The Great Surprise of Perfection

The importance of religion is today fading from the minds of most people. It’s time to consider entirely new forms of religion.

There are thousands upon thousands of skillful means which have been developed to help people understand who they are and how things truly are. The forms within the tantras themselves indicate the skillful means. For example, the tantras roll with a certain rhythm and repetition. If there is repetition, it’s because Samantabhadra, Vajrasattva and Vajrapani know, in their wisdom, that we need to hear something again and again.

The best secret method for awakening is to receive the guru’s empowerments and instructions on one’s nature; that increases understanding along with expanding energetic awakening. Simultaneously, read specific tantras, repeating realizations over and over and over again! It’s not absolutely necessary to study many of the tantras, but the bodhisattva will do best to learn and master a spectrum of seven or eight tantras. Of course, this might be more or less, but either way it is wonderful to focus in on concise information and end the samsaric career. These will be the bodhisattva’s own personal root tantras! Longchenpa suggested to learn a specific three, but today there is a good reason that we may need different tantras and perhaps more of them to put our postmodern sophistry into perspective. Consider this: we spent more than seven years, some of us up to thirty, in rote indoctrination in quasi-intellectual specialization. A few more root texts will be the most effective.

And a note on these texts: they are short and contain everything you need.

Those who are ready to receive initiation and blessings will be directed to the best tantras for them by the intuitive teacher, and only when they are ready. Those who are able to actualize this situation are extremely gifted yogis. The tantras are the most pure, basic and complete spiritual teaching on Earth and throughout the worlds. For those with the capacity to absorb them, there is nothing better than awakening in the vision of the tantras.

When people aren’t quite ready, the instructor will often require that they train in the bodhisattva sutras and in going up through the bodhisattva subplanes and sublevels of the temporary mental apparatus. Practitioners who need to focus on the the lower Bodhisattvayana should request to be shown all the states of awareness within the bodhisattva levels. Then they will work through those states spanning the mental plane until their minds loosen into the spacious, relaxed, non-grasping bodhisattva perspective.

Some people may be ready to go through the outer tantras and the inner tantras as prerequisites. In the inner tantras and other preparations for Ati, one practices traversing the realms and the temporary practice of separating samsara and nirvana. Samsara and nirvana aren’t really separate, but here one must superficially separate them as a key preliminary practice to prepare so that Dzogchen works for the practitioner. Both ‘traversing the realms’ and clarifying samsara and nirvana (Rushen) are incredibly profound and repair even the most messy post-modern mind for being blown in the Ati revelations. Rushen and Traversing are the Psychology of Awakening.

Someone who has a good connection with Essence Christianity is probably a Bodhisattvayana practitioner, or even more likely a Kriyayoga type. In the end, however, everyone is a Dzogchen type person. That will be the end of trouble for all us human beings. That will be the end of confusion for all birds, reptiles, bugs, animals of any sort, any beings who are in other forms that may seem strange to us or not in incarnation currently.

Ultimately, there is no difference between the various levels. They are all heading toward the same end, the final teaching of Samantabhadra, the All Good One. In the end, absolutely all beings are going to find the All Good One: God, the creator of everything. And every one of us will find God in the most surprising place, in the place we least expect! 

It’s true: we find everything we need in the place where we least expect it. Do we expect to find the great bliss in negative emotions? No! Do we expect to find it in our own self, in our own body, in this very life, within our family situation and all the events that are occurring? No, not at all. We expect the liberation experience to be separate from what seems to be a worldly experience of a real self. This rectification is an inner secret, one that is clearly explained in all the aforementioned processes in Atiyoga. 

Each consecutive level of Buddhism helps people to move toward the recognition of ‘not two’—non-duality. The tantras define it as ‘equanimity.’ In other words, the nine levels of Buddhism have nine different definitions of equanimity. The final definition of equanimity is advaita. Advaita is the absolute ‘not two,’ the meaning at the final completion. Non-dual awareness means that multiplicity is fantastic, because there never was any separation.

East/West, Heart/Mind, Heart-Essence/Mind-Essence

What is the difference between the heart-essence, as mentioned in some of the tantras, and one’s true nature?

The heart-essence (nyingthig) is the true nature.

There are various ways of discussing something. When looking at a jewel, for example, you could grade the color, reflectiveness, clarity, size or shape of it. There are many ways to examine it, but it’s still one jewel.

Different words can be used to describe the same thing. Although they are synonyms, a given term may imply a particular aspect. Reality can present itself in numerous ways. You can come in from any of those aspects, but it’s the same reality. Whatever aspect catches your attention can hook you into the Great Perfection and trigger your enlightenment.

An imbalanced religionist might say, “There’s God, and then there’s everything else. God is good, and everything else is bad.” This is not the teaching of the All Good One. The All Good One says there is God, and all other things are God, too. Showing how everything is connected is of utmost importance in Dzogchen.

When Westerners hear the word ‘heart,’ they think of qualities such as love and wisdom. Someone without heart is rather cold, like a robot. We should feel that loving, wise connection in the heart.

When Easterners use the word ‘heart,’ they could be talking about the physical heart or the chakra at the center of the chest, but they may be in particular referring to the operation of the mind. They are referring to the place in the body where the mind seems to reside. An esoteric Buddhist scripture will often use the term ‘mind-essence’ rather than ‘heart-essence.’ ‘Heart’ and ‘mind’ are synonyms in Eastern thought.

There are many different terms, and on some level they are all incorrect. According to the masters, words can’t explain. If you are looking for the perfect words, it is a futile endeavor because truth can’t be told. There is no way to say, “This is it!” and make everyone experience their true nature. Why? Because it’s already in everybody. It’s their natural experience. They just need to let go, and then it will happen.

The term ‘heart-essence’ is very beautiful. It alludes to something very deep within us. A Western person says, “deep within their soul,” “something innate,” “not something superficial,” or “from the core of my being.”

We have learned a lot of things in our life. One person might be a plumber, another a doctor. These are temporal occupations—they are not our essence. We might enjoy our job, or we might dislike it. These things come and go.

Our true heart-essence is something that makes us at one with the All Good One. The All-Creating King, Samantabhadra, is our own true heart-essence. There are no two heart-essences.

Someone may object, “When Easterners say ‘heart-essence,’ they only mean the mind.” However, the word ‘mind’ includes wisdom, love and interconnectedness. That interconnectedness is not just a nostalgic interconnectedness. It’s an interconnectedness wherein you feel totally complete.

Here are two opposites: on the one side is nostalgic love where you’re always trying to be connected. It feels very important, yet it is a dysfunctional connection to beings. It’s like a bad marriage, a bad family or a bad relationship. Let’s be realistic: it’s like a typical samsaric family. Then on the other side is the heart-essence where you are connected to and at one with God’s holy presence and all beings. That is an enlightened being’s interconnectedness. A buddha doesn’t cling nostalgically and lament, “Back in the old days it was much better before these newer generations came along!”

Like a magical dream, innumerable births are occurring everywhere: births of humans and animals, births of thoughts and ideas, and births of new universes and new species. In order to understand the world correctly you must understand God. You will never figure out the world. People who are trying to calculate the world won’t ever manage to understand in that way. You can only comprehend the world by knowing your true nature. And what is that true nature? It never was born. You can’t get it because you’ve got it. It was always there. How could that be anything other than God? Only God was always there.

We recognize our own true nature, God, and remaining in that meditative state is true meditation. Realize that your nature is unborn. All the forms of the world are not your true nature. Even space is not your true nature. From that position you can completely understand space and all the forms. If you leave the meditation you won’t be able to understand them anymore.

If enlightened beings merely sat around for a thousand years, that wouldn’t bother them. If they became active, gave teachings and engaged in all sorts of tasks, that would be fine, too. They don’t sweat it either way. They have a different perspective regarding activities than do samsaric beings.

The gods and goddesses, the protectors and angels naturally appear in your own heart-essence. In your heart-essence you have access to the guru and the masters. At that level you don’t need to be told to visualize intentionally a specific buddha.

When you see your unborn nature, your glamour goes away. And then you can see ‘the ten thousand things’ as they are: you no longer remain confused about how to work and act within the endless possibilities of phenomena.

The Diamond Sutra Chapter 16: They Shall Produce Even Greater Results Than I

“And incidentally, Subhuti, these fine persons of integrity we are discussing were not so fine in times past. In the future, when they appear and reveal this teaching, some people will become upset and turn on them. By the manner in which they handle that situation they will awaken to absolute perfect enlightenment!

“As I said, I practiced for a vast time period under the Buddha named ‘Source of Light.’ But he was merely one of countless buddhas under whom I served! Now, here I am, instructing you how that in the future there are going to be people reciting, learning and propagating this teaching—and causing more goodness than I did in all those lifetimes of practice!

“Furthermore, by me mentioning the unfathomably vast field of goodness that will be generated by men and women of the future (by their reciting, learning, understanding and distributing this teaching)—people are going to go unhinged!

“O Subhuti! The meaning of this teaching is inconceivably profound; similarly profound is the result achieved by those who comprehend it!”

—The Diamond Sutra: Transcending Merit, tr. Sol Ta Triane, Copyright © 2018

Commentary on Chapter 16 of The Diamond Sutra, by Sol Ta Triane

When I said what he said
When they spit in my face
Since I’ve now got it down
I don’t mind the disgrace

But our pause to consider
This mystical answer,
Beats the eon of service
To his own holy master?

A million lives lived,
Lived in straight purity . . .
But some, said the Son,
Will do greater than me?

Since believing in thoughts
Can’t be right perception,
Bodhisattvas will serve up
No-concept perfection

The Diamond Sutra Chapter 3: What to Do if You Want to Be a Bodhisattva

Then the Buddha spoke, saying, “O Subhuti! Anyone who aspires to bodhisattvahood should use their minds and think:

I shall liberate every single being—whether born of an egg or a womb, whether born in water or in the atmosphere, whether distinct in shape or amorphous, whether the kind that thinks or the kind that doesn’t—taking each and every one to the state of absolute and perfect nirvana! But even though I aspire to bring everyone to absolute perfect nirvana, the beings being brought there aren’t really beings—which means no one is being brought into a state of absolute perfect nirvana!

“Now, Subhuti! You may be wondering why potential bodhisattvas would need to think in this way. They’d need to think this way because if they held to an idea that selves exist, or that beings are beings, that lives are lived, or of an existence of ongoing individual personages, then they wouldn’t be able to become bodhisattvas!”

—The Diamond Sutra: Transcending Merit, tr. Sol Ta Triane, Copyright © 2018

Here Mounts the Bliss-King

Awaken in

A sleepwalk magic field

Remember everything goes into

The basket of happy goo

They meant what they said when they said,

"All things"

To include every sliver cures both

Crotch and liver

While the dull may continue that which in effect

Never worked

A certain has-been now has, by inclusion of

Spaz 

In open throat sing, you

A single bell, ring

So fine, without cling, here mounts

The bliss-king

With Few Equipped to Share My Joy

With few equipped to share my joy,
I'll hold it warm a thousand lifetimes
Since no one noticed when you went to flirt,
Hidden wishes, those too, kept fresh for you

You, well-trained to not know your question,
Might speak it out rude, in the nude unposed
Then we could share a trif of wisdom,
But we'll keep the box closed 'til this darker time goes

You forgot why you fight, said that crusty old Lao
You looked back your own way as he points you your moon
Nasty chan wanker Lao, flustering to his breakpoint
Says, go for the soft and you'll be home soon...

   Soft are some plans you never made
   Soft holds the meaning; thoughts never stayed
   Soft is the cave of a trillion-world dream
   Soft, the quick stop where your soul's remade

All together, move, before the chan man sees us!
Run, hide and quick, don't let the stumblebum seize us!
Join, join, join, jump!
Soaking in the middle of a big fat soft!

   Soft, the give in ceasing of schemes

   Soft, for all crudenesses, lost at sea

   The end of the you and of the me dreams

   Soft: of life, of philosophy

Abandon toast-modern mind, remove like a tumor
Happy persons, arm in arm, schlepping a happy mind
Nothing can remove the stain of the pattern
It merely dissolves in the watery find

   Soft, a recline to infinity,

   Separatenesses gone, nor even unity

   Not-knowing, sans conceptuality

   Soft means its over, ending the spree

Since men look away from demented and wise
Ignoring the fool talk of slackjaw and hermit
But in the case someone somewhere takes in to hearken
Here's the easiest way to get it, if that way I may term it:

Give in to the soft,
If you want the loft  ––
If you want the loft,
You've got to go soft

The Second Man, by Sol Ta Triane, originally published June 15, 2005 at The Dog Zen Koans

Two men walk into a diner. Before they can order, two bowls are placed in front of them. Upon tasting the food the first man spits it back out and, shouting spontaneously towards the kitchen, says, "This is disgusting," then angrily towards the waitress, "You brought me a bowl.. of grease!"

The waitress returns and tells them, "that's so to remind you: samsara is suffering."

The second man is also revolted, attempting to get the grease out of his mouth with repeated snorts and spittings. The men walk out of the diner, the first man alternating between cursing loudly and mumbling under his breath, the second in confusion and silence.

They try a different restaraunt. Before having a chance to order, the chef comes out and places two steaming bowls in front of the men with a smile. "The first man skeptically takes a sip of the broth; it shoots out as fast as it went in. "This is salted water! Why would you bring us salt water?"

The chef replied that it was merely to clarify the point: samsara is unfulfilling.

By this time, the men are feeling off their game, and after a brief discussion decide to try their luck with something different. They have a project to do at home, and needed to pick up a hammer and nails at the hardware store on the way home.

Navigating the well stocked isles of the hardware store, they noticed that the hammers had no heads and that the nails were made of rubber. Seeing the angry face of the first, and the perplexed face of the second man, the stock boy announced,

"We carry those items especially to remind people that samsara simply doesn't work."

And so it was at this moment the first man made a silent decision to retreat to the solace of his own abode. And that he did without hesitation, soon to piece together some sort of dinner and, he thought, maybe a bit of television.

It was the case, though, that the second man reacted quite differently. Those odd encounters had awakened his curiosity, or maybe it was wonder. Now ravenously hungry, the thought crossed his mind to give another restaurant a try.

He went into the very first joint he could find, which happened to be directly across the street from the hardware store. Reaching for the door, it opened for him. He saw that he was being greeted by a sparkling polite woman, who he assumed must be the matire-d'. She took his arm and gently escorted him through the plain building into a stunning and lush backyard garden, in the center of which was a large shapely wooden table with one large chair holding multiple multi-patterned cushions.

"Would this place be to your liking sir?" The man heard himself say, "Oh yes," as he saw it was in fact quite a fine spot.

Settling in, his senses began to open in the comfort of that sun-speckled yard. Flowers and greenery of every hue and geometric shape surrounded him, bemusing the eye. The air was warm yet breezy; the flowers were gently pushed into undulations by its caress. Bees buzzed happily, circling and bobbing flower to flower.

Deepening in comfort he sunk into his chair; the maitre-D nodded, nimbly removing his shoes. Turning away in wide gaze, she seemed as a conductor, raising her baton at the beginning of a symphony. As she began to do whatever it was she was doing, which seemed to be environmental adjustments, she turned back for just a moment to address the man, saying, "By the way, sir, all this is on the house."

Sinking even deeper on that voluptuously soft and supportive chair, as a king on a throne, a most entrancing of musics began to fill the garden. The sounds of lyres, tamboura, then gentle tablas beginning almost inaudibly, then increasing, layering back and forth, not unlike the bees. He could see the musicians had been in wait behind a hedge of blueberry bushes. The bushes, he noticed, had quite a crop of the rich blue-black orbs.

Out of nowhere, a heartbreakingly attractive girl was leaning over his table, asking him if he would like some of those blueberries, which, she now held before him in a festive flower bowl, painted with flowers. He enjoyed the most delicious berries he ever ate. When she asked him if he would like his feet and shoulders massaged, he said gratefully, and with very little hesitation, "Sure!" Soon he achieved a state of immense relaxation and pleasure.

But it was only the beginning. Beautiful dancing girls silently appeared, smiling, coy and playful, moving through the garden, disturbing nothing, harmonizing to the scene, and an odd, full and healthy joy arose in his mind. One after another, the waiters and waitresses brought fresh squeezes and cuts of exotic fruits, steamed vegetables and meats dipped in sauces he had never seen previously. Some came in stars cups, moons bowls, even two long curved pink tureens in opposite shapes. Small presentations of the most delicate and vitalizing hot and cold appetizers were presently by the lovely girls, each on a different painted bowl or plate; then presented and uncorked was a 1942 Krug Sparkling Nectar of a supremely subtle refreshing taste, which the second man found to be a nourishment of his soul: its effervescence danced on his tongue, and wine flowed soft and pleasing to refresh him deeper with each taste.

Another completely unabashed lady of radiant beauty appeared. She giggled and sat down at the table along side the man. She introduced herself with funny puns which delighted and sent the second man even further off-guard, then told the man stories of the type that he would be most interested in. With light hearts and humor, they engaged discussions of religion, books, love, art, politics, music, much more. The man noticed that she was purely humble, but all the same seemed to understand all those topics well. The laughed and spoke for hours, mixing their variegated togethernesses into the soft summer evening.

During this time the train of exquisite treats continued its course. The crescendo and decrecendo of foods, colors, the distinct and merging fragrances only supported those conversations, maybe the best conversations of his life. His new girlfriends were such a fine conversationalists humorists, but foremost they were women. He simply lost himself in their beauty, wisdom, and the scene at hand.

How it seemed to work, he thought, was this: In pure undulating synchronicity, this simply came to be. Look here: the maitre-d' or a waiter or waitress would appear with yet another delicious fruit, an appetizer, a beverage, maybe a tasty and warming filling main course. The young women, one after another, came to please him in many ways that one might expect and also might not. The tensions and release expanded during entire episode, somehow bringing placidity to his mind and needs, as he watched to setting of an orange sun. It came to mind in that moment that he had greatly underestimated his life, in the sense that joy is something that could quite be accomplished.

The bees and butterflies moved like a painter's brushstrokes. Whatever the man experienced in taste, sound or vision, it built itself anew upon the previous joy. The bliss amassed and staying consistent; this stability was something he never before known, or yet it seemed like something glimpsed a distant memory.

And as that wondrous scene of harmony, light and vitalizing, perhaps, but really through his own charm, right then, his own purity opened, as a flower. And he became as one in that glorious feast that had been presented him, in it, beyond it too.

In that way he also forgot his problems and joy opened firmly in him, like the white-pink lotus right before him, in the garden.

And he held the hand of his lovely conversation companion as they giggled, chatted, played and dined together. He thought he could see waves emanating between himself and the woman – certainly he could feel them. In fact, they emanated between all the people and objects, ass if the spirit of atmosphere had stepped forward and taken over, and the second man knew it would all be like a downstream flow of a great river from here on in.

Fully satisfied and in the finest of spirits, the knew it to be time to go home. But he experienced no regret, only gratitude. Turning to bid an adieu, he did however for a moment, hesitate.

"Why did you do all of this for me?" said the second man.

The matrie-D looked into his eyes. The second man recognized, from her look, a wisdom and inner world he had once sensed but had not been able to stabilize. She was a mirror in which he saw himself. The entire assembly of waiters stood aside, arms in front, palm over palm. The musicians and dancers gently stopped and came over to join the group, and with kindness attended the man. They said,

"We did it to show your capacity."

A Bodhisattva's Vow (originally published at the Dog Zen Koans on June 18th, 2006)

I'm not that concerned about environmental warming:
A cool sun hides within storms of human childishness.
The tides of seeming knowledge, reason's loss
Generate the winds and the global patterns we miss,
Next, idealism. Next, a suicide warning.

People, listen to me for once!
You can't sew without a needle's sharpness
Your defense assumes dignity, righteousness, furvor,
But to spasm against your opponent like that
The center is ever missed as you flail and punch.

Don't attack kindness in the name of goodness
Don't criticize unless you know for sure
If you don't know just leave it be
There's no vision without stillness,
No success apart from silent clarity

Sixty billion ancestors scream, ignoring the mystic Tao,
A hellish din, unheard by the dense incarnate hordes
This show ran too long, at least for my taste,
So I choose to stay in the beauty of the wildwood place.
Enjoying its splendor, I have plenty now.

Whatever happens, come what may,
I pray you join my wish today
To stay in protection of the abiding ones
As Kali's burn has just begun
We'll stay until the job is done.

Lao Tzu Kicked Out of the City (originally posted on August 4, 2006)

Chalking his hand
Looking toward that 300 score
Lao Tzu had a hissy fit:
They ran out of Budweiser.

Dog Zen is easy
But you still have to do it.
Your way is hard
But you still have to stop it.

After you begin the beating of the bushes
Rip out roots, just to make sure.
Still, you'll have to use the chemicals,
Even still, you won't be close to pure.

Dead roots point a shine toward infinity
Looking from the back, clockwise becomes counter:
You can't fool me again, no friend would hold lies
No mixing is allowed without the chan master's affinity.

While this wild plant, it silently grows
The fraud primps and arranges the styles that he chose,
Further and further back from his chance:
He never entered into the source of romance.

If there's one lick of passion in your blood
You'll take to roaming with the dharma thugs
Where you'll learn the chod that cuts the bone:
Then again, the odds are you'll stay home.

Gold, a bad choice,
Steel is better.
How you 'spect to get around
Up there on that ladder?

Glory to God our Father in Heaven
Yes, just the way that it already is!
Our meal ends in a toast, better than ever
Ain't no complaints in this line of biz.

Lao Tzu Returns to the City (originally posted at Dog Zen Koans on Feb. 16, 2005)

Like a thief in the night Lao Tzu returns to the city.
A loose-wheel patriot, I will cheer for the goodness of the universal nation.

Like a fundamentalist I will save all beings, forgetting to leave behind some at the rapture.
A jihadist gone astray, I will chop the root of every unhappiness.

Ignoring Kali Yuga, indomitable and coarse, I gather a sweet offering for beings' release.
Oblivious to externals, I see potential.

The scriptural omission of the concern of animals and their emancipation is in evidence
But I'm not going without them either, dammit.

You see, long ago I became versed in the myths of the educated
And long ago let that go.
Only those burnt by the bodhi-flame can understand
The tree, ignoring biology, is just fine.

On the periphery a small but adamant group of students gather at the union
This disorganized band of Indians will have to do.
It is important to die crazy.


© 2005 FlowWorld Vol 2, Padma Tenzin Sol