A brief burst of enlightenment

In a recent Tibetan Buddhism class, I brought up the idea of the “holy instant” as
taught in the spiritual resource “A Course in Miracles”. I also mentioned a parallel idea from Japanese Zen studies know as satori. I was reminded by my teacher of a phrase that shares the idea of “the holy instant” or satori in yet another beautiful form.

The Tibetan Buddhists (he’s Tibetan) talk of “chula chu shakpa”, which translates literally as “water into water pouring”. The image that one holds in single-pointed meditation (sunyata ) is of water (mind of the
meditator) slipping smoothly into communion with all Mind (God, Higher Power, Christ Mind, Holy Spirit, Buddha).

The ignorance regarding duality smoothly disappears, and is replaced by the truth of Oneness. Sometimes the moment just prior to this is called “the direct perception of emptiness” or direct perception of “voidness” (the emptiness of things such as a tea pot from their own side). I find “emptiness” or “voidness” to be off-putting terms; poor translations into the English from the Tibetan or Sanskrit. The idea of water pouring smoothly from a pitcher into a larger body of water is easier to wrap my Western mind around. It helps with the terror of the ignorance regarding death.

 “I” (the water in the pitcher) don’t go away. “I” become part of something infinitely larger and so only increase, never diminish. Nothing takes anything away from me.

 “I” need fear nothing.

Fun stuff. Here’s a web page I found that if explains it in more detail if you have an interest. Please don’t be distracted by the cultural window dressing. Take only from it the core concepts.

 http://jampaydorje.com/index.php/2017/11/01/water-poured-into-water/

 Thank you for the time you took to read this,

 Timothy

Timothy Dey, M.D. is an expert with twenty years of experience helping professionals to think through challenging problems clearly. Dr. Dey makes a unique combination of educational assets and life experiences available to his clients. He uses advanced coaching, teaching, and workshops to provide a personalized best way for anybody to move from where they are to where they want to be. 
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