★★ The green mountains and crystal-clear streams, the chirping birds and fragrant flowers ― everything or every sentient being in the universe is an eloquent teacher of Chan/Zen Dharma, who is always discoursing the Dharma at all times and in all places.

▲ The Chan/Zen Dharma (Buddhadharma) is simply one flavor ― the flavor of liberation through altruistic actions of ultimate no-self.

▲ Let the mind function freely with non-abiding in anything ― this is entering the gate of kindness and compassion, which dissolve suffering and bring forth true happiness for all sentient beings. ―→ This ordinary mind of non-abiding awareness is a mind of utmost freedom and liberation.

▲Take on the great vow by delivering all sentient beings, let go of all attachment by no abiding in anything. ― One is greatly liberated who can take things on and let them go simultaneously in peace and freedom.

★★ Traditional Chan/Zen Spirit
________________________________

● Chan/Zen practitioners should generate great vow [of vowlessness] with great confidence and great determination.

● Chan/Zen practitioners should tame the mind with "non-abiding awareness" in daily activities and Sitting Chan (Zazen); and for direct expression of the self-nature (Buddha-nature) on the path of delivering [of no-deliverance] sentient beings.

● Chan/Zen practitioners should maintain effortlessness and spontaneousness to tame the habit after complete enlightenment, and continue on the Chan Path (Buddha Path, or Bodhisattva Path).

● Chan/Zen practitioners should continue on the genuine great vow to truly deliver sentient beings with skillful wisdom; and to simultaneously dissolve the habit after ultimate complete-enlightenment.

● After perfectly dissolving the habit and attaining [of no-attainment] the supreme complete-enlightenment, Chan/Zen practitioners should continue on the manifestation of their compassionate actions of supreme no-self.

Sila pratelstvi, jdete spolecne na druhy breh

Knowledge is as infinite as the stars in the sky. There is no end to all of the subjects that one could study. It is better to immediately get their essence - The unchanging fortress of pure awareness.

~ Longchenpa

Though primordially we are not separate, not recognizing me, you experience me externally.

~ Yeshe Tsogyal

Within this fundamental nature free from grasping,
All the projections imposed upon phenomena,
Have never arisen and never ceased to be,
And free from the duality of perceiver and perceived,
One rests in the all-pervading space of equality.

~ Mipham Rinpoche

Let the mind be like the sky.
Leave it alone as if it had no object.

~ Machig Labdron

In brief, the practice of Dharma is to sever all that ties to samsara, to cultivate gentle love and compassion for all beings of the six realms, and at all times, without distraction, to thoroughly master your own mind.

~ Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro

Realization is not knowledge about the universe, but the living experience of the nature of the universe. Until we have such living experience, we remain dependent on examples, and subject to their limits.

~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

Parts 2 and 3:

Flashes of Consciousness

What exactly are flashes or moments of consciousness?

Using the paradigm of Dzogchen, all phenomena as well as moments of consciousness, are fundamentally empty of any substantive nature, like clouds, are a “known” event, and have a particular texture or energetic signature or formation.

So all moments of consciousness are empty arisings of particular energetic formations that are known. Clouds appear as grey or white billows of humidity; are known in their appearing to perception; yet have no enduring substance.

Moments of consciousness only appear in consciousness. There is no other substance in consciousness other than “mind” appearing as moments of consciousness.

Consciousness includes thoughts, images, a sense of subjective self identity, perceptions, mental states, memories and insights.

We only can know that which occurs in consciousness. We can’t know an “outside world” event other than as a perception known only within consciousness. Perception is itself a moment of consciousness, not a “seeing” or experiencing of actual phenomena that appear “outside” of our skin or head.

Seeing this clearly, a new avenue to the realization of the emptiness of self and all phenomena and all experiences; past, present and future, can be realized. All experiences only occur in consciousness, as consciousness, and are therefore empty of any intrinsic reality, like ethereal cloud formations.

No matter how dense and oppressive a moment of consciousness or state of mind may be, it never is more than an empty formation of consciousness that intrinsically self-releases, like a cloud in the open sky.

A complete release of the causative factors of suffering and confusion, believed to be real, can occur when the mind sees that all phenomena, events and situations were only “empty moments of consciousness” like ungraspable dreams and daydreams.

This is like the mind seeing clearly that a snake was only ever a rope. In this case it’s seen that all phenomena, experiences and beliefs of every kind, are empty of any actual existence.

It’s not to say nothing arises, which would be an extreme, but it is saying what arises has no reality other than being an empty moment of consciousness or mind; and that’s because all that is known are empty moments of consciousness flashing.

Part 3:

Flashes of Consciousness and Knowing Awareness

We have covered the substance of “moments of consciousness” as well as their empty nature in parts one and two of this series. But now let’s look into that which knows a “moment of consciousness” is occurring:

We know in Dzogchen that every moment of experience contains an intrinsic element that “knows” the quality, details and presence of any and every moment of experience. This knowing isn’t just a lively reactivity to stimuli. It also knows that it knows and knows the true nature of reality through its own intrinsic wisdoms.

Looking directly into this knowing, through this knowing, a vast dimension of wisdom and omniscience begins to fully unfold. These wisdoms and insights may occur as moments of clairvoyance, telepathy, and observations of inexplicable synchronicity. It also becomes perfectly certain that consciousness is not dependent upon a body or brain, but rather that the body and brain are dependent upon consciousness.

As subtle attention drops deeper into the knowing aspect of consciousness, the energetic formations of consciousness (thoughts, fixations and sense of self) collapse and dissolve, as the wisdom (prajna, sherab) reveals their intrinsic emptiness.

Here or at some point, localized consciousness collapses completely into the realm of Pure Knowingness (Dharmakaya), which is the empty and aware space in which all moments of consciousness are flashing, like how summer lightening flashes in a storm free sky.

This is the deep inner sky of changeless Knowingness, the empty, potential rich, space that gives birth to all moments of consciousness.

In Dzogchen we prioritize the cognitive aspect of this “knowing” (rigpa) as our point of orientation, as opposed to emphasizing either the emptiness aspect or delving into the nature of the energetic formations. All is revealed within the awareness nature of the “knowing”. This is the fastest way.

However, by exploring any of the three aspects of cognitive phenomena, the other two will also be fully illuminated, as they are descriptions of an inseparable, tripartite Buddha Nature.

I like to refer to the dimension of Pure Knowing or Pure Awareness (Dharmakaya) as the “9th Consciousness”, because all the other eight lower levels of consciousness, as described in traditional Buddhist teachings, arise and appear within the 9th Consciousness, like wispy clouds that appear and disappear in a vast and pristine open sky.

By orienting consciousness through a subtle inward glance into its knowing capacity, the stainless and ever-pristine dimension of the 9th Consciousness will be fully self-revealed and known.


KOCOURMIKES:

Primary and Secondary Consciousness

From direct experience that is also validated by Dzogchen and other similar traditions, I would like to clarify what exactly is occurring during what is ordinarily called “awakening”, “liberation” and “enlightenment”.

Our most basic and primordial consciousness is called the Mind of Clear Light, the Natural State, Buddha Mind and Rigpa. All these terms point to a permanent Consciousness that hosts all other states of consciousness and their content; much like a mirror that hosts all reflections. Although while hosting all lower states of consciousness and their contents, it never changes, just like a mirror being unchanged by its reflections.

The first evolutionary arising in the Primary Consciousness is a secondary consciousness (shespa) that doesn’t know and recognize its source or its actually being dependent upon the Primary Consciousness. Nor does it recognize that it is actually an energetic formation of the Primary Consciousness, much like the vast, clear sky manifesting clouds floating within it.

It is the secondary consciousness that wanders in the samsara of its own thought-up identities and mentally constructed landscapes. It is this consciousness that seems to wander, reincarnating from life time to life time and is the one that experiences suffering.

It is this secondary consciousness that when seeming to look inward into examining its own state of existence, discovers nothing is really there except thoughts “about” identity, but no actual self is findable within those thoughts. It is during such a revelation that the Light of the Primary Consciousness can shine through, leaving a profound impression upon the secondary consciousness. However, that experience usually becomes a mere memory over time, a memory that belongs to the secondary consciousness.

The problem with teaching the secondary consciousness is that it takes all insights and such experiences, and simply adds them to its endless collection of intellectual perspectives, most of which are soon forgotten. Hence its quest’s end never arrives, yet becomes ever more frustrating
as its efforts to exalt itself as being an “enlightened being”; totally free, impervious to harm and suffering, never occurs.

The secondary consciousness is a dense, contraction of the Light of the Primary Consciousness transformed into “thought”. The secondary consciousness is a thought form and functions only through and AS thought and conceptualization.

It’s a “trickster”, a “shapeshifter” that completely dominates our cognitive state of mind in every way. It’s a parasite that takes on a life of its own while feeding off of the radiant energy of the Primary Consciousness. It is the pseudo-entity that interacts and integrates with the bio-computer of the brain.

Keep in mind, all as described is no more than a daydream occurring as the mind of the secondary consciousness itself, and that secondary consciousness in the midst of its daydream is what is appearing like a holographic movie within the empty space of Primordial Consciousness, like empty reflections appearing and disappearing harmlessly in a changeless mirror.

In order to bring this experience of suffering, called samsara, to an end, the secondary consciousness needs to retract back into its source as the Primary Consciousness.

It’s done by the Light of consciousness itself, suddenly recognizing itself as being the Original Light of Primordial Consciousness. This is possible because the light that “recognizes”, is itself a lower, denser, harmonic of the Wisdom of the Primordial Light Itself.

What we call “recognition” is simply a sudden transformation of consciousness which is itself a dense, lower harmonic of the Wisdom (yeshe) of Primordial Consciousness. This is like an ice cube of water suddenly appearing in its less dense form of water vapor.

This moment of sudden transformation of mind into Clear Light, is referred to as the joining of the Mother and Son Lights. No joining actually occurs, rather the Son Light transforms into the Mother Light, it’s true, highest nature.

In that moment as experienced and known well here, consciousness is then known as being the Primordial Consciousness, without doubt, and without a separate possible “doubter”. You are then the changeless, transparent empty host in which all potentials as appearances arise and disappear.

The Primordial Consciousness has rediscovered Itself in that flash of gnosis. The “attention” of the Primary Consciousness had become absorbed fully into and AS its secondary consciousness as “sport”.

All we are doing in these traditions is reversing the arrow of “attention” from being fixated in and AS thought, back toward its empty Source. By simply relaxing and releasing “attention” from all thought and mental topics, the secondary consciousness dissolves back into its Source.

many do not know knowledge does not equal wisdom. Compassion and wisdom

Kabbalah and Dzogchen

"Meditation is a distraction. We imagine that if we learn this or that technique we will become holy. Does Torah say become holy or be holy? It says be holy (Leviticus 19: 2). There is no becoming, no need to change, no sense of time, progress, transformation, or journey."
Rabbi Rami Shapiro

From Rabbi David Cooper on Kabbalah "View":

"This definition of small mind is not intended to be interpreted as a demeaning notion for it is an all-inclusive representation of the way people see things, without regard to the fact that it includes all genius and all ignorance of human perception. So, Einstein’s equations fall into the category of small mind just as much as small mind includes someone who is considered mentally challenged because of extremely low intelligence. The essential point is that when the human mind is clinging to a particular thought-subject, it is in the realm of mochin de katnut ( small mind). Obviously, most of us live our lives in this realm most of the time.

In opposition to mochin de katnut, there is a realm of consciousness described in Kabbalah as mochin de gadlut, literally “big mind.” The awareness of big mind is not limited in any way by any of the variables described above. Big mind has no limit at all—it is aware of everything, everywhere, at all times. Indeed, it is primordial awareness itself.

Small mind continuously sees imperfections, it judges and criticizes how life is unfolding, it wants to fix things and make things better. Small mind also experiences strong emotions and is often dissatisfied and frustrated. But small mind is sometimes happy and even joyous. In the end, however, one of the most common conditions of small mind is its sense of confusion—it wonders often about how life works and if there is any purpose to one’s existence.

One of our predicaments in this life is our continuous propensity to be overwhelmed by the appearance of things and our complete immersion in the belief of our separate self. These two aspects of our lives are reinforced time and again, day after day, moment after moment. As long as we believe there is a central “me,” and that this “I” engages unlimited worldly objects, we are forever surrounded and immersed in the realm of small mind.

Yet, consider this idea of mochin de gadlut, big mind. It has the following qualities.

It recognizes each moment as perfect, just the way it is.

Big mind is equanimous about matters (but not apathetic), it is sharply aware of the conditioning that lies under all of our activities.

Big mind is never dissatisfied with the way things happen, it is a calm, expansive, spacious state.

It sees clearly the mystery of life and rests comfortably in the state of “not knowing” what is going to happen from moment to moment. Small mind has an urge to be in some kind of control; big mind recognizes that the intrinsic nature of creation is that it is unknowable and uncontrollable."

Isaiah 45:6-7King James Version (KJV)
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
King James Version (KJV)

Deuteronomy 4:39King James Version (KJV)
39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

"Some would argue that God is a divine spark inside things. Others would argue that God is a spirit outside things. God is not inside or outside. God is the very thing itself. And when there is no thing, but only empty space? God is that as well. Picture a bowl in your mind. Define the bowl. Is it just the clay that forms its sides? Or is it the empty space that fills with soup? Without the space, the bowl is not a bowl. Without the side, the bowl is not a bowl. So which is the bowl? The answer is both. To be a bowl, it must have both being and emptiness. It is the same with God. For God to be God, for God to be All, God must manifest as both being and emptiness. In Hebrew, we call being yesh, and we call emptiness ayin. And that is what God is: yesh and ayin.

Being (yesh) is that manifestation of God that appears to us as separate entities—physical, spiritual, and psychological. Emptiness (ayin) is that manifestation of God that reveals all separation to be illusory: the universe is empty of separate beings.

When eternity reigns, there is no yesh, only ayin; being returns to emptiness, and creation is no more. All is annihilated and empty of separate being."
Rabbi Rami Shapiro

"Devekut is a metaphor for self-unification. Devekut is a time when the outer person is revealed to be illusory, a figment of the language, an iron barrier separating us from God. Now only an unselfconscious awareness remains, an awareness that bears a wonderful similarity to the Divine. On Yom Kippur, a woman in my congregation offered a personal prayer in which she prayed for the wisdom to “wish to be who she was.” Devekut is when the one who asks and the one who hears become the same. We realize to our embarrassment that we have been who we were all along and that it was only linguistic convention that tricked us into thinking we were someone else."
Rabbi Kushner

"Ayin literally means “nothingness” or “the void.” It derives ultimately from the first principle of the Torah path, which is that God is One. Ayin is the state of complete Oneness (non-duality), by which is meant either God or the egoless state of a person who is in complete unity with God. The active form of this cleaving is often called devekut, literally “merging” or “cleaving.” Both Kabbalists and modern scholars have long recognized that there are several stages of ayin, or devekut. As Scholem wrote, “… there [are] different ranks of devekut itself, such as ‘equanimity’..."

"Ayin is a state of Essence. It is the Ground of Being. It is God itself. One may think of it as the quality of soul that is beyond time, space, or any corporeality. Each person may access this place.

In the truest sense, each person is this.

But it is unrecognized and unknown in most people’s lives. A meditation I use often in my teaching is derived from Dov Baer of Mezritch. Dov Baer teaches extensively about ayin in his book Maggid D’v’rav l’Yakov. The bulk of his teaching helps us to first perceive ayin as an “in-between” space. One homey example he gives of an in-between space is when an egg becomes a chicken.

It is the space that occurs after words are dropped away and before the next word appears.

It is spacious and without boundary. It is nothingness, but it is also Godness. It is the most profound of spaces. I direct my meditators to concentrate on this in-between place, allowing them to begin to experience ayin."
Rabbi Avram Davis

"This Light is the Ein Sof (the kabbalistic term for the “Empty God-force”), which is filled with boundless, creative strength. At this moment, and at every moment of existence, the Ein Sof is creating the entire universe anew in dazzling, cascading energy."
Dr. Edward Hoffman

"Jewish belief emphasizes that God continually creates the universe from nothingness. God continually is bringing existence forth from nonexistence. The doctrines and meditations developed in the early eighteenth century by Rabbi Dov Baer of Mezritch and Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev emphasize the importance of connecting with the undulation of nothingness and consciousness. Human consciousness oscillates between a state of void and a state of cognitive consciousness, the latter being born out of the former and then returning back to it. Among the later Hasidic masters, this approach produced meditative practices involving Bittul, the temporary negation of ego."
Rabbi Steve Fisdel

"Many Eastern meditations are the product of a realization that this world is an illusion—samsara or maya. Judaism also recognizes that this realm of our consciousness is false. We call it Olam Hasheker, the “false world”! Indeed, the Hebrew word for “world”—olam—has a truer translation in “hidden.”"
RABBI LAIBL WOLF

"There is a technique of meditating on ayin, on “nothingness,” which is traditionally seen as especially demanding and dangerous. It is also certainly the most open-ended of all the meditative techniques..."

"The best way to get a handle on ayin is to compare it to Buddhism. The Buddhist concept of sunyata (emptiness) is similar to ayin—not identical, but very close."

"You could say that these are two ways of describing an underlying reality that, presumably, is one and the same. But whereas sunyata is central to Buddhism, most Jews have never heard of ayin. Even in Kabbalah, it’s talked about very rarely. In Hasidism, it’s further developed, but of all the Hasidic teachings, maybe one percent is devoted to ayin. Yet, ayin is central because it represents the moment of transition from Infinity (Ein Sof) to the sefirot (chakras). Ayin is how God unfolds. Creation is rooted in nothingness. There are roots for this positive sense of nothingness within Judaism."

"Talmud states: “The words of Torah do not become real except for one who makes himself as if he is not.” Job asks rhetorically, “Where is wisdom to be found?” The word ayin in this verse is a question: “Where?” But already in the Talmud, ayin is interpreted as a noun: “Wisdom is found in nothingness.” In Kabbalah, it becomes Divine nothingness. Its roots lie in rabbinic literature, but Kabbalah expands this."

Rabbi Daniel Matt

No

It’s a simulator experience whereby ego dissolution produces light as ego returns to light body
This happens from an emptiness able to be distant from yet perceiving of this

These two things are happening simultaneously

It creates intense pressure vibration & ripping in “the body”

It is not comfortable nor pleasant in any way

It’s a direct hanging between the Void & creation

That which is universal has no opposites, and therefore no contrasting duality. It doesn't mean nothing is happening. Everything is happening. It is the divine paradox!

Universal love has no object. Outpouring divine love and service experienced as stillness in action have no object.

The beauty of it is that it is not philosophical. It is experiential. We certainly could never invent this in mind and behavior. There are no rules of conduct that can create this condition. It simply arises from practices and engaging in life. Love has its own agenda, and it is for us to let go in the divine flow. The world is being changed by this. So many have tried to catch it in a "mind bottle." That is not it. Meditation is it. Abiding inner silence is it.

The guru is in you.

The Self (emptiness) is radiant, its own source of joy, just as it is the source of everything. So, even while we are living as the witness, that radiance is bubbling from within our essence. That is what we mean by ecstatic conductivity becoming ecstatic radiance. If you are experiencing it as somewhat flat, closed, and alone, then there is more. The Self is the heart. If there seems to be a paradox in this (joy without enjoyment), that is the nature of enlightenment.

AYP Lesson 392 - What experience on the path is not a shifting perspective? https://aypsite.com/392.html