The Buddha teaches us that there is no permanent consciousness. All consciousness is impermanent, a conditioned phenomena; it arises due to conditions and ceases when these conditions cease. Furthermore if there is no permanent consciousness then there is no consciousness beyond conditionality and no consciousness can therefore be the master of conditions.

There are, however, permanent truths. A mind which realizes these permanent truths or Dhammas will have a permanent cause from which to arise.  If a consciousness arises based on such permanent truth then this will be forever arising afresh based on these truths and not effected by different conditions.  This is knowing – not being – in the sense that it has no essence or continuity. This knowing will be both a result of truth and a cause or creator of truth. This knowing may be physiologically (or we might say objectively speaking) dependent on the body but psychologically speaking (or subjectively) it will be independent of the body. More broadly we might say this consciousness is both imminent and transcendent. This is the ultimate, the enlightened mind.

Dreams are thought and feeling generating images in the absence of sense input. Normally you have the present moment mind watching the past/future stream of consciousness. This is action being informed of past result. In dreams there is no present moment mind, just this stream moving from past to future.
There is no action, only result.

The greater mind creates matter and matter creates mind. This is the cycle of birth and rebirth where the mind is bound to matter. Nothing arises out of nothing. 

But nothing, or emptiness, can arise out of something, through Dhamma. In fact an eternal, blissful emptiness can arise out of everything. This is the goal, the transcendent.
 
Thus the transcendent is not the Creator of the world. The world of truth, of Dhamma, creates the transcendent which, aware of itself, becomes stable within itself. This is liberation.



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I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

To live in the present is not to be magically redeemed from time but to find our free will. This we can then use to escape time.

Time is the world, time is stress. There is no way just to escape the stress of the world there is only a way to escape the world, this is to escape time. 

Two worlds meet in man, mind and matter, mind and body. Through realising Dhamma these two worlds are separated, the empty mind becoming detached as we let go of the body. This is escaping the world.

We let go of the body when we see its limits, at the same time finding compassion, become truly human. It is human beings, not Gods, that realise the Dhamma.




I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

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Too far one way and we can think that the mind is independent. Too far the other way and we think the mind is dependent, bound up with reality. If we find the middle we find dependent origination: we see that the mind, although dependent, is something completely new. The mind is dependent but not bound up to the material world. The mind and the world exist in parallel.



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I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

We all find ourselves in situations where we can no longer do anything and we have to let go. A forest monastery is a place all about learning how to let go, a refuge for those who, at any particular time, can do nothing more about their situation.

The reason why someone may become a monk or nun is that they realise that ultimately there is, in the long term, nothing we can do about anything, everything is impermanent. A monastic is one who sees the value of a whole life dedicated to letting go of attachment through the practice of meditation.

Faith in Buddhism does not rely on belief in anything supernatural, the benefits of Dhamma practice can be seen within ordinary daily life. Within the Buddhist community, especially in Asia, supernatural experiences are, however, not uncommon. These experiences are often shared, two people simultaneously seeing the same deva, for example – there is definitely something that needs explaining.

I believe there are ways of understanding such experiences that do not conflict with science. Supernatural beings can be seen as existing only in the mind, as aspects of some kind of collective consciousness. This requires that we broaden our view of the mind. Our day-to-day understanding of material science may also come under review as a consequence, including the findings of quantum physics, perhaps.




I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

​Mindfulness of breathing, skilfully practised, makes us aware of the body without losing our sense of space. The result is that we develop awareness of our body within an open spacious mind rather than experiencing the mind within the body.

The body, thought and feeling then appear as not-self within the detached, empty mind. This experience leads to a joyous letting go and freedom from suffering.




I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

These days meditation is becoming associated more and more with a passive, accepting state. We just watch the mind and accept whatever happens. This can be a great way to relax but does not integrate very well into active daily life. So we become two people almost – the active person and the passive one.

​However, if a mind develops calm through meditation, we can discover that we do not need to continue to be passive in order to relax. The calm, patient mind can remain calm in activity. Then, moreover, we begin to realise that the calm mind sees differently and we can feel differently about our activities – even to the point where this changes our priorities. We begin to enjoy more peaceful leisure pursuits or we look for a more peaceful way to make a living. We move out into the countryside, perhaps. Gradually we find ourselves becoming one person and the endless inner conflicts and dialogues begin to disappear to leave the mind clear, whole, unified. 





I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk

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​Just as it is possible for hedonism to lead us out and away from the spiritual path, it is possible to get lost in a kind of intellectual craving. At its height such a craving can turn in a spiritual direction. We can imagine, for example, that there was once a perfect idea and ideal, an all powerful, universal principle that has been lost but shall be found again and become the source of a new utopia. This makes the mind entangled in its own creation – to look for the great truth and building our ivory towers, when the truth is very simple and right in front of our eyes for the heart that is peaceful enough, big enough to accept it. 





I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk/