Relaxing into Meditation : Direct experience of who we are

"By letting go of thought we can discover the space of mind without thought. Through Letting Go the arising and dissolving of conceptual mind can be revealed as a wave that surges and breaks on the surface of the deep, still ocean of fundamental mind. Through discovering the quietness of fundamental mind we can gain direct experience of who we are, what we are and where we are, rather than trying to discover this through the ebb and flow of concept."

p80, Relaxing into Meditation, Ngakma Nor'dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2010, 978-1898185178

Spacious Passion: The development of spaciousness

"Through the development of spaciousness, our patterning can become totally open and transparent"

p146, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor'dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2009, 978-1-898185-07-9

Relaxing into Meditation : Daily practice

"Simple daily practice will gradually enable us to become less stressed, less emotionally churned up by the things that happen to us, and more relaxed about who are."

p80, Relaxing into Meditation, Ngakma Nor'dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2010, 978-1898185178

Relaxing into Meditation : Learning to be fearless and at ease

"Learning to be fearless and at ease in the empty space of the mind-mind without thought-enables us to be fearless and at ease when our life circumstances thrust us into moments of emptiness."

p148, Relaxing into Meditation, Ngakma Nor'dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2010, 978-1898185178

Spacious Passion: The still potential of the-nature-of-mind

"Cloud mind is the ebb and flow of conceptual mind, and Sky Mind is the still potential of the-nature of-mind. Clouds arise in the sky, flit across it and decorate it, but do not limit or define the vast empty blueness of the sky. Sky always has the potential for cloud to arise. Cloud is a natural aspect of sky, but sky is not limited by cloud. Sky exists irrespective of cloud, but cloud cannot exist irrespective of sky."

p19, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books, 2007, 978-0-9653948-4-0

Illusory Advice: Expectation and disappointment

"Silent sitting gradually allows you to let go of living your life through expectation and disappointment. While expectation exists, you continually wish your life to pan out in a particular form and become frustrated and unhappy when life has its own ideas and circumstances create a different form. Meditation enables these patterns of projection and wilful obduracy to reveal themselves – your patterning becomes transparent. Then you can let go of this patterning and learn to be comfortable in the present moment. Once you are able to live in the moment, the form of your life in that moment becomes available to you simply as the experience of as it is. As it is will always be perfect because it is as it is"

p212-213, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Cup of tea?

"Symbols exist in ordinary life. There are symbolic rituals around visitors for example. Your host may say: ‘Welcome. Would you like a cup of tea?’ They are not necessarily enquiring as to whether their guest is thirsty. It is a symbolic ritual of smoothing the movement into form of the new situation of a visitor arriving. It enables the host and the guest to become comfortable with one another. "

p200-201, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: When is a dog…?

"Unenlightenment is a bit like thinking you are a dog and trying to be a human being, when in fact you already are human. Others can see that you are human—it is obvious to them—and cannot understand how you think you are a dog. You need to let go of dog-ness and discover that you are human. The effort—to continue the analogy—is to not dwell or wallow in dog-ness, but believe in the possibility of being human. Practise being human by trying to walk on two legs and visualising not being furry. This is a method until you actually discover that you are human. In that instant there can be no method, only realisation."

p196, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Shi-nè, every day

"All practitioners engage in formal practice – it is too easy to kid yourself that you are practising when in fact you are indulging neurosis. We would strongly recommend daily shi-nè practice as a minimum. You will find that other practices such as yogic song, mantra accumulation, and sKu-mNyé will support the practice of shi-nè. "

p190, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Reference points

"Every time you notice that you are using something as a reference point, this is a spontaneous moment of awareness and something to celebrate. You can laugh at how silly you have been, for example, in getting all worked up about the fact that someone dismissed you as stupid. This might be because you like science fiction, or period drama, or soap operas, or whatever … . Tantra is intrinsically optimistic, because it recognises the energy of neurosis as no different to the energy of realisation. "

p184, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: The openness of doubt

"Doubts about a situation keep it fluid and available for examination – they leave things open. Openness—in terms of being uncertain of an outcome—is an experience of emptiness. Once you have decided definitely on one side or the other about a situation, then there is no longer openness and the possibility of working with the outcome. Once you have established a concrete view of how the situation should be, there is only the possibility of matters supporting or conflicting with that view. You will encourage and like the things that support it, and hit against the things that oppose it."

p183, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Purpose

"There is no purpose to life—in the sense of an ultimate purpose—there is only purpose in the moment. To give a simple example: there is a purpose in brushing your teeth because it will make your mouth feel nicer and help prevent gum disease so that your teeth don’t fall out. Your life will be more comfortable with a mouth full of teeth in healthy gums. However eventually your gums will rot and your teeth fall out—if not while you are alive, then certainly after you are dead—so there is no ultimate purpose in brushing your teeth. Being aware of the transient, in-the-moment purpose of brushing teeth, you do so conscientiously, beautifully, with presence of mind – brushing teeth becomes an art form. It has its own purpose. "

p172-173, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Secondary causes

"External factors spark patterns of perception you do not know you have. Life is a little like walking through a minefield – you never know when you may step on something—a circumstance of your life—that will explode a programmed pattern of perception. If the cause is not encountered the reaction will not occur. One of the principles of the monastic path is to regulate the secondary causes—in terms of life circumstances—as much as possible to avoid triggering unhelpful reactions that deepen patterning. The tantric path however says: ‘Bring it all on!’ so that you have the opportunity to transform distorted perception and response into enlightened perception and response. "

p168-169, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Does samsara really exist?

"Samsara exists because of duality. It can easily cease to exist in the moment through changing your view. Dwelling in the natural state would not mean that you lack the ability to act – your actions would be totally appropriate and compassionate. It is possible to be wrathful without being angry. It is possible to be destructive where the situation requires it without this being out-of-control energy. It is possible to make a stand without justification and self-protective posturing. To dwell in the natural state would be to be a Dharma warrior. "

p164-165, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Intensity

"When you start to practise more intensely all sorts of aspects of yourself suddenly seem to come into focus and insist you notice them. These have always been there, but safely tucked away where you could previously ignore them. This is what Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin calls ‘the hell of being a practitioner.’ Practice—especially Vajrayana—is like grabbing the bare electricity cables and inviting the shock. If the intensity is becoming too much, then ease off a little for a while. Engage in simple practice such as shi-nè, and inspirational practice such as Lama’i Naljor and yogic song. Physical practice may help as well. Perhaps have a few short practice sessions rather than one long one. When you feel a little more settled again you can increase the intensity once more. Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint and you have to learn to pace yourself – knowing when to ease off and when to push through. It sounds as though this may be a time to ease off for a while. "

p146, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: The Annoying Friend

"Sangha members are the annoying friends who help each other to be real in the world and live their lives as practitioners. They do not offer the comforting platitudes, but they also have to be careful with their directness. Sangha members do not want to add to the person’s negative view of themselves by confronting them with the cause of discomfort. Dwelling on shortcomings gets in the way of developing pure view. It makes it more difficult for others to view them as a realised being, and it makes it difficult for them to view themselves as beginninglessly enlightened. Remember that their miserable expression of their view of themselves is directly linked with their enlightened nature: their avarice with generosity, their anger with clarity, and even their depression with intelligence. If you can see this then a helpful response might suggest itself. "

p136-137, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Pure view

"To belong to a sangha and to be able to immerse oneself in the pure view of a practising Vajrayana community is an extraordinary opportunity. You can let go of self image and posturing; you can let go of needing to impress others or wishing to appear in a good light; you can let go of needing to be liked and appreciated, because being liked and appreciated is the ground of vajra sangha; you can let go of the fear of others’ limited views and misconceptions about you, because trust is the ground of the vajra sangha; you can let go of needing company and fearing isolation. You can free-flow in awareness-presence and discover the liberation of that experience."

p135, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Worthwhile pursuits

"Spiritual practice is a worthwhile cause that can succeed. The path is valuable and the goal is achievable. Only spiritual development steps outside the mere manipulation of the form of your existence. Only spiritual development can give lasting liberation and freedom from the dissatisfaction and hardships of samsara. It is important to free people from suffering in its most physical and gross form and give them comfort, so that they can discover the subtleness of dissatisfaction in the context of the comfort and pleasure of their lives. Then they have the opportunity to engage in spiritual practice. "

p126, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: Right livelihood

"We are all always compromised. Being alive is the cause of discomfort or death for other beings. Every time you cook, drive your car, walk across a lawn, take medicines, etcetera, etcetera, you are causing the death or discomfort of other beings. It is not possible to live in the world ‘purely.’ Your life is the cause of suffering for other beings. Everything is interconnected. Practitioners recognise their dependence on all other beings, in their ability to live their lives. They try not to do harm and to be of benefit to others within their capacity. "

p122, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Illusory Advice: The perfect parent

"The path of the Mahasiddhas is to live life exactly as it is and to enable that to be the path of realisation. Being a parent offers many opportunities for practice. You could become the ‘perfect parent’ and discover realisation through that as a method. "

p121, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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