Red Hot Ramana

In a recent article, writer and speaker Robert Rabbin made a claim that is sure to provoke just about everyone. He writes, "Ramana Maharshi . . . didn't go far enough on his journey of self-discovery." Anyone who has been touched by this great sage will no doubt raise their eyebrows (or their hackles) You mean the one saint who deserves to be placed in the pantheon along with The Buddha and Christ didn't go far enough?

This is only the beginning. Rabbin adds that Ramana's problem is that "he only went away; he didn't come back." He suggests that Ramana needed to come back into a "full, robust, sensual, sexual, passionate embodiment of that silence." OK, I'm trying to imagine Ramana in a red sports car, with designer jeans and a t-shirt -- instead of his usual dhoti -- roaring around LA with a hot babe by his side as he heads off for some wild passionate sex. It just doesn't fit.

What Rabbin is trying to tell us is that for realization to be complete, it must be brought down into the body. If we stay off in some blissful state of pure consciousness, we are avoiding life. An interesting idea, but by whose criteria? If we want to remain stuck in ego -- and the suffering that comes with it -- we may want to follow Robert Rabbin's path. But if we want to find the peace that surpassses all understanding, we'll have a better chance with Ramana.

I agree that some teachings encourage a kind of spiritual idealism, which easily downgrades into an excuse for not being engaged in the world: "Oh, there's really no one out there, everything is One and I am That." But that's dissociation -- not awakening. True awakening is when the realization is expressed in one's humanness -- when it is lived.

The big mistake is to think that Ramana may have been "missing something" by not experiencing his full sensuality. In the way I experience Ramana, his inner silence is so vast that we are the ones who are missing out. There is more passion in that silence then there will ever be in the human body. To try and compare what the body can give you with that vastness is to miss the boat entirely.

I love that Robert Rabbin shakes us up and has us question our beliefs, but ultimately he is inviting us to stay stuck in duality (you can't have sensuality and sexuality without suffering). Do you want to be immersed in the happiness that is your true nature, or do you want to be torn apart by desire and suffering? Take your pick.

Puppy Enlightenment

Recently my wife Linda and I became parents to a three-month-old puppy who we named Ipo, meaning "sweetheart" in Hawaiian. I told Linda that I wasn't ready for another puppy, but when I took one look at him, and saw those intelligent eyes staring up at me out of the kennel, I had to trust that this was all part of some bigger plan. Ipo is an Australian Shepherd, one of the smartest breeds of dog you can find. Different from most other Aussies, Ipo is a tri-color, with a mostly black coat, some tan on his face and legs, and a white tummy. He will be the fourth Aussie I've owned, so I know what I'm in for.

I often have the feeling that Australian Shepherds are all former Tibetan monks who decided to come back into a dogs' body to be teachers for us ignorant humans. At least that's the message I've received several times when I place my forehead on the forehead of my dog.

If you're fully present and willing to listen, the deepest teachings are there in every moment.

Teaching # 1 Be Flexible

Instead of sleeping until 6:30 every morning, I am now woken at 4:30 AM by Ipo's soft crying as he asks to be let out. After wiggling out from under the bed, where he sleeps, he gently licks my hand. I get up, throw on some clothes, and step out into the early morning air. As I take in a few deep breaths and hear the sounds of birds singing, I think: What the hell am I doing up at 4:30? Then the thought: This is great. I always wanted to get up earlier. Now I can spend an extra hour doing some stretching and meditation. What a gift he's bringing me!

Teaching # 2 Be Creative

The only problem is that when I get back on the mat to do some stretching, Ipo is all over me, pawing me, climbing on my back, and licking my face. I can't help but laugh. Eventually I give up and try sitting, hoping he'll calm down if I'm still enough. I sit with my eyes closed, but within minutes he's all over me. Damn it. I'm trying to meditate here. This is important. I laugh again, seeing how caught up I am in my belief of what meditation should look like. Who says you have to sit up straight with your legs crossed? It's just another concept. OK, time to be creative. Why not try a Ken Wilber-style lying down meditation? I climb back into bed and lie on my back, watching my breath flow in and out. My mind is quiet. Ipo settles down beside me and is perfectly still. Exactly one hour later he gets me up for breakfast. Our little Tibetan monk is working on me.

Teaching # 3 Be Playful

In my life prior to puppyhood I treasured having three or four focused hours in the morning to write. Now, when I sit at the computer, Ipo comes in, tips over the wastebasket, shreds anything he can find, and cries plaintively. I get the message. He wants to play. Damn it, I hate to be interrupted. What I'm doing is "important"! I get up from my desk, grab his frisbee, and go outdoors. When I step out into the bright sunshine and see the miracle of the luminous green world around me, I realize he's giving me another gift. Soon he's flying across the grass, trying to grab the frisbee out of the air. I celebrate in his wild puppy energy and begin to play too. What is truly important in life?

Teaching # 4 Being Love

The deepest truth we can live by is dwelling in the unconditional love that we all are. What better teacher than a dog (especially a former monk)? Sure, Ipo has his own needs and demands, and is very clear about them. But there are moments when he is totally in Presence, his eyes staring steadfastly into mine, radiating a love that is without agenda, without expectations, and without judgment. In those moments he is inviting me to enter this sacred space with him. There is no difference between sitting opposite this radiant being then sitting opposite the most enlightened being on the planet. He reveals to me the Self that I am.

One Breath at a Time

For instant enlightenment, this is the test: Can you love during ever-increasing heaven and hell? David Deida

It's all very easy to talk about spirituality in the comfort of your living room or while attending a spiritual retreat where everyone is in bliss and enjoying three cooked meals a day. But life usually isn't so benign. What do you do when your partner has stormed out the door saying they are leaving? What do you do when you've just found out you have cancer? What do you do when you're totally miserable while stuck in a metal tube flying through the air at 400 miles an hour?

This thought came to me as I leaned forward with my head against the curve of the fuselage, my feet planted apart, while peeing in the lavoratory 37,000' above the ocean. It seems like the umpteenth time I've peed since we took off five hours ago.

Suddenly the floor bounces underneath me. Oh No, please not now.

"Return to your seats and fasten your seat belts," comes the voice over the intercom.

Still feeling like I need to pee more, I zip up my trousers and wash my hands. The face in the mirror looks bleary and red-eyed. I open the bi-fold door, cursing its flimsy construction, and make my way back down the narrow aisle like a sailor in a storm-tossed sea. As I fasten my seat belt, my whole body resists being crammed into the narrow, hard seat. My tailbone hurts, my eyes burn, my belly is distended, my feet are swollen, my mind is in a fog -- not quite the romantic image of flying "The Friendly Skies".

I imagine the Dalai Lama on one of his 18-hour trips around the globe -- dictating a new book, conferring with advisors, writing corresponence, preparing to meet with heads of state, meditating for hours on end. How does he do it?

Not by having two glasses of wine, as I just did. It's been a rough trip.

I'm flying 5,000 miles back to my home in Hawaii after a visit to the east coast in December. I thought I was going to freeze to death. I went from healthy to being sick in 24 hours. Before I knew it, my sense of equanimity and peace were out the window. Awakened or not, life has a way of throwing things at us to see if we're still identifying with ego or not.

Wow, did I get caught.

What can we do in these situations when life is not giving us what we want?

My way of handling it is "one breath at a time."

I sit back in the seat and close my eyes. I let myself become aware of all the physical and emotional discomfort. I drop all resistance and stay with the unpleasant feelings.

I repeat to myself -- breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out -- with each in-breath and out-breath.

Who is it that is having these thoughts? Who is it that is feeling this discomfort?

Joy comes and goes, pain comes and goes, suffering comes and goes. What is it that doesn't come and go?

Ahhh . . . something shifts inside and lets go.

None of this helps my sore behind or my burning eyes, but it does give me some peace of mind.

One breath at a time.

Finally the words I've been waiting for: "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be landing in Maui in approximately twenty minutes . . ."

The Dalai Lama Comes to Town

Along with 10,000 others, I crowd into the Maui War Memorial stadium to see his Holiness the Dalai Lama on his visit to Maui. Preferring not to pay $1,000 for a seat up front, I'm sitting about 100 yards from the stage in the hot Hawaii sun, peering at His Holiness way off in the distance. A big jumbotron screen provides a simulcast.

It has been a thirty-year dream to be in his presence, ever since seeing a video of one of his visits to America. His warmth and compassion draw me like a magnet. I may be here with 10,000 others, but the essence of this extraordinary being comes through as if we're meeting one on one. That is part of his gift.

As he enters the stage he brings his hands together in prayer position, giving everyone a warm smile, saying, "Aloha." He laughs (and everyone else laughs with him) at this being the one word he knows in Hawaiian.

Before starting the talk, he makes a comment about his translator: "He used to be a monk and now he isn't. That means you have one monk and one who is not monk." You can't help but like the guy.

His talk on "The Eight Verses for Training the Mind" is predictably esoteric, but the Dalai Lama somehow lets you feel he is talking to you and a few others sitting around him in a circle. "Happiness exists on the physical level and the mental level," he says. "The inability to achieve it stems from confusing the two, or not realizing the causality that links them."

Try as I might, I have trouble following his discourse, even though the topic fascinates me. It's no accident that I never became a Buddhist. I just can't seem to get my head around the "The Ten Stages of . . . , and the Six Agreememts for . . ." Instead, I'm blissfully happy just to sit in his presence and let the words flow over me.

Here is someone who is a living embodiment of what it means to live from an awakened place. His life is a demonstration of an unwavering focus on compassion and love as being the two most important values we can live by. His humility as a world leader and the 14th Dalai Lama deeply touches me. "I am not special," he says. "I am just like you."

What a blessing to have someone like him in the world as an inspiration for us all to be a little more kind, a little more understanding, and a little less ready to judge.

I’ve gained no wisdom, no insight, no mellowing. I would make all the same mistakes again today. Woody Allen

I welcome you into my cyberspace living room, where we can both support each other in awakening to the truth of who we are.

I do not consider myself to be any more awake, enlightened, or self-realized than you are. I’m not a Tibetan monk like The Dalai Lama; I’m not a brilliant philosopher like Ken Wilber, I’m not a revered teacher with hundreds of students at my feet. You may well wonder, as I did, “How can this guy do a blog on enlightenment when he doesn’t claim to be fully enlightened himself?”
I invite you to find out.
The thread starts here!
To start things off, here are some infuriatingly simple answers to some very complex questions:

Is there such a thing as reincarnation?

From a non-dual perspective there is no reincarnation. The concept of reincarnation depends on a world that exists in time and space. If who you are is Pure Consciousness, and that Consciousness is permanent, eternal, and formless, how could there be such a thing as incarnation? Yet in the relative world of duality there appears to be reincarnation. Both answers are true, depending on your perspective.

What about the laws of Karma?

Karma is based on the idea that there is a doer who must pay for his or her actions. It is based on the law of cause and effect. But if there is no “doer,” how can there be any karma? When the Self is realized, there is no karma.

Do I need to purify my body to find inner peace and true happiness?

Your body already is pure. Purity has nothing to do with awakening.

Do I need a teacher?

If you need someone in physical form to point you inwards and reveal what you already know, a teacher will appear, but it is not always necessary. The true teacher is within.

If it’s so simple, why can’t I get it?

Because it’s too simple.

Are there any practices I can do to speed up the process of awakening?

No. Just be quiet.

But what about meditation and spiritual practices?

Meditation and other practices help focus the mind and develop the witness consciousness, but by themselves will never bring about awakening.

What can I do to awaken?

Nothing. There is no separate “I” that can awaken. Awakening is an impersonal event. The only thing holding you back from awakening is the belief that you are not already awake.

If any of this excites your curiosity please feel free to join in with your own questions.

Always love, Peter