Colin Payton’s Reviews > The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the Nonduality of Dzogchen > Status Update

A bit repetitious, but then some fantastic insight into absurdity, ethics, and non-attachment. Really love the eight worldly obsessions, esp. the obsessive fear of avoiding "blame in public for our faults or public criticism in general" (195). Many people signaling their righteousness via absolution or preemptive apologies for social sins they've been convinced they were born with/into. Detach from desire, people.

From theory to practice: meditation, non-meditation, and holding the "view" in pure presence. I particularly enjoyed the comparison between reacting to emotions or thoughts or uncomfortable situations and a rabbit ensnared in a trap: the more it struggles, the tighter the trap becomes. How often is that the case in life? We recognize something is unpleasant, but our reaction is often worse than doing nothing.

Struggling with the concept of appearances of the world: I can easily grasp that people's perceptions control what they believe to be true, but struggling with the idea that there isn't even a material reality to ground any perception in. I understand that "mountain" is a language game to differentiate land masses that aren't separate...but the dirt amasses. What's the dirt amassed of? Turtles?