Photo by Takuin Minamoto

Question of the Week: 8/18 - 8/24

What happened to lead to your realization?

I have resisted answering this question because there is really no way of saying that anything happened. A change cannot be seen. But still, this question persists.

So, on today’s podcast, I go into some of the things that happened during the final moments of realization. This is not meant to be a road map, a design, or anything that another should strive to attain. This just happens to be the way things transpired on that particular day.

It also goes into ideas of enlightenment, and finding out beyond outer or inner influence.

(NOTE: There may be a problem with using the podcast player in Internet Explorer. If that is the case, please download the file by right clicking the download tab.)

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Photo by Takuin Minamoto

It is seeing your face for the first time.

Walking to the mirror, someone is seen staring back. Those features are familiar, but the recognition there cannot be built into an experience to be had, or a static sheet of info for later reference. It is a unique being that stares back. It is always new, and always surprising.

It is approaching a roaring fire.

As you near the flames, you feel the reaction of every cell in your body, moving in sync with the fire. This movement of fire, the aliveness of the flames, the symphony of the conflagration, is everything it means to be a human being. White hot at its source, it moves with great energy, until the diffusion kills the entirety of what once was. It is the movement of life.

It is the feel of the wind on one’s face.

Feel how it tickles the hair on the back of your neck; how it caresses your face and loves only you. You cannot hold it, imprison it, beguile it, delude it, or deceive it. The breeze moves and moves. You are this wind, and let nothing stick to you.

It is the shattering sound of thunder.

The body winces at the sound. But there is no gap for thought to arise. It cannot tell you to be annoyed. It cannot tell you how you should react. It may try to do so, but there is no one able to respond. The sound may arise. Thought may arise. But for whom do they arise?

It is the flower that blooms on the branch of a tree.

Appearing from seemingly nowhere, the bud slowly pushes its way outward, lifeward. It blooms only for you, giving itself completely at every possible moment, in every possible condition. It is this way, and this way alone. This selfless giving is complete living.

It is the life that has ended, and the body that rots.

Even in death, the body keeps giving, breaking down into useful materials for other organisms. It gives itself over freely, selflessly. This may be the only time in the life of the organism where there is no thought of getting something in return. It gives and gives, until there is nothing left to give.

It is sitting in a chair and typing these words.

Photo by Takuin Minamoto

Question of the Week: 8/11 - 8/17

I listened to your last podcast and have a question. Isn’t the relationship between the teacher and the student necessary for the student to progress to the next level? Aren’t the teachers there to point out the door for us?

Let’s be clear about one thing first: I can never tell you how it is going to be, or what is going to happen with any degree of exacting accuracy.

Assuming that you want to know what is beyond the thoughts you believe, one must go into many things; not only teacher/student relationships.

Some might affirm, “My teacher or teaching has shown me the right way, and now I have arrived.” Now what exactly does this mean? Having arrived assumes that one has stopped completely; that one has settled into a solid, remembered, memorized location. Where exactly have you arrived to? Enlightenment? Awakening? Liberation? Oneness?

I can tell you one thing, if you say you are there, if you know you are there, if you believe you are there, then you are lost. At the point of no center, there is absolutely no way of knowing who has arrived at any point, at any time. So how is it possible for one to say, “Yes, I have arrived!”

It is the height of arrogance for one to claim that these things belong to him or her. How can an identity ever be there? How can this person still exist in belief after belief if there is liberation?

Liberation is freedom from ALL authority. Inward and outward. Even the philosophies of your own making are built from materials given to you by others. Can you see this for yourself?

I am not at all saying that it will happen in this way, or that this is the very thing you are looking for. But if there is a complete liberation, will there be anyone left to consume the sweet nectar of that fruit? Can the bliss be enjoyed by someone that knows they are there?

This bliss, this divinity, this whatever it is, is outside of all imaginings of thought. It is completely new and reborn. It is simultaneous birth and death, construction and destruction, start and finish. It may sound beautiful to you, but in the center of the self, one can only project their idea about it, then view it as a spectator. It is the hand-me-down, passed from one searcher to another.

Liberation is complete freedom, and it is devoid of all things you may imagine about it. But do not believe this, build it up into something to achieve, then use violence in order to get it. See these things as they arise in you and find out for yourself.

You ask if the teacher is there to point out the door to us. It sounds like an absolutely right thing, doesn’t it? We seek, then the guru talks to us and says, “Yes it is all so wonderful. You must walk in this direction and go through that door. I cannot take you there, as you must do it for yourself.” That may even sound similar to the very things I write on this blog. But where is the door?

In the physical world, if we move toward a door, there is time involved in order to get from here to there. But inwardly, this world within, can any movement be made? Is there time at all? I don’t mean to ask can you imagine going from place to place and the time it takes to get there. But if one wishes to see what they are, can any movement be made at all? And to where? And what is it that will move in order to get there?

I don’t think human beings question this at all. At least, it doesn’t seem to be the case. They just accept that in order to be free, they need to work at it, effort at it, and through dint of that hard work, they will be rewarded later. Does that scenario sound familiar to any of you? QUESTION IT!

Some say, “If you look at the finger pointing to the moon, you will miss the glory of the very thing it points to.”

I say, “Forget the finger; there is no moon!“

For some reason, the wordpress plugin known as “podpress” has given me no end of trouble on this blog. This thing is almost as bad as HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey! Well, it didn’t try to kill me, but it did perform some other devious tasks.

For example: I now have ZERO subscribers. Somehow, it has destroyed the connection between my blog and feedburner. Now, I don’t want to sound overly dramatic about all of this; I deactivated the plug-in, and it seems things will return to normal (although my subscriber account still reads zero). But that also means there is currently no nice, sleek, and shiny way to produce a podcast on this blog. At least, not in the way I want to.

So until I find a suitable plugin, or until the designer of podpress gets his act together, you’ll have to “right-click” and “save as” from now on.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

And for other news, it seems the last few articles I posted were not sent out to any of the subscribers. If you are reading this on your feedreader or through e-mail, that means you have missed the last two to three articles. Thanks again, PodPress!

Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

I’ll may end up deleting this post. I just want to get this message out to all of the subscribers as soon as possible.

So please, click through to the site and check out the last few posts that have been missed. They have snazzy images and everything.

Photo by Takuin Minamoto

This podcast covers: questioning the various systems and ideas of teaching, the need for the teacher at all, and one’s ability to find out for oneself.

This is a bit long, and was recorded in one take. Takuin was surprised at what came out.

If any of you have ideas of podcast subjects you would like to go into, please let me know in the comments, or through the Contact page.

And if you listen to this podcast and enjoy it, feel free to pass it around to anyone else that may be interested. You can also add it to various social bookmarking sites by using the icons just below the podcast player itself.

Arigatou Gozaimasu

Podcast: Play in new window | Download