The Realm of Unawareness
This has to do with the fact that even monasteries can be just part of the collective unawareness. When the majority are very much lost in their mind, thoughts, and beliefs, whatever that community might be, even a monastery can be just another world of unawareness.
Letter for Sojong 06/15 from Anam Thubten
Dear dharma friends,
In the ancient times many people gave up their ordinary world and went to the monastery to practice contemplation. This is true in almost every tradition. Eventually they even had to leave their monasteries to find more solitude in places such as the forest and mountains. And this was expressed in many sacred poems including those of Shabkar. He strongly expressed his desire to leave even the monasteries behind and enter into solitude where he could be completely alone and enjoy the wonder of nature.
Usually we think monasteries are a place we can escape to in order to be more contemplative. And yet these ancient masters often felt that monasteries were not the ideal place for spiritual practice. This has to do with the fact that even monasteries can be just part of the collective unawareness. When the majority are very much lost in their mind, thoughts, and beliefs, whatever that community might be, even a monastery can be just another world of unawareness.
Within the last few weeks I’ve been saying that the collective unawareness in the world is much stronger than the collective awareness. It seems that there are more people who are living in unawareness instead of awareness in this world. That’s OK too, this is simply how it is and we don’t have to judge it.
The problem is that there is no real true happiness or awakening in the realm of unawareness, and suffering just perpetuates itself when unawareness dominates. Unawareness is a state in which we’re completely lost in our beliefs and concepts, as well as our emotional patterns. We can be spiritual Buddhists and still completely be part of the collective unawareness.
Often it’s easy to be awake inside when we practice sitting meditation formally. Then we feel very insightful or liberated. And yet, the moment we get up to start interacting with people the awareness that we were just enjoying disappears and we are automatically sucked into the collective unawareness or the mental activities of those people around us. This is such an important thing to remember.
We just have to keep reminding ourselves to pull out of that unawareness which surrounds us all the time. The only place there is not so much unawareness is where there are no human beings. We have to learn how to be awake spiritually while engaging with the people everyday and being part of this human world. This is our real practice. Let’s hold the intention to do this in our heart.
Once again we are having a sojong and this will be a powerful time to contemplate this idea of collective unawareness and reflect on how we get sucked into it. And also it’s a great time to make strong conscious intentions to be in awareness in all situations. Intention makes all the difference.
With palms joined, Anam Thubten
阿南渡登捎来的甘露法語 ~ 于2016年6月15之八关斎戒日
致法友们,
古代有许多人弃俗到寺庙里去修行。這在不同的教派传承中是極为普遍的。只是最终他们又会选择离开寺庙到森林或山洞里去独处修練。這被記载于很多神聖的詩歌當中，其中包括萨加巴的著作中也有同样的記载。他曾表达他强烈的渴望想要离开寺庙独自修行及体验大自然的奇妙。
我们误以为寺庙是一处让我们躲避修行的地方。可是有很多古代的大师却認为寺庙並不真正适合修行。因为即便寺庙也造就了共同的意識。当大部份的人迷失在他们的思維，念頭和信念当中时，那一群人，即便是寺庙也同样会造就迷乱而不觉知的世界。
在过去的几个星期里，我一直在讲説在这个世界里不觉知的共同意識之能量比觉知的共同意識来得强势。看来大部份的人都活在不觉知当中。這也沒什么，看来也就是如此，我们也不必对此作任何批判。事实是，在无觉知的生活当中並不存有真正的快乐，当我们被不觉知的能量主宰时，痛苦也随着延伸。
不觉知意謂我们完全迷失于我们的信念，慨念以及情緒模式当中。即便是佛教徒，我们也極大可能会成为不觉知的一份子。
往住我们能夠通过正式的禅坐，很轻易的让内在觉醒，感受到自己具有洞見及更加自在。可是，一旦我们与人接触时，我们的觉性又会消失，很自然掉入了不觉知的共同意识当中或被周遭的人的思维活动所影响。這是我们应当谨記的。我们只须要提醒自己远离那不觉知的世界。可是，只有沒有人类的地方才不会有太多不觉知的能量。身为人类世界的一部份，我们必须学习如何在日常生活中保持觉性去与人接触。這才是我们真正应当修持的。让我们发心依此修持。
我们再一次迎接八关斎日的來臨，這也是最好的时机让我们去思维這不觉知的共同意識之概念，以及省思我们如何被它影响和牽制。我们也該趁此时机下定决心不管何时何地都必须保任觉性。
发心终究能夠改变一切。
阿南渡登 合十