The Present moment - The entrance to the spiritual Dimension

The title of this post I first heard in the book "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. In that book Eckhart says:

"When we look at every spiritual teacher throughout history, they all point to the present moment as the entry to the spiritual dimension"

Honestly, when I first listened to "The Power of Now" audiobook, I didn't truly understand the power of the present moment. I understood the concept that we spend most of our time either focused on the future or in the past, and deeply enjoyed the book, but that was as far as it went for me. The reason for that is because I had never truly experienced the present moment. That may seem pretty strange, but its the truth. I had never experienced the present moment the way i do today.

The first time I listened to that audiobook was probably 5 years ago. I loved it back then, and it helped me so much at the time. I had just found Master Sha and was hungry for spiritual books.

Seven months ago I travelled with my family to Hawaii to spend time with Master Sha at a Tao retreat. Many incredible things happened on that retreat, Many things shifted in me and opened up for me. It was as if I was seeing the world through new eyes. More enlightened eyes. This is the power of being in the presence of a being like Master Sha.

After the retreat when we returned to Sydney I was constantly thinking of "The power of Now" which was fascinating because I hadn't listened to the audiobook for 5 years. I know it was my spiritual guides guiding me back to this book.

I looked at my iTunes account and the audiobook was not there, so I called Apple up and they found the audiobook on my old account and transferred them to my new account.

I listened to the Audiobook again and quickly realised why I was being guided to this book. This time around I was not only having continuos insights into the teachings, but I was able to really experience the present moment in a way I had never experienced before.

What I experienced was that by simply being completely present and free of thoughts I felt a incredible energy that is always available, to all beings and yet we spend the majority of our lives living unconscious and separated from it.

In the book "The Power of Now" Eckhart Tolle shares many quotes and teachings from the great teaches like Jesus, Buddha, Rumi and many Zen quotes and they all point to the simple, yet incredibly powerful teaching of entering the present moment fully.

I don't say this lightly, but I consider "The power of now" to be a masterpiece. It truly is a timeless classic, and I feel very blessed to have read it.

I would like to share a practice with you that I read in a book by Osho that is one of the most powerful, effective and simple techniques I have ever practiced, especially for bringing my conscious awareness into the present moment.

The book I read is called "The book of wisdom - The heart of Tibetan Buddhism" and it is based on a Tibetan Master who's name is Atisha.

Osho explains in the book that Atisha is a unique Master who became enlightened through being taught by three different enlightened Masters.
I will share a little from this profound book before I share the practice.

The three Masters that Atisha remained with for many years were: first Dharmakirti, a great Buddhist mystic. He taught him no-mind, he taught him emptiness, he taught him how to be thoughtless, he taught him how to drop all content from the mind and be contentless. The second Master was Dharmarakshita, another Buddhist mystic. He taught him love, compassion. And the third Master was Yogin Maitreya, another Buddhist mystic. He taught him the art of taking the suffering of others and absorbing it into your own heart: Love in action.

This could happen because all these three masters are great friends. they had started their search together; while they were on the way they had remained together, and when they attained they were still together.

Atisha became a disciple of Dharmakirti. Dharmakirti said to him, "I will teach you the first principle. And for the second you go to Dharmarakshita, and for the third to Yogin Maitreya. This way you will know all the three faces of the ultimate reality, the three faces of God - the trinity, the trimurti. And this way you will learn each face from the person who is the most perfect in it."
These are the three ways people reach to the ultimate. If you reach through emptiness you attain the other two also, but your path remains basically that of emptiness - you know more about emptiness, so emptiness will be emphasised in whatsoever you teach.

Dharmakirti was a master of emptiness. And when Atisha had learned how to be empty, the Master said, "It will be better for you to go to Dharmakshita for the next step, because he has attained a totally different path. Just as you can reach Everest from different sides, he has reached from a totally different path, the path of compassion. I can also teach the path of compassion, but my knowing about that path is only known from the top. 
I have reached through the path of emptiness. Once you reach the top, you can look down all paths, they are all available to your vision. But to follow a path in its different dimensions, to follow a path in all its details, small details, is a totally different thing."

Osho goes on to explain that the second Master taught internal compassion, which is when a master sits in meditation sending his love to the world. The third Master is a Master of external compassion. Taking on the suffering of humanity and transforming it to light.

Because of the way Atisha reached enlightenment he was known as Atisha the thrice great.

When Atisha returned to the people to share his wisdom he taught the "Seven points of mind training" which I won't go through.
The reason I share this is because of his second sutra:

Think that all phenomena are like dreams...

This is most powerful! Osho explains that everything is illusion. Whether it be material phenomena, psychological phenomena, spiritual phenomena - they are all the same. There is no need to make any distinctions. The basic thing to remember is: that which can be seen is a dream.

So here is the technique. Since I read this, I use it all the time to bring me into the present moment and extinguish my ego. It is very effective.

"Start contemplating in this way: If you are walking on the street, contemplate that people passing by are all dreams. The shops and the shopkeepers and customers and the people coming and going, all are dreams. The houses, the buses, the train, the airplane, all are dreams.

Then Suddenly, like a flash you will think "I am a dream too." Because if the seen is a dream, then who is this "I"?
If the object is a dream, then the subject is also a dream.

If you watch everything as a dream then suddenly you will feel something slipping out of your being: the idea of the ego. 

Osho goes on to explain that there will be a point where you become conscious in your drams at night. Then you will become conscious all of the time.

This technique I personally practice multiple times a day, and I find it pulls me into the present in a way not many techniques do.

Give it a try now.

My personal experience with this practice is that I understand when I do this practice that our reality is illusory. I start to actually see it that way. Almost digital and lucid like a nighttime dream. It also connects me with my soul, because I have a deep understanding that I (my true being) is not actually in this reality, but observing it through my physical body.

This also allows me surrender to whatever is put in front of me and not be so attached to what I am observing through my eyes.
Also I understand deeper how we can can create in our reality. Just as when we sleep we can control to some degree what we do, I see no difference when I am in this state. Its as if I am conscious in a dream and I feel so awake, so alive, so at peace.

When I am in this state of intense presence, I am able to see my Jin Dan (Golden Light Ball) and concentrate on it in a very different and intense way. I feel very like I am peering into this reality through a window, and at the same time I can see that everything in this reality is completely connected and is unfolding all together in the one continuos present moment.

Interestingly though, the more present I become the more I feel that chanting pulls me out of that state.
I understand now why Buddhist practitioners have chanting and meditation as two separate practices. Meditation is meditation and chanting is to bring the frequency and vibration and message of a Buddha to themselves and our world.

I personally love Chanting and can get into beautiful states of bliss from chanting, yet it feels different than my experiences with being totally present in daily life.

Presence in beings is magnetic. Many people love animals because of this. Many people love dogs because of their presence and none judgment.

When this quality is in another conscious human being and you are conscious enough to notice it, you will be incredibly drawn to them. This is the presence of a Master.
My father told me that when the Dalai Lama visited England he stopped at traffic lights next to the car that was carrying the Dalai Lama. My father explained that when he saw the Dalai Lama, he smiled at my father, and my father felt a wave of peace and love come over him. My father asked me; 

"What was that I was experiencing?"

I replied 

"The Master has let you into his presence and you have felt his presentness, His consciousness, his frequency and vibration."

I also shared with my father that this is what it feels like being in the presence of Master Sha. 
A Master like Master Sha and the Dalai Lama have the ability to raise you up in their presence and bring you into the present moment through their present energy field.
Their light lights up your path and allows you to see your own path clearly.

In my opinion, there is nothing quite like spending time with a true Master.

I hope this post has been beneficial to whoever takes the time to read it.

We send all our love

Nick, Danielle and Beau