Glimpses and Aids to "Reality" Come From Here, There and Everywhere

M.C. Escher's Sky and Water

Whatever it is that is creating this supposed manifestation of whatever it is, we are it.  Being it, we cannot hide from it.  We are one substance shaped into infinite forms.  We may seem to forget it, but it comes with built in reminders at every turn...we are constantly bombarded with clues and hints to figure it out.  Books, quotes, movies, friends, strangers, nature, mind-altering plants are created by "us" to do just that. The Cosmic game of hide and seek.  And when we do figure it out, according to Buddha, we will laugh at how obvious it was all along.

Share what has given you glimpses or helped in your 'search,' in the comments, if you like. 

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One brief experience came to me in 1988 and the memory keeps inspiring:  After satsang at a friend's home with Pundit Ravi Shankar, known as Punditji (Art of Living), while walking home under a clear night sky, it suddenly seemed as the body was moving, yet "I" wasn't.  Such peace, fearlessness and, as strange as it sounds, solidity!  This re-surfaced memory of experiences of something similar as a teenager, quite often while 'falling' asleep.

This experience was explained to me by another companion, even closer to the heart than the Vijnana Bhairava is to me, and which constantly brings comfort and clarity; "The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, edited by E.A. Burtt."  Page 199.
"If a man....can only regard the five aggregates of his consciousness as void, the four elements which compose his body as not constituting an ego, his true mind as formless and still....true nature not as something which commenced at his birth and will perish at his death but as remaining utterly motionless...."


Just a few other passages that kept 'me' going through the years:

Pg. 201 " If you do not seek, that is enough.  Who told you to eliminate anything?  Observe the Void which lies before your eyes. How can you set about eliminating it?"

Pg. 202:  "We merely talk about 'studying the Way,' using the phrase simply as a term to arouse people's interest.  In fact, the Way cannot be studied. If concepts based on study are retained, they only result in the Way being misunderstood."

Pg. 203:  "To know that in reality there is not the smallest thing which can be grasped is called supreme, perfect wisdom."

AND:  "It is because you people, on hearing of transmission from mind to mind, take it to mean that there is something to be obtained, that Bodhidharma said:
                                "'The nature of the mind, when understood,
                                  No human words can compass or disclose,
                                  Enlightenment is naught to be obtained,
                                  And he that gains it does not say he knows.'"

"The struggle between "for" and "against" is the mind's worst disease." ~ from Seng Ts'an's Poem on Trust in the Heart.  In which case, to me, means most of us are dis-eased.

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Another time I was given an experience that I call, the spiralling of thought to beyond thought.  This came through LSD and was pre-reading or knowledge of any of Buddha's teachings.  When these teachings did come into my life I realized, or felt, that through that experience, I had been shown how thoughts do indeed keep the ball rolling, so to speak.

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                                         Sarah:  "Who are you, really?"
                                         Preacher:  "Well, it really doesn't matter, does it?"
                                                 ~ from the movie, Pale Rider

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Rainbows are glimpses and hints at our true nature of colourlessness and emptiness until form allows 'us' to be 'seen.'
 "As space is recognized when lit by sunrays, so is Shiva recognized through the energy of Shakti which is the essence of the Self." ~ Vijnana Bhairava



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The title says it all.  But here are a few excerpts from this simple, yet profound, guidebook to re-cognizing truth:

"One has to allow the illusory self to die again and again.  This death is deeper than physical death.  This death allows all of our anguish to dissolve forever.  It is not the end of something.  It is the beginning of a life where the flower of love and intelligence blossoms."

"Many people suffer because of anger, hatred  and judgement.  All these problems spring from the mistaken notion of what and who we are.  This idea of "self," "me" and "mine" is the source of our inner struggle.  It  is like an author creating relentless agony in our conscioussness."

"Perhaps this sounds like a lot of work, like an arduous insurmountable task.  It isn't when we find the secret ingredient.  That is to know that this "I" is a fictitious entity that is always ready to wither away the moment we stop sustaining it.  We don't have to go to a holy place to experience this.  All we have to do is simply sit and pay attention to our breath, allowing ourselves to let go of all of our fantasies and mental images."

"..truth's mantra is "It's your fantasy."  When we feel like we are suffering, it's our fantasy.  When we feel like we are awakening, it's our fantasy. That's what the truth is always shouting and uttering as an eternal mantra because the truth has only one intention and that is to awaken all of us.  So it's divine eternal mantra is "Hey, it's your fantasy."  That is all it is saying in each and every moment."

"If we want to realize the truth, the first thing to remember is that we don't have to do anything.  No sacred dances, no secret mantras, no religious conversions.  We just sit quietly wherever we find ourselves and simply don't do anything.  This is most important.  Don't do anything.  We look directly and see what is true in that moment without labeling or judging anything.  Now we see the truth that is beyond our fantasies.   We also see that our mind is a conglomeration of mental events, fleeting and insubstantial.  At that moment it is impossible to become attached to any personal story line.  This is a perfect moment.  It lacks nothing.  That recognition brings about a sense of inexhaustible joy.  We might feel like we want to get up and dance wildly.  If so, do it and call it sacred dance."

So we don't need to use sacred dances to achieve liberation...but we may feel like doing one after!