Wednesday, February 06, 2008

A non-existent statue

I read this one evening and it struck me.
It might not be an eye opening to anyone, but i wish to keep this in my blog, for my reference later on at least...
It does summarize so well what happens and I would never have been able to even start typing something as good as that.

Here we go then:

Q: I once heard a Buddhist teacher say: “There is no thought in the mind of a Buddha.” How does that equate with the teaching of Dzogchen? There seems to be some contradiction here?

KD: It’s not really possible to comment on that without knowing the whole context of what was said. However . . . there is no attachment to thought in the Mind of a Buddha. There is also no conceptual limitation in the Mind of a Buddha . . . there are often problems with translation.

NR: Was this statement made in English?

Q: No, it was translated.

KD: So really we have no idea of what was actually said.

NR: You see . . . the idea that Mind without content is the conclusion of the path is almost like saying: ‘enlightenment is becoming a statue of a Buddha’.

KD: [laughs] Or the non-existent statue of a Buddha.

NR: There seems to be the notion among many people that: ‘The longer you sit in the thought-free state, the more enlightened you’ll become’.

KD: But when asked: ‘What process is at work in this empty-state which leads toward complete enlightenment?’ the answer is usually that: ‘Such things are ineffable and cannot be expressed in words’. It is true that words are limited and that enlightened experience is beyond concept – but if we are speaking of process, that can always be described by someone who experienced that process. Unless your practice continues into the process of integration – you stultify. You need to open yourself to flowing with whatever arises within the empty state we have discovered. Unless we are prepared to engage in that practice you will not evolve into full recognition of what you really are. Without this recognition, the general character of your life-experience will not change much – you will continue to experience unsatisfactoriness, frustration and turmoil.

—from the book Roaring Silence

PS: Get the latest Jack Johnson's album (Sleep through the Static)