Basic Goodness

This topic seemed to come up out of a session rather than being one I would have put on a list. So why not go with it? :)

Hello Everyone,

After having considered what would be an appropriate exploration of Basic Goodness, I'm resorting to "Read and Discuss" as homework this week. There are many reasons for this, but the simplest one is that there is no way around just sharing personally and directly. The sense for me, is a distinction between hearing 'about' something and 'something'.

So, homework this week would be to read 'about' some of the following: One Bright Pearl/Pearl of Great Price, The Dot, Primordial Knowing, Basic Goodness, True Context. I've started us off (below), but one angle will resonate for one, another angle for another. Reports should be about what may be instances of seeing that 'basic goodness' in play in our lives... times when perhaps a truer context takes the lead/reigns.

Trungpa in Shambhala teachings emphasises a 'dot' or 'soft spot' of Basic Goodness in the same way that Steven, to my understanding, would refer to true context or Authentic Being.

Wiki: Basic goodness is the openness inherent in every situation. The basic aspect indicates the primordial, self-existing nature of this quality. The goodness aspect indicates the faultless aspect of this quality.[1] This idea is at the core of the Shambhala Vision of Chögyam Trungpa, and glimpsing it is the main topic of Level One of the Shambhala Training curriculum that he established. It is the same quality of mind that in Buddhism is referred to as Buddha-nature.[2]

Matt 13:45,46  "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,  who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it."

Dogen Zenji,  the founder of Soto Zen in Japan prepared many written teachings. In one fascicle called "One Bright Pearl" he wrote, "The whole universe is one bright pearl. It’s essence is that the entire universe is not vast and large, not minute and small, or square or round....While there is a body now, a mind now, they are the bright pearl. That stalk of grass, this tree, is not a stalk of grass, is not a tree; the mountains and rivers of this world are not mountains and rivers of this world. They are the bright pearl. When it is thus, there is no reason to doubtingly think that you are not the pearl because you perplexedly think, ‘I am not the pearl.’ Perplexed thoughts, doubts, and man’s accepting or rejecting are but passing, small-scale notions. Moreover, this is only [the pearl] appearing as small-scale notions."

http://www.intrex.net/chzg/pearl.htm
http://www.acmuller.net/dogen/onebrightpearl.html

[In another commentary on this work the statement is made "The one bright pearl is able to express reality without naming it."] http://books.google.com/books?id=H6A674nlkVEC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=one+bright+pearl&source=bl&ots=qpkgoHuazc&sig=Y30ZVstSguDC4orc3FIAxw9X7hk&hl=en&ei=y8SxTKO_KMXflgfUqMnlDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=one%20bright%20pearl&f=false

And Trungpa seems to me quite Zen when he speaks of primordial Goodness:

That basic human quality of suddenly opening up is the best part of human instinct. You know what to do right away, on the spot -which is fantastic. That is what we call the dot, or basic goodness and unconditional instinct. When you have an instinct of the real instinct, you don't think: you just feel, on the spot. Basic trust is knowing that there is such a thing as that spark of basic goodness. Although you might be in the worst of the worst shape, still that goodness does exist.
http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/vctr/ges.html

 
Stim Morane: The basic idea of suchness if that if you can see directly all of the constructions that frame ordinary reality, and release them to emptiness, then everything seen directly is sacred, self-liberating and even beyond the notion of liberation, meaningful beyond meanings, intensely present and fulfilling and also simultaneously unarisen.

Stim Morane: tathata = suchness
Stim Morane: look up that term
Stim Morane: But it won't help ...
Stim Morane: :)
Gaya Ethaniel giggles.
Mickorod Renard: ohh
Mickorod Renard: grin
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Stim Morane: this is a classic example of an untranslatable term
Stim Morane: we need to consider that most of our words are rather prosaic in scope
Stim Morane: and at least in my view, it's not the case that terms beyond that limited range, terms like tathata, are merely cultural ... like mythology
Stim Morane: tathata is a pointer at something very real, but beyond any "meanings" or conventions or constructions
Stim Morane: it's the center-piece of my own teaching
Stim Morane: But it's not easy

Stim Morane: Mick ... an example would be that you yourself, at some moments in your life, enjoy a presence that could be considered as just "ordinary, familiar stuff" like a food market or the face of an old person walking down the street.

Stim Morane: But you sense that it's much more than that.
Mickorod Renard: ok
Stim Morane: So the issue then is, could that fleeting perception be opened up?
Stim Morane: Could it become everything?
Mickorod Renard: I love that idea
Eliza Madrigal nods
Stim Morane: me too