Planes

It is becoming clear. The way we interpret the different planes of past, present and future are based in ego and it is our ego that picks the channel, frequency or plane, if you will. Beyond the ego there is no judgement, let alone time, as there is just now and now is beyond judgement and critical thought. 

The ego also tricks us into such things as depressed or negative thinking - I shouldn’t have done that, it was a stupid thing to say, I shouldn’t have shown my anger, and so on and so on forever more - or not? Depression is a plane tuned into by the ego - it allows us to be distracted and offers a false sense of comfort and a reality that isn’t quite there. 

This channel allows us to feel like shit, because the ego knows if it keeps us on this plane then it survives and our true nature is suppressed. We buy into the game of non-living - the game of thoughts and illusions. On the other channels we have everything is fine, i’m having a swell time and other such delusions - delusions clearly work in many ways. The anger channel where we kid ourselves that it’s ok to loose our shit and get mad at our loved ones. So many frequencies for us to tune into - so fucking many. 

On the other end anything illuminated by what following the breath reveals, is of our ultimate true nature which is nothingness. And being in nothing you are ultimately everything. In the state of nothing we are in the true state where the only actions are that of compassion, warmth and so forth. It is in such things that are beyond concept, we find the beauty of emptiness. There is no true manual on such matters because they are of the deepest heart wisdom which is accessible for all beings if we just turn off the channels. 

Saigyō 5 Tanka translations

on this peak
between the lull of storms
my only companions
are the loneliness of retreat
and the sound of water
______

after my death
through the pines
through infinity
no one will mourn these ruins
no one will follow my footsteps
________

through my door
comes no one -
this lonely
mountain village
where i live in desolation  
________

empty cicada husk
this body sighs
in vain -
my love bound
in hopelessness
_______

all alone
in this rocky ravine
far from the town
- where no one can see me
I surrender to grief

(original translations)

Let go!

Heraclitus is possibly most remembered as stating that one cannot step into the same river twice. This is a very famous over used and somewhat misunderstood quote. One way to interpret what the pre-socratic philosopher was stating is that one cannot step into the same reality twice. Reality as a river then. We the pebbles and stones bobbing and ebbing, weaving and crashing along. Does a pebble know its nature? Can we? 

Generally we are pebbles that are generally unawares about what we know and cling to things rather than letting go into things as they are. Sometimes though we get a glimpse into reality as it is. There is a great existential weight to this realisation of ourselves coursing along in this stream. Dylan notes and bemoans in Like a Rolling Stone as the lead character in the song is bitterly thrown out of the hip life of rolling drown the river unawares trapped into the phenomenal clinging - 

You used to laugh about

Everybody that was hangin' out

Now you don't talk so loud

Now you don't seem so proud

About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel?

How does it feel

To be without a home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone ?

How does it feel? That metallic hollow lonely dredged as ghosts drag the chains of time through your sternum. How does it feel? Loss and the ills of reality. What remains? What can remain? 

If we look finally towards medieval Japan we can perhaps find our answer from Basho: summer grass - the ruins of a soldier’s dream

Let go! The grass will grow. The pebbles will roll. Float down stream. Dislodged and help the other pebbles along the way. The river will remain. The grass will grow. You can’t step into the same reality twice. You can’t live the same situation twice. Let go. Why hold on?

The Sangha hymnal

we take our seats
we follow our breath
everyone of us single and together
nothing and everything
in this world we resound
from and of this world we route
the life of this and that - judgement clinging ego
we follow the path
the mountain path
we humbly accept the invitation and guidance
offering prostrations to our guides
like lilly roots
through the mud we are nourished
invisible boundless
all nations all hearts indivisible
we follow the bell of our sangha