Ngöndro – Luminous Awareness Institute

Advanced Awakening Interest

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Wisdom Qualities of Tree

Tree is the dimension of the true healthy father. It is the felt experience of inner alignment down the central channel of our body. Tree is the discerning awareness, that recognizes all parts of the whole within each of us and their alignment with our true nature. From here, we can create a unified mind and feel our divine purpose and unify that purpose with the divine will becoming the embodied Bodhicitta, a being in devotion to being in service.

With the father line, or divine masculine, it’s more about being able to rely on someone, and have a sense that we are held and guided.

With the father line there is something that must learn to recognize that there is a ground that holds us and that there is a presence that guides us, and to trust that that presence is actually with us in every moment and with all things. And that presence, as we accept it into our being, becomes a deep inner knowing that is able to have an inner compass guided by God’s presence, this intimate here-ness that knows how to walk and not feel alone. That can feel the directions that we must step in. And we feel as if our feet are actually walking within God’s feet. Feeling as if our steps are guided, that our steps are not separate from a much larger stream of intelligence and knowing, and that that stream is serving that which must be served.

That stream is in every moment navigating circumstances. It is a feeling as if God’s light is pouring through the very center of our being, and lighting up our inner knowing, our interior navigator. And there is a sense that God’s presence is intimately a part of everything, and is like a reassuring guide that helps to navigate the challenging waters. That helps to be a light that can pierce through clouds or darkness. That can illuminate truth from delusion. That can recognize and know God’s wisdom.

But to be able to access this deep inner knowing that is interconnected with God’s knowing, that is guided by this ultimate Source, there is a need to have trust. And the trust comes only from the felt experience that “He”, this Source that is more as a Father, is with you, and in a reliable way: one that you can truly rely on.

That is always there. A feeling of a presence that doesn’t leave. For those of us who have had fathers who have left us, or with whom we haven’t felt deep presence, this is an experience we need to feel in order to break through the clouds of our early conditioning. We must come into our own direct connection with the ultimate Father as he is offering Himself in this intimate connected presence that streams at the center of everything. But to know it we must work with the parts of us that are afraid of untrusting, or that our own do-ers, our own parts that feel like we are alone and that we must guide ourselves… to know that that aloneness is the cloud – that sense of “it’s all up to me”, “I can’t rely” – that is the cloud, and it must be seen through.

We must pierce that cloud with this presence.

This presence can be felt from the everywhere-presence. But for some of us we may need a person to person transmission. Like in the minis in which we practice the bond, we need to feel this presence from other people who know it. We need to feel that this presence is with us, and that it is reliable, and that we can lean into this presence, and it will not go. The true father does not abandon, the true father does not judge, the true father is here with you, loving presence that supports and guides you in everything.

So we must come to recognize and know this Father, knowing that the ultimate source of this Father is this divine intelligence, this ultimate ground of this knowing. And we may need to practice this with others who can stand in it and help us recognize its truth and help the parts of us that have not been able to recognize this truth, and help those parts of us feel what they need to feel in order to process the clouds that are obscuring this truth from our experience and our awareness.

WISDOM QUALITIES OF WATER

“Water” is the boundless dimension of love – the source of compassion. It is the felt experience of interconnectedness and warmth, and the fullness of being. It is the unconditionality of awareness, without judgement, that recognizes the perfection of everything, that recognizes the quintessential preciousness of being. From here, it is easy to embrace everything, and for everything to be just as it is. When we rest in water there is a persistent subtle bliss that pervades the body.

From this natural dimension of our being we emanate warmth and live from compassion. What is the source of love? Our human love is the emanation of the source of love which is everywhere – our human love is the “here-ness” of the infinite. We are interconnected by nature, and all of our human needs for emotional presence, connectedness, and secure bonding, are met by this dimension as it expresses through us. This love is, and it appears through human connection, love, touch, and secure bonding. It is the presence that all of our vulnerable emotions need. This is also the natural sensualness of being, the bliss that arises when awareness experiences the texture and taste of life.

To recognize “Water”, this aspect of reality made of unconditional love and interconnection, we must work through that which veils us from what has always been here and from who we truly are. Water is what is always here, but based on how much obscuration we have to it, we either get a fuller or lesser taste of it. Another way to say this is: ordinary consciousness is just a filtered down version of reality. When I’m in ordinary mind, it’s reality with blinders on – we’re in a distorted view of what is already there. “Subtle” is just a less filtered version, and “awake” perception is a non filtered view of reality. The greater my awake awareness, the more awareness I have to recognize all that is of that, of the frequency of God. And, when we have an obscuration, it’s a holographic projection, meaning, the same obscuration will show up in all areas of our lives. For example, if I have difficulty feeling supported, I will perceive this is the case in my family, friendships, work, etc. If reality isn’t manifesting as an expression of enlightened mind, that’s because of all of the projections I have placed upon reality! And on earth, we are in a massive shared projection.

This metaphor of filtered versus unfiltered view of reality applies to our capacity to perceive all aspects of reality, not just the quality of Water.

In the example of Water, if you’re fully connected with someone, or with some people and not with others, or with a certain kind of love but not full love, you’re getting a certain taste of that totality. We can marinate in Water’s ultimate level (feeling the unobstructed full version) and then we can practice ways to experience it in life to the degree that we are able to be awake to it. In this way, we can practice how much we are living in this recognition, besides just meditating and getting a glimpse of it.

Ngöndro Teachings with Buddhist Monk Khedrupchen Rinpoche