Non-duality

For those of you who do not have direct access to a ‘teacher’…

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

no-thinker

For those of you do not have direct access to a ‘teacher’ and who are genuinely interested in discovering what I call Freedom, no matter where you are in the world, you are invited to attend one of my ONLINE MEETINGS.

Please feel free to join me. No prior experience or beliefs are required (in fact leave these at the door if you can!), but your interest must be deep and sincere for the teachings to work. My experience is that most people tend not to be deeply interested in this, and our meetings tend to be informal, friendly and small. They also create a space where fellow seekers/finders can connect.

The next meeting is this Thursday 8pm UK time.

Even online, the teachings are powerful pointers and reminders directing yourself back to yourself, clarifying this ever-present mystery of ‘what is’, so do come along if you feel moved to.

Interacting with a teacher who has seen this for themselves, and with whom you resonate, can save many years of unnecessary seeking in many cases. Do not underestimate the power of direct interaction. It’s completely different to reading articles and facebook posts. This is not about you coming to one of MY meetings necessarily, but you seeking a teacher with whom you resonate and with whom you can trust on some level. (Of course, if that teacher is me for now, so be it).

Best wishes to you

🙏❤

For details of meetings I hold please see here:
www.TomDas.com/events

To join ONLINE MEETINGS please register here:
https://www.meetup.com/Non-duality-Kingston-London/

Zen story: Is that so?

~ Tom Das ~ 2 Comments

hakuin zen master
A scroll caligraphy by Zen master Hakuin. It reads ‘Direct pointing at the Mind/Heart, sudden realisation, becoming Buddha’ (Jikishi ninshin, Kensho jobutsu)

Here is another beautiful zen story, taken from the book ‘Zen Flesh, Zen Bones’ (compiled by Paul Reps). It melts me with its poignant loving kindness, and also manages to stop me in my tracks with the unconventional act of letting go when the time is right.

What do you think of it?

Here is the story:

 

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbours as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parent went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbours and everything else he needed.

A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back.

Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”

How do I deal with craving sense pleasures and neglect of spiritual practice?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

unplug

 

Q: What would you say to someone (me) who persistently or often craves and desires so that remembrance of the Self seems to get neglected for spells, like it is sometimes a second priority? Presumably it is good to analyse the desire and see that the pleasure from it cannot be lasting and suffering from not always getting the desire is inevitable and see that there is a greater happiness in the absence of craving?

Tom: What does your heart say?

Q: That I neglect my heart feeling  because I look to the Self as being outside the body embedded as oneness in the appearance of the world outside. I have actually just been watching your video with Roger Castillo where you talk about the yogic practise of abiding in the I AM . I used to be a lot more devotional early on in my seeking, now I feel I neglect that aspect, thanks Tom.

Tom: Be with your heart ❤ Don’t neglect the powerful devotional instinct if it moves you. Fall flat on your front and prostrate yourself if need be. Pour out your heart and soul in prayer, if moved to. Weep and worship, if called. And let me know how you’re doing ❤🙏❤ Many thanks for your questions 🙏

God and Guru are outdated

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Following my recent post: ‘Do real gurus use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, have websites and advertise?’, I received a few comments stating that words like ‘God’ and ‘Guru’ are outdated. And in many ways I agree. Both these words conjure up images of a patriarchal authoritarian culture of religion that is based in blind faith and superstition. However, here was my response to some of those comments:

Tom: I’ve noticed that words are very individual in how one relates to them. Some people are positively allergic to words like God and Guru, others revel in them, and many are somewhere in between.

No matter what words we use or do not use, some people will resonate, some people will not. In my view, we give ourselves the best chance to awaken when we see past the superficiality of the words used and look instead to what they point to.

When I was seeking, I gobbled up all the teachings I could find: theistic, non-theist, new-age, faith-based, understanding-based, practices, no practices – you name it, I was there, looking beyond the words, attempting to discover the substance beneath it.

What do you think? How do you seek (if you seek)? What resonates with you?

Peace to you all

❤

Clarifications on Self-Enquiry

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Q. ​Hi Tom, when Ramana says in the book  ‘Who am I’ ‘cultivate the constant and deep contemplative ‘remembrance’ (smrti) of the true nature of the Self’ – would this be like repeatedly bringing the attention back to what is here now with the understanding that the Self is all that is?

Tom: Not quite, although that can be part of it. It means to know:

(1) the essence of who you are, experientially, is unchanging and is also unaffected by gross and subtle objects

(2) there is no lasting fulfillment in objects, which are all transient

(3) the essence of you does nothing (the self is not a doer)

(4) it means to lose interest in objects as sources of pleasure, happiness or fulfillment as we bathe in the bliss of simply being (ourselves).

All this is captured by the words sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss), which indicate the nature of the Self.

Turn away from the gross and subtle world-objects.

Not allowing the concept/thought ‘I’ to rise up, wielding the weapon ‘who am I’ to strike down any such thoughts, remain as the Self.

If this all sounds too complex, don’t worry: it is intuitively ‘grasped’, so to speak, through simply allowing the mind to rest and be still and allowing ‘the truth’, so to speak, to arise within naturally.