Dharma Talks by Rama ~ Dr. Frederick Lenz

When you look into a pond or a lake, if there's no wind, then it's a mirror. It's perfectly still. If we throw a rock in, then ripples in concentric circles extend outward. The image changes. Enlightened mind is often compared to a lake, a pond without ripples. But I don't think that that's completely correct. Because I think enlightened mind also is a lake or a pond with ripples. We throw a rock into a lake and the pure serenity is disturbed. The ripples cascade; they come and go and then everything becomes still again. I think that's better. It's more like enlightened mind. Enlightened mind is not just serenity. Serenity is an idea. Enlightened mind is beyond ideas. No matter what we think about or how we conceptualize enlightened mind, we're always going to be looking at an image or a picture, not enlightened mind. In all the scriptures it says that enlightened mind is beyond the mind's knowledge. You can't know intellectually what it is. You can't imagine what it is. It's beyond knowing, beyond imagination. It's not sensorial. You can't taste it, smell it, touch it, hear it, feel it. Yet it's there. It's eternal. It's what is. We look at the world around us filled with cars and jets and people and activities, and it's hard to understand that there could be anything else than this. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

How do you become a winner? What is the Zen of winning? Well, the Zen of winning starts out, of course, as all Zen practice does, with a central idea or reality, if you prefer, of nothing. Everything is nothing. The way of nothingness is the way of Zen, or we could say the way of everythingness is the way of Zen. It's just a term. The contemplation of nothingness or everythingness is where everything starts. There's a still center to the universe. Within that still center are all things, all achievements, all losses, all gains, all states of mind. Everything and nothing exist there. When you place yourself in harmony with that, that is to say, when you become aware, consciously, of the still center of being, you've won. All that stands between you and that are your uncontrolled thoughts, uncontrolled desires, attachments, aversions, your conceptions, your sense of a past, ideations of the future, your sense of self, tendencies from this and other lives. When all those things are erased, there is nothing but eternity. It's impossible to distinguish you from the still center of perfect being. So winning and gaining power has to do with addressing these subjects with patience, with clarity, with tremendous willpower. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

How do you become a winner? What is the Zen of winning? Well, the Zen of winning starts out, of course, as all Zen practice does, with a central idea or reality, if you prefer, of nothing. Everything is nothing. The way of nothingness is the way of Zen, or we could say the way of everythingness is the way of Zen. It's just a term. The contemplation of nothingness or everythingness is where everything starts. There's a still center to the universe. Within that still center are all things, all achievements, all losses, all gains, all states of mind. Everything and nothing exist there. When you place yourself in harmony with that, that is to say, when you become aware, consciously, of the still center of being, you've won. All that stands between you and that are your uncontrolled thoughts, uncontrolled desires, attachments, aversions, your conceptions, your sense of a past, ideations of the future, your sense of self, tendencies from this and other lives. When all those things are erased, there is nothing but eternity. It's impossible to distinguish you from the still center of perfect being. So winning and gaining power has to do with addressing these subjects with patience, with clarity, with tremendous willpower. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

What is it to be a student, albeit a successful student? A student is someone who looks at life with curiosity. There's a sense of eagerness and particularly, I might add, a sense of newness. You see, when you're a student you're always learning something. Therefore, you have to be new at it. There's always something new to learn. You're learning a new language, you're learning a new type of mathematics, you're learning a new way to meditate. You're learning how to ski for the first time. You're learning martial arts. You're learning how to sail, how to dance, whatever it might be. You're a student of an art. There has to be a sense of anticipation, coupled with newness, hope, confidence. There's always a degree of a -- or a lack of -- surety. You're not exactly sure what it's going to be like. That's what makes it fun. But what makes it most interesting is not simply what you're learning, but how well you do with it. Now this is a secret, if you're a very successful student, that you learn -- otherwise I couldn't say that you were a very successful student. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

What is it to be a student, albeit a successful student? A student is someone who looks at life with curiosity. There's a sense of eagerness and particularly, I might add, a sense of newness. You see, when you're a student you're always learning something. Therefore, you have to be new at it. There's always something new to learn. You're learning a new language, you're learning a new type of mathematics, you're learning a new way to meditate. You're learning how to ski for the first time. You're learning martial arts. You're learning how to sail, how to dance, whatever it might be. You're a student of an art. There has to be a sense of anticipation, coupled with newness, hope, confidence. There's always a degree of a -- or a lack of -- surety. You're not exactly sure what it's going to be like. That's what makes it fun. But what makes it most interesting is not simply what you're learning, but how well you do with it. Now this is a secret, if you're a very successful student, that you learn -- otherwise I couldn't say that you were a very successful student. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

Zen of sports and athletics. How to make the body and soul one. Running those miles, shooting those arrows, working out, getting strong, getting stronger. That point of intersection when there's no separation between the dancer and the dance. Between the ball and the player. Sports. Teamwork. One unit, one mind, one body out there on the court. Preparation of the mind. All athletics, and success in sports and athletics, from the Zen point of view, comes from the mind. If your mind isn't disciplined, integrated, free and one-pointed, how can you possibly do well in athletics? No matter what kind of shape your body is in, if your mind is out of shape, there's disharmony in the being. So in Zen we strive to bring both the mind and the body into perfect condition and integrate the two, so that there is no intrinsic difference between 'em. That's right -- Zen. Sports and athletics are zazen, they're meditation -- moving meditation. As you are running down that field or shooting that basket, putting that golf ball, taking down your opponent in martial arts or just competing with yourself, there are moments of timelessness and ecstasy and challenge and emptiness. Zen is the way of emptiness and fullness. So for the next little while, we're going to discuss the Zen of sports and athletics, emptiness and fullness, beginning and ending. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

Zen of sports and athletics. How to make the body and soul one. Running those miles, shooting those arrows, working out, getting strong, getting stronger. That point of intersection when there's no separation between the dancer and the dance. Between the ball and the player. Sports. Teamwork. One unit, one mind, one body out there on the court. Preparation of the mind. All athletics, and success in sports and athletics, from the Zen point of view, comes from the mind. If your mind isn't disciplined, integrated, free and one-pointed, how can you possibly do well in athletics? No matter what kind of shape your body is in, if your mind is out of shape, there's disharmony in the being. So in Zen we strive to bring both the mind and the body into perfect condition and integrate the two, so that there is no intrinsic difference between 'em. That's right -- Zen. Sports and athletics are zazen, they're meditation -- moving meditation. As you are running down that field or shooting that basket, putting that golf ball, taking down your opponent in martial arts or just competing with yourself, there are moments of timelessness and ecstasy and challenge and emptiness. Zen is the way of emptiness and fullness. So for the next little while, we're going to discuss the Zen of sports and athletics, emptiness and fullness, beginning and ending. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

In advanced meditation, you're going to step beyond your role as perceiver of the view, perceiver of your life, perceiver of your death. That's just a way of looking at things in duality. Instead, you are going to merge everything into the flux. You're going to go to stillness. When that happens, the world collapses. There's no time, no space, no viewer, no viewing, no object in view. Beyond the ten thousand states of mind is the still point. It exists within them all -- this is the riddle -- yet it's beyond them. It's not affected by them. It gives birth to them. You came forth from the still point that is reality. That's where I come from, that world. There are different worlds, endless worlds, and different beings come from different worlds. Some people are born in Africa, some in Australia, some in America. Some beings begin in a world, this world or that world. In my particular case, I come from the stillness, that world. We call it the dharmakaya, the clear light of reality. I know it quite well. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

In advanced meditation, you're going to step beyond your role as perceiver of the view, perceiver of your life, perceiver of your death. That's just a way of looking at things in duality. Instead, you are going to merge everything into the flux. You're going to go to stillness. When that happens, the world collapses. There's no time, no space, no viewer, no viewing, no object in view. Beyond the ten thousand states of mind is the still point. It exists within them all -- this is the riddle -- yet it's beyond them. It's not affected by them. It gives birth to them. You came forth from the still point that is reality. That's where I come from, that world. There are different worlds, endless worlds, and different beings come from different worlds. Some people are born in Africa, some in Australia, some in America. Some beings begin in a world, this world or that world. In my particular case, I come from the stillness, that world. We call it the dharmakaya, the clear light of reality. I know it quite well. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

What do I mean by rapid mental development? Well, rapid mental development is the escalation of consciousness. Mental development is not really IQ, per se. IQ is based upon a series of tests that are given to a person, really not to evaluate their intelligence but their ability to learn certain socially endorsed skills -- reading, writing, grammar and so on. Intelligence is not limited to one's ability to function in a predefined world, in my opinion. Plants are very intelligent; I don't think they'd do very well on an IQ test. So are porpoises. Intelligence is something that's not just thinking, it's feeling. Ultimately, in my opinion, the highest reflection of intelligence is intelligent life, cooperative life in which all benefit. A life, a planet, a society that destroys its own environment that supports it, I would not consider to be intelligent life. It's like the cancer that ultimately kills itself by destroying the host it feeds on. Symbiosis is certainly a much higher reflection of intelligent life. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

What do I mean by rapid mental development? Well, rapid mental development is the escalation of consciousness. Mental development is not really IQ, per se. IQ is based upon a series of tests that are given to a person, really not to evaluate their intelligence but their ability to learn certain socially endorsed skills -- reading, writing, grammar and so on. Intelligence is not limited to one's ability to function in a predefined world, in my opinion. Plants are very intelligent; I don't think they'd do very well on an IQ test. So are porpoises. Intelligence is something that's not just thinking, it's feeling. Ultimately, in my opinion, the highest reflection of intelligence is intelligent life, cooperative life in which all benefit. A life, a planet, a society that destroys its own environment that supports it, I would not consider to be intelligent life. It's like the cancer that ultimately kills itself by destroying the host it feeds on. Symbiosis is certainly a much higher reflection of intelligent life. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

This morning I'd like to talk with you about overcoming your fears, whether they're small fears or large fears, fears that you're aware of or subconscious fears, fears that you don't know you have. What is fear anyway? It's a feeling that we feel in the pit of our stomach, in our body. It's very physical, isn't it? And when we experience that feeling, it really cuts us off from our strength, our power. It cuts us off from knowledge and experience. It's a guillotine that falls and separates. Fear is an interruption in the normal flow or routine of life. Some fears appear to be more sensible than others, in a way. There are programmed biological fears. The fear of falling is there so that we're careful not to fall, so that we don't suffer bodily harm. Fear of pain is a very good fear, in a sense, in that it helps protect us -- until we understand that we don't need to have a fear of something in order to avoid it. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

This morning I'd like to talk with you about overcoming your fears, whether they're small fears or large fears, fears that you're aware of or subconscious fears, fears that you don't know you have. What is fear anyway? It's a feeling that we feel in the pit of our stomach, in our body. It's very physical, isn't it? And when we experience that feeling, it really cuts us off from our strength, our power. It cuts us off from knowledge and experience. It's a guillotine that falls and separates. Fear is an interruption in the normal flow or routine of life. Some fears appear to be more sensible than others, in a way. There are programmed biological fears. The fear of falling is there so that we're careful not to fall, so that we don't suffer bodily harm. Fear of pain is a very good fear, in a sense, in that it helps protect us -- until we understand that we don't need to have a fear of something in order to avoid it. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

Managing and increasing your energy. Everything that we do involves energy, personal power. The more energy we have, the more we can accomplish, whether it's things that you wish to accomplish physically - career-related, athletic things -- or whether your goal is to enlighten your mind, to raise your awareness, to become conscious of God, of eternity, of everythingness and nothingness. Life is wonder. Endless, ceaseless wonder. When you're in a high state of attention, you see that. Now naturally, if your energy level is low, then everything is gray, two-dimensional, boring, frustrating, unhappy. Happy people, enlightened people, successful people, inspired people -- they all share something in common. They've learned how to manage and increase their energy. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.

Managing and increasing your energy. Everything that we do involves energy, personal power. The more energy we have, the more we can accomplish, whether it's things that you wish to accomplish physically - career-related, athletic things -- or whether your goal is to enlighten your mind, to raise your awareness, to become conscious of God, of eternity, of everythingness and nothingness. Life is wonder. Endless, ceaseless wonder. When you're in a high state of attention, you see that. Now naturally, if your energy level is low, then everything is gray, two-dimensional, boring, frustrating, unhappy. Happy people, enlightened people, successful people, inspired people -- they all share something in common. They've learned how to manage and increase their energy. Please visit http://fredericklenzfoundation.org for more information.