Welcome to the
Fifteenth
issue of Light-Up-Your-Life
Newsletter.
The aim of this newsletter is to guide you as you discover
the very source of Happiness and Wisdom. This source is
so deep that it is unaffected by the conditions of your
environment, your body, and mind.
People are often surprised when they hear that the
Self is permanent. Everything they see has a birth, a
life and a death. In this issue we will surprise you by
showing you how you are free from these changes.
And don't forget to read the last article in this newsletter,
Don't pretend to be a beginner. The joy of meditating
on your Self-Nature is that you get to be who you really
are anyway.
See our new e-book, "Making Your Wisdom Come Alive."
for a guide that will take you to the core of the universe.
In “Making Your Wisdom Come Alive” we take you, step by step,
through the process of putting aside limitations, and waking up
to your own true nature, so that you can stand in this Freedom
and Bliss without interruption.
So don't delay your happiness and freedom. Get to the core of
life itself and live in peace.
For more information use this link:
http://www.light-up-your-life.com/wisdom.html
If you have questions or comments please send an e-mail to:
michael@light-up-your-life.com.
We look forward to your comments and questions.
If you missed an issue of our Newsletter click on:
http://www.light-up-your-life.com/Newsletter/newsletterindex.html
This was Bankei's comments about people who say
that they can predict the time that they will die.
A man of the Unborn is beyond living and dying
(*Samsara). What I mean by that is: Someone
who is unborn is also undying, so he is beyond
both birth and death. What I call living and
dying at will, is when someone dies without
being troubled by life and death, the continuous
succession of birth-death, birth-death that is
samsaric existence.
Moreover, living and dying is taking place at
every instant throughout the twenty-four
hours of the day; dying does not occur only
once in your life when you cease breathing.
When you're living without being concerned
about life or death, you're always living in such
a way that whenever death does come, even
right now, at this moment, it's no great matter.
Now that's what I call "living and dying at will."
It means living confirmed in your unborn
Buddha-mind.
*Samsara is a Sanskrit word referring to the world,
which is in constant motion. Where people are born
and die, only to be born again and again.
The Unborn, The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei,
Translated by Norman Waddell
Copyright © by Norman Waddell
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All you have to do is look around and you will see
that nothing will last forever. Everything including
the people, the animals, the mountains, the ancient
redwood trees, and scientist say, even the universe
itself has a birth, a life, and a death. That’s why
people are surprised when they hear that they are
beyond birth and death; that they where never born
and that they will never die.
You aren't that surprised
But when you think about it you aren't that surprised.
Although all the evidence is against it, you somehow
or somewhere feel that you don’t die. So where does
this intuition come from? How can you verify that
you are beyond death?
You are greater than what you see
As you may have learned from past newsletters you
often take yourself to be an object in your experience.
An object is something that you are aware of; that
you see. But in reality, as the seer, you are greater
than what you see. In fact you are the space-like
Consciousness that permeates the whole universe.
Although you can’t see Consciousness, you know it
directly because you are it. The real secret to this
teaching is that ‘I’ and Consciousness are one in
the same.
Here you will find what isn't in motion
But here we are going to take a different tact in our
quest to find our Self-Nature. We are going to look
for what doesn't change -- what is still. Again this
becomes a problem because you don’t know of
anything that doesn’t change. Both the experience
and the one experiencing it seem to be in motion.
We know that everything we see in our environment
is in motion. Even if you can’t see the motion, you
can see the effects of the motion. Things are created,
stay for a while, and then disappear. If you take the
subject to be a body or the senses (eyes and ears etc.),
then the subject is in motion too.
Could the still point be your memory? No, even
that is in motion. Memory can easily turn into
forgetfulness. This still point couldn't be the mind
either, because your thoughts are in motion too.
There is no stillness there.
Then were to look for this stillness
So how can you find stillness amidst all of these
changes? The question to ask is, “How do I know
about motion?” In addition to the world being in
motion, if you were in motion, there would be no
reference point from where you could see the
motion.
And yet you are aware that there is a start point, a life,
and an end point of everything that you see. That you
can measure these changes, implies stillness, a
reference point from where you can see these
changes.
How to verify this stillness in your
meditation
So how in your meditations can you find this
reference point? Notice what moves. It may be the
sound of a car driving by, or the siren from a fire
truck. It may be the sound of the birds singing
outside, or a fly buzzing against the window. It could
even be the motion of your heart beating, or of the
thoughts in your mind.
Then sink into the stillness by which you know this
motion. You might first see the stillness as the space
through which these changes go, or you may see
stillness as the ever present Awareness, the
background that sees these changes.
You know this stillness directly by
your being
Don’t try to see this stillness as a separate thing.
Rather just be who you are. You will find that without
bringing in a separate ‘you’, you can experience this
stillness directly. At first it might seem hard to
meditate like this, but with a little practice you will
see that in order to find this place of stillness, you
just have to be yourself.
Staying home like this you will find that you are a
lot vaster and a lot more peaceful than you could
ever have imagined. That you are here before
things start to move, when things are moving about,
and when they come back to their resting place. You
will then discover the place beyond birth and death
that all sages point to.
To find out more about discovering this stillness that
is the core of your being go to:
http://www.light-up-your-life.com/wisdom.html
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I studied Aikido, a martial art, for many years and I
noticed that children took a different approach to
learning than adults. I never saw a young child come
to the first class and ask, “Where should I put my
feet?” Children don’t pretend to be beginners. They
pretend to be their favorite martial arts hero.
But you can see that the children aren’t coming from
an egotistical place. So what are they doing when
they play their favorite hero? When they play, they
are not an outsider looking in. They are stepping
into the place where Aikido happens and are learning
from there. They are standing in the flow and are
making any adjustments necessary right from there.
How can you learn like a child
Now, I don’t expect any of you to take up the study of
martial arts. You are reading this because you are
interested in meditation and Self-Knowledge. But
how can you learn like a child as you explore your
own Self-Nature?
You are already that
By now you must have at least some idea that you
are the Self. You are not an outside person, trying to
look inside to find your pristine boundless Self. You
are already Consciousness and Bliss.
Therefore I think that we are asking the wrong
question. The question is not how can I get to this
Self. It is rather, if I am already Consciousness and
Bliss, how would things look from here? How does it
feel to just be myself? To answer this question we
have to, “Step inside”, as Milarepa says, “to enjoy the
view.”
You can pretend too
For starters, like a child, just pretend to be yourself,
to be Ramana Maharshi, Hui Neng, Bankei, Christ,
or any of the other sages that you know of. Just put
on their shoes and see how they fit. Then from here,
read these words, and take a look from the inside to
see where they point.
At first standing here may seem like pretending. But
with practice your pretending will go deeper and
deeper, until it is not pretending at all.
Then just live your life from what you now know. If
you see any contradictions between how you live,
and what you are, make any necessary adjustments
right from here.
Stand where you want to end up
The Buddhist masters said to look at these words
like a finger pointing to the moon. If you look at the
finger you will miss the moon. This means to step
inside and see what these words mean right from
the source. Then you will understand the true
meaning of the words you are reading. So like a child,
just stand where you want to be and you will find the
peace that you are looking for.
You are already the Self. You don’t have to turn your
mind into the Self.
Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments
at: Michael@light-up-your-life.com.
Sincerely,
Michael Gluckman