Is all these Maya?-Unreal?

  Why is living this material, physical life considered as unreal or an illusion orin the Sanskrit view is called Maya? Most of us would consider even the very idea itself is an illusion,perhaps a grand- illusion. However for thousand of years since man learned to think and analyze about the nature of our existence, this concept has been held as to be the truth by many major religions and spiritual teachings; what you behold in this physical realm is not real. It is, most have agreed to as mental formations, collective as well as individual; thoughts manifesting into forms and consciousness.Just as a sculptor would create a  sculpture out of a pieceof marble through his imagination and creative technique, so is the rest of forms that we see before us in and around ourselves are created through our collective imaginations, positively or otherwise; we created this Universe that we live in as they say. Far fetched? Perhaps. but for age man the inquisitive animal has dwell on this subject with deep consideration from every angles and aspect albeit scientifically or religiously. The enquirers into this phenomena have been relentless in the pursuit for a thorough understanding into the matter and those who stood in defence against this concept are no less as staunch in their stand.

So is this world of ours, this so called realm of existence real or is it just a pigment of our collective imagination? It is a question that we each have to come to our own personal conclusion just as the question, does God exist. At least for those of us who who have doubts and are not easily and blindly led by the faith and belief of the masses. We each and everyone of us have to seek and discover the truth to this enigma. The human mind is a tool that is not easily pacify by unproven concepts or realities, it is by its very nature a tool that dissects, investigates, until a right understanding is achieved and when this happens it is called enlightenment, minor or major depending upon the nature of this achievement. Eurika! Now i understand why birds can fly! Yes, this perhaps is a minor enlightenment, a state of what the Zen Buddhist call -Satori; I like calling inini-miracles. It happens to all of us at anytime of our lives and most of the time it goes unnoticed. Most of us take for granted that things just happens and no need to look any further just accept and move on, however some stop to think, to contemplate to ponder over the hows and the when and the why and these are the seekers, the ones that look witihin more so than without for answers. They are the ones that tries to connect the dots and complete the puzzle, they are often considered the radicals, the problematic ones by society at large as they find themselves at odds with what society has to offer them as answers.   

Science has been proving that matter is a flux of energy and subatomic particles being gathered together by gravitational pull and thus it is in reality the material objects including life forms are is essence made up of atomic particles. The theory of evolution further led us to beleive that man has evolved from the same single cell that all life forms originated from each evolving accordingly to its environment, and the adaptation towards the survival of the species. Against this principle, religions has doubted that the origin of man was from the lineage of the primates and man especially was introduced into the physical environment at a latter stage by the act of God. To doubt this is very serious offence in most major religions especially the mono theistic religions of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic faith. I have yet to come across any source of the Hindu and Buddhist stand on this issue; how was man created with the form that he possesses. Perhaps now that I have raised the question the answer will one day materialize in some form of scriptures n the Vedic tradition. In the Far Eastern countries like China, Japan and Korea among others there is no mention of how man evolved as a specie and it is almost as though t is an accepted fact that man simply appeared on earth as he is since the beginning. I will keep an open mind toward whatever will arise with regard to this knowledge and understanding. To me it is a crucial part of the puzzle that needs to be revealed for my own self discovery or the answer to my question of...Who or what am I?

Is this world we live in real? Is our temperary existence real? We have been given some time to find out and the journey to find out the answer lies within us for how we perceiive the world depends entirely on how we perceive ourselves. To perceive ourselves we have to journey inwards discovering the very nature of our genetic and spiritual nature; that which calls itself I. For eery lesson learned every discovery made, we unshackle ourselves from the conditioning of the external forms and we remove the veils that stand between us of what is unreal revealing the real. This we have to act upon and not merely acknowledge as a perception, we have to realize the truth behind all the falsehood and remove the darkness of ignorance by replacing it with the light of our inherent wisdom. Man is endowed with intelligence and if the theory of evolution is to be a criteria, human intelligence should by now become transcendental if not divine. In Islam it is said man has been placed upon this earth to be the caretaker and our intelligence is the tool that we are given in order that we may fulfill our designated task. However looking at where we are at and tha dire fate of the planet, it would be ironic that the reverse is true. Man has become worse than his fellow creatures destroying the very thing he has been assigned to care for. 

Self realization is the key to our very survival and to fully understand an accept the fact we are the specie that is at the very top of the food chain and at the same time the worse of the lot is answer to our predicament. We need to come to grip with the reality that we are responsible not only to ourselves but to the whole wellbeing of existence and in rder to realize this we have work to do. We have to educate or uneducate ourselves from the conditioning that we have been led into fro childhood, to realize that we live live on a borrowed time and that we share the smae fate as the rest of our fellow creatures. What we do with this our allotted time is decisive in ensuring that the God given intelligence and wisdom that we have does not go to waste or worse being put to negative actions. We have to earn  the right to become the caretaker or caregiver as the case may be and by our very nature help to heal and propagate wellness where suffering persist. If we are not able to do so, at the very least we are to resist from becoming the cause for suffering to others. By acknowledging that this life is impermanent and so is everything in it we must propagate the yer for the permanence that will help to keep this existence of ours free from excessive pain and suffering; this is the real.

       

Patience.

 Simplicity is not just about making life sipmle but also simplifying all there is to know and care about in life as I face all the odds that life has to offer and taking it as they say, easy. Life's complexity is all a manufacture of the mind that from day one of my existence has practically ran the show for my every experience. Sometimes life seems too complex and complicated too uddled and perplexing to handle and it seems like there is no way out and no end to this and I turned to NETFLIX and enjoy a series, However by stepping back and removing myself from the attachment to what was being presented before me I manage to slow down the loco-motion and make sense out of all the non sense that seems to occupy my(monkey) mind. Just as the mathematician brings it all down to the simplest formula a very complex mathematical theoretical equation, I try to sieve through my thoughts one at a time anddetach form their influences. What would be left would simply be the most recent if not demanding thought that needed to be addressed. This is best achieved through sitting meditation especially upon waking up early in the morning.  

I cannot emphasize enough on how important it is to sit and contemplate, ponder and reflect upon hoe one's mind functions even to the point of an obsession. Knowing the workings of the mind and understanding its pros and cons, like how it affects your daily moods is crucial towards self understanding; it is the antidote to depression and insanity. The mind is a good servant but a bad master, I have kept reminding myself, it can be put to use for you or it can abuse you worse than drugs; it's a necessary evil. Knowledge about the workings of the mind is not enough, the mind needs to be understood on the deepest level of understanding and in the end be cut off or discard totally from human consciousness. This is a tall order but it is not impossible to attain as ptoven by the great spiritual masters of the past. Whether in the Yogic tradition or the Zen, in the Sufi or the agnostic traditions of the great theistic religions of the world, the mind is considered a hinderence towards enlightenment; it is merely a tool to be honed and use and kept away when not in need.

Yes, ndeed like a broken rcord I will keep on repeating this 'Mantra' to myself that I am not the mind, nor am I the body. These are my tools of expression, my vehicle for transportation,while I am in this form of existence.Hence every now and then when I find myself in absolute silence devoid of any thought formations, I am able to askmyself ,Who Am I? Who is asking? In moments like these I can almost feel the voice of my Lord whispering within me; Patience, be patient, become a patient there is a whole lot of healing to be done yet, a whole lot of Karmic purification to be made. Patience! Ya Sabur, The Patient, is one of the Beautiful names of my Lord if not the final among His ninety nine attributes. Patience is an immovable virtue that protects and heals against all mental delusions, patience nullifies anger and various other strong emotional attacks to your heart, your soul. Sitting meditation is a practice of Patience.    

How to Slence the dual thinking mind.

Physical exercise of any kind is another form of keeping the dual thinking mind or the monkey mind as Sunryu Suzuki Roshi calls it, from wandering here and there. Whether you jog, do Tai Chi or Hatha Yoga, whether you dance or swim as your routine of exercises, if you do it consistently, you keep the mind occupied for a period of time. The more involved or vigorous the exercise the more you are able to still the mind. A 100 meters sprinter stops his or her mind from thinking absolutely,  he/she is frozen in the present moment focused absolutely on the run ahead. The sound of the starting gun triggers a spurt of energy unleashing the whole body nto action without a moment of thought, the runner seizes to exist,only running happens. The same happens in just about every sports activity whe performed with complete attention and determination; mind body and spirit merge to become one. In the art of Bushido, the Japanese for of martial art, the Samurai warrior trained to become one with his Katana or samurai blade. There seizes to be the man wielding the blade making the strike, there is only striking. The same is true with Zen and the Art of  Archer; man, bow and arrow and the target becomes one.

Yoga means to yoke or gather together or harness all the energies of the body mind and spirit together through some for of practice, whether it is through breath control as in Prana Yoga or physical exercizes as in hatha yoga or mind control as in Raja Yoga. In proper execution of each exercise breathing becomes the main focus, only through proper breathing can a perfect form be achieved in all activities. Hence in Zen practice, breathing is the key note to every action taken especially in Zazen or sitting meditation. Through right breathing the body mind and spirit states becomes aligned and a pure sense of peace and presence is achieved when this happens.When this is achieved in performing one's prayers, one becomes one with God; ther is no you and no God only prayer happens: form and emptiness becomes one, no worshiper and none that is worshiped.

Hence the silence of the mind through any form of practice when achieved effortlessly unites the mundane with the sublime which also happens when one witnesses a glorious sunset or a beautiful flower. In this pure sense of witnessing the thinking mind ceases to exist only te presence of the beauty is experienced n all its glory. The moment thought emerges to describe or even express this beauty, the experience is gone; this is the essence of desire, the desire to own, to cling on to, to prolong the experience, how often we say, "What a beautiful sunset, I wish I have my camera."

#sunsyusuzuki #taichi #yoga #hathayoga #rajayoga #zazen #bushido

Looking for the way out from mental formations.

And so I have often asked myself at the end of the day, how do I fit it all in, how do i finish this jigsaw puzzle of my life, how do I bring to a conclusion as to what is the truth or reality that governs this realm of my existence. iN SHORT HOW DO i MAKE SENSE OUT OF ALL THESE NON SENSE! ( accidental typo error seems apropos). All these years of accumulating and digesting knowledge from every possible sources are but mere grist for the mill, compost to feed the soil, the worms and the vegetables that feeds me. Past experiences from childhood to adulthood keeps popping up their heads reminding me of the time that was, but in truth has nothing more to offer in terms of my spiritual growth and development but just memories some of which are best left forgotten, buried for good in the primordial ground of my being as they have played their role and have become nothing more than an irrelevant baggage that weighs me down. It is again time for a good housekeeping, spring cleaning, lawn mowing project for the body, mind and the spirit. Easier said than done no doubt but it has been one of those practices that have carried with me this catharsis of the soul every now and then, especially when the septic tanks runs full and threatens to over flow. 

Much has yet to be learned and much has yet to be rid of and yes this is the ego voicing out, out of ignorance and wrong perceptions of what is the real and the truth;  that there is no mind nor is there any attainment towards being liberated from it. It is all a mental construct  the matrix of the mental state of consciousness conditioned by the illusory external manifestations or phenomena, the unreal. Running in circles is what it is all about, while packing the same old baggage looking for answers that are not there to begin with; a mental masturbation. In the mean time suffering persist within and without, it seems there is no end to it in sight. Why? How? When? If not now when? if not here where? Will there ever be eternal peace and tranquility while in this realm of existence? How deep rooted is my karma, how bad a sinner am I that I am haunted by so much discord, anxiety and fear? Or is it all just my conscience working overtime as I get older and approaching the hole in the ground? This is what being hauted by a Mayavic mind feels like, no matter how great a tstate the yogurt smoothy you hold in your hand you still feel like tere is something not right with your life. This is the monkey mind that rides your every moment in sleep and wakefulness no matter how comfortable your bed or how beautiful your partner or the day be; getting rid of this rascal is a prime directive for all those who seek sanity in life.

Acceptance and the feeling of gratefulness are all that I can come up with in facing this predicament; It is the healing potion that the ancient has handed down for man when dealing with a bad situation. I feel that it is a very potent advice and have been putting it to practice for some time now. Accepting a situation no matter how dire  it may seem makes it loose its bitterness, like adding sugar to black coffee. By acceptance I feel myself still in control and not the other way round, I make the choice of how to face the situation and not surrender to what is fated. Accceptance also gives me a chance to  step back and take a closer look at what is taking place, how I have allowed for it to happen and how it affects me and ultimately what can I do about it to change the scenario. Being thankful or grateful for the experience is again my choice of not allowing the event to take the upper hand in my life. No matter how negative the experience may be there is a lesson to be learned and I am thankful for this. Insread of giving in to my weaknesses of the past mistakes, poor judgments and so forth, I am able to turn the negative into a positive outcome. A Muslim will utter Alhamdullilah especially when he suffers from any tribulation, giving thanks to the All Mighty for the chalenge He has placed before him to deal with. In Islam, God is a Tester and everything that man faces in the course of his life is a test of his faith and wisdom in dealing with them. 

I made this observation as I am writing this post and it was not that i thought about it beforehand to come up with the answer, the answer has been in my heart all along just waiting to be be expressed. 

As I have eexpressed in the past time and again, I write it alldown not to advice others but to remind myself of who I am and what my strength and weaknesses are so that i can keep facilitating the healing process towards understanding my own mind, to use it rather than let it abuse me. Even if i feel I have touched the peak of the mystique mountain in my practice, I now i am still now totally free from my negative mental formations. 

There is no sure fired way to keep the mind in complete silence, however there are simple ways one can bring the mind to a gradual slowdown and become more stable. These are no Yogic gymnastics nor some mysterious exotic practice but simple day to day routine activities. Work is a sure means towards getting the mind to stay somewhat focus unto one subject or attention. The more deeply into what we do we submerge our mind the more settled it becomes not scattered into the four directions like wild horses dragging a chariot into four different directions. The Japanese Zen Practice has a period of morning work schedule for more or less house keeping. Here the idea is not so much as to do sweep or mop the floor, clean the altar or rake the garden, it is to mindfully observe the mind while working with the idea that it is the mind that is being cleansed. It is not surprising to find mirror like polished wooden floors and sitting platforms in the Zendo, or meditation hall, in old temples all over Japan  this being the result of years if not hundreds of years of doing "Houskeeping" Practice.  

"We sweep dust to remove our worldly desires. We scrub dirt to free ourselves of attachments. We live simply and take time to contemplate the self, mindfully living each moment. It’s not just monks who need to live this way. Everyone in today’s busy world needs to do it." ..Shoukei Matsumoto.

 This Mindfulness practice applies to all our daily activities whether we are cooking or carpentering, gardening or simply running a corporate organization,; Housekeeping comes first, purify and quiet your mind.

  

Trapped within Time and Space.

 

 Lost in time and space, is the theme of this an several others of the same style and technique, part of a series, The foot and palm prints are from afive year old girl who is now about 12-13 years of age. I can call this works lost in time and space for that matter. My artworks has always been created to capture the moment of what or where I was while executing them. Just as my journals and sketches and as now my bogging were meant to do, it is an effort o document each and every moment of my words thoughts and deed as closely and frequently as I possibly could. It was a thought promoted by J.Krishnamurti in one of his works that struck me as an impossibility, however now that I look back at it over the years, watching the mind, how it functions daily if not moment to moment is not impossible at all. One of the ways I realized is the fact that I have kept an on going journal in the form of writing, sketching, picture taking and various other methods that comes to mind that i can closely watch how my mind functions. 

Throughout this Blogging I have been documenting my journey in life as much and as thoroughly as i can recollect and after all these years and after some 2300 postings, one would think that i have gotten somewhere, learned something about my self or at least how my mind works. Not really, to accept the truth, far from it; I am still at a lost and in the dark as to who or what I truly am other than what i think of who I am or according what others think of who I am.I find myself time and again running in circles like ring around the rossies, and repeating the same old story or lyrics on a broken record. No the mind is a mystery that is beyond my normal and conditioned perception to grasp and grapple with; the mind is as slippery and can be as vicious as a rattle snake if not understood. The mind on the other hand is capable of creating the Universe and all that is within and without if fully understood; the Mind is just a word with no meaning or a Word that means God.

 Space and time are concepts almost all modern day thinking minds albeit scientists or otherwise are in agreement to this fact, however the question is how does man utilize this realization to fulfill his aspirations,dreams and vision about his life? How does he free himself from the conditioning of being in the state governed by the laws of time and space concepts; how does he free himself from this Maya. Not that he has to or must do so for any particular reason, but for the sake of his personal growth out of this conditioned and limiting state of existence he should at the very least try to have a handle on this phenomena. Man is trapped in Space and Time of his own  construction and consciously or unconsciously he has been struggling to be liberated from the concept, if not physically, spiritually.