non-duality

It’s too ordinary to notice

~ Tom Das ~ 5 Comments

tea leaf

It’s too ordinary for you to notice.

Whenever you’re seeking,
Whatever you’re seeking,
You’re seeking something else,
A mental projection,
A fantasy.

The self that causes all the mischief,
All the suffering,
Is an imagined entity.
It is seeking its own end
– how absurd!

No-self is already here.
To notice this,
There is nothing that you need to notice,
(Nothing you need to do)
As it is always being noticed.
It is simply the totality of whatever is already being perceived,
And in that totality there has never actually ever been a perceiver,
The perceiver being an imagined entity.

Ask yourself “Who am I?”,
“What is the I”,
And you will find no “I” there,
“I” being just an empty thought.

Reality is simply that which remains
When no actual “I” is seen,
When things are seen as they are,
Which is always the case.

There is nothing you need to do,
Nothing to realise,
Only cease adding the notion of “I”,
Only cease to believe in that “I” for which there is no evidence.

Then the notion of “I” can still appear,
The “I” can still come and go as it pleases,
(for this “I” is just a thought,
and like all phenomena,
its appearance cannot be controlled,
spontaneously appearing and disappearing by itself)
But it is no longer believed in.

The “I” being seen through,
Reality shines by itself,
As it has always done.

This is nothing new,
I hesitate to say nothing special,
As it is also truly wonderful.

Reality being everywhere and ever-present
– what is more ordinary and commonplace than that?

Being fearless

~ Tom Das ~ 2 Comments

eagle

Being fearless,
The body becomes wide open,
The heart sensitive and vast:
All thoughts, feelings and sensations are welcome here,
Even fear.

Completely open
We truly feel.

Willing to feel,
We are truly alive.

Not resisting,
We feel whole, connected.

Not knowing what will happen next,
Isn’t this true freedom?

We don’t have to define reality

~ Tom Das ~ 3 Comments

Leopard

We don’t have to define reality
We don’t even need to see things as they are.
We don’t need to do anything.
Just this.
That’s it.

Naturally,
We already see things as they are,
Effortlessly,
It’s our natural intelligence,
(It’s not ‘ours’)
And wrong concepts are naturally dropped,
(Or maybe they are not).

Reality shines through all of this.
How could it not?

Satsang

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

meditation lake stones

If you have no questions,
We can sit here,
Selfless,
Self seen through,
And be.
This is the real sadhana:
Just an unforced appreciation of the way things are.

If you have questions, ask them, do not hold back.
The true answer is when the question disappears.
Do not cling to knowledge.
This is the advanced path for advanced seekers.

Tao Te Ching: Mastery of the world

~ Tom Das ~ 2 Comments

Tao te ching

This is one of my favourite verses from the Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese text overflowing with wisdom (If you have not read it, I highly recommend you do – it is easy to find a translation online).

Here in this verse we are instructed to let go, let go and let go again, until not even the notion of our very self remains. Here we have let go of all ideas of spiritual practice, of spiritual paths and of even letting go.

Then, perhaps, non-action will ‘happen’. This is the culmination of the so-called spiritual path: no-doer, nothing more remains to be done, nothing remaining undone – this is ‘mastery of the world’.

One who seeks knowledge,
learns something new everyday.
One who seeks the Tao,
unlearns something new everyday.

Less and less remains,
until you arrive at non-action.
When you arrive at non-action,
nothing will be left undone.*

Mastery of the world is achieved,
by letting things take their natural course.
You can not master the world,
by changing the natural way.

Tao Te Ching verse 48

*An alternative translation is:
‘When there is no doer,
nothing remains to be done’

Insight

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Insight is not personal insight.

With personal insight, you have an insight,
You realise this or that,
You realise x, y or z.

All personal insight is based on concepts or thought,
– they are all subject to change,
– they are all subject to doubt.

With Insight it is the person that is seen through;
Insight is there without a person having an insight:
Everything is just Insight,
There is only Insight.

Like realising the lake is a mirage:
Your personal insights and doubts were just ripples on its surface;

Then the whole of spirituality is done for,
No need for any of it anymore,
What else is there to do?
What can be done when there is no doer?

Is reality impersonal?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Children playing

This is a question that often comes up, and many teachers often state that reality is impersonal. I myself have written a piece stating just this (complete with an impersonal looking image). However, like so many things we can write and say about reality, it is often correct in one way but false in another. As I’ve stated many times before, reality cannot be captured in words.

We could say that reality is impersonal or both personal and impersonal, or we could say that it is neither personal or impersonal. All these statements would be correct in the correct context.

But are these statements helpful? To say that reality is either personal or impersonal is ultimately besides the point. The essential point is to see things as they are, or rather to stop believing in all our concepts about reality – then reality shines, as it always has done. Who cares if it’s personal or impersonal?

Continue reading →