Post by robasis on Oct 4, 2013 5:50:43 GMT -5
As a young man ordained in a Buddhist monastic form in my early experience I became accustomed to having many teachers around though at that time I had little understanding of how to use such a resource. Young and fairly intuitive certain processes were happening in this environment yet with a lack of conscious knowledge of processes and the depth and difficulties one must pass through.Not a problem with a real internal link to a teacher who has traversed and gone through the depths and fully transformed the karmic difficulties which are present and tendencies present and which arise when in deeper territories.
There is a certain fate to finding real teachers that are appropriate for the time and place we are at within ourselves. Its easy to feel we must have an enlightened teacher and look for viable teachers who appear to qualify but from a beginning point of little internal awareness we could well find a self declared enlightened teacher who is not much more to us than an extension of our own inner constrictions or fantasised freedom from being individual and all the personal pain this may unconsciously represent to us.
We may even feel ourselves very "aware" and yet this awareness may be simply a keen, sharp and even subtle perceptive ability which may be grounded in the survival instinct and honed further by trials in our childhood to become real gifts of perception. Yet perception is one thing and awareness is another so its still easy to miss the important "tree" in the forest of other important "trees".
The tree you are looking for may have all the garb, the robes the talk the charisma or depending on your perceptive tendency it may have the opposite should you consider yourself more astute than to fall for the gimmicks in whatever guise. In the latter case you may seek out the unobtrusive tree hidden away not really trying to help you at all. This could be the one or it could simply be a teacher or teaching void of the ability to help at all!
Im speaking about a conundrum here and many have come to this point and honed things down to a teaching, a practice, a teacher which seems to fit. Yet is there a way of knowing? really? Even if what you are doing feels good is it doing what it should?
When the going gets tough we get going and sometimes this is good if a teacher is really not right for us {or anyone in some cases}. But what about genuine practices which are designed towards inner work and outworking the blocks to spiritual awareness? These can also get tough, sometimes tougher than any life experience as the challenge to our sense of who we are can go deep and the process at times can be long and sustained, a grind!
So if it all seems too good to be true it probably is. Of course all practices bring fruits but are they addictive in their nature such that you absolutely need to sustain them to get through your life with a sense of your spirituality staying tuned.
It is a difficult call on all the important levels, places to be, people to see. Spiritual practices and teachers.
With a good teacher the teachings are more internal. True to the silent teachings in Zen, the quips between teacher and student are easy to romanticise but the lack of talks and satsangs where you marianate in the being of your enlightened teacher are relevant to the degree that most of the work is needed internally and with a certain conscious effort on the part of the seeker.
So in my experience we need to be aware first of our internal reality and seek practices which feel integrous to us as we havent a hope in hell of recognizing a spiritual teacher who is capable of helping until we prepare the ground and begin to clear some of the debris which blocks our clear perception and awareness.
I have found many powerful teachers who really have something to offer and certainly can give something at some point but so often this leads to an addiction to their pressence and the inability to actually move forward spiritually. Of course Advaita may deal with this by seeing the goal in the moment and saying there is no goal. TRUE! But here we are getting sick and dying, sometimes it may feel we have transcended completely and nothing will ever take this away! This may last quite some time and seem to qualify us to start talking about it and sharing naturally to the ones who notice our glow.
Ask yourself if this is what you want, really? Or is this another fixation within that seems to solve all your problems?
"Opening in" one needs a certain level of help and I have found little that fits where I find myself. That is until I see that I attract according to the inner reality I am now living and seeing this projecting outside of myself. So the teacher I needed was an excuse on the deepest level simply not to do what is necessary to move on and through my present reality. Yes a level of freedom which felt final and forever had to ground out fully and karma's had to ripen first. Im just grateful that this time round I dont go out and look for the next way out of the task in front of me or rather within this body energy form I inhabit.
So before you look for a teacher take a look at the teaching and when you look at the teaching be aware of what it is offering. Freedom NOW! Great, good for you but you have had this already! You were a new born once and you may well return... but now for life processes and spiritual work! Work may sound hard and sometimes it is but when you find work that really works for you it is something which brings rewarding satisfaction on many levels.
Of course its great to have a taste of what total consciousness and connectedness, awareness and divine presence means. Still you have to eat and shit and find shelter while sustaining a reason to be here beyond any concept you can come up with, a reason to stay connected to spirit in your life. A sense of knowing when you are on the right track despite doubt or negative commentary somewhere within or reflected out there somewhere.
So I say it has been a long road so far and still I take my first step and bow down to those who are giving a way out of the constraints which bind us to any state and helps us along the pathless path to freedom. This way out is exercises designed by one who can give or prescribe the correct means to work on internal blocks and stubborn patterns within the energy body.
May you find the way and stick to it when recognised as time has its toll on you when you sit back and enjoy the ride before you are equipped with the correct vehicle.
There is a certain fate to finding real teachers that are appropriate for the time and place we are at within ourselves. Its easy to feel we must have an enlightened teacher and look for viable teachers who appear to qualify but from a beginning point of little internal awareness we could well find a self declared enlightened teacher who is not much more to us than an extension of our own inner constrictions or fantasised freedom from being individual and all the personal pain this may unconsciously represent to us.
We may even feel ourselves very "aware" and yet this awareness may be simply a keen, sharp and even subtle perceptive ability which may be grounded in the survival instinct and honed further by trials in our childhood to become real gifts of perception. Yet perception is one thing and awareness is another so its still easy to miss the important "tree" in the forest of other important "trees".
The tree you are looking for may have all the garb, the robes the talk the charisma or depending on your perceptive tendency it may have the opposite should you consider yourself more astute than to fall for the gimmicks in whatever guise. In the latter case you may seek out the unobtrusive tree hidden away not really trying to help you at all. This could be the one or it could simply be a teacher or teaching void of the ability to help at all!
Im speaking about a conundrum here and many have come to this point and honed things down to a teaching, a practice, a teacher which seems to fit. Yet is there a way of knowing? really? Even if what you are doing feels good is it doing what it should?
When the going gets tough we get going and sometimes this is good if a teacher is really not right for us {or anyone in some cases}. But what about genuine practices which are designed towards inner work and outworking the blocks to spiritual awareness? These can also get tough, sometimes tougher than any life experience as the challenge to our sense of who we are can go deep and the process at times can be long and sustained, a grind!
So if it all seems too good to be true it probably is. Of course all practices bring fruits but are they addictive in their nature such that you absolutely need to sustain them to get through your life with a sense of your spirituality staying tuned.
It is a difficult call on all the important levels, places to be, people to see. Spiritual practices and teachers.
With a good teacher the teachings are more internal. True to the silent teachings in Zen, the quips between teacher and student are easy to romanticise but the lack of talks and satsangs where you marianate in the being of your enlightened teacher are relevant to the degree that most of the work is needed internally and with a certain conscious effort on the part of the seeker.
So in my experience we need to be aware first of our internal reality and seek practices which feel integrous to us as we havent a hope in hell of recognizing a spiritual teacher who is capable of helping until we prepare the ground and begin to clear some of the debris which blocks our clear perception and awareness.
I have found many powerful teachers who really have something to offer and certainly can give something at some point but so often this leads to an addiction to their pressence and the inability to actually move forward spiritually. Of course Advaita may deal with this by seeing the goal in the moment and saying there is no goal. TRUE! But here we are getting sick and dying, sometimes it may feel we have transcended completely and nothing will ever take this away! This may last quite some time and seem to qualify us to start talking about it and sharing naturally to the ones who notice our glow.
Ask yourself if this is what you want, really? Or is this another fixation within that seems to solve all your problems?
"Opening in" one needs a certain level of help and I have found little that fits where I find myself. That is until I see that I attract according to the inner reality I am now living and seeing this projecting outside of myself. So the teacher I needed was an excuse on the deepest level simply not to do what is necessary to move on and through my present reality. Yes a level of freedom which felt final and forever had to ground out fully and karma's had to ripen first. Im just grateful that this time round I dont go out and look for the next way out of the task in front of me or rather within this body energy form I inhabit.
So before you look for a teacher take a look at the teaching and when you look at the teaching be aware of what it is offering. Freedom NOW! Great, good for you but you have had this already! You were a new born once and you may well return... but now for life processes and spiritual work! Work may sound hard and sometimes it is but when you find work that really works for you it is something which brings rewarding satisfaction on many levels.
Of course its great to have a taste of what total consciousness and connectedness, awareness and divine presence means. Still you have to eat and shit and find shelter while sustaining a reason to be here beyond any concept you can come up with, a reason to stay connected to spirit in your life. A sense of knowing when you are on the right track despite doubt or negative commentary somewhere within or reflected out there somewhere.
So I say it has been a long road so far and still I take my first step and bow down to those who are giving a way out of the constraints which bind us to any state and helps us along the pathless path to freedom. This way out is exercises designed by one who can give or prescribe the correct means to work on internal blocks and stubborn patterns within the energy body.
May you find the way and stick to it when recognised as time has its toll on you when you sit back and enjoy the ride before you are equipped with the correct vehicle.
