The Process of Learning

Following on my last post, I want to share this video by Sam Chin on the process of learning.  "There is nothing to learn."  What we learn is to be.  To realize.  What we don't want to do is build new habits, new conditions.  We simply realize things as they are and change with the change

Simple enough?  Yeah, right.

Dancing into '13

This year is almost over.  All-in-all it has been a good one for me.  Specifically, I have increased my focus on the Chen 48 form and have taken my meditation and Qigong practice to new levels of depth.  Of course, I have also spent time with the various other aspects of my path, but I put particular emphasis on these components.  The benefits are obvious and profound.  If I merely maintain what I have developed so far, my life will be all the better.  Of course, I will aim higher.  That's the idea.

At the same time, I think it is important to realize that it is not so much a process of gain as it is one of realization.  We already are immortal, we just typically don't realize it because of all the levels of ego.  The practice is a process of peeling away the ego, much like the layers of an onion.  At the core is The Self (Dharmakaya; Tao; Christ Consciousness; Buddha Mind; Brahman; I Am): pure, healthy, enlightened, aware, and awake.  Until we make that connection, we dance.

From Wayne Liquorman, of The Advaita Fellowship:

"Life is a dance. We are dancing...we are being danced...we twirl and spin and leap and exalt in the sheer joy of this dance. There are no wallflowers here. It is all dance floor. It matters not if we have a partner dancing opposite us. We are joined in the dance by all the other dancers. We are all in this ballroom together, bound by the music and compelled to move to its rhythm.

No it is not always graceful. We bump into each other, trip over feet...others and our own. Sometimes we fall.

Funny thing about this dance of ours...the harder we try the more clumsy we become. Our grace is in the letting go. When we surrender to the music it is free to move through us unrestricted. Our bodies and minds sway freely, smooth and effortless. It is ecstasy, in its purest, simplest and most mundane form.

We are blessed indeed to hear the divine choruses, even though
those who hear not the music, think we dancers are mad!"

So, dance your dance and peel your onions.
Peace and many blessings in the coming year.
Namaste

Warriorly Advice

From Buddhist Monk, Pema Chodron:

"Many of us prefer practices that will not cause discomfort, yet at the same time we want to be healed. But bodhichitta training doesn’t work that way. A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next. We can try to control the uncontrollable by looking for security and predictability, always hoping to be comfortable and safe. But the truth is that we can never avoid uncertainty. This not knowing is part of the adventure, and it’s also what makes us afraid." Excerpted from her book, The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times

Classical Bushido in Modern Japan

The practitioners of Katori Shinto Ryu are preserving the art of true Bushido in modern Japan.  Members of the dojo take a blood vow to live by the virtues of Bushido.  Such discipline is key to personal transformation.  Would that there were more examples of such virtue, dedication, and discipline here in the 21st Century.

From Empty Mind Films: