As warriors we have to live with honour, boldness, and integrity - Spacious Passion

 

Taking refuge in Dharma is placing our confidence in practice as a place of safety. This is redefining ‘safety’ as the challenge of practice. Once we become practitioners it is guaranteed that at some point practice will become inconvenient. We will wish to take the easy but less honest option; to make the half-hearted response; to indulge in believing that we have no responsibility for the situation in which we find ourselves. But as practitioners, these are no longer available options.

As warriors we have to live with honour, boldness, and integrity. We cannot allow ourselves to slip into good-enough mediocrity. Our security in terms of realisation is absolutely guaranteed if we remain in the domain of practice. But the path of warriorship may be the harder and less comfortable choice. It may be the path that leads us into exposure and danger. The security of practice may be the least secure path in terms of referential personal safety and referential self-protection.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-0, chapter 9 Irrational Reason, page 215 and 216

 

Refuge: We seek protection from the neurotic tendencies which we employ in order to prevent us experiencing the natural state.

 

The dictionary defines the word refuge as ‘shelter or protection from danger or trouble: an asylum or retreat’. We have looked at the nature of the danger or threat to which we are vulnerable with regard to The Four Thoughts. 

In the context of our lives as Buddhists, we seek protection from our own conceptual minds: from our compulsion to dualistically split reality; from our addiction to conditioned responses rooted in dualistic preconceptions. We seek protection from the neurotic tendencies which we employ in order to prevent us experiencing the natural state.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-0, chapter 9 Irrational Reason, page 210
 

 

The Lama reflects as it is in order to allow us the freedom to let go of how it seems. - Spacious Passion

 

 

 

If we wish to engage with spiritual practice in this transformative manner, we require a mirror. We need a Lama who knows us as individuals, takes an active interest in spiritual progress, and guides us in our practice – through impartial reflection. The mirror does not choose to reflect some of the objects in front of it and not others, or to favour some in the manner of its reflection and not others – it simply reflects. This is the vajra master – described by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as the dangerous friend.

 

The Lama reflects as it is in order to allow us the freedom to let go of how it seems. Through aligning ourselves with the view of the Lama and letting go of our own referential rationale, the leap into realisation becomes possible, and our understanding can be taken beyond theory and into actualisation.

Spacious Passion,Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-0, chapter 9 Irrational Reason, page 208

 

 

Honour concerns one’s respect and dignity: respect for others and also for ourselves. - Spacious Passion

 

Warriors are honourable. To have honour is to be open and direct in communication and action. To be honourable is not to sidestep difficult situations, but rather to face them. Honour concerns keeping one’s word. To act with honour is to see something through to the end. Honour does not leave tasks uncompleted or forgotten because it no longer suits our purpose. Honour concerns one’s respect and dignity: respect for others and also for ourselves. Honour requires that we behave with dignity alone or in company.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 8 Spacious Passion in Passionate Space, page 189

 

Warriors do not fail to practise the wholesome deed because nobody will see it. - Spacious Passion

 

Warriors do not concern themselves with peer pressure, peer approbation, or being socially accepted. Warriors make their own decisions about the needs of a situation based in awareness and kindness. Warriors do not feel the need to always do what everyone else is doing. Warriors do not wait for others to take the initiative or let the opportunity to help pass by because of a fear of making the first move. Warriors do not fail to practise the wholesome deed because nobody will see it. Warriors always have the energy to bother. They do not indulge indifference just because their lack of involvement does not appear to matter.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 8 Spacious Passion in Passionate Space, page 183

 

Greeting people in a kindly way offers them the opportunity to respond in a kindly way. - Spacious Passion

 

If we are kind and warm, we will tend to expect others to be kind and warm. We will approach others with an optimistic attitude. If met with aggression we are less likely to respond with aggression, because this is not the stance from which we began. Greeting people in a kindly way offers them the opportunity to respond in a kindly way. If they do not, this does not need to unseat our kindness. We can simply remain kind. If aggression does upset our kindness so that we respond defensively, then we were ‘wearing’ kindness as an artificial definition, rather than as the nature of our being in the present moment. If the wearing of kindness is a good-hearted attempt to become a compassionate person developing awareness, then we can simply acknowledge that we lost it that time, let it go, and re-dress ourselves in kindness. If we do this often enough over a long period of time, eventually our ‘cloak’ of kindness becomes the quintessence of our being.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2006,ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 8 Spacious Passion in Passionate Space, page 180

 

 

What is the point of eating another meal? - Spacious Passion

 

I experienced it as something of a relief to discover that a feeling of dissatisfaction is universal. I felt that I could let go of depression and know that the niggling feeling of ‘surely there has to be more to it than this?’ or ‘what is the point of getting washed and dressed again, going to work again, eating another meal?’ did not mean that I was going crazy. I could get washed and dressed knowing that there was no ultimate purpose in these actions. I could go to work knowing that in the grand scale of things it was pointless. I could enjoy eating the meal knowing that it was a transient satisfaction. I could let go of wondering whether I was socially acceptable in the way I dressed and behaved, because social norms are ultimately hollow. I could let go of wondering whether it was alright to really like a particular type of music, because I understood that all opinions are ultimately empty. No-one else’s dress-sense, behaviour, likes and dislikes, and opinions had any more value than mine. I was free to be exactly who I was.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 7 Sparkling Puddles, page 163

 

Nirvana is Samsara and Samsara is Nirvana - Spacious Passion

 

The experience of samsara is the base of Sutrayana. The teachings of Sutrayana arise in response to our experience of samsara as unsatisfactory. The idea of samsara experienced as dissatisfaction implies the existence of nirvana as a fulfilling experience. Nirvana may mistakenly be thought of as an ‘other-worldly state’, a pure land, heaven, or paradise. This is a misconception. Samsara is nirvana. Nirvana is samsara. They are the same environment. They are exactly the same circumstances. It is our relationship with environment and circumstance which changes our experience. When we gain realisation, we will not suddenly find ourselves reborn into a totally new physical existence. Rather, we will discover ourselves reborn in the reality of our present existence with awakened view.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2006,ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 7, Sparkling Puddles, page 159

 

Practice is the key that explodes the narrow confines of our ordinary experience. - Spacious Passion

 

Practice is the key that explodes the narrow confines of our ordinary experience. Practice liberates the fatalistic, deterministic view of karma as cause and effect. Once karma is understood as self-originated and self-maintained, we can let go of the cause and refuse to support its maintenance. Through direct introduction to method by our Lama, we can derail karma and burn the diesel as passionate devotion. We can turn around the causes that create samsara, and transform their energy into creating the causes of eternal satisfaction through the endless continuity of blissful now-moments. 

Spacious Passion,Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books worldwide, ISBN 978-0-9653984-4-0, chapter 6, Quelling the Storm, page 149

 

Our patterning becomes transparent - Spacious Passion

 

Once we are able to dwell in the experience of emptiness between moments of movement in the mind, and even expand the scope of that emptiness, our patterning becomes transparent. It is revealed and laid bare. We can experience the naked empty nature of our perception, and joyfully play with the movement of intention and response. We can begin to recognise the processes we enter into at the moment of perception that result in response. We can see how we judge everything, categorise everything and separate ourselves from the direct, naked experience of perception. We can recognise that we continually filter perception through expectation and previous experience, and are at the mercy of the three root misconceptions of attraction, aversion, and indifference. These three distracted tendencies are the grinding of the wheel of samsara.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books worldwide,  2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 6 Quelling the Storm, page 146

 

Through letting go of cloud mind, we discover Sky Mind.

 

There are many methods of spacious meditation in the different schools and traditions of Buddhism. These methods teach us to cease giving attention to the constant chatter in our minds – cloud mind. Through letting go of cloud mind, we discover Sky Mind. We sit and allow the movement in mind to settle. When a thought arises, we let go of the content and allow the energy to dissipate. When a memory arises, we let go of the content and allow the movement to dissolve. When sensation arises, we do not judge it as good or bad, attractive or unattractive, we let it subside and disappear. When we learn to be comfortable in the space of Sky Mind, we find that we have discovered one of the most potent methods of transforming dualistic perception and response into enlightened perception and response.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor‘dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 6, Quelling the storm, pp143-144

 

Having an opinion is not a problem. - Spacious Passion

 

I like science fiction. I think science fiction is entertaining and can open my mind to new ways of looking at things. I enjoy books and films about science fiction. I watch science fiction movies and usually enjoy them, which strengthens my liking for science fiction. My neighbour hates science fiction. He thinks it is a complete waste of time. He thinks that the story lines are usually far-fetched, a traditional story in an alien setting, or just an excuse for techno-babble dialogue and fancy special effects. He occasionally watches a science fiction movie and they confirm his negative opinion of science fiction. There is actually no problem with this situation. 

Having an opinion is not a problem. Having a different opinion to my neighbour is not a problem – unless we feel threatened by our differing opinions. My neighbour can enjoy my appreciation of science fiction and retain his feeling of not being keen on it. I can enjoy my appreciation of science fiction and see that his opinion of it is sometimes true without this spoiling my enjoyment. Problems arise because we tend to regard our opinions as fact, rather than remembering that they are the result of our subjective experience.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor‘dzin, Aro books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 6 Quelling the storm, p142

 

We attempt to separate emptiness and form - Spacious Passion

 

Intention is the energy of perception that leads to response. If perception is dualistic, the intention and response will be dualistic. Intention or motivation is the energy that activates the process of cyclic existence. So long as we continue to attempt to separate emptiness and form, intention will drive the wheel of cyclic existence. When perception is nondual, response spontaneously arises as pure appropriateness – intention is simply the energy of nondual perceptual-responsive congruency. The cogs of dualistic distortion no longer click into action. Karma no longer arises because perception and response are spontaneous and clear.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor‘dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 6 Quelling the storm, p141

 

The filter of our neurotic patterning - Spacious Passion

 

If we perceive through the filter of our referential, neurotic patterning, then our response will also be coloured by that referential, neurotic patterning.to make matters worse, if we respond in alignment with our distorted patterning, then we make that pattern even stronger, even more ingrained. However, our response, the effect, or our reaction is not predetermined – even though it may sometimes feel as though it is. We can discover the space between perception and response, action and reaction, cause and effect. Spiritual practice offers a real and potent opportunity to undermine our own patterning. We can take control of our reaction and discover freedom from patterned response.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 6 Quelling the storm, pp133-134

The ability to be curious and discriminating gives rise to humour. - Spacious Passion

 

 

The ability to be curious and discriminating gives rise to humour. When our habits and opinions are noticed or pointed out to us, we are able to laugh at ourselves.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 4 Coming up for Air, p97

When I feel emotion I am a substantial being... - Spacious Passion

 

 

When I feel emotion I am a substantial being feeling anger. I know who I am. When I let the anger go I have no definition, no reference point for my existence.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 4 Coming up for Air, p82

 

The realms are self-perpetuating - there is a strong tendency to re-create our former state. - Spacious Passion

 

The realms are self-perpetuating, because we tend to continue to create the causes for whatever perceptual state we find ourselves in. We maintain this state until the point of exhaustion and we have to let go. At this point of relaxation it is possible to move from the restraints of one perceptual realm into another one, or to relax into realisation. However, once we start to feel uncomfortable with the emptiness of the unfamiliar, there is a strong tendency to re-create our former state. We are always drawn to the safety of the familiar.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 4 Coming up for Air, p81 

 

Human realm beings have a great capacity for generosity and indiscriminate compassion - Spacious Passion

 

Human realm beings discriminate about what is desirable and actively engage with their objects of desire. However they are fickle and can easily change direction – moving on to a new hobby, a new yearning to own a particular thing, a new philosophy of who they are and what is important. Human realm beings have a great capacity for generosity and indiscriminate compassion. They can be spontaneously kind and actively work to help others. The compulsive energy of desire can be transformed into the nondual energy of active compassion. This is the great potential of the human realm.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro books worldwide,2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0,chapter 4 coming up for air, p80