tldr¶

tldr zen¶

• everything changes

tldr buddhism¶

• buddha said he teaches suffering and the end of suffering

translations¶

• dukka: similar to suffering, disasstisfaction, bitter

mahayana¹ or yogacara²¶

• the best summary I know of
• might help to first understand some basics

theravada¶

• meditation isn't taking a break sitting on a pillow with incense and chimes
• it's a lifetime training to effortlessly train the mind
• to prevent it from weakening so not a moment of life or opportunity passes you by unnoticed

zen¶

• aimlessness is easily misunderstood, a good comparison is a human & a rose
• a rose is beautiful and perfect, there is no reason for it try to to be "better than a rose"
• the same can be said for a human, we can simply be happy without having to compete, or compulsively "achieve more"
• that said you are free to do whatever you want of course, the question is are your motivation and intentions pure?

dzogchen¶

“Freeing the moment of seeing, meaning the very moment of seeing your own nature, in the first and second instant or a second afterwards, there is no thought.

Is there anything more fantastic than being totally free of thought?

Even just that shock because there is nothing else in this world that can totally bring a halt to thinking. You can blow up nuclear bombs and so forth and use all different techniques, but nothing really stops thoughts.

But the very moment that you turn your attention to watch your own mind it is evident that it is simply and empty cognizance with no thing whatsoever.

And yet there is a seeing of that because mind is also cognizant and these are the primordial original unity of being empty and cognizant.

But before it happens we don’t believe that this is really it because it’s too easy. There’s nothing more easy than this—just like that. Okay.

Don’t think of anything and totally abandon thinker and what is thought of. At that moment you already seen that there is nothing to see. It is not something you gradually approach like a spirit entering you. This is what is meant by the phrase “one moment makes a difference, in one moment complete enlightenment.” That moment like this,… is the unmistakened Buddha Mind.

Don’t project outwardly. Don’t concentrate inwardly. Don’t keep a state in between. Totally give up any mental effort. This is what the old [something] call utterly or “sheer emptiness.” You don’t block your 5 senses. Not at all.

Just remaining like this everything is vividly experienced, but if you start to investigate and label you are involved in thoughts. This is what Padmasambhava said in the seven-fold supplication:

“no matter what appears in the field of your vision for your eyes, the world and so forth, even though experienced just let it be without any fixation.”

In other words, disown everything. Dissolving of subject and object is the pure form of the deity. Whatever moves or occurs in the realm of your ears in sound or the sounding whether pleasant or unpleasant, just let be in the continuity of the sound being EMPTINESS because no matter what you are hearing in the sound it is indivisible from emptiness. The empty resounding beyond arising and ceasing is the voice of the victorious ones.

Do not get involved in concepts, leading or following; by leading you’re thinking to yourself. It dissolves naturally into dharmakaya—erm, thinking means our thoughts of this and that. If you just let it be, it naturally dissolves.

So, to introduce wakefulness don’t do anything to it—accept or reject, hope or fear—then, it’s enough. That is sufficient.

So what you naturally need to train in is to not imagine something by an act of meditating, but also not to be distracted for even a second. Being distracted is the same as forgetting.

And it is said on the path of distraction the demon is lying in ambush.

The moment you look towards and acknowledge empty cognizance, that is called having recognized.

And then there is the continuity of empty cognizance which you don’t need to fabricate in any way.

Just don’t forget it. Once you forget and start to think then continuity is lost. The moment you look, empty cognizance is seen and recognized.

And then allow the continuity of this seeing to continue and be sustained automatically. Then, for an ordinary person, again a thought occurs. Then, you remember, “Oh, I forgot!” Then again notice who forgot and simply recognize again and again you arrive back in the state of recognizing your natural face.

That doesn’t mean sitting and straining trying not to be distracted. It’s like ringing the bell once and the sound continues. It doesn’t mean ringing the bell continuously.

Once the continuity fades, that means we start forgetting and we get involved in thought.

Then again we notice “Oh, I forgot! I got carried away.” Then, alright, go towards and again you’re back recognizing and again there is natural stability in the continuous state of empty cognizance.

You need to train in that: short moments, many times.

We have learned to live in this life through training, how to move about…We have to train while involved in the activities of this life, to move about… For example while eating, you taste the food, then we start to think about the food and then notice, “Oh, I got carried away!” Again, recognize while eating. That moment, you arrive back vividly in the state of the essence.

Then you forget again, get lost, you know while walking about, moving around…you can still recognize Buddha Nature…when you lie down to sleep, if you are diligent also recognize again…when you sit, recognize…actually, there is no time when you are not allowed to recognize nature of mind, even when you sit on the toilet.

It is said like this, in the naked state of dharmadatu, which is unimaginable, relax in incredible state of awareness, a thought occurs, it arises from yourself and dissolves back into yourself.

Any thought that occurs is your own expression, comes out of your own essence. It is only when forgetting the essence that the “expression” takes the form of a thought.

But the moment you recognize your own expression, it arises out of yourself, dissolves back into yourself, meaning dissolves into the expanse of the essence. This is what we need to train in, to become used to.

There is no other meditation or object or act apart from that as much as dust mote, even. But, if you forget and get distracted, you are involved in thoughts.

So please train in this. That is the practice. This is what rinpoche (Padmasambhava) taught in the past and today he has nothing to say besides this.”