It just struck me this morning that so much of what I’m doing, exploring, and communicating is still basically dharma.
Phenomenological engagement
Navigating the Invisible World
The primacy of Empathy
and so on and so on.
I’m describing it in my personalized terms
But it’s all ultimately rooted in engagement with Consciousness
At risk of only partially understanding the Chinese translation, what about another side of the debate that there is no mirror or dust because the mirror is only in the mind, as well as the dust?
Firstly, happy to be able to discuss with you.
Secondly, the view you’re describing is fairly similar to part B. Not completely identical, but similar.
The first part says:
Bodily experience and substance are the foundation, the substantive medium, and the ‘tree’ that gives rise to Awakening, (or Awakeness might be better);
Mental awareness is the mirror that reflects the fundamental Luminescence that is Being
Always and ever with disciplined constancy must we polish and clean its surface,
So that we never allow dust to collect (thereby obscuring awareness of the fundamental nature of Existence)
The reply says:
Awakeness (as the nature of all existence) is not dependent on any tree
Luminescence (as the nature of all things) depends on no mirror
In all that is, there has never actually been any extant thing
And so where is there that dust could possibly gather?
So when you write that:
That is somewhat aligned with Hui Neng’s assertion.
Yet, in fairness to Shen Xiu, who wrote the first couplet, he never said that the dust or the mirror were not of the mind. He simply said that, whatever the origins of dust or mirror, our proper course is in any case clear: we must polish ceaselessly to avoid obscurement of view.
In some ways, it is an exchange between two contrasting but equally legitimate paradigms.
In other ways, it is a conversation about styles and attitudes of practice.
You’re thoughts are profound! Thank you! 
Somehow I found my mind processing that in yesterday’s meditation.
In today’s meditation, the mind was processing mid-90s to early-00s hip-hop collective, The Flipmode Squad, and one of its members, Rampage the Last Boyscout.
the mind processes what it will
I’m having a very interesting line of thinking lately that I think may indicate that Khan Black (in my custom) is currently integrating.
I’ve been noticing how ‘energy’ manifests diversely in various spheres and domains of experience: physical, emotional, mental, interpersonal, spiritual.
We give it different names depending on the sphere, but it seems that it may actually be one thing.
Confidence. Belief. Safety. Inspiration. Enthusaism. Vigor.
These are all expressions of Energy at various levels of our beings.
And I’ve been seeing how significant and potent of a resource this is. It can make the difference between focused effectiveness and vague hopelessness.
Interesting.
A person with a wise relationship to abundant energy can impose interest, meaning, and motivation onto a situation, object, or task.
Khan Black offers this capacity.
One of the main things that is changing as I grow is overwhelm and the role that overwhelm plays in my life.
Probably one of the main bottlenecks in my life.
I’m a big-picture thinker (I suspect). And development of a big picture view is one of the main processes that gets blocked and warped by overwhelm.
But I’m noticing a gradual increase in my capacity.
If that increase continues, the quality of my thinking will be vastly improved.
In my opinion, the real gift that a spiritual teacher, organization, or community gives to you is not the specific doctrines, concepts, or ideas that you might be taught; rather it’s this:
You get to borrow their faith and energy until you’re able to generate some of your own.
As usual, it’s either a blessing or a curse, depending on how things go down.
You know, I wondered about something similar to this.
As in what if the faith they give you is to generate faith of your own and then break away. As if the first faith was the test and being a heretic to it (thereby acquiring independent thinking) leads to having a faith of our own.
Does that mean Satan was the good guy all along? Not to be blasphemous but it is an interesting thought experiment.
It is also something that experience teaches you. That not all that we are taught is correct and hence comes the breaking off from the parent/authority/religion/political party. It’s a formation of individual identity.
To not be awestruck and in constant awareness of the miraculousness of Existence itself,
is a super-power.
I believe that the exact same process also leads eventually to a forgiveness of those exact same parent/authority figures.
A 20-year-old who is defiantly rebelling against their childhood structures and beliefs is understandable and is, in some cases, to be commended.
If that same person, forty years later as a 60-year-old continues to define his/her life primarily in terms of that rebellion, now it is sad.
If I blindly define myself as ‘in favor of’ you, that is not independence of view.
If I blindly define myself as ‘against’ you, that is also not independence of view.
The more that we step into our own power, I think, is also the more empathy that we have available to extend to others who have attempted to do the same thing we are doing: to step into their power.
We recognize–with dignity–our own imperfection, and we accept, as our sacred right, that we will continue to learn, grow, improve, and evolve as imperfect–but continually developing–beings.
Yet if we recognize and embrace our own imperfection; then it no longer makes sense to rail against the imperfections of those who have shaped, influenced, oppressed, supported, or constrained us in the past.
In the final analysis, they are basically the same as us:
Empowered and Imperfect, in equal parts.
The fact is that we are genetically ‘wired’ to worship Power, in all of its forms. Power is what humans worship. And have always worshipped. Consciously and/or unconsciously.
We may not go to a church or join a religion, but we spend and invest our emotions, our attention, our obsession, on whatever subjectively strikes us as POWERFUL.
Life-and-death. Money. Emotional attachment and Social Connection. Acclaim. Courage, Boldness, and Bravery. Competence. Impeccability. Food. Influence. and Beyond.
Look at these closely and you see they are nothing other than ‘the Gods’ that have been enshrined in every group and culture in the world.
Different names and clothes, but same archetypes.
It’s our nature to worship power. We’re not going to change that nature. But we need to understand it so that we can worship more responsibly. More intentionally.
I believe that the capacity for awe and the expression of awe are requirements of a healthy existential life.
Awe is Worship.
That anger against our parents, our people, our religions, our churches, our leaders. Yes, it is justified.
But it comes because, on some level, we still believe that they were supposed to be perfect.
We can join. We can leave. We can fight. We can reconcile.
But until we transcend the childlike need for them to be perfect and complete, we will not be free of them.
On the other hand, as soon as we embrace and accept them in their imperfection, we are free; whether we choose to stay or to go; to argue or to be silent.
It is my need for your perfection that enslaves me. It’s not truly anything that you do.
I believe that my responsibility and my task, then, is to work with my need:
All the while recognizing that I am doing so imperfectly.
And yet cultivating the humble courage to try anyway.
Wonderfully said! I do wholeheartedly agree.
5 days of rest so far. I think my mind is getting some much-needed room to process and integrate. I’ll rest for 4 more days and then return to subs next week Tuesday.
These are really crucial periods.
To me, Faith is having the energy to interact with something that you do not yet see or understand.
In other words, Faith is not unique to religious or spiritual settings. It is a core aspect of any context involving learning. It runs through all of education. As a child, you have no idea what physics is, but your trust bigger or smarter people who tell you that there’s something to it.
The same thing for every other subjects.
So, this is Faith, for me.
Like many miracles, it is very commonplace.
It’s the acting as-if a thing is going to work, even though, if you’re being truly honest, you have no experience at all with it.
Iydm, how would you advise building it? Had a bad day and feeling like I’m further losing what little I already have. Is it even desirable to build it?
What’s going on and how is it affecting you?
Bunch of IRL things led to a bad mood which had me questioning the point of persisting in anything, from beliefs to mundane practice, is it a ‘Job’ moment or is it a hint that I should give up on some directions.
A bit incoherent, so sorry to have intruded. 
Not incoherent. Just protecting your privacy and boundaries.
Believe me, I know the feeling. Hang in there.
On the positive side, these moments often precede major shifts.
After Saturday’s pushups, rested until Thursday night. Felt kind of tired, but didn’t want to wait any longer.
Push-ups down from 69.5 to 66 last night.
Paradoxically, felt happy about that. Not specifically because I went down.
Hard to explain.
I’ll plan to keep at it and stay with it, and gradually my count will go up.
I guess I felt good because it feels real.
I’ll probably stop taking longer rests now. I was doing it in an attempt to keep increasing in every successive workout. Trying to catch that balance point that maximizes both muscle recovery and strength gain. Where you’ve waited long enough that your muscle has fully recovered from your past workout, but not so long that it has started to lose strength. Now we’re in a different phase. That ratio is no longer going to balance out so conveniently every time. We’re past the easy, consistent progress stage. That indicates progress.
Anyway. Just felt like noting it down.
Finally switching over to this program now.
I think it probably suits my needs better.
