Pre-amble…
James’ teacher, H.H. C.R.Lama, asked him to teach in such a way that we would get the point.
In his teachings, in this book, he does just that…with open hands, nothing hidden…
Attending to these, most clear of ‘pointing out’ instructions, the scent of freshness and freedom invites us to out of the limited conditioned room we mostly inhabit … to see through and dissolve its walls, shaped by habits, beliefs, and investment in stale thoughts which seem to tell the truth of us…and the world… of you…of them… and everything!
Songs can evoke many different moods and memories, they may be beautiful or thought provoking … but the song of emptiness is the song of the deepest truth of ourselves and if we hear it, can resonate wordlessly in our open hearts.
With this the tensions arising from dualistic conceptualisation begin to diminish and dissipate, so we can become more and more spacious relaxed and easy …
Many years ago I wrote a post about wasps …noticing how they continued to bang their little heads against the glass trying to find a way through…even when I had opened the window and space was in every direction… apart from the one to which they were fixated!
Each one had to be gently flipped out…individually…
So, the invitation is for us is to see how we get lost… and to find a route to freedom that works for us …flip ourselves to face in the right direction… and take it!
Knowing that ‘all roads lead to Rome’…other routes may help at different times until we find ourselves at home wherever we are…and
these few lines , a post from a decade or so ago, remind me …
About the book:
There are five chapters to this book, based on teachings given at different retreats, at different times and places.
Each is a flower derived from a much longer transcript…which was itself derived from the recordings made on the retreat.
With James’ encouragement I have made a start on recording these chapters, for those of you who’d like to listen…
To explain bit about what goes on behind the scenes might be helpful… with salutations of great appreciation to all involved!!!
The original recordings which are made at retreats, may later be edited and the sound improved… before being passed onto a number of wonderful and diligent transcribers whose labour of love is to turn these (more or less!) clear streams… of unpunctuated ‘word as sounds’ … into legible writing on the page.
Often the next step for these transcripts is editing…and Barbara Terris has done most of this demanding, time-consuming and vital work.
James then reviews some of those edited texts, as required and as time allows…adding and clarifying as appropriate…
Who has done what, is indicated alongside or within the texts… and the texts are available to read or download under Texts and Transcripts on the Simply Being website.
Most of the recordings of teachings – James original expression in full – are also available there, under the Audio tab, to listen or download.
Many other people offer their time and expertise in maintaining and updating these aspects of the website so that these are freely available to us.
If you’d like to explore the long-form audio recordings and transcripts of the entire retreats from which chapters arise, I have added the links to these in the introductions below…
You may find much else of interest if you browse through the different invitations offered
under the audio and text tabs on the website.
As you may imagine… given all the processes explained above…and including at the beginning, James position with respect to the microphone, how clearly the words are enunciated, levels of background noise, how these words are recorded… and then rendered by the transcriber’s device and heard by them …[some are expert at the task and some just beginning… for some the language may not be very familiar…and they are finding their way]
…sometimes words can and do ‘go missing’ , errors creep in, and necessarily, some of the fulness of the original expression, which can be so helpful, is removed in editing…particularly when a text is much reduced to form a chapter.
I’ve done some editing and transcribing …it’s a great way to learn… so I know how much work goes into producing useful text. Sometimes when editing, an element of a transcript would not seem clear to me, so with the system that’s in place, i could refer back to the original recording just to check …
However that also may not be clear… and there is a balance to be struck with time.
I have discussed with James how he would feel happy for me to work with these issues, as they arise in creating these audio-book recordings, so that they flow as clearly and accurately as possible… and he has trusted me to make appropriate alterations as necessary.
Each recording is about half an hour long.
Chapter 1 ‘Getting to know how we are’
Teachings given in Frankfurt 11 March 1995…edited by Barbara Terris and revised by James Low.
This chapter is recorded in three parts:
Part (i) includes the Preface and introduction… with The Two Truths at 17′ 40” and Tantra as a method to purify impure relative truth at 25′ 37”
Part (ii) Finding a method that works for you, Deconstructing our assumptions, and Seeing things as real and being attached to them
Part (iii) Middle Way: Avoiding extremes, Too tight, Too loose
[Related retreat: ‘The Two Truths a Dzogchen view’ … transcript available..audio not ]
The Open Door of Emptiness – Chapter 1 : Getting to Know How We Are – (i)
The Open Door of Emptiness – Chapter 1 : Getting to Know How We Are – (ii)
The Open Door of Emptiness – Chapter 1 : Getting to Know How We Are – (iii)
Chapter 2 ‘Love and Impermanence’
Teaching given in Warsaw 14,15 Dec 2019…edited by Barbara Terris and James Low
Part (i) P. 31 to 38 in the book… is now available to listen to, below.
‘With’, when added to the final sentence, helped to make the meaning clearer.