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November Project 2011 Finale

takuin — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 01:41:25 +0000

This post wraps up the November Project 2011.

Now that there have been a few days of space, and as I sit here looking over the posts for November, I think the project went quite well.

I would like to thank everyone for all their wonderful questions. I could not use them all, but I am grateful for every one. And special thanks goes to everyone taking part in the comments. It is always good to see others give themselves over to the questions in order to look deeper into them.

Thanks very much!

For those of you new to the site, and to the veterans unable to read the earlier posts, the following list contains all of the writings for the November Project 2011, in order.

The November Project 2011

01: On Dropping Thought

02: The State of Non-Duality

03: Burning the Notebooks

04: Quick Thoughts on Living

05: Questions Answered – Again!

06: On Increased Awakenings

07: Quick Reply on Living

08: Life After Death

09: What Are You Reading?

10: Confused About Enlightenment

11: In Sickness

12: Belief

13: On Writing at Takuin.com

14: On Freedom

15: On Meditation

16: On Dreaming

17: On the Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011

18: On Finding Out for Yourself

19: Where Should I Sit?

20: On Siddhis and Super-Powers

21: Takuin on Film

22: On Conclusion

23: On Apophis, Natural Resources, and Love

24: On Haters and Troublemakers

25: On Enlightenment and Awakening

26: On Ending

27: Ask the Reader

28: On Questions

29: On Suffering

30: One Last Sentence

Thanks again, everyone!

And for those of you coming to these posts late, please keep this in mind: Quick Note on Comments

Out of the Woods...

Ask the Reader

takuin — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:25:28 +0000

November Project: Question #27

I received this in my email inbox just a few minutes ago from James

I can’t imagine the number of questions you must get all the time, nevermind this November project. But I wonder if you have a question for your readers? My question is, what one question would you like to ask your readers?

Hmm…interesting. I like this.

My question for the readers is one that no one has ever asked me.

What concerns you in your daily lives?

Whether this concern blocks you off from what you consider daily life, or is an integrated part, however you might see it, what concerns you? Forget for the moment if you believe your concerns to be selfish or of no real importance, or even if you believe those concerns to be illusory…I don’t care about that…

I would just like to know, as human beings running around living your lives, what is it that concerns you? To be good parents? To be enlightened? To get laid? To make a name for yourselves? Or something else entirely? What is it?

And I ask this question with love. It is in no way accusatory, nor asked to make you think you are not doing enough in the ‘right’ areas.

I am really looking forward to your replies, as simple or complicated as they might be.

Questions Answered – Again!

takuin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:10:35 +0000

November Project: Question #5

I knew this would happen at some point during the November Project. It happened last year, in fact…

So far, 5 days into the project, I have received around 45 to 50 questions. I will probably end up using 15 out of those 50. And not because the questions are ‘bad’. It is just that many of the 50 are repeatedly asked. Not only that, they have already been addressed in a post from last year’s November Project called Questions Answered. To handle the deluge of familiar questions, we’ll do the same again.

So, does that mean I am going to just take the cheap way out and link to that article? Yes, but with a few additions.

Here are a couple reasons why:

1.) Since the November Project last year, the number of subscribers has about doubled. So there is a whole new group of readers that may have missed those explorations the first time.

2.) The repeat questions this year are almost IDENTICAL to the questions asked last year. The only real difference is those questions are in greater numbers this year, haha.

The questions in last year’s post, Questions Answered, are grouped into 5 categories consisting of the most frequently asked questions. I have received some variation of the same questions this year (apart from #4, for whatever reason), so it is still a good fit.

There are some posts written after last year’s project that may fit nicely as well. I will append those below.

Real, or Illusion?

But first I want to say, even though I have used the word answer in relation to these questions, please never think of what is written as an answer. They are merely explorations, and nothing more. Don’t think of it in terms of right or wrong. Just open yourself to the exploration and take it from there.

Last Year’s Post, Questions Answered

Related articles posted since last year’s project:

************

Also, I should say I am still taking in questions for this project. Even though I have received more than enough to fill up the entire month, I will not stop taking questions until November 30th, so keep them coming!

Be Good!!

November Project 2011: 30 Questions with Takuin

takuin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:16:16 +0000

Time for another month-long project! I received many wonderful questions last year, and I am looking forward to doing it again.

Here’s the project:

For the entire month of November, I will be answering one question per day, every day, from a reader. And I will be taking submissions every single day, right up to November 30th.

You can submit your questions by commenting on this post, through the Contact Page on this site, on Twitter, or on the Life Beyond the Image Facebook Page.

For those of you submitting questions, I’ll be happy to link to you if you have a website, Twitter account, etc. But if you want to remain anonymous, or if you do not tell me one way or the other, I will just use your first name, or your initials.

I will most likely answer your questions in a written post, but I may decide to record audio or video for the answer instead. I’ll just go with whatever feels right at the time.

The questions themselves should be on the topic of this website, but we can still have some fun. Use your imagination, and feel free to ask anything you like. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer every question, but I will keep them all as I might use them in future posts. So let’s get to it!

November 1st is rapidly approaching…What would you like to ask?

Big Tree

A Question on Speaking

takuin — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:33:53 +0000

This question came from James through Skype.

‘What was it like for you to meet with people after you had the ‘accident’ of your liberation?’

Thank you for the question, James.

I remember people having the most interesting questions. And I honestly had no answer for them and cannot say I knew anything at all about what they asked. But I wanted to come together with them, and we would walk together, step by step, as if holding hands, and we would find out – or not – together.

I felt they were instructing me, as I often moved like a blind man with newly given sight. But that may be what they came to me for; to hear the discoveries of the newly sighted man. And I didn’t mind at all.

But if they came to be taught, then I failed them completely.

Takuin’s mind may be a giving mind, whatever that means, but it is not giving of answers. And this is confusing to so many who have come to see him. There is no end goal, and nothing to be attained at the end. There is only the moment by moment functioning of the organism.

But they wanted Liberation so badly, you see, and they hoped that through an answer, or even just through physical closeness to the speaker, they would be imparted with a wonderful gift, or the end state they had hoped to find.

Sitting in the Park

Liberation is not in an end, nor is it in a beginning. It is life, as it is lived. Nothing more, and nothing less.

I have said this kind of thing before, and invariably someone comes back with, “Well, I live my life everyday, and still it is not like yours,” but I question that. Not the bit about Takuin’s life, as that is insignificant here. No, I question whether they have ever truly lived even one moment of their lives.

And there is nothing wrong with that, really, for they must see the reality of their functioning and fully understand the thing they are, and not the person they someday hope to be.

Life is not a matter of finding the answer to an exalted state, but more a matter of shutting the mouth-mind and simply living.

There is no state to live in, only living. No end to find, only the exploration. There is not even anyone else to light your candle. You’ll have to do that for yourself.

If you come to me for answers, you’ll only find discomfort. That is the only teaching I can offer.

Project for November: 30 Questions with Takuin

takuin — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:48:07 +0000

Time for a new month-long project! I have not done this sort of thing in quite some time, but it is nice to change things up every once in awhile. Here it is:

For the entire month of November I will be answering one question per day from a reader. I will be taking submissions every single day, so it will not be pre-planned in any way, other than choosing the question and writing the answer.

I will be accepting questions all the way to the 30th of November, and you can submit them by commenting on this post, through the Contact Page on this site, or through Twitter. (NOTE: You can find my Twitter account HERE.)

When I decided to do this, I wanted to approach it with as little planning as possible, and not amass questions during the first couple of days, then plan out my answers as the days slowly rolled by. That is not my style, anyway…

I will most likely answer your questions in a written post, but I may decide to record audio or video for the answer instead. I’ll just go with whatever feels right at the time.

The questions themselves should be on the topic of this website, but we can still have some fun. It doesn’t have to be all nothingness wrapped in enigmatic nonsense. Use your imagination, and feel free to ask anything you like. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer every question, but I will keep them all as I might use them in future posts.

So let’s get to it! What would you like to ask?

How to Seek?

takuin — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 03:04:00 +0000

Recently I was asked the question, “What do I need to do to be a better seeker? How can I get the best result?” An all around silly question, but I thought it might be interesting to go into.

The audio for this video was recorded in Chichibu, in Saitama.

(Note: For those reading this post through RSS or Email subscriptions, if you cannot see the video below, please click through to the post itself to watch.)

Why I Started Takuin.com

takuin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 09:59:29 +0000

Question for August 9, 2010. Why did you start Takuin.com?

This is the first video made specifically for this site. I won’t say much, as we’ll let the video speak for itself…

The comments for this video have been disabled on YouTube, but they are of course open here. HD is available for this video on this post, although it is not automatically enabled. You may need to manually change that option if you want to view it in the highest quality.

Enjoy!

(Note: For those reading this post through RSS or Email subscriptions, if you cannot see the video below, please click through to the post itself to watch.)

How to Sit

takuin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:06:04 +0000

Question for June 8th, 2010 from John:

What is the best way to sit? It seems to me, pretty useful, to ask an expert how to do something than to fumble around on my own for 100 years. So, how does one sit?

Time for another audio response…

After finishing this recording, I realized I left something out that may be useful for you, John:

I never make a plan to go out and sit. I never say, “Well, now I am going to get to the bottom of this and find out the truth,” or whatever. Sitting is life. It is living. It moves everywhere I might go.

It is difficult to talk about, partly because it is very much like breathing. You don’t make a plan for it, and it seems labored only after you notice it, haha. It is not an activity in that sense, because you cannot do anything about it, really. It is not something you do, in the usual sense of doing.

If you make a plan to sit, there is nothing wrong with that. But you might find eventually, the spaces in-between sitting become shorter and shorter…then it is all space.

By the way, the photos used in this post are of a favorite place of mine. It is all in one location. You would do well to find a similar place of your own. Nature sitting in nature…

(Note: For those reading this post through RSS or Email subscriptions, if you cannot see the audio player below, please click through to the post itself to listen.)

The Road to Enlightenment

takuin — Mon, 10 May 2010 08:54:55 +0000

Question for May 10th, 2010 from Anjali:

Is there a linear progression towards enlightenment? Can a person who seems most unlikely to get enlightened or uncover peace actually get enlightened or uncover peace one fine day, in spite of himself or herself?

I’d like to answer this in an audio post…sometimes a question does things to the mind that the fingers cannot handle well.

I really do enjoy these audio posts. And although I have not done many, I will do more in the future. If you have any suggestions on how to make them better, or any input at all, please do not hesitate to speak up. I am always happy to hear your suggestions and constructive criticisms.

(Note: For those reading this post through RSS or Email subscriptions, if you cannot see the audio player below, please click through to the post itself to listen.)

Listen below…