Forests of Imagination

From Dharma Art by Chogyam Trungpa

isbn 1570621365 p52 - 55

The question of reality is a very confusing one. Nobody knows, but everybody knows that somebody knows. That seems to be the problem we are facing, maybe nobody knows at all or maybe everybody knows. So we should not purely trust the information, suggestions and Ideas that come to us from external sources but actually work with ourselves and try to develop our own personal understanding and appreciation of reality. Reality seems to be the basic state in which we operate in our ordinary, everyday life. It bring some sense of comfort and, at the same time, some sense of confusion. There seems to be a basic play between the two

When we begin to perceive our phenomenal world, we do not perceive it as purely grey and nondescript, as though it were camouflaged. In fact, we see highlights of all kinds. For example when we perceive an ordinary object, when we take a look at an egg or a cup of tea, there is a sense of boredom, because such a thing is so ordinary and domestic. We already know what an egg is like and we know what a cup of tea Is like. But when we are presented with something extraordinary, we begin to feel we are being treated, presented with something extraordinary, we begin to feel we are being treated to a special show. So in either the ordinary or the excited state of mind, whether we find the world extremely boring or extremely entertaining, there’s always a sense of confusion and aggression.

Such aggression is an obstacle to visual dharma, to hearing and the other sense perceptions, and to understanding reality in its fullest sense. So some kind of fundamental discipline seems to be absolutely important and necessary. Without any actual practice of sitting meditation to enable us to make friends with ourselves, nothing can be heard or seen to its fullest extent; nothing can be perceived as we would like to perceive it. But slowly and naturally, through out discipline, we gradually begin to branch out into the real world, the world of chaos, pain, and anxiety.

When we reach the state of nonaggression, it is not that we cease to perceive anything, but we begin to perceive in a particular way. With the absence of aggression, there is further clarity, because nothing is based on anxiety and nothing is based on ideas or ideals of any kind. Instead, we are beginning to see things without making any demands. We are no longer trying to buy or sell anything to anybody. It is a direct anf very personal experience.

Our experience of the state of nonaggression becomes so personal that sometimes it is quite painful. Because all obstacles of any kind have been completely cleared out, for the first time we are seeing things from the point of view of pure vision and clarity. We bgin to hear music purely and see colours and visual objects in their fullest purity. When we become more sensitive to experiences in this way, they become more penetrating, and they begin to make more sense. Therefore, there is the possibility of irritation. But at the same time, there is also a lot of humour. We no longer feel that we have to hassle, or try to swim across the ocean of tremendous demands the world makes on us. We don’t have to push against it anymore. There’s a sense of clarity, which is extraordinarily pleasing, and at the same time, there is a sense of overwhelming precision, which makes our experience terribly painful. So we could say that this particular journey of seeing things as they are, experiencing the iconography and sacred art of the world, is a state of mind - as much as Bombay Gin.

Visual perception does not have anything to do with whether or not we are seeing colours properly. Even if we are colour blind, we can still do it. When we begin to see something, first we have the question of visual perspective: the world is framed by our eyes, so it has a sort of oval shape, or egg shape. We can’t see beyond the limitations of our eyes. Then we begin to smell, which goes on in the back of our head. We smell behind what we see. Some kind of commentator comes along and says that this object has a smell or odor to it. Not only that, but then we begin to hear that particular object from all around - not behind and in front alone, but underneath us and above us as well. We begin to touch, which is a very direct and forward situation. We begin to feel it personally, and we try to make decisions, saying , “I’ll buy it. I like it,” or “I reject it. I don’t like it.” The whole process takes place in a fraction of a second, very fast. Jing! Jing! Jing! Jing! That whole mechanism is very fast and very simple, and it takes place all the time.

As far as dharma art or absolute experience is concerned, along without experience we begin just to be with object perception, without accepting or rejecting. We simply try to be that way. There is a kind of standing-still quality, or stalemate, in which comments and remarks become unimportant, and seeing things as they are becomes the real thing. It’s like a frog sitting in the middle of a big puddle, with rain constantly falling on it. The frog simply winks its eyes at each raindrop that falls on it, but it doesn’t change its posture. It doesn’t try either to jump into the puddle or to get out of the puddle. That quality is what is symbolised by a sitting bull, so the frog becomes a sitting bull.