Today’s is a deep look at an icon: The seated Buddha.
When I look here, what do I feel? What do I dream, and what do I make of this now in this moment?
I feel called. I feel peace. A desire to let go of the stress of activities. I feel calm. But there is a desire, a call to a fire within. I am being centered. I am feeling the source. An emmanence. I see the avatar, the figure at the center of the altar. The seated figure. The seated saint. Buddha, Hestia, Adi Shankar, Jesus, the nameless devotee in the cliff cave. I imagine a world where this person is seated, a cave, a shrine, a temple. I dream of colorful fabrics, bowls, singing and music. I also imagine this figure seated near a path or in the country side. To look at this image. Is it to be given a blessing? Beyond the surface and to the waters below?
I once had a taste of eternity. This is quite rare. What I mean is, I had the distinct impression that there was no beginning and no end to my being. It was quite a remarkable feeling. In one moment I had the awareness of a spirit sitting with me. We were exchanging experiences of all that had happened. Only I had the distinct awareness this conversation was part of my very being, and it was a friendship that was as natural as my very existence. There was no beginning and there would be no end to this dialog. What a gift. What a feeling.
It is as if the universe is within me as well as enfolding me. I have deep experiences in yoga meditation. I use special mantras given by a devoted teacher without profit motive. I can access “that ground of conscious nothing where the rose ever blooms” (Hafiz), everyday and anywhere (if I can find a little quiet space).
Ironically the avatars of self awareness and absolute consciousness in the life of the individual have become symbols on a massive scale. As god-men, and unique manifestations of the divine, they represent a moment many believe is not for them. Ironic because these very same beings taught that the kingdom of heaven is within, and that there was no predestined life, no class or special access to the divine, and that each life has the opportunity of transcending attachments to what is not life supporting and unifying with unity consciousness and life itself, in the here and now. No need to wait.
The message that each of us is the avatar, has a direct connection with god, the opportunity for immense spiritual growth and service, continues to be the second or a secret teaching of every dominant religion. It’s still there if you look for it, but it is not the main message one would get sitting in the temple or church. However, the truth is there. It is an eternal flame in each of us. Tended by the archetypal Hestia, keeper of the flame of divine light. A unique expression of the divine in the material world, An expression that is a miracle. A sign of potential. And a potential as far beyond comprehension or language as is the nature which enfolds it.
Here is another work, by Paul Klee, to further access this looking:
You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it. All that you have to do is to give up being aware of other things, that is of the not-Self. If one gives up being aware of them then pure awareness alone remains, and that is the Self. - Ramana Maharshi
It seems every teacher, guru, saint, parent, or friend can be found somewhere on the messiah/avatar/divine spectrum. If we consider them as avatars of the divine will (even hazy ones), of coherent love, we cannot help but see some eternity, some grace, in every person we meet.
I usually like to include photographs from my everyday life in my practice, so here is an avatar on a truck taken by a dear friend of my family. A local farmer and Buddhist. He was transporting it. Taken in Spokane Washington a few years ago:
Now before we leave I would like to take this deep looking to the level of sacred gazing.
It is said that to look in to the visage of a holy person is to gain a special blessing. I invite you to take some time to gaze in to the images below. I have included images of our divine friends, teachers, and avatars of the creative intelligence and cosmic law, to bath in their light.
May we all keep and tend to the sacred flame. It is so.