In fact in “The Voice of the Silence”, Blavatsky writes

But let each burning human tear drop on thy heart and there remain, nor ever brush it off, until the pain that caused it is removed.

These tears, O thou of heart most merciful, these are the streams that irrigate the fields of charity immortal. ‘Tis on such soil that grows the midnight blossom of Buddha more difficult to find, more rare to view than is the flower of the Vogay tree. It is the seed of freedom from rebirth. It isolates the Arhat both from strife and lust, it leads him through the fields of Being unto the peace and bliss known only in the land of Silence and Non-Being.

A.A.Bailey writes in “The Rays and initiation”

When a Master takes the fifth initiation He… must become consciously aware of the highest aspect: the Will-to-Good. He has developed in Himself “the love necessary to salvation, His own and that of those He loves, His fellowmen;” all His actions and His thinking are qualified by goodwill, in its esoteric sense, and the significance of the Will-to-Good lies ahead of Him and will be later revealed.

Apparently amongst Christian esoterocists, the initiation when one becomes an arhat is understandably called the Ressurection. But apparently, it is the seventh which is the true ressurection. Hell, what do I know?

The fifth initiation is also called among esotericists: the initiation of revelation. I find this more interesting because of the emphasis within Buddhism on awakening. The word Buddha itself meaning one who has awoken; achieving liberation and revelation/awakening occuring at the same point.

Lest we forget. The Diamond Sutra, in which Buddha speaks to his disciple Subhuti, reminds us that there is no ego here.

“Subhuti, what do you think, can an Arhat have the thought, ‘Have I attained the Way of the Arhat?’” Subhuti said, “No World Honored One. Why? Actually there is no dharma called ‘Arhat.’ World Honored One, if an Arhat had the thought, ‘I have attained the Way of the Arhat,’ that would be an attachment to self, others, living beings and to a life. World Honored One, the Buddha has said that I am foremost in the attainment of the No Strife Samadhi, and I am the foremost Arhat free from desire. Yet, World Honored One, I do not have the thought, ‘I am an Arhat free from desire.’ If I had the thought, ‘I have attained the Way of the Arhat,’ then the World Honored One would not say, ‘Subhuti is foremost of those who delight in practicing Aranya.’ Since Subhuti actually does not practice anything, he is called, ‘Subhuti who delights in practicing Aranya.’”

So, this initiation – The initiation of liberation, of revelation – Is it the initiation of enlightenment? Well, just what does one mean by enlightenment? It does all get hard to fathom. We know the practice works in our own lives. We’ve seen what happens, so looking ahead isn’t such a bad thing.

In one sense, what we count as the first initiation isn’t. Counting is a diffiult affair. I offer in that light and the light of Buddha’s discussion with Subhuti, here’s what Dogen has to say in the Shobogenzo:

The eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind in the present transcend self and other; correct from head to tail, they are beyond our ability to comprehend thoroughly. For this reason, one’s whole body, as it is, “does not covet and is not defiled.” It does not covet and is not defiled by the whole of “any phenomena, existent or non-existent.” The wholeness, just as it is, of “holding to the four-line verse,” is called “does not covet and is not defiled”; it is also called “the fourth stage of fruition.” The fourth stage of fruition is the arhat.

Just a thought.

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I think people misunderstand the concept of sudden enlightenment. Satori itself is sudden and fully transformative, but getting to that point can take lifetimes. Buddha himself after making his vow when he first saw Dipankara took a number of lifetimes.

To think that people don’t stumble along the path is naive. We do, we say things that are cutting, we entertain selfish thoughts, we eat things it would be best not to, etc. etc. And that is one of the reasons we must generate compassion towards ourselves, not just towards others.

The other problem is the idea that we are perfecting our nature. In Zen we are not perfecting anything, just preparing the ground for enlightenment.

As a parting thought try this, in the enlightened mind the universe is already whole. There is no difference between you and the universe. As Alan Watts put it The inside and the outside are one. Where is there not Alaya?

Forgive yourself and be free.

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I guess you could just leave it at that. To the awakened Self, no experience is better than any other experience. All experiences are impermanent and transitory. But I think that there’s more to it than that. The distinction that we make between this and that reveals our cleft minds. Making this good and that bad shows a whole part of our minds that we are not accepting, whether it is our angry neighbour, or a long lost love. All these things show where we haven’t accepted the universe the way it is. And the reality is, it is just like this just now.

In creating a sense of self, we have separated ourselves from the universe. And the universe has become divided in our own minds. Without beginning or end the universe rolls on ever changing, but eternally just present here and now. Causeless and containing cause and effect, because these are just paradigms. And in our sense of self we got lost in cause and effect as we seek to hold on to some experiences and deny others, yet all of them impermanent.

Life is not two. And neither is our mind. All experiences are contained within our mind. Not separate from experience, not imprisoned by experience. Hence Bodhidharma’s “You ask. That’s your mind. I answer. That’s my mind.” Wherever you look there’s your mind.

The Essence of Zen by Sekkei Harada is well worth the read. I found it accidentally in Borders the other day. Supposedly for beginners – and which of us is not that – it challenges the mind to wake up to the present moment. It emphasises practice with some wonderful references to Dogen. Afterall seeking after anything, especially enlightenment is well, unenlightened. Sitting is just sitting. Sekkei Harada emphasises that the mind doesn’t go through a process of being healed. Our essence of mind is already whole.

If you are thinking of practicing in order to look for the Way, you will only get farther and farther away from it. It is as if, while walking the Way and being right in the middle of it, you start looking around for it, wondering where it is.

In 1963 a fascinating and unique report on Zen meditation was presented by Dr. Akira Kasamatsu and Dr. Tomio Hirai of the Department of Neuro-Psychiatry, Tokyo University. It contained the results of a ten-year study of the brain wave or electroencephalographic (EEG) tracings of Zen masters.[66,67]…

Another finding of the same study concerned what is called alpha blocking and habituation. To understand these phenomena let us imagine that a person who is reading quietly is suddenly interrupted by a loud noise. For a few seconds his attention is diverted from the reading to the noise. If the same sound is then repeated a few seconds later his attention will again be diverted, only not as strongly nor for as long a time. If the sound is then repeated at regular intervals, the person will continue reading and become oblivious to the sound. A normal subject with closed eyes produces alpha waves on an EEG tracing. An auditory stimulation, such as a loud noise, normally obliterates alpha waves for seven seconds or more; this is termed alpha blocking. In a Zen master the alpha blocking produced by the first noise lasts only two seconds. If the noise is repeated at 15 second intervals, we find that in the normal subject there is virtually no alpha blocking remaining by the fifth successive noise. This diminution of alpha blocking is termed habituation and persists in normal subjects for as long as the noise continues at regular and frequent intervals. In the Zen master, however, no habituation is seen. His alpha blocking lasts two seconds with the first sound, two seconds with the fifth sound, and two seconds with the twentieth sound. This implies that the Zen master has a greater awareness of his environment as the paradoxical result of meditative concentration. One master described such a state of mind as that of noticing every person he sees on the street but of not looking back with emotional lingering.

It’s interesting in that Zen, however, you want to put it, is about seeing all things anew, to reference the West’s beloved. No habituation, seeing things deeply, no mind.

But relatedly and equally fascinating is this article: Zen Training Speeds The Mind’s Return After Distraction, Brain Scans Reveal.

Now just think for a moment, if there is no distraction and no coming and going, with everything just being what it is, the bell sound is no distraction, just the universe at this moment in time, requiring full attention.

I’ve been listening to Auckland Zen Centre‘s Amala sensei’s commentary on Shattering the Great Doubt: The Chan Practice of Huatou by Sheng Yen.

It was a reminder to me of how important discomfort is. I’m between homes at the moment and am house sitting a friend’s home. The break in my habits has brought a small degree of discomfort. A reminder of the rewards of not moving away from discomfort or moving towards comfort. Neither attachment nor aversion.

It also served as a yet another reminder of the importance of mindfulness. Mindful that comfort and discomfort sit lightly within the emptiness we call awareness. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with discomfort and nothing intrinsically right with comfort, except as useful information to our awareness.

Something else that’s been happening for me over the past few days is getting to a deeper realisation that the dharma is just a raft. Yes, it gets us to the other shore, but then we throw it away. Without discussion on attaining all dharmas or evening attaining no dharma. What’s the point in that?

And then there’s the great understanding, which for me is mostly intellectual, I must admit, but nevertheless it’s a beautiful understanding. I’ve been asking myself lately “What’s meditating?” It’s a very interesting question in the light of no object and no subject. Having disproved the I, just what is meditating? All I can honestly answer right now is “Don’t know.”

If we start with something that we all take for granted, the only permanence is change. Although that itself isn’t strictly correct either, but it is a truth. Where there are beginnings there are ends. And everything we know has a beginning and an end. Wherever there is a quality there is the opposite of that quality and there is a beginning and end to the quality. There is no intrinsic quality, nothing which is intrinsically good nor intrinsically bad for that matter.

What is isolated out separated out is impermanent. And the idea of its permanence is an illusion created by our minds. It is the idea that any quality is permanent that is an illusion.

Yet, somehow there is mind, free of content. Not a mind, but mind. Itself not dependent on the fluctuations of matter. Unlike our ego mind dependent on a concept of self. Dependent on a constellation of particular qualities. The self that surely dies.

It is the mind that hears without conceptualising what is heard, independent of all qualities, like our change, ever present in the here and now, always as it is, which is the most ordinary thing of all. Ordinary, constant, and fully awake. It is the flip side to ever changing form. The form which is the mind’s content.

By looking for what is special we miss the ever present awareness. And that’s what our egos are; an illusion that there is a story, a drama, that is our special reality. A reality that will vanish in a puff of smoke at our death, physical or otherwise. Our sense of self, like this diatribe here is a lie, but which is the more useful lie.

Counting the breath, meditation on an object are all techniques that build up the concentration, but that same concentration can come out of an intense inquiry into the nature of oneself.

And so it seems to me that Soto Zen and Rinzai Zen are essentially the same. Sitting on one’s mat in still awareness is the same as enquiring “Who am I?” I think it’s no co-incidence that Hui Neng, in my opinion the founder of Zen, asked his first student “What was your original nature before you were born?” You have to sit quietly for an answer don’t you.

It’s the same as the Christian injunction to “Be still and know that I am God.” And Dolano’s advice that you must love meditation is basically saying that you must love being still.

Christ pointed to the kingdom of heaven being within. Isn’t that such a major hint. Buddha pointed to the fullness of the seeming void. And more recently Ramana and Krishnamurti both pointed to the inquiry into one’s own nature.

And then to carry this stillness, call it spaciousness if you will beyond meditation and into one’s outer life. It strikes me that’s what mindfulness is.

Some teachers point to the idea that the practise of mindfulness in meditation leads to mindfulness in one’s life. If mindfulness and stillness are the same then we’re saying even in action be still.

And that carries the conversation back to that teaching in the Bhagavad Gita

He who can see inaction in action, and action in inaction is the wisest among men. He is a saint, even though he still acts.

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