Meditation practices can only help us insofar as they clarify our actual present experience. They can force us to confront our limitations and biases rather than pretending that we'll reach a magical state where they won't exist, where we'll rejoice in our new enlightened selves.
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The bad news is that unless you're willing to put an end to all sensory experience, you're stuck here. The good news is that you can learn to be more awake in each moment that you are here. This does take practice, though, despite what fluff-spirituality will have you to believe.
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Being a spiritual grown-up means accepting that awakening is not about escaping to somewhere more enlightened; it is simply full contact with what is happening right now, in the present moment. Whether the present moment feels enlightened or not is irrelevant.
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It's also not about pretending that playing the non-duality or emptiness card eradicates suffering; it's admitting and accepting the truth of suffering as a characteristic of sensory experience and knowing how to relate to it skillfully when it arises.
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It is a skill to learn, not a one-time attainment that magically fixes everything forever (although some events may supercharge the learning process, or make it easier).
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Long story short, as a friend of mine so aptly put it: That "everything is perfect" crap is great until I kick you in the balls.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist
Curious if you’ve checked out this
?
http://www.wisdompubs.org/book/dongshan%E2%80%99s-five-ranks …
It’s one of the better takes I’ve seen on this territory. A lot of what you’re describing is discussed as part of the 3rd - 5th ranks.
Waking down is the hard work!1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @VincentHorn
I have not, thanks! I'll definitely check it out. Few things are more entertaining than the image of the archetypal Zen master hitting the student over the head for taking his realizations too seriously. "Waking down is the hard work"; I love that.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist
“Experiencing emptiness is not enough. Stepping clear of emptiness is not enough. The Five Ranks show us that—regardless of what we think we may have realized—there are yet unrealized modes of awakening in which the world and our selves move into ever-deeper intimacy.”
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Replying to @VincentHorn
Interesting. I've found that after emptiness, it's extremely easy to fall into nihilism. So the most common move is to then try to avoid that nihilism by secretly inventing another form of eternalism through a reinterpretation or misunderstanding of emptiness.
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It's incredibly difficult to hold both emptiness and form without turning them into extremes to fall back on. Indeed, waking down without falling asleep makes for a tough balancing act. I'm still figuring it out.
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