Free Sample issue of The Empty Vessel - CommunityAwake

The Tao is simple and convenient. There is no needto seek afar, for it is right here at home … It is utterlysimple, utterly easy, there is no difficulty involved … Theridiculous thing is that foolish people seek mysteriousmarvels, when they do not know enough to preserve themysterious marvel that is actually present … So manyTaoists seek at random, all the while casting aside thetreasure at hand.“It’s Now or Never…”The “treasure at hand,” described by Taoists as the“precious pearl” and by Buddhists as the “wish-fullfillinggem,” is the luminous, infinite potential energy of fullyawakened awareness. This jewel is always shining righthere within our own mind and body from the day weare born until the day we die.It’s not something we mustseek elsewhere. “What is ofreal value is in ourselves,”writes Namkhai Norbu in TheMirror, “in our own originalstate: this is our wealth.” Thisoriginal state of awareness isknown in Buddhism as bodhicitta(“awakened mind”)and in Taoism as wu-dao(“realization of truth”), andit’s our most precious possessionin life, an infinite sourceof wisdom, compassion, andpower waiting for us to reclaimit. However, because welook for truth in “mysteriousmarvels” outside ourselves,rather than turning to theinfallible source within, andbecause we habitually mistakematerial possessions for wealth and force for power, mostof us go through life without ever discovering the realtreasure of truth, vision, and infinite potential which weall carry within us every moment.The moment itself is the ultimate marvel, and presencein the moment paves the way to mastery of all mysteries.What could be more marvelous than the infiniteenergy of creation that unfolds each moment in all themyriad forms of the universe, pulsing like a heartbeatfrom the twinkle of distant stars to the murmur of the sea,from the wind in the trees to the hum of the bees, from theradiance of a rainbow to the glow of a candle. The light ofpure awareness reflects all the manifold creations of universalenergy right here within our own minds, momentby moment, as clearly and unconditionally as a mirror.Since everything manifests from the same basic energy,every moment reveals the fundamental mechanism ofcreation and vibrates with the mysterious marvel of life.In order to become aware of all this , we must keep ourattention on the mirror of the moment and practice theMost people spendtheir entire livesroaming across thefrozen mindscapes of adead past and unknownfuture, completelyignoring the vibrantpresent.perfection of presence. Presence of mind in the immediatemoment permits us to experience the infinite marvelsof the eternal present. After we’ve learned to anchor ourminds here in our bodies by using breath as a buoy, wemust then free our minds from the trap of linear time byrealizing that it’s always “now,” and that the present momentis therefore timeless and eternal. A single momentof direct experience in the eternity of the present teachesus more about the true nature of time and reality than alifetime of study and thinking.Most people spend their entire lives roaming acrossthe frozen mindscapes of a dead past and unknownfuture, completely ignoring the vibrant present, exceptfor those rare moments when reality suddenly grabstheir attention with the proverbial Zen slap in the face.The fragmented segments of linear time as measuredby the tick-tock of the clockproduce the artificial mentalparadigm of a chronologicalpast and an imaginary futurethat stretch infinitely inopposite directions from thefleeting moment of a swiftlypassing present. Presencein the stillness of the eternalmoment produces theopposite effect—a directexperience of indivisiblewhole time in the seamlesseternity of now. This experienceawakens awareness ofthe timeless present as theonly reality, and shatters theillusion of past and futureprojected through the lensof linear time. What welearn from the practice ofpresence is that the only “real time” is now and that thepresent is the dimension of eternity.It’s always “now,” and the present is always herewhere we experience it, reflecting the whole universe inthe mirror of the eternal moment. The only reason mostpeople are blind to the vision of complete reality whichevery moment reflects is because they rivet their attentionon the express train of thought that’s constantly runningthrough their heads, rather than dwelling tranquilly inthe stillness of the timeless present. Someone once wrote,“Time is space thinking.” Since the mind is essentiallyempty, like space, it follows that “time is mind thinking,”which is the mental form of “doing.” When mindstops thinking, i.e. “doing,” and dwells instead in thestillness of “not doing” (wu wei), time stops, and mindexperiences the timeless state of presence in the eternalmoment, i.e. of “being here now.” Stillness doesn’t do,it just is. Stillness is therefore the master of presence: itteaches you how to “be here now” and experience CompleteReality in the Great Perfection of awareness in the42 Summer 2011