Dalai Lama on his awakening at 35

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Kim _, modified 8 Years ago at 1/5/16 2:05 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 1/5/16 2:05 AM

Dalai Lama on his awakening at 35

Posts: 708 Join Date: 2/5/13 Recent Posts
The Dalai Lama talks about his awakening. I'm soo-oo happy to see
someone as highly regarded as he is, telling all this publicly...

The Dalai Lama shared:

"When I was about thirty-five years old, I was reflecting on the
meaning of a passage by Tsongkhapa about how the “I” cannot be found
either within or separate from the mind-body complex and how the “I”
depends for its existence on conceptuality. Here is the passage:
'A coiled rope’s speckled color and coiled form are similar to those of a
snake, and when the rope is perceived in a dim area, the thought
arises, “This is a snake.” As for the rope, at that time when it is seen
to be a snake, the collection and parts of the rope are not even in the
slightest way a snake. Therefore, that snake is merely set up by
conceptuality. In the same way, when the thought “I” arises in
dependence upon mind and body, nothing within mind and body—neither the
collection that is a continuum of earlier and later moments, nor the
collection of the parts at one time, nor the separate parts, nor the
continuum of any of the separate parts—is in even the slightest way the
“I.” Also there is not even the slightest something that is a different
entity from mind and body that is apprehendable as the “I.”
Consequently, the “I” is merely set up by conceptuality in dependence
upon mind and body; it is not established by way of its own entity.'
Suddenly, it was as if lightning moved through my chest. I was so
awestruck that, over the next few weeks, whenever I saw people, they
seemed like a magician’s illusions in that they appeared to inherently
exist but I knew that they actually did not. This is when I began to
understand that it is truly possible to stop the process of creating
destructive emotions by no longer assenting to the way “I” and other
phenomena appear to exist. Every morning I meditate on emptiness, and I
recall that experience in order to bring it into the day’s activities.
Just thinking or saying “I,” as in “I will do such-and-such,” will often
trigger that feeling. But still I cannot claim full understanding of
emptiness."
neko, modified 8 Years ago at 1/5/16 3:28 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 1/5/16 3:28 AM

RE: Dalai Lama on his awakening at 35

Posts: 762 Join Date: 11/26/14 Recent Posts
Thanks for sharing, this is interesting and important. Can we have a link to the source please?
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Simon T, modified 8 Years ago at 1/6/16 9:13 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 1/6/16 9:13 AM

RE: Dalai Lama on his awakening at 35

Posts: 383 Join Date: 9/13/11 Recent Posts
[quote=
But still I cannot claim full understanding of 

]emptiness."

What should we conclude of that? I know Tibetan put the bar of "full" Enlightenment pretty high.
Eva Nie, modified 8 Years ago at 1/6/16 12:23 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 1/6/16 12:23 PM

RE: Dalai Lama on his awakening at 35

Posts: 831 Join Date: 3/23/14 Recent Posts
I remember seeing an interview in which the Dalia Lama said he is a regular guy who sometimes loses his temper as his assistants well know (something like that).  So I looked for a similar quote and found this one:
"I used to be somewhat hot-tempered and prone to fits of impatience and
sometimes anger. Even today, there are, of course, times when I lose my
composure. When this happens, the least annoyance can take on undue
proportions and upset me considerably. I may, for example, wake up in
the morning and feel agitated for no particular reason. In this state, I
find that even what ordinarily pleases me may irritate me. Just looking
at my watch can give rise to feelings of annoyance
(Lama, 1999)."

Comes from here: http://www.strippingthegurus.com/stgsamplechapters/dalai.html

It might be considered that Dalia Lamas are chosen at a young age.  Theoretically they are reincarnations but if you don't take that tact, then they are more likely somewhat regular people who may or may not be the best suited to develop into lamas. 
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Noah, modified 8 Years ago at 1/6/16 1:05 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 1/6/16 1:05 PM

RE: Dalai Lama on his awakening at 35

Posts: 1467 Join Date: 7/6/13 Recent Posts
Eva:

It might be considered that Dalia Lamas are chosen at a young age.  Theoretically they are reincarnations but if you don't take that tact, then they are more likely somewhat regular people who may or may not be the best suited to develop into lamas.


I heard an interesting theory from Reggie Ray, which is that rather than finding reincarnations, as such, the Tibetans have designed a system of psychically identifing very special. high-potential children in the general population.  Lol I feel like this sounds like a description from the Matrix or something.  But yeah, I like this theory best.
Eva Nie, modified 8 Years ago at 1/6/16 6:52 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 1/6/16 6:52 PM

RE: Dalai Lama on his awakening at 35

Posts: 831 Join Date: 3/23/14 Recent Posts
Noah:
Eva:

It might be considered that Dalia Lamas are chosen at a young age.  Theoretically they are reincarnations but if you don't take that tact, then they are more likely somewhat regular people who may or may not be the best suited to develop into lamas.


I heard an interesting theory from Reggie Ray, which is that rather than finding reincarnations, as such, the Tibetans have designed a system of psychically identifing very special. high-potential children in the general population.  Lol I feel like this sounds like a description from the Matrix or something.  But yeah, I like this theory best.
Hm, well does sound rather nice but I'm not sure  how much data there is to support it.  ;-P  Also consider that these kids get a lot of training from an early age, would be interesting to see how similar training might pan out for the average person's development. 
-Eva

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