The dark contemplation, aligned with the Spirit of Bodhi, descends like a blanket of divine darkness over the sensate and spiritual faculties of the adept. What transpires next is a refined cleansing of both faculties. Firstly, the skandhas are purged, awakening the bodhichild from its former slumber within endless cycles of desire—its eyes now beholding the undivided awareness power of the Unborn Mind. Now forming within the dark-garbha of superessential light, this child’s own Bodhisoul is marked with auspicious qualities of buddhaic grace, thus initiating its own baptism in union with the Unborn Spirit and Mind.

The purgation of the skandhas is most ordinary and can occur with regularity for even the most elementary adept. Whereas the illumination within the Bodhisoul is most rare and happens as infrequently as a flower appearing in the deepest snows of Tibet; one needs to be deeply attuned to the Power of Bodhi and disciplined in the Recollective Resolve whose constant vigilance awaits the arrival of its Imageless Master. Many adepts never grasp this divine self-realization and those who do cannot describe this ineffable state of grace.

Blinded by the skandhas, a young adept is bewitched by their influences and is inclined to favor their own inner-impulses and desires that hinder them on this path to Divine Union. If one fully attunes their dharma ears (dhammasota) to the ever-abiding and loving influence of the Unborn Spirit, these primal instincts and yearnings can be transmuted into the loving gaze of the inner-bodhichild, whose own recollective fervor is designed to transcend the effects of the skandhas in favor of its Bodhisoul’s exclusive union with the Unborn Spirit and Mind and no-thing else. In this fashion, one is liberated from their skandhic imperfections empowering them to enter into communion with the very vivifying Source of their self-nature.

Through this dark contemplation, the adept can now say adieu to their own imagination, as image after insatiable image is dispelled through the rays of divine darkness. One’s former discursive thought-patterns are now stilled as the sweet breathe of the bodhichild whispers its canticle of self-awakening… “Awake, O Sleeper, Arise from the dead, and the Light of the Unborn will shine upon you.”

Tags: bodhichild, contemplation, skandhas, Unborn Spirit

The incessant craving for remaining in ecstatic spiritual experiences that oftentimes afflicts the unwary adept can open the door to extreme states of spiritual distress. After the grand phenomenal and kaleidoscopic episodes have subsided, the self-absorbed soul will naturally find itself becoming embittered for its apparent loss. Accompanied with this collapse of grandiosity, the resulting void produces tension that is mired in incessant modes of irritability—so much so that after a while, it becomes nearly impossible for others to remain in any form of association with such a soiled mind.

Having experienced former states of bliss acquired through a myriad forms such as prayer, meditation, or even a drug-induced euphoria, the adept can indeed crave for continual and perpetual recurrences of these transitory states—much like an addict kicking and screaming for their next fix. If the adept doesn’t indulge oneself in these passing fancies, then one is not at risk for this spiritual distress. The act of grasping, as the Buddha would say, is the critical component in all of this since it is the very cognitive mechanism that leads to perpetual becoming which ignites the germ or seed within the Alaya-vijnana (Storehouse consciousness) that will only induce unending corporal confinement within the realm of samsara. This imperfection can be overcome the moment the toured soul surrenders to the dark principle of the Unborn Mind.

There are those who are inflicted with a different kind of spiritual malaise altogether—they incessantly scrutinize others with an aggressive and condescending tone that possesses them to perceive mere apparent transgressions. These self-made avatars perpetually elevate themselves to positions of supreme spiritual mastership, but in reality are masters of no position. All of this is quite the opposite of humility and gentleness of spirit.

Then there are others who, witnessing their own imperfections, choose to beat-up on themselves on the brink of self-effacement and masochism. This lack of patience with oneself is a false-humility—fully expecting to become a Bodhisattva in a day! There are many big plans here and hopes of high achievements, yet these false expectations only result in bitter defeat and disharmony. The greater their resolutions, the greater their fall into spiritual perdition and hopelessness; where is the patience here to await for the Unborn Spirit to reveal what they truly need on a day by day, moment to moment basis? They incessantly fall into an endless array of forgetfulness, neglecting to Recollect the ongoing need for purification within the Luminous Darkness of the Unborn.

Where are you in all this, dear reader? We can all learn from this instruction—including this writer.

Tags: dark principle, humility, patience, samsara

Being bestowed with the dark principle of the Unborn Buddha Mind opens the secret entrance to the Bodhisoul. This is truly a state of buddhaic bliss whose divine darkness blinds the obtuse body consciousness, rendering the reliance on its tired old tricks of maintaining a false sense of separation ineffectual and void in the face of this deathless love. The Bodhisoul is boundless and can only be realized when one discovers that all former spiritual experiences are pale and self-empty when compared to this dark contemplation of the imageless mind. Absolutely nothing is left now that can prevent one from passing safely through the gateless gate into the noble embrace of the Shining Ones who await those who have crossed-over from samsara, beckoning them to partake in the choicest wine of pari-nirvana.

The Bodhisoul knows nothing but a constant surrender to the dark wonder bestowed by its imageless master, as all former karmic ties to false paths and teachers and spiritual conceptualizations are burned-away in the ecstasy of Bright Bodhicitta that reveals true enlightenment: not some self-possessed commodity that is reserved exclusively for apparent spiritual avatars who are purportedly “in the know”—looking disdainfully downward on those who cannot traverse their vain and callous heights—but rather one who is now enraptured with buddhaic-light (en-lightened) as one’s former load and burden (inflicted by the false-ones) is fully “lightened” as the revelation dawns that one’s true teachers are the imageless ones.

When worldly pleasures feel vain and empty, when prayer and meditation run dry, when intellectual resources reach the stagnation point, when all else has failed and nothingness itself seems to be ruling the day, the dark night of the Bodhisoul will then descend upon you…empowering you to say in fervent trust: “Into your deathless hands, Beloved Imageless One, I commend my spirit.”

Tags: Beloved Imageless One, Bright Bodhicitta, dark principle, imageless

The 16th century Spanish Mystic John of the Cross was most prolific when it came to spiritual writing that focused upon “All-Created-Things” that could hinder the path to Union with the Imageless purity of the Unborn. Although catholic in expedient form and using language that needed to appease the religious authority of the time, one can still discern the hidden “arcane” reason shining through to help the adept on the road to full Recollection of the Unborn Buddha Mind. If read in light of the Unborn, then his writings can prove to be of help for those adepts who struggle with their own “practice”. His classic poem, The Dark Night of the Soul, can be read as a loving process that depicts the movement from created obstructions to the very heart and development of the bodhichild. (Bodhisattvic Child of Light)

One dark night,
Fired with love’s urgent longings
–Ah, the sheer grace!—
I went out unseen,
My house being now all stilled;

This “night” is darkness to the senses; in a very real sense, the adept is now “free” of their bewitching influence by way of the “Turn-About” and, fired with the urgency of the antecedent vigilance, invokes the recollective-power of the Unborn. The effects are very grace-filled indeed! The volatile mind is now silenced as the “I” evaporates in the ecstasy of the recollective vigor; “My House” meaning the presence of the Five Skandhas (form, sensation, thought, motion, mortal consciousness) are no longer effective and hence “stilled”.

In darkness, and secure,
By the secret ladder, disguised,
–Ah, the sheer grace!—
In darkness and concealment,
My house being now all stilled;

The luminous darkness of the Buddhic Light enhances securement from the former skandhic hold as if by a “secret ladder” ascending and descending right in the very midst of phenomena itself. The effects are very grace-filled indeed! The last two verses are a loving repetition of the recollective vigor.

On that glad night,
In secret, for no one saw me,
Nor did I look at anything,
With no other light or guide
Than the one that burned in my heart;

A further loving repetition of the recollective resolve; “In secret, for no one saw me”—meaning the gnostic and grace-filled moment cannot be understood nor recognized through the lens of skandhic perception; which, by the way, is an indicative reminder that phenomena is too ill-equipped and therefore void to the illuminating encounter; “Nor did I look at anything”—once again the “I” is absent since there is no phenomena for it to behold; “With no other light or guide Than the One that burned in my heart”—Indeed, the marvelous illuminating dark principle is all one needs since it is the authentic guide that is the constant pilot-light of the heart.

This guided me
More surely than the light of noon
To where Christ waited for me
–Him I knew so well—
In a place where no one else appeared.

IT alone is the guiding Light “More surely than the light of noon”—indeed! “To where Christ waited for me”—Christ—the anointed One of the Unborn, the great Bodhisattva Bringer of Light; “Him I knew so well, In a place where no one else appeared”—meaning, the “gotra”, the seedbed of the dormant Christ-bodhichild—a place where nothing else “created” appears.

O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united
The Lover with His beloved,
Transforming the beloved in her Lover.

A very significant and highly mystical verse; after the first two lines that sing further praise to the dark wonder bestowed within the recollective resolve, the verse depicts the actual “union” of the bodhichild with the Unborn. The marvelous moment of consecrated ecstasy occurs as this mystic child becomes transformed within Unborn Light Itself.

Upon my flowering breast
Which I kept wholly for Him alone,
There He lay sleeping,
And I caressing Him
There in a breeze from the fanning cedars.

After union, the language depicts the loving intimacy and careful nurturing of this Self-Actualized Child and future Tathagata.

When the breeze blew from the turret
Parting His hair,
He wounded my neck
With His gentle hand,
Suspending all my senses.

The opening line of this verse is reminiscent of a line from the Flower Ornament Scripture: “The pure light does not shine in vain–Any who meet IT, IT will cause to dissolve heavy barriers…” The purity of the bodhichild bespeaks intimacy with the Light; when one is attuned with this gentle Child of Light, a “spiritual wound” occurs–meaning the dark night of spirit now overshadows the garish light of the senses; thus dissolving and suspending them.

I abandonded and forgot myself,
Laying my face on my Beloved;
All things ceased; I went out from myself,
Leaving all my cares
Forgotten among the lilies.

This final verse depicts the total abandonment of the false-self through the abiding and total attentive care of the bodhichild; nothing else matters now but this persistent and vigilant attentiveness. ALL one’s cares are now forgotten among the lilies…

Tags: bodhichild, Darkness Visible, Parting His, Unborn

Essentially, metanoia (greek) means an inward conversion, a radical change of heart through the “turning-about” within the deepest recesses of consciousness. Jesus the Christ in Matthew’s Gospel account explains it thus, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matt 18:3) The Lankavatara Sutra calls this radical inner conversion, the turn-about—pavavritti—or a sudden awakening within the dormant bodhimind of the aspiring adept. In Unbornmind Zen, Jesus’ words ring true concerning the notion of becoming childlike in this endeavor, for it is the dormant gotra, or bodhiseed that gradually develops into the bodhichild (developing bodhisattva); it is this bodhichild that turns-about from defiled sensate phenomena and begins the process of Recollecting its true essential and primordial stature in the Unborn Buddha Mind.

Why this whole emphasis upon becoming childlike in order to realize the Nirvanic Kingdom of your Inner-Selfhood, or Dharmakaya? (ref: previous post) Without this metanoia, the weary samsaric soul remains bound to its aggregated perceptional environment, much like The Dhammapada describing a land-bound fish suffocating from lack of water. It is the childlike, receptive quality, of the inner bodhichild that receives the necessary buddhaic-grace from countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in order to break-free from the redundant cycle of dependent origination, thereby turning-back to the primordial pool of the Dharmakaya Itself. As Tozen’s Dharmakaya Sutra states, this is an imageless affair of true perfection within the Unborn Mind, devoid of the interference from its temporal consciousness. (Dharmakaya Sutra, 4:16)

Invoking metanoia is a true source of wisdom, of listening to the Unborn Spirit within the dharmawomb of the tatagatagarbha; this requires a fine-tuning of one’s own dharma-ear (Dhammasota), thus empowering and engendering the dormant gotra to awaken and claim its rightful affinity as a pure Bodhichild of Unborn Light. In this fashion, one becomes enlightened and enlivened with a new heart and a new spirit, wherein one’s stony-hearts from yesteryear slowly descends and dissolves away in the dark waters of Bodhi.

Tags: bodhichild, Dharmakaya Sutra, gotra, metanoia