Afleveringen
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The Brahmaviharas, or Four Immeasurables, are guides to infinite love for all beings. As I described them here, they are:
* Loving Kindness: An attitude of boundless goodwill toward all beings without attachments or expectations.
* Compassion: Arising from loving kindness, itâs the sincere commitment to work to end the suffering of all beings.
* Empathetic Joy: Taking delight in the success and happiness of others without envy or resentment.
* Equanimity: Remaining balanced and impartial through lifeâs ups and downs and accepting all beings as equal.
For many of us, the âall beingsâ challenge in loving kindness and compassion is to recognize that the pesky mosquito and the warmongering world leader are motivated by the same desire we haveâfor a life without suffering. Weâre asked to remember the pure Buddha Nature in each of them.
Equanimity calls on us not to be swept away with grief or joy. Even when we suffer a profound loss or rejoice in a soul-affirming gain, we recognize that the state isnât permanent and know we will return to equilibrium.
Empathetic joy may be even trickier. Consider this thought experiment as an example:
You have gone three years without a promotion at the burgeoning tech startup where you work. For months, youâve suspected that an ideal spot will soon open, so you have positioned yourself for it. You believe youâve learned all you can in your current position and yearn for a new challenge, status, and pay raise. When the announcement comes that someone else has gotten the job, along with it is an invitation to join a late-afternoon celebratory gathering. You donât especially like the successful candidate. Can you be joyful for that person?
That would be quite a test. I offer it as a sort of koan to rest with and consider.
Empathetic joy came to mind when I decided to ask From the Pure Land readers for some of it. I think of this blog, the associated podcast, and my soon-to-be-released book as my end-of-life missionâwhat I have to offer others (and, in the case of the book, augment my retirement income). So the email I received yesterday was soul-affirming. It was from my fellow Substack blogger Jim Palmer. I had asked him to read an advance copy of my book and consider writing a blurb. Hereâs his reply:
Mel Pine achieved something in The New Middle Way that I have never encountered before. He wrote an interdisciplinary book on Eastern spirituality that combined Buddhism, philosophy, and science. The truly extraordinary part is that he was true to each of the three without compromising one for the other. Perhaps even more astoundingly, this is not some heady discourse for a select few; rather, it presents a coherent and liberating approach to life that you could start living today. Whatever your current religious, spiritual, or philosophical views, even the skeptic, you owe it to yourself to read Mel Pine's book with an open mind and heart.
- Jim PalmerFounder, Center for Non-Religious Spirituality, and author of Inner Anarchy
We had not discussed the book, but what he described so forcefully was precisely what I had wanted to write. I donât agree that I did quite as good a job as he says I did, but I wonât argue. That paragraph has given me the confidence to change my bookâs trajectory. Iâve moved the release date up to June 13. The Kindle version remains available at $4.95 for pre-order. If you order it now, or if you already have, youâll receive it, and you will be charged on the new date.
The paperback, hardback, and Audible versions are not available for pre-order but should appear on the bookâs Amazon page on June 13. I may set up a way to buy the paperback or hardback directly from me, but for those who detest doing business with Amazon, Iâm sorry, but the ebook is exclusively available from Amazon for the rest of 2025 and the recorded version from Audible until 2032.
If youâd like to receive an advance copy of the ebook in return for your intention to write an honest review on Amazon or another website when the book is released, please join my Street Team (also known as the Advance Reader Copy Team). If you click here, youâll be taken to a page to download the ebook and join the team.
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Writing a book has taught me about many thingsâego prominently among them.
Over an almost 60-year professional career, I had come to think of myself as good at writing, editing, and managing publicationsâthat is, a person with certain skills. As I completed my book manuscript, I began to take on another roleâa person who has written a book and is shifting into the business side of publishing it. That involved two labels: author and independent publisher.
Labels, though, are fictions. The author label is particularly dangerous for the person being labeled. Itâs a built-in mousetrap set by the ego. As I became an authorâa label I had dreamed of since an eighth-grade teacher told me I could writeâI reveled in the word. In Buddhist language, the demon Mara was pulling me away from awareness and toward egotism. In the language of neuroscience, just thinking about being an author released more endorphins.
This is where years of awareness and nature-of-mind meditation are helping me. I havenât reached the point of being fully aware every moment of every day, but I have glimpses of what I am allowing my yada-yada-bada-bada mind to get away with. Thatâs why I decided to write this blog post. Iâm sharing my awareness in real time.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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On April 10, I posted the Epigraph and Introduction of my forthcoming book, The New Middle Way: A Path Between Secular and Ossified, which is scheduled for publication this summer. The book combines explanations of Buddhism for beginners with glimpses of the path that has brought me to a joyful life. The portion I shared on April 10 was largely anecdotal, so Iâm now releasing a more teacherish chapter. These two sections will remain available here on my From the Pure Land blog and podcast and on my new website for anyone whoâd like to read or listen to a sample of the book.
Please consider sharing this post or podcast with friends.
From the Pure Land has thousands of readers and subscribers in 38 U.S. states and 24 countries, and the podcast has thousands of listeners in 67 countries.
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And his website at https://www.melpinehub.com/
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The journey toward publishing my first full-length book is progressing better than I had hoped. I now expect a release date no later than August. Iâve begun an authorâs email list, website, and Facebook Page. The results from early reviewers are encouraging, with one reader saying:
The best book Iâve read on BuddhismâŠa gift to the world.
So, itâs a good time to make the bookâs first 2,000 words available to anyone who wants to read or listen to them. Please share this post and podcast with your friends.
From the Pure Land has thousands of readers and subscribers in 40 U.S. states and 24 countries, and the podcast has thousands of listeners in 56 countries. Visit Mel's Substack blog at https://melpine.substack.com/ and his author web page at https://melpine.me/.
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May all beings be happy. May all beings be healthy. May all beings live with ease. May all beings live in peace. May all beings live in pure joy, free from bias and hatred.
Words similar to those are expressed out loud or prayed silently thousands, maybe millions, of times a day around the globe. They are known as the metta prayer or blessing, and in meditation, they cultivate loving kindness toward oneself as well as others.
Find a favorite place to meditate. Get into your favorite meditation posture, whether that's sitting on the floor with your body in a lotus position or sitting in a chair with your feet flat on the ground. Whatever is comfortable for you, even lying on your back, as long as you keep your eyes open and stay awake. And even if you fall asleep, that's OK, too.
* Focus on your breathing and relax with every outbreath.
* Take a slightly longer than usual, deeper than usual inbreath, and even vocalize on the out-breath. Each time you do that, you feel yourself sinking deeper into relaxation. Aahhhh.
* Now you're letting your breath do what it wants to do. You might say that your breath is breathing you rather than you are breathing.
* And you bring your awareness to that. The air coming in, the air leaving.
* In practicing loving kindness, we start with ourselves.
* May I be happy. Just say that to yourself, silently or out loud. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I live with ease. May I live in peace. May I live in pure joy, free from bias and hatred.
* Now you might bring to mind your closest loved ones. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease. May you live in peace. May you live in pure joy, free from bias and hatred.
* Now, you might widen to your town, your city, your communityâwhatever group you feel a part of. May we be happy. May we be healthy. May we live with ease. May we live in peace. May we live in pure joy, free from bias and hatred.
* Let's expand out to your nation. May we be happy. May we be healthy. May we live with ease. May we live in peace. May we live in pure joy, free from bias and hatred.
* If you're willing, you might take a moment to focus on those people you feel harmed you. Those people that maybe you bear some resentment toward. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease. May you live in peace. May you live in pure joy, free from bias and hatred.
* Now to all beings, human and otherwiseâall sentient beingsâmay you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease, may you live in peace, may you live in pure joy, free from bias and hatred.
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The mind, hard to control, Flighty--alighting where it wishes-- One does well to tame. The disciplined mind brings happiness. --The Dhammapada verse 35
I realized this morning that, for me, the First PreceptâŠ
I refrain from taking life.
âŠapplies to the monkey mind.
Whatâs the monkey mind? Itâs that aspect of your mind that likes to chatter âbada-bada yada-yadaâ all day. It likes to travel through the branches and vines of your mind, leaping from one to the other while chattering loudly. It says things like:
* I want the bright, shiny thingâŠ
* Donât step on that crack!âŠ
* You forgot somethingâŠ
* Look how fat that person isâŠ
* What a dumb thing he saidâŠ
* She should watch herselfâŠ
* Iâm an idiotâŠ
* Youâre an idiotâŠ
* What going to happen to me?âŠ
* I donât ever want this moment to changeâŠ
Most of the time, it glides along, chattering one thing and then another. Sometimes, it gets stuck on one.
What a pest!
True. But some pests can be trained. The Buddha often spoke of taming the mind. Taming and training a horse or a dog starts with the two of you getting to know each other, gaining trust in each other, and becoming friends, with one of you being dominant. You want that to be you.
Iâll admit to not fully understanding each of the stages the Buddha described in his cycle of Dependent Origination, but somewhere in that process, in the earliest years of human life, the ego dominates the monkey mind, and together, they dominate you. At least, thatâs how I see it.
Developing a practice that includes awareness meditation eventually allows us to get past the monkey mind and make contact with the pure, unclouded mind. The more we do that, the more we can rest in that state and observe the monkey mind with dispassion. From that perspective, itâs almost cuteâlike a puppy stealing our socks.
Becoming dominant over the monkey mind takes time and effort. We learn to recognize when it expresses the egoâs grasping nature, which is pretty much all the time. As dog trainers often say, it begins with training ourselves. When we ignore the monkey mindâs ego-driven chatterâjust let it go without paying much attentionâit will calm and take more direction from our purer, nondual, more compassionate Buddha Nature.
As long as we exist in human form, we wonât obliterate the monkey mind or the ego, but they can become friends along the path. Thatâs what Iâve learned over the past year as my writing became my bodhicittaâmy deep desire to liberate all from needless suffering. If I didnât have any ego at all or any monkey mind thinking of ways to write better and more clearly, and ways to spread the dharma to more people, I would not be motivated to do much.
In this post, I shared advice on the subject that I received from scholar Thupten Jinpa, and in this one, similar advice from a compassionate dharma friend. Itâs a subject Iâve wrestled with.
In the last week or so, as Iâve neared completion of the manuscript for my book in progress, Iâve been awakening before the alarmâmy monkey mind active with ideas about improving it before it becomes final and spreading its (I hope) healing message once itâs published in a few months. I realized this morning 1) how unusual it is for my monkey mind to be so active, 2) how it has been active in the same way lately as I emerge from sleep, and 3) how it is helping me manifest my bodhicitta.
Can I be certain that itâs my tamed and trained mind working with me and not my ego-controlled monkey pulling me toward obsession? Of course, I canât. We can never be 100% sure of anything, but Iâm confident that my book is what I can offer the world, and wanting it to be a true gift is not a bad thing.
From the Pure Land has thousands of readers and subscribers in 40 U.S. states and 24 countries, and the podcast has thousands of listeners in 56 countries.
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Related blog posts at https://melpine.substack.com/p/thupten-jinpa-on-self-and-ego and https://melpine.substack.com/p/ego-bodhicitta-and-the-middle-way
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As I drafted the book The New Middle Way over the last eight months or so, my self-image changed. While my roles as husband, father, friend, student of Buddhism, and myriad other things remained, my identity as a writer, blogger, and editor began to change.
I was now working on the first full-length book to be published under my own name. As I researched, wrote, and edited my work, my confidence grew. Even though I relied heavily on my A.I. research assistant, Perplexity Pro, I began to own a feeling of expertise about my subject matter. As the draft neared completion and I decided to publish independently, I became aware of a new identityâauthor. And publisher, too, since I was going the independent route.
As I look back now, the writing and editing seemed to flow, although it didnât always feel that way. When the manuscript was largely completed, and I began filling in the bits and pieces that go into a published book, I got stuck on the âAbout the Authorâ feature. Itâs conventionally written in the third person in something close to ad-copy language, and Iâm not good at that.
I eventually asked Perplexity Proâs Deep Research feature to examine what it could find online about me and write a bio I could adapt or at least consider. The result gave me a lesson in self and non-self. Hereâs how it began:
Mel Harkrader Pine: A Spiritual Writer's Journey
Mel Harkrader Pine is a seasoned writer, Buddhist practitioner, and spiritual communicator with nearly six decades of experience in clear nonfiction writing. Through his blogs and teachings, he has cultivated a substantial following across the United States and internationally, offering accessible wisdom drawn from his extensive spiritual journey and Buddhist practice.
It was a shock, and it flowed on like that for almost 1,000 words. Granted, all Perplexity knew about me was what it could learn on the internet, and most of that was written byâŠme. If I were more widely known, thereâd be criticisms and negative reviews, but this was how I seemed to Perplexity.
Mission accomplished, as far as the âAbout the Authorâ chapter was concerned. I could use what Perplexity came up with as a start on the ad-copy language I needed. But the shock came from seeing me described that way.
From my perspective, Iâm a guy who gets up in the morning with an aching lower back, stretches to relieve the pain, recites a gatha (Buddhist verse) in his mind, listens to a playlist of mantras, checks his email, does a bit of writing, and then makes coffee. The rest of my day is spent learning, writing, recording, meditating (sometimes on Zoom with others), eating alone or with family members, streaming a video with family members, and perhaps attending an online teaching or retreat.
While Perplexity didnât get anything wrong in that first paragraph, what it described is not the âselfâ I feel like from the inside, and itâs probably not the person my loved ones describe to their new acquaintances.
So, who the hell am I?
Thatâs one of the many ways to understand non-self. The way we perceive ourselves and the ways that others perceive us are countless and subject to change at any moment. Reading myself described by a computer algorithm brought that home to me.
Here are the more traditional ways to understand non-self:
* The self is not a fixed entity but a constantly changing process.
* There is no inherent, independent essence that can be identified as the self.
* What we consider "self" is actually composed of five aggregates (skandhas): form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.
* The sense of self arises as a result of causes and conditions. It doesnât exist apart from those.
Maybe we can add a more modern understanding:
* We are not the people our computers think we are.
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When Dominique Side wrote a series on her Substack, The Softer Gaze, about her recent encounter with cancer and the resulting surgery, I thought that would make a great subject for her second From the Pure Land video interview. An expert on Buddhist philosophy, Dominique is a delight to talk with, as I learned in our first discussion.
I wanted to hear how her decades of Buddhist experience prepared her for illness and other traumas and share some observations on my own. While we were at it, I learned that she has a timely book, A New Way of Seeing, scheduled to come out in August, shortly before the planned September launch of my The New Middle Way. They both aim to help Westerners learn about and benefit from Buddhist teachings. If our books stick to their schedules, youâll have just enough time to read hers before starting mine.
Among the concepts we discussed in the 37-minute video were:
* The need to fully grasp and internalize Buddhist teachings to change one's priorities and approach to suffering, including illness and trauma.
* How it takes years to overcome our ingrained patterns and transcend needless suffering.
* How the understanding of suffering and years of meditating helped Dominique face her cancer diagnosis with equanimity, and without a crippling fear of death.
* The importance of a positive attitude and the need for a holistic approach to healing.
* The failure of medicine to help patients with the long periods needed to recover from illness and trauma.
I hope you find the 37-minute helpful.
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In my March 10 interview with Jordan Bates, he mentioned this quotation from Carl Sagan, the brilliant scientist and communicator:
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
Itâs one of the coolest things Iâve ever heard about the interconnectedness of everythingâwhat Buddhism calls dependent origination. I havenât been able to stop thinking about it.
My former teacher, the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, often said:
I think the word interbe should be in the dictionary. âTo beâ is to interbe. You cannot just be by yourself alone. You have to interbe with every other thing.
He called the order he founded the Order of Interbeing.
I decided to research other quotations on the subject and share them in this blog post and podcast.
Here are two from Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher:
He who sees the present has seen all things.
And:
All things are linked with one another, and this oneness is sacred; there is nothing that is not interconnected with everything else.
From Martin Luther King, Jr.:
We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.
From Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda:
Each form of life supports all others; together, they weave the grand web of life. Thus, there really is no happiness for oneself alone, no suffering that afflicts only others.
I especially like this one from the Indian mystic philosopher Osho, also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh:
No one is superior, no one is inferior, but no one is equal either. People are simply unique, incomparable. You are you, I am I.
Don Miguel Ruiz, a spiritual guide and author, wrote:
When you recover your spiritual nature, you recover the universal laws, the nature that you had before the separation.
Another one I love, from Austrian-Israeli philosopher Martin Buber:
The world is not comprehensible, but it is embraceable: through the embracing of one of its beings.
Finally, I know there are many fake quotes attributed to Albert Einstein, but this one is real. Itâs from a letter he wrote in 1950:
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us âUniverse,â a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the restâa kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish it but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind.
To close, hereâs a quote from the Buddha in the Dhammapada as translated by Gil Fronsdal. Itâs not about oneness. Itâs about the value of briefly expressed wisdom:
Better than a thousand meaningless statements Is one meaningful word, Which, having been heard, Brings peace.
***
From the Pure Land has thousands of readers and subscribers in 40 U.S. states and 22 countries, and the podcast has thousands of listeners in 55 countries. Please visit our website at melpine dot substack dot com.
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Since Kenna Day entered my life as my sonâs partner, Iâve enjoyed conversations with her, especially the probing questions she asks and the topics she raises on life, writing, and literature. So, I had the brainstorm of asking her to interview me for a video podcast. She accepted, and we both enjoyed doing it. We hope you enjoy watching or listening to it.
We did have some technical problems. Because I failed to push a button when I should have, the sound of Kennaâs voice had issues until I remembered to push that button. So, after Kennaâs first question, I had to edit out her questions for the first 15 minutes of the interview. Youâll hear her again after that.
We had some video issues, too, so the image freezes once or twice and then permanently at the end.
What did we talk about? Hereâs a summary prepared by a.i. and edited by me:
The conversation primarily focuses on Mel's spiritual journey, particularly his path to Buddhism. Key Points:
* Mel was drawn to Buddhism after experiencing one personal tragedy, his first cousin murdering his parents (Melâs uncle and aunt), and then intensified his spiritual practice after the accidental death of his son Thomas.
* He was initially attracted to Buddhism's emphasis on the present moment. Over time, he deepened his practice, exploring more esoteric and mystical aspects of Buddhism.
* Mel emphasizes uncertainty as a core Buddhist concept. He discusses the importance of "making friends with your mind" and highlights compassion, loving-kindness, and interconnectedness as key principles.
* He believes in personal transformation as a way to create broader societal change.
* Mel is writing a book about Buddhism and his spiritual journey.
* He had stopped all writing for a public audience five or six years ago because he let go of his ego.
* He restarted writing a year ago as a way to manifest bodhicitta (commitment to relieving suffering).
* His book aims to provide guidance for Westerners exploring spiritual paths.
* Personal Background: Born to Jewish immigrant parents shortly after World War II, influenced by family history of holocaust survival, developed early equanimity because of that.
* The interview provides an intimate look at Mel's spiritual evolution, philosophical insights, and motivations for writing his book.
From the Pure Land has thousands of readers and subscribers in 40 U.S. states and 21 countries, and the podcast has thousands of listeners in 55 countries. You can find the website at melpine.substack.com.
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* Whatâs ahead for spirituality in the West?
* What happens to us after we die?
* Is reality real?
* Are stories real?
* What is reality anyway?
* What is Buddhist emptiness?
* What is Direct Heart-Opened Experience?
* Are âmagic mushroomsâ an opening to transcendence?
* Is there a suprapersonal God?
Jordan Bates and I answer those questions and moreâŠ
Just kidding! We donât answer them, but we have fun dancing around them (and more) in this 55-minute video. We hope you have fun watching it.
Jordanâs Substack is Future of Wisdom, and his most recent book is God's Love: Medicine From the Ever Innocent Heart.
And a quick note: Buddhism is non-theistic but not anti-theistic. I donât tend to use the G word, but when others do, I think of it as the interconnectedness of the Buddha's Nature within every being.
Iâve started a thread in Substack Chat on post-religion. Itâs open to all From the Pure Land subscribers.
From the Pure Land has thousands of readers and subscribers in 40 U.S. states and 22 countries, and the podcast has thousands of listeners in 55 countries.
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It was a joy this morning to spend 45 minutes interviewing Tara Mandala Executive Director Cady Allione and Chögé Lisa Erickson about that worldwide organization, which was created by Lama Tsultrim Allione, who traveled to Nepal and India in 1967 hoping to learn to paint mandalas and ended up with that and much more. She was one of the early pioneers in bringing Buddhism to the West.
While Lama Tsultrim is on a solitary retreat, Cady and Lisa spoke with me about Tara Mandala, some of its programs, especially Feeding Your Demons, and its Yana social networking platform, which I find unique and encouraging for Buddhism in the West. Many Buddhist teachers, especially those trained in the East, tend to be cautious about providing space for students to freely share their lives and practices with each other. Oh, and did I mention theyâre mostly men?
If Buddhism is to flourish in the West, it needs more opportunities for students to build communities. Thatâs why I think Yana is a model. Itâs not only for those of us in the West, of course, but thatâs where most of my readers and listeners are.
I could go on about Lama Tsutrim, Tara Mandala, and Yana⊠But Lisa and Cady do a better job than I could hope to, so Iâll stop typing and encourage you to watch or listen to the 45-minute recording. As a prelude or postlude, consider spending six minutes with Lama Tsultrim on the feminine and masculine in Buddhism: https://youtu.be/BdYbSTc7l60
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The essence of my practice is connecting with my pure mind, or my Buddha Nature. Teachers in the Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions have pointed the way for me. If you are unfamiliar with the terms, thereâs no need to distinguish between these slightly different ways to reach that inherent Buddha Nature. Just find the teacher youâre comfortable with to help guide you.
Machig Labdrön (1055-1149) founded several lineages in the Mahamudra Chöd tradition. Chöd literally means cutting through. As a practice, it refers to cutting through the connection to your demons, especially the ego. Mahamudra refers to the clarity, wisdom, and emptiness of the pure mind, or Buddha Nature.
Machig lived to the age of 93 or 94. The teaching known as her âfinal instructionsâ or âWisdom From an Old Ladyâ expresses, as well as anything else Iâve come across, the mindset and meditation practice that lead one closer to the inherent pure mind. For those whoâd like to listen in meditation to Machigâs words, as translated by Tsem Rinpoche, Iâll read them slowly, leaving periods of silence.
âŠ(M)ind itself has no support, has no object: let it rest in its natural expanse without any fabrication. When the bonds (of negative thoughts) are released, you will be free, there is no doubt. As when gazing into space, all other visual objects disappear, so it is for mind itself. When mind is looking at mind, all discursive thoughts cease and enlightenment is attained. As in the sky all clouds disappear into sky itself: wherever they go, they go nowhere, wherever they are, they are nowhere. This is the same for thoughts in the mind: when the mind looks at mind, the waves of conceptual thought disappear. This body of ours is impermanent, like a feather on a high mountain pass. This mind of ours is empty and clear like the depth of space. Relax in that natural state, free of fabrication. When mind is without any support, that is mahamudra. Becoming familiar with this, blending your mind with it â that is buddhahood. Supreme view is beyond all duality of subject and object. Supreme meditation is without distraction. Supreme activity is action without effort. Supreme fruition is without hope and fear. This old lady has no instructions more profound than this to give you.
May we all find our place of rest in the nature of mind.
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My flow of blog posts has slowed because Iâve been finalizing my book proposal. Iâll have it ready for my chosen publisher by Wednesday. To keep my subscribers and podcast listeners supplied with a steady flow of my words of wisdom, Iâm making todayâs release of a draft book chunk free to all.
My experience in the writing, editing, and publishing universe confirms my belief in impermanence. Everything I plan and write now is tentative. Itâs a long way from final (if anything ever is). Todayâs release is for a book section where Iâll tell my personal spiritual story. Some of the content has appeared in previous From the Pure Land posts.
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I had the pleasure today of interviewing Beth Korczynski, director of philanthropy for Tergar International, Yongey Mingyur Rinpocheâs worldwide organization. Tergarâs reach extends worldwide, so itâs accessible to almost anyone at any level of experience in meditation and spiritual practice.
Beth and I discussed:
* Tergarâs culture of openness and transparency. The ethics of transparency.
* The Anytime Anywhere Meditation program, which can help with meditation for people with any religious background. Tergar trains teachers for the program, and you may be able to find one in your area by using this list.
* The Joy of Living program for a wide range of students and the Path of Liberation for those seeking to continue on a Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhist track.
* The book and course A Meditatorâs Guide to Buddhism for those wanting more.
* The character and commitment of Mingyur Rinpoche. His efforts to reduce the suffering of all.
You can watch the 53-minute video and a much shorter one from Mingyur Rinpoche at https://melpine.substack.com/p/the-tergar-bus-will-pick-you-up-anywhere. Or go to my website at melpine.substack.com.
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Maybe impermanence works faster in science than in poetry. I learned recently that the initial singularity model for what led to the Big Bang is already outdated. Who knew? It will take a lot longer, though, for poetry about it to be outdated. A case in point is Marie Howeâs poem Singularity, which I mentioned in a previous post and recite in this podcast.
Meanwhile, modern visionaries are combining philosophy with science, especially quantum physics and artificial intelligence, to grope for models of reality. I find the ideas of physicist Federico Faggin, who designed the first microprocessor, and Bernardo Kastrup, who holds PhDs in philosophy and computer engineering, fascinating and almost congruent with Buddhist teachings.
You can find a written version of my podcasts along with my blog posts at melpine.substack.com.
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What about fully claiming that Buddha within you? So many of us think weâre not yet there; we have more work to do before fully realizing our Buddhahood. We go from teacher to teacher, each telling us we fail to grok it because itâs so easy. Maybe thereâs one more book to read, or another thousand hours of meditation practice will get us there.
Iâm not knocking books and meditation practice. The proverbial God knows Iâve read plenty of books and meditated for many hours, but thereâs no âthereâ to get to. Our Buddhahood is already here. Iâm reminded of this quotation from Zen philosopher D.T. Suzukiâs book An Introduction to Zen Buddhism:
Understanding which does not understand, that is Buddha.
I hesitate to use the phraseâŠ
Fake it to make it.
Itâs not faking if itâs true. Maybe what Iâm suggesting is faking our level of conviction that itâs true. What if we stop waiting for a sudden flash of enlightenment and spend at least part of every day fully realizing Buddhahood?
Imagine how that would change our world. Weâd see a pure land everywhere we look and hear every sound as a mantra.
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Live your life fully. And use every moment, every opportunity, in a way that is beneficial for oneself and for others. If we live every moment the same, in a positive, peaceful, and kind way, then death is also another momentâthe same. So thereâs no difference. âDzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, as quoted in Andrew Holecekâs book Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition.
This From the Pure Land Post can be listened to on a podcast app or RSS feed. It can be read as a blog post or watched as a vidcast on my website, melpine.substack.com. It's a personal account of my evolution over the past year, the origin of From the Pure Land, and plans for the coming year, including a book project.
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Be careful.
The moment you start talking you create a verbal universe, a universe of words, ideas, concepts and abstractions, interwoven and interdependent, most wonderfully generating, supporting and explaining each other, and yet all without essence or substance, mere creations of the mind.
Words create words, reality is silent.
â Nisargadatta Maharaj
Billions and billions of words have been spoken and written to help guide people toward a state that canât be described in wordsâenlightenment. Billions and billions of words have been spoken and written about upÄdÄnaâthe Pali and Sanskrit word for the clinging and grasping that divert people from reaching enlightenment.
Getting lost in all those words is a prime example of upÄdÄna. Thatâs true wherever we live and whatever our ethnicity, but for those of European ancestry who live in the West, we love our words and either/or logic. We want answers, not questions. We want the truth to be either this or that.
One prayer used in Vajrayana Buddhist practice expresses an aspiration to âprecisely determineâ the meaning of the teachings we practice. Another aspires for âconfusion itself [to dawn] as primordial awareness.â By not choosing between the two, by accepting both aspirations, we gain experientialânot conceptualâlearning and wisdom.
If that last sentence leaves you scratching your head, youâre not alone. It took me more than three decades of meditation and guidance from inspired teachers to begin to gain experiential wisdom. As one of my teachers, Lama Surya Das, has said:
The scarcest human resource is wisdom.
I began writing this post with a different destination in mind, but I realize now that fewer words are better, and this is a good time to begin a period of meditation. So, Iâve turned this into a podcast with guided meditation and periods of silence. In the broadcast industry, they call that dead air, but silence has a beautiful life.
So, please find a comfortable, quiet spot and relax in whatever position you prefer for meditation.
You might close your eyes and find your pure awareness. In a moment, Iâll ring the bell of mindfulness three times. See if you can listen each time from that place of pure awareness, listening until the sound fades...
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Often, in Buddhist texts, the âeight worldly concernsâ make their appearance. This verse, for example, is part of my daily practice:
I will learn to keep all these practices Untainted by thoughts of the eight worldly concerns. May I recognize all things as like illusions, And, without attachment, gain freedom from bondage.
What are the concerns that taint daily life? The Buddha lists them in Lokavipatti Sutta. As translated by áčŹhÄnissaro Bhikkhu, the sutta begins:
Monks, these eight worldly conditions spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions. Which eight? Gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. These are the eight worldly conditions that spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions.
That passage never struck me as profound until I saw the âconcernsâ translated as âwinds.â Yes, most of us bend to the winds of:
Gain/loss,
status/disgrace,
censure/praise,
pleasure/pain.
With all eight winds, the compass heading is between attachment and aversion to avoid being blown off the path. Walk the path of equanimity.
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