a sentient being in the field of karma, cause and effect, among countless other suffering beings. Life is suffering, it is painful, yet we do not need to be ruled by this suffering. We can blossom in it and awaken in transcendental awareness. Suffering gives birth to the Light, which is Christ awareness, the Holy Dharma. The Dharma is a Golden Eagle born from the lotus flowering in the field of suffering. The field of suffering eternally gives birth to enlightened awareness. It is through the experience of shared suffering that a being awakens and realizes both the common condition of all beings and the reality of liberation which is the non-substance of this condition. In Christ, drinking the Dharma, we do not avoid suffering. We accept it and allow it to flower as it may where-ever it is. Through non-assertion of ourselves conditioned consciousness has no place to perpetuate itself and the Dharma can be allowed to fully fill our being. Christ is release from suffering, from suffering into flowering being. Through acceptance and embrace of the reality of suffering, one is freed from it. 

Christ is Reason, the Highest Reason. To reject the nature of Christ, is to reject the core of our being. Christ lives in this moment. It is the life of this moment. No fortune can be found outside of Christ. True wealth is illumination born of Christ Consciousness. Anything that is conditioned that we depend upon, keeps us weak and blind. It keeps us severed from the source. Christ is restoration of our connection to the infinite plenitude within. Conditioned consciousness creates the perception that it is needed to protect the self, when truly the very thought of the self is that which is the problem. It creates the illusion of a warring divided world of limited resources. It corrupts awareness of the infinite nature of an undivided reality. We are not these separate selves. Not in any capacity. There is no separate self. The rules of this perception rule that perception. Reality is something different. If we wish to live in reality, we have to reject the whole of conditioned consciousness, lest Satan find a crack to crawl back through. We choose God, or we choose the darkness that most call home. It is this black and white. Yet it requires exceptional discernment to see this clearly enough to follow it through to the end.

When we have suffered enough, we may begin to question our way of life. As we become dissatisfied with this world, we may begin to search for an alternative, a way out. Their is a way out, but more than an escape, it is a departure from one way of living to another. It is a maturation of our being, not a continuation of the same habits. It is a dramatic transformation of consciousness. It is a rejection of evil, of sin. It truly is. Yet not through submission and domination, but through the gentleness and ease that springs from inward realization. The more we drink from Christ, the less we desire the tempest that is worldliness.  

Where do we find Christ? Right here. Christ lives in this moment, not down a long alleyway of the mind. Christ leads to immediate action, to a sense of purpose and direction. And Christ is always reaching out to us, so perfectly, so lovingly. Here, right now. We don't think we are good enough for Him, but we are. The imperfections of our being are dirt covering the priceless wealth that is our inherent good nature. We don't see it because we are so preoccupied with our suffering. We have everything we need to take His hand. He is here for us, always. He speaks to us always. He is with us always. 

It is amazing that the power of Christ is so real, more tangible than anything else. When you see it and feel it, the world dissolves around you. If you call His name, He will answer. Hare Krisna! Who knows that a world of Christ-life lives in this moment? His is a world of Unity, of Oneness. We do not belong to dividedness, our soul rejoices in the Oneness of the Lord. Their is a simply unity of all things. A delightful oneness. 

Buddha-mind

 There is no self, no ego. Regardless of the desire to exist as such, it simply does not exist anywhere in the universe. It cannot be conjured out of thin air. Everything that is experienced is that of openness. It is all enlightened being. The state of the human mind always changes, yet this openness remains. Human life is full of suffering. Suffering of many kinds. Suffering comes and goes as does the degree of awareness of each one of us. The action that we take depends on this awareness. Right action is in constant flux because this awareness is constantly changing. It seems to me that it is most wise to take ourselves out of this equation, and to simply let life unfold. Yet to do so, we must fully apply ourselves in all ways to the present situation. To allow life to unfold is to allow our individual nature to fully blossom. This cannot be achieved without non-attachment. This blossoming of the self is not an achievement of the self, but an expression of Emptiness fully expressing itself within the life of a human being. The fulfillment of our human nature is complete selflessness of mind and heart. When we cultivate non-attachment selflessness arises within the center of our being. Despite outward appearances, regardless of successes or failures, we become lighter and freer. It seems impossible that we could escape from suffering in this lifetime through perfect action, through perfect morality and wisdom. We do not need to even do well to be released inwardly from the struggles of our existence. We simply need to behave with a conscientious non-attachment to how things are. This isn't a denial of present realities, nor escapism, nor pessimism. It is a recognition that the world we live in isn't as real as we suppose it is, that something else is far more real, and this is what we really are. We will give ourselves as much as we can with appropriate measure to present circumstance, but we will not accept this present situation as wholly real, because as we sense deep within us, it is not. We know that our senses are deluded, that our awareness is incomplete, that our ability is limited, yet we also know that our true nature is full and complete in this moment, it is only temporarily hidden from our eyes. Non-attachment is a natural response to finding oneself within illusion. It is opening the doorway to liberation, which is realization of the true nature of the universe. Eventually the mirror of illusion will crack and light will pour through and fill our mind. The pure openness of Heaven stands before us as irrefutable evidence of the insubstantiality of the universe. We are of the same nature as the Buddha. We live in the same universe, and we have the same mind. He walked the Earth a moment ago. We walk it today. The same Dharma floats in the air and is carried by the wind. The footsteps of ancient sages yet resound in the cries of birdsong. Their memory remains and the Dharma brings it to you in this very moment. 

Awakening to the Dharma

 In order to understand the Dharma, you have to see it. It has to be present within your consciousness. I think we can have a fairly good understanding of, but understanding does not suffice to explain it or to know it. It is only known through direct experience. Regardless of whatever intellectual foray we make, the results will be the same: dry knowledge and a lack of any real experience. It is a subtle transformation of consciousness rather than a detail of knowledge learned. You can't know it in the ordinary sense. To know it, you must realize it for yourself. Thus it can only be understood or described by people who have thoroughly experienced it. To belong to this circle, you cannot go about learning in the ordinary way, you have to learn in a different way that suits this particular venture. Even to approach the Dharma, you must have some vague sense of what it really is, it must be awake to a slight extent within you already. You really wouldn't be interested in really knowing it unless it stirred within you. It is important to clearly understand this because so much effort is wasted on incorrect ways of realizing it. Our society is so mentally, intellectually focused, that it is difficult to get outside of this way of behaving to do something different. So until this changes it is likely that often only sheer stubbornness and blind doggedness will allow many to break out into the correct terrain. To know the dharma intimately is to transform one's own consciousness from the mental/conceptual/intellectual dominated mind to the presence dominated mind that is born of direct intimate awareness of reality. The Dharma is presence, they are one and the same. To know the Dharma is to go beyond ordinary knowing into a wider landscape of consciousness that is the Dharma itself. Until your mind dissolves in this greater solution, you will not understand. 

Yet, the Dharma is here, right now. All you have to do is look to see. To see right where you are, right now. It is this simple. Bring your attention to the present moment. The Dharma is the present moment. Your true nature is only hidden in your own consciousness. In reality it stands in plain sight. It is the distractions that we call our selves that are not real. The Jewel is already awake within us. Who we call us is not awake because it is not real. It is a temporary set of ideas passing through unobstructed mind. Dropping these ideas is dropping the self and remembering one's true nature. This is like leaving a cluttered room that you have been stuck in. You open the door and walk out into fresh air, trees and plants, and open sky. How quickly you may forget your earlier predicament. The Dharma is awake and alive, right now. 

The more we bring our attention to the present, the less power our conditioned mind will have to draw us back into delusion. This is the simple task of one seeking enlightenment. It is this simple. Regardless of what form or forms this takes, it is always this simple. To overcomplicate this is a mistake, it is delusion getting the better of us, it is forgetting ourselves. Yet this is ok. The dharma winds are constantly changing. Nothing, not even enlightenment, is worth clinging to. It is natural to be immersed in conditioned consciousness, to thirst after the forms of maya, it is natural to seek enlightenment, and it is natural to let go of everything, including enlightenment. All of this unfolds in the same space that is the present moment. 

Our life is here, right now. It is not anywhere else, this is the only place we are. And, the only place we may find ourself. This is why it is so important to be mindful of what we are doing. We only have so much time in this life to realize the truth, and so much can go wrong and get in our way. In each moment we have the opportunity to make an effort to awaken, and we have the opportunity to do nothing. I can see clearly now that this world that we call our home, will not bring us happiness unless we are awake in it. We cannot be awake if we are constantly seeking sense fulfillment. Enlightenment does bring us peace and fulfillment, in a way that nothing else can. If you are seeking, keep on seeking until you realize it is right before you and always has been. Trust in your feelings and keep on moving forward. Pick yourself up when you fall and take another step. Try anything rather than give up. You have to move forward to clear the landscape of your mind. The Dharma is alive within you. If you persist, you will find it. You can do it because you are golden. Your true nature is the incomparable dharma. It's will drives you, it's nature lies within all your motivations. It is unstoppable victory. It will surface and clear your mind. Regardless of how defeated we may be or become, the Dharma is untarnished, ready to go. Rejuvenation, redemption are within reach. Hold on, hold on tight and have the courage to take that next step, and the next one, and the next one. High into the hills, reaching out ever so for the Golden Sun. Some day you will grow wings and fly high in Heaven. 

Mo fo yu

 The dharma flowers out of ignorance, out of striving, and seeking. It blossoms like a flower on a grassy hill that is exposed to direct sunlight under clear blue skies. It opens it’s eye and sees that not only is it a flower , but it is also the hill the sky and the whole universe. All the searching chains of thought in our mind will eventually blossom in the field of enlightenment. The mind will be purified, and no conditioned consciousness will remain. The power of awakening and enlightenment occurs naturally, it is a power we cannot put into words, simply one we may witness evolving everywhere we look. It is the same power and the same nature unfolding throughout the universe. The Buddha mind is the awakening and awakened mind, as well as the power and nature of all things in the universe. All form is awakened, awake, even if it does not realize it. The awakened self is all that is real, it is the One life among all life. There is no confusion, there is no conditioned consciousness, there is simply untouched awakening. There is the Buddha here, and the Buddha there.  The truth is that all there is, is the Buddha who is awake, that is awakenness. The Buddha does not move anywhere. It is a spotless and empty mind. This whole universe and all of it’s forms, sights, and sound, are simply the emptiness of the Buddha’s mind. Regardless of what we attempt to do, we cannot touch it or affect it, for as the Buddha, we have no self. What we call life is an empty as an empty trash can. It has no guts, no bones, no muscle, no skin. What we call a world is not a world, it is not a place, for there is no place but the emptiness of the Buddha’s mind, which is very empty. Nothing touches it, nothing moves it, it is not contemplated nor understood. What mind is there to understand anything at all? What self is there to see? All along, nothing has occurred, what is occurring is beyond any ability to define, it is beyond comprehension, beyond understanding, there is nothing we can say about it. All of this is the emptiness of the Buddha. 

What this is, is infinity, an indescribable infinity. Infinite in everyway. Infinite in all places. Just infinite. You can't pin it down or depend upon any perception to hold it. Yet even if we don't see it, we do, because it is all that is. There is no way to find it or lose it. You can say that you know it, or that you don't, because how could you? Evershifting, ever staying the same. It is just this. Right, here. We live in it, we are it, it is us. Consciousness ceaselessly changes, yet this does not. It becomes anything and everything including nothing. I truly believe it is formless and that this world is an illusion. Reality is simply this enlightened mind. As this indefinable body continues to emanate, the dharma ceaselessly unfolds as forms spiral upwards towards Buddhamind. Within the human being, the energy centers continue to spin and that which is shrouded from the Truth continues to aspire to blossom on the dharma field. The human being is fully enlightened when ignorance has been eradicated. The paradox is that there was never any ignorance to begin with, while it remains as an obstacle to a partially enlightened individual. It is possible to exterminate ignorance. The dharma must fully blossom, thirst eliminated, attachment dropped. These gears spin in Eternity until it is so. The dharma will carry us forward passionately until it is so. Thus we carry on without attachment to the Goal, as the drama of life plays out. It is true that there is no self. That the world is an illusion, even the dharma. Regardless of where we stand, we do not need to fear death, for the road is truly open before us. The same openness surrounds us regardless of our position, we are less than a heartbeat from infinity. The truth is that we always dwell in the sea of life and that there is nothing that can threaten this position. We have nothing to fear and we never will, all obstacles and enemies are illusions with no power. There is no self, no truth, simply Spirit. 

When the Buddha awoke, he did not gain anything, he simply saw clearly what was already here. It seems to me that awakening is more about losing our self than gaining it. We don't gain a new but, but clear away the debris that cover our true nature which is already here. The experience of clearing the debris lends to the notion that there is something to be done to establish enlightenment, that we are missing something as we are. This couldn't be further from the truth. Enlightenment teaches that things are always fulfilled exactly as they are, and that this is the single truth of the universe. Our identity as a separate form is unreal, our identity as Supreme formlessness, Spirit, Being, alone is real. We are Supreme Spirit, this limited human experience is a dream. It appears that our existence within the temporal may continue even though this truth is discovered, and it seems that there is an exact science to awakening the human being that we may follow. I think I feel confident enough to say yes, there is an exact science to awakening. In order to bring all of human consciousness to Consciousness the energy centers of the human vessel must be properly awakened and thirst must be completely overcome. The energies and consciousness of the human being must pass through the various stages of maturity as expressed in the Ten Ox Herding Pictures. It seems to me that our energies to not move altogether from one stage to another, but are fragmented to a certain extent and awaken somewhat independently. Even though our energies are fragmented or compartmentalized, it seems that there are possibly several major movements of awakening that every individual goes through. I don't fully understand these major movements, yet I can say something about them. It seems that we can awaken to stages of human growth and/or stages of enlightenment without fully incorporating the substance of these stages into our daily activity. For various psychosomatic reasons we are unable to live up to their full expression in daily life. It seems that we to a great extent may inwardly realize them, without fully maturing into them personally. Development is not nearly as clean as we may imagine it to be. It is very complicated in my experience, and can become very complicated if things to not go well. There is a great deal that we can talk about with regard to the development of human consciousness. But overall its seems that to fully awaken, we have to inwardly realize Truth and then live up to it, or fully express it as a human being. We have to transmit all of our psychic content upwards through the various stages and energy centers to complete dissolution in Spirit and affirmation as Spirit. We must overcome all temptation, which is the sustenance of conditioned mind. I find it essential to have a good intuitive sense of where I generally am, so that I may know how to proceed. Also, an understanding of the terrain, of the specific processes and transformations and workings of each stage along the path. Both are essential. Both of these can be summed up as the singular nature that is the Dharma, or Way, that is the inner guide to self-realization. We are realizing truth and actualizing the content of the human being. Awakening involved the entire human being, which is a structure of energy-consciousness. Our aim is to turn it on. You can only turn it all on, if you turn it on correctly. Inward realization is contemplation, realizing it fully as a human being requires energy, activity and personal transformation. You must act. You cannot deny your human existence. As much as we are geared to inwardly realize truth, we are geared to manifest it in our daily activity. The human vessel equally capable of both, and cannot function well unless both are achieved. Even if you know what Enlightenment is, if you don't act upon it, it doesn't mean anything. You have to live up to it. You will not be satisfied until you do. You must walk this path too. Through contemplation you can activate inward realization, this still requires bringing your self to the table. You have to move from being driven from tribal motivations, to egoic impulsive motivations, to logical motivations, to rational motivations, and on and on until you have fully manifested Buddhahood. Must may seem like a strong word, I use it because there is only one direction to go, and only one way to get there, and nothing else we do will really satisfy our soul. There is no way around this growth, this movement, so you might as well accept it and get on with it. 

Lotus on a lake

 The lotus flower blossoms on a lake of ignorance. When the pool is disturbed the flower may dip beneath the surface and the dharma flame temporarily extinguished. When the water calms, the flower naturally resurfaces and the dharma flame fills the mind with light. The light of the flame is sufficient to illuminate the way, the lotus dharma flame burns the fuel of ignorance until it is no more and the mind is filled with such bright light that it is completely enlightened. Wisdom comes from the light of the flame rather than from the darkness of the pool. We must trust in the wisdom until ignorance is fully eradicated. The wisdom of the dharma is born of ignorance and resistance, but it itself is open and awake. It is still and unmoving, while ignorance is full of disturbances. The dharma naturally cleanses itself of impurity. Chaos born of ignorance seeks to perpetuate itself with further chaos which it hopes to disguise itself as wisdom as to deceive the existing wisdom within the body. In order to establish oneself in the dharma, one must be able to distinguish between these chaotic voices and the wisdom of the dharma. Only wisdom may lead to greater wisdom. Therefore it is pertinent to be mindful of which stream we drink from, be it poison or the elixir of life. The nectar of the dharma has the power to sustain our being and further awaken our mind. The poison of ignorance is deceptive and destructive. It eliminates the healthy properties of our constitution. It's aim is to tear us to pieces, whereas the dharma is restorative. We exist in such a state of pollution that is is very difficult to distinguish between the good elixir of the dharma and the evil that is the poison of ignorance. The wisdom of the dharma is worth more than anything else in the universe. Without it we are lost. It must therefore be our aim to restore the wisdom of the dharma to it's rightful place as ruler of our being. The same fills our mind with light. The purpose of each form is to awaken fully to the Buddha light. Every effort of creation is an aspiration towards Buddhahood. However confused and self-destructive an action maybe, it inwardly reaches for the light of the dharma, for awakening. We wish to return to our natural state of being, one free of defilement, here we find fulfillment. When you realize you do not find fulfillment in confused states of being, the wisdom of the dharma becomes apparent and desirable, and anything else undesirable. It is wholesomeness that brings satisfaction to our being, not disease. Confused states of mind born of disease lead to the belief that unwholesome activity is wise. Disease is unpleasant, wholesomeness is comfortable. Disease cannot be pleasant, nor can wholesomeness be unpleasant. Any different perception of these come from disturbed states of mind. We cannot trust in the wisdom of disturbed states of mind, we can only trust in the wisdom that is born of the dharma. To spread the dharma light, we can only depend upon the dharma.

The dharma is wisdom itself, it is virtue. It is goodness. These are things are tangible in our experience, yet they are immaterial. Wisdom is not an object of our physical senses, it is something that we find within our mind or our heart. Both the mind and heart have many layers, to locate wisdom we have to delve into them. Wisdom is not any object in particular than we can conceive of in our mind. This is because wisdom is by nature the essence of objects or forms in our mental awareness. It is the heart of form, the life within each object or each thing we may imagine. It is the shared life that inhabits each form or object of our awareness. In our heart it is the attitude of attitudes and the feeling of feelings, It is not anger, or fear, or boredom, or amusement, but the life within these. The dharma and the life that is wisdom is what feels all of these things, it is what has all of these attitudes. It has them, but cannot be defined by them alone. To see wisdom is to see this life within life that is shared among all life and all things. To have wisdom is to experience life from the perspective of this greater Life. It does not mean not having any negative thoughts or feelings, it means having any thought or feeling from this deeper awareness and taking action that arises from a heart and mind centered here, rather than from a shallower state of mind. It means having the capacity to do so. Wisdom is the heart and mind that we awaken to. It is an awakened heart and an awakened mind. Wisdom is the heart of all things, thus it is aware of all things, all at once, all of the time. It knows how things work, thus it may act appropriately, wisely. You could say that wisdom is the self of selves, yet wisdom is not a self, as an ego is. Wisdom is that which is born from the dissolution of the ego in enlightened mind and feeling. It is not a conditioned construct. Seeing it as a greater conditioned construct within all conditioned constructs is simply seeing everything as ego, which is not the case. The heart of wisdom is enlightenment, not ego. It is not something that can be understood conceptually. Enlightenment is only understood properly if it is experienced. It is the mind of minds and heart of hearts, form within form, yet to truly locate it, you have to awaken to it. It is helpful to understand it conceptually and have an intuitive sense of it, so you know where to look, but you have to go there yourself to really find it. You have to see it directly to distinguish between it an what is false. Where it is within our feelings, and within our thoughts, is simply here. This is where presence lies. Presence is the life of life, the essence of all particulars. I do not think you can separate Wisdom from presence. It seems like Wisdom is simply presence directed towards activity. How does one behave appropriately, how does one BE appropriate as a human being, as a sentient being? Wisdom. Take presence and direct it towards the complexity of human affairs.

 Presence, Wisdom, Dharma: they are all truth, they are all righteousness. They are the subtle unity of form, the life within all life, and they each point to Truth, which is the non-duality of the universe. The path of righteousness leads to liberation, the truth leads to the Truth. Each thing is actually the living Dharma and we live in a Dharma-field. Each thing is actually every other thing because each thing is the same thing, the Dharma. There is One life here. One beating heart that spreads infinitely in all directions. We are the dharma, the active expression of presence and pure Wisdom. Life is free and undefiled, seamless and unbroken. One great body of life. Life is open in all directions. It is quiet and still. No one knows where it is going, no one knows what it is for. It is simply here, expressing itself in this moment. Here I am the sum total experience of this moment, there is no end or beginning to anything. This moment is awake, it is aware, it has feelings. It is aware of everything that is going on, it is sensitive to everything, because it is everything, doing everything. One life, resounding in itself. A triumphant awakening of Spirit blazing it's way through an eternal dawn or collapsing in an eternal sunset. Singing the song of life with endless enthusiasm. Awaken! Here I Am!! The whole Universe sprawling into being in each moment. Eternal awakening, eternal rebirth. I am the awakening Christ Spirit, HERE I AM!! Awaken! Rejoice! The whole universe awakens in each and every moment. Glorious unending awakening.  

Victory

                                                                          -VICTORY-

What difference is there between high and low? What difference is there between here and there? Wherever you look, what do you see? Amid the confused sprawling form of Earth and the intricate layers of Heaven, what stands out? What lies within all form, within all places? What is even and broad? What stands before you, wherever you may be? If you cannot find a difference between anything that you experience, then you will find yourself standing wherever you are. You will find that the substance of this standing is all that there is in this world. How can there be such radiance in standing?..

 You will find that by honoring this standing, it honors you, that it's radiance, is yours. It is brilliant. It fills the universe with brilliant light. The substance of all things stands still here and now. 

There is simply Standing. All things in whatever posture they may take, are standing as they are, standing upright and firm. This is the single quality of all things. Far from broken, the universe is upright, very stable. What is the true quality of life? What is the true nature of form? Who lives within each thing? What life is this? Which life among all the life that is seen is real? Which body? Which form? Among everything that is seen, one thing arises, and with it, the rest of the universe fades away. There is a single life here among all the various perceptions of mind. This life alone is real. This life cannot be grasped, it cannot be touched. Nor may it be deluded, or compromised. It is pure and complete. Alone in the universe, it has no opposition. It grows with vitality in all directions. Therefore it is an abundance of strength, from which we may draw on at all times. It is One strength with One life and One purpose. Within our soul, this life feeds us as many streams feed a river, and as a room is filled by the light that passes through a window. For this, each life is a miracle bestowed on us by this unseen God. Each form we encounter, a lamp that lights our way, a holy encounter with one blessed by the hand of our creator. The world is not full of horrors, but many dancing lights, that reveal the dharma: the true nature of the universe, which is liberation from suffering. Scars, wounds, pain, heartbreak: all the healing touch of a Divine Hand that may wound our body or mind, but only to bring our Soul back the the One Light that is hidden within all things. To face this divine hand is restoration, redemption, liberation. Such is the naked power of the Dharma, and the beloved heart that dwells within. Such love is the heart of the Universe, never could it be hate or fear or evil. Such love is the blessing that cannot be erased by bitter journeys through painful karmic winds. It is the staunch light that remains in place, even as great storms pass through the night. 

Woes of the world cannot defeat me. Regardless of appearance, I remain unbroken. Regardless of status, I will emerge victorious. Victory. Untrammeled and unmatched, Victory is my name.