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Jupiter captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

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idea

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So, to “translate” (in a meaning-ful sense to those not steeped in Tibetan Buddhistic traditions) this song, it is first necessary to understand that, in Tibetan Buddhism, Reality is divided—for the sake of understanding only, never in actuality—into two primary aspects, or facets, and these two are further anthropomorphized (symbolically rendered in human or human-like terms) into male and female. This can be seen in the above “Yab-Yum” (Father-Mother) image pictured above—one of many such similar but symbolically different images found throughout Tibetan Buddhism. So, to the song:

The great Vajra-penis of Means

Obviously, this refers to the “male” aspect, the “Father,” which is said to represent the aspect of relative reality, of this world, of manifestation and karma (activity and relationship), of the mind on a mundane, conceptual/emotional level, the level of mind-made suffering and samsara, but also of teachers and teaching and evolution; and therefore, this facet is also “responsible for” (and to) human life in this world, and therefore for the activity of compassion. This activity of compassion is “the great means.”

The Profound Lotus-vagina of Wisdom

The feminine aspect—the Goddess, the Mother—represents openness and receptivity as well as the dynamic (infinity energetic and creative) aspects of Reality. She is the Wisdom of Awareness: luminous, open, formless, boundless, immediate, all-perverse, Space-like, inherently empty and therefore teeming with infinite potential. She is the Wisdom of the immediacy of Being. She is Wisdom incarnate.

Unite together in indivisible Bliss-Emptiness

There is a level of awareness, reached in higher levels of meditative means such as Mahamudra and Tantra, where the mind-made sense of solidity and singularity and self utterly falls away, and with it the unusual boundaries, the reflexive cognitive constructs of self-and-other, of subjective and objective “realities,” of all sense of separation and duality—all of that evaporates; and what remains, what was always there beneath and behind and before, are the blissful energies and boundless freedom of our basic, insubstantial, fundamental actuality of Being.

And the bonds of samsara are spontaneously untied!

With this level of realization comes the sort of experiential insight that undoes all that habitual, reflexive, cognitively-constructed patterning—carried within and passed on by each of us in a blind, ignorant (unconscious) sort of way—that serves to create and perpetuate the pervasive sense of suffering that almost all beings experience. These patterns—the bonds—are undone through the wisdom that arises from a full understanding and acceptance of “both” aspects of existence, that is, of the Totality of Reality.

“The great Vajra-penis of Means

The Profound Lotus-vagina of Wisdom

Unite together in indivisible Bliss-Emptiness

And the bonds of samsara are spontaneously untied!”

- Request for the blessings of Drukpa Kunley, Nida Chenagtsang.

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Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, El Chalten, Argentina || eyes.abroad

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If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.

Wittgenstein

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The Basic Space of Phenomena

"Owing to their circumstances, among ordinary beings there is not a single one who is not a Buddha. Because their nature is in harmony with naturally occurring timeless awareness, samsara is never something existent.

Therefore, each being is naturally a Buddha.

Once one realizes what the process of birth really is, abiding in the womb is the basic space of phenomena, the coming together of body and mind is the connection between basic space and awareness, and abiding in the body is the three kayas. Aging is the falling away of phenomena and the end of appearances based on confusion, illness is the experience of the nature of phenomena, and death is emptiness, impossible to identify.

Therefore, ordinary beings are Buddhas."

~ Longchenpa (1308-1364)

Longchenpa spent extensive periods in retreat at Samye Chimpu, engaging in deep meditation and Dzogchen practices. These retreats were critical for his realization and for refining his understanding of the teachings. It was during his stay at Samye Chimpu that Longchenpa composed many of his seminal works. This includes parts of his "Seven Treasuries" (Dzodun), a collection of texts that are central to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. These writings synthesize and elucidate the Dzogchen teachings, making them more accessible to practitioners.

Longchenpa is said to have had numerous visionary experiences at Samye Chimpu, receiving direct transmissions and blessings from past masters and deities. These experiences further deepened his insights and understanding of the Dzogchen path. Although he primarily focused on his practices and writings, Longchenpa also transmitted teachings to select disciples at Samye Chimpu. His influence extended through these students, who carried forward his teachings and contributed to the spread of Dzogchen.

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When you’re mostly good but, well, you know…

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G’mornin

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G’nite. Luminous dreams.

Red Sprites over Oklahoma l Domenico

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Rafael Olbiński

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Casey Weldon

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Think of yourself as the sun. Everything you behold and touch is illuminated, rendered into shifting shape and form. Nothing escapes your gaze, your light, for wherever you turn, it is already there. Even space itself is filled with it, is utterly inseparable from it.

This is an apt metaphor for Awareness, for the nature of mind and its inherent space, clarity and luminosity. Your mind. My mind. All kinds of minds. Every sentient being. You.

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Clock time is not just making an appointment or planning a trip. It includes learning from the past so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes over and over. Setting goals and working toward them. Predicting the future by means of patterns and laws, physical, mathematical and so on, learned from the past and taking appropriate action on the basis of our predictions.

But even here, within the sphere of practical living, where we cannot do without reference to past and future, the present moment remains the essential factor: Any lesson from the past becomes relevant and is applied now. Any planning as well as working toward achieving a particular goal is done now.

The enlightened person’s main focus of attention is always the Now, but they are still peripherally aware of time. In other words, they continue to use clock time but are free of psychological time.

Eckhart Tolle