Shantideva was a being who lived between about 600 and 700 B.C.E.
From the depth of his profound realisation he wrote and left us with teachings which included an extraordinary manual of training… ‘The Bodhicaryavatara’… which is still studied and used by many Mahayana buddhists today…
In the first chapter…Praise of the Awakening Mind…he refers to any being who longs to remove the unequalled agony of every single being and to make their virtue infinite… as an ‘excellent jewel’
…and in the next verse he refers to the Mind as… ‘the jewel which is the seed of pure happiness in the world and the remedy for the suffering in the world’ with merit beyond measure
Would you see this idea of a jewel as perhaps a bit more valuable than the crown illustrated above… an item stolen in the recent robbery from the Louvre?
If you’re reading this, then I imagine so…
As every being already has the purity of their mind as their basis… their potential to realise this and to respond from wisdom is ever-present. However until this latency ripens the basis for activity depends instead upon self-affirmed beliefs…thoughts which are invested with the energy of attention in such a way that they seem to carry an inherent validity… ‘I know what … ‘
The ‘blind woman’… often shown as representing ignorance in the circle of dependant origination is not blind… but blinded to the truth in this way…
We’re always inseparable from this ‘jewel’ of incommensurable value…so it’s very sad that the desire aversion jealousy and pride which arise from being unaware of this misapprehension…lead to activities which bring people no closer to realising how it is … and as Shantideva says ‘Hoping to escape suffering, it is to suffering that they run…
In the desire for happiness, out of delusion, they destroy their own happiness, like an enemy…’
The value of a stolen crown is of course far less than the original… as the sale cannot take place on the open market…and the people who stole the crown would likely have arranged for it quickly to be melted down into gold and a bagful of jewels… so that their origin would be untraceable…then sold on.
When reduced to its component parts the amount of money realisable from the theft is further reduced, as all the intangibles – the exquisite craftsmanship and artistry and its historical provenance – are obliterated. Larger gemstones might need to be split in order to reduce suspicion… and so again devalued.
However all these ‘losses’ are deemed worthwhile as they remove traceability and decrease the chance of being caught.
Yet even if they were to make a lot of money from this theft and apparently ‘get away’ with it…this negative dualistic activity has inescapable consequences for those involved… both at the time and later.
It’s always possible to regret confess and make good as far as possible…from the moment the idea is taken up…with the intention not to repeat; and so diminish the consequences… but as that wise activity requires the humility of putting one’s activity into question… it’s unusual.
The egoic-identity is naturally defensive…being bit shaky and unsettled… and if that formulation is the reference point for validation then habits persist until their causes are exhausted or situations change.
For myself I’m not so bothered about the fate of this crown…which was anyway recovered…damaged but repairable. However I do have some concern for how dharma teachings – buddhist and dzogchen – may suffer a similar fate as … being degraded and devalued through being mixed up and also mixed, with non-dharma.
This time is known as at this time of mixing and it is happening in a more intense way than before…
As a result people will be unclear about the difference between dharma teachings… a dharma-samsaric blend…and thanks to AI… a reductive offering… sifted by algorithm from a jumble of karmic, dharmic and ersatz ideas, stripped of context or source…which may, absent of thorough grounding in dharma, be readily taken to be authoritative.
People may assume that because everything on the Simplybeing website is there for the benefit of all it’s therefore ok to take, rearrange and represent the material there however they wish…
However like the crown this website… the jewels are presented in context…much good thought and work, artistry and craftsmanship, has gone into its creation…and the clarity of the expression of the contents.
There are many cross-links connections and reflections which become available as people interact with the site.
Certainly there are ways to make some aspects more readily available through different forms of communication…or layout…but there is an understanding that people find their way to what is appropriate to them through their karma at the time… and hopefully bypass what is not right for them…
Also the contents of the website are ‘copywrite’ in the same way as the books… which show a clear explanation of what that means.
Our actions have an impact; without respect for the dharma teachings there’s no receptivity… and respect evokes restraint…otherwise the approach is dualistic or samsaric, tainted by the five poisons which serves no one well…
The vast majority of those who will read this…just use the site as intended for their study and practice won’t need to read it, but for the few who might be tempted to appropriate material, lay claim to or repackage it … maybe this will be pause for thought…and some understanding of how karma operates in duality might put the brakes on.
It’s understood that false gurus receive ninety per cent of the negative karma of their actions… their deluded students the other ten…so one can assume that any misuse of what’s offered – dharma-wise – carries similar negative consequences.
All that I’ve written – whether quite, or not at all clear– it’s varied a lot over the last fifteen years!…. has been gathered by ChatGPT and put into the mix along with the words of great teachers and false teachers…
So just as you’d rather drink water from it’s source high in the mountains than far from the source when its been joined by many other streams and rivers, some carrying all kinds of pollutants… being able to be clear about the source of any dharma teaching is vital…as is maintaining it’s integrity.
