18 th July Meeting

Holidays, working and funeral brought numbers down to six attending. Still an interesting morning where we first watched a video of images taken by the Hubble telescope .After studying a small patch in the sky for eleven days it revealed thousands of galaxies. The second video was about full enlightenment when realization that turning a full circle brings us back to ordinary reality which is what we seek. But it is now a unified rich phenomena.
As they intend to come to next month's meeting it can't be too way out to grasp I hope.

Then we read this tract from various articles found on the web pages.

In Buddhism one of the ‘Three Characteristics’ is No-Self (the other two are impermanence and suffering which are closely associated with this).
This refers to the illusion of reality having a permanent and separate self.

There is this notion that there is a permanent “I” or “me,” which is a separate entity that can be found. The obvious assumption of we are our body sounds good until we look at it and say “this is my body,” which implies at that moment that whatever owns the body wasn’t the body. The observer and the observed; duality denies our body being what we are. It is also in a state of impermanence, and at a sensate level it is made up of energy flickering at a similar rate to reality.

Perhaps thoughts are the “I.” They may seem more like the true “me” than the body does. But they come and go and are changing constantly too, as well as the majority of them not being under our control at all. They too aren’t something solid enough to assume they are the “I.” The ego is a process of identification with reality (physical and mental phenomena), not a thing in and of itself; it is like a bad habit. Not being a thing, it cannot be destroyed as some people say, but by understanding our bare experience, our mind, the process of identification can stop.

There is also something frequently called the “watcher” or “observer,” which is observing all of these phenomena. Strangely, the watcher can’t be found either, as it seems to sometimes be our eyes, sometimes not; sometimes it’s images in our head; sometimes it seems to be our body and sometimes it’s watching the body. It seems odd that this watcher to which all of this is being perceived by, which seems separate from reality and which seems in control of “us” is constantly changing and completely unfindable.

One of the biggest clues in solving this mystery is that if we are observing it, then by definition it isn’t us. Reality is made up entirely of sensations, and to begin to unravel this mystery is to begin to awaken. Reality with a sense of a separate watcher is a delusion. So who or what is it that awakens?

In short, it’s all of this transience that awakens! Here’s an explanation, keep in mind this is an attempt at summarising something quite complicated.

No-Self teachings directly counter the sense that there is a separate watcher, and that this watcher is “us” that is in control, observing reality or subject to the tribulations of the world. These teachings stop the process of mentally creating the illusion of a separate self from sensations that are inherently non-dual and utterly transient.

There are physical phenomena (everything we perceive with our senses) and mental phenomena (thoughts, feelings, emotions). These are just phenomena, and all phenomena aren’t a permanent, separate self as they are completely impermanent and are intimately interdependent. These phenomena arise and pass as we venture through reality, i.e. the sound of a bird singing comes into existence and then dissipates.

There is also awareness of these phenomena, but awareness is not a thing or localised in a particular place, so to even say “there is awareness” is already a large problem, as it implies separateness and existence of it where none can be found. Awareness is permanent and unchanging, and it is said that all things arise from it, and all things return to it. It could be called God, Nirvana, The Tao, Allah, the present moment, the Buddha nature or just awareness.

While phenomena are in flux from their arising to their passing, there is awareness of them. Thus, awareness is not these phenomena, as it is not a thing, nor is it separate from these objects, as there would be no experience if this were so.

You Can Transform Your Own Consciousness, It’s Your Choice

The weather seems like a poignant reminder of how if we change ourselves, then we change the world.

A lot of conversation I’ve been privy to recently has revolved around how bad or terrible this hot weather is. There seems to be an air of irritation and non-acceptance of it; wishing it to be different.

But do we have any control over the weather? Do we even have any control over how the body reacts to this temperature? The ‘hotness’ and ‘uncomfortableness’ of the body occurs all by itself. We don’t control a single thing. All we can ever do is change how we relate to ‘what is’.

The weather is hot, the body gets warm – it’s actually a really interesting sensation to experience. Delving into these experiences lets us explore the depths of our being. Why run from it? Do you notice that most of the uncomfortableness comes from wanting this feeling to go away, wanting it to change, rather than the experience itself?

This is the beauty of impermanence. This will all fall away, and nature will reveal to us contrast in all its cooling glory. The scorching sun subsides. Clouds emerge. Day turns to night. Temperatures drop. Then the body cools.

Pure acceptance is the end of this illusory separation between “me” and the weather. Subject and object. Without the narration or evaluation of this experience, there is just the experience; just the warmth. We can either use the mind to create that gap, or we can merge with the experience. We can be the mind commentating about it, judging it, or be the experience of the warmth in our body. One is dual, the other is non-dual. One gives us the feeling of identifying as the mind, the other gives us the feeling of being a universe of sensation. This is our choice, and it’s only through conditioning that we identify as the mind.

So, we can use this principle for everything. We can get annoyed at the dog barking at night, we can get frustrated with red traffic lights, we can be depressed over a pay cut, we can harbor non-acceptance of how our body looks or feels…. or, we can merge with it all. We can become it, and see it for what it is in this present moment. We can even completely accept feelings of deep emotion that arise, and let them run their course without resistance. Express, rather than suppress.

This is the transformation of consciousness; the alchemy.