T S Elliot observed something like: At the end of all our journeying, we return to where we started and know the place for the first time.”
I’ve experienced something similar after spending time with the most recent books in the “Understanding Self and Mind” series (Revelations of Mind, Dimensions of Mind, Keys of Knowledge) which have enriched my appreciation for the role of “understanding” and the ways that the self interacts with the regime of mind. Â But now, returning to “Dynamics of Time and Space”, I have the sense of returning home and recognizing the depths of understanding shining forth within this vision.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced this sense that in the TSK vision we have found a deep resevoir of understanding and that there is no need to look elsewhere for what is freely available here.  But that other explorations can provide vital “keys” for appreciating the “revelations” and “dimensions” already available in the pages of the TSK books.
It’s crossed my mind to wonder how Nyingma in the West will continue when Rinpoche is no longer at the helm. But seeing all the new books, and the new institutions of inquiry and learning that have been founded in the past few years, it feels like a future for the teachings has established storong roots in America.
David,
Your observation “And thus, from moment to moment, inquiry is that openness through which form appears”, is thought-provoking. If form appears through openess, and we inquire into the openness, not the form, perhaps that’s like taking the first step to invite a new relationship. Instead of waiting to be asked to dance, we can do the asking.
Hint… The photo entitled ‘related’ of scallions and onion, the implication is everything is related in nature…at some level, even the books we read here.
https://cciforum.dreamhosters.com/?attachment_id=8046
Hi Michael,
Been thinking about this question… How Rinpoche’s three recent ‘Self & Mind’ books connect with the TSK vision. I don’t know for sure, but perhaps that is what Jack is working on with his current focus on ‘Full Presence Mindfulness’. If you think about it (with hindsight)… How would a master like Rinpoche inquire into experience? To me, these mind books are a master’s inquiry, put into language palatable to Westerner’s ways of thinking. They take the essence of inquiry taught in the TSK vision, and walk us through how to inquire inward. If some consider the original TSK books to be off-putting and intellectual, the three mind books ‘back-fill’, lifting us… making it easier for those who may be floundering or new to it… Rinpoche takes us by the hand and conducts us through our collective interior where it’s often difficult to proceed.
Just thinking out loud… Maybe what I’m trying to say is, what I am personally getting out of the reading and contemplation is a view… an intimate sense that the essence of living is inquiry…and that answers are merely points (and ripples) along the way. And thus, from moment to moment, inquiry is that openness through which form appears.
An amazing deeper understanding seems to present, that seeing NOT based on positions and identity such as the self, is a direct experiencing of the appearing of appearances…a going beyond conceptual mind. Open inquiry seems to be that direct access — at its root that natural urge to watch, to listen, to feel… to know…
One might also check out the Full Presence Mindfulness (FPM) website for more info on opening inquiry…
http://www.fullpresence.org/
Hi Michael
Just found this quote from Revelations of Mind…
So, we return to where we began, as though for the first time… seems to me I recall having done this numerous times. 🤔 These are the glimpses. Yes?
Hi David,
Yes, I would be interested in knowing how Jack feels Rinpoche’s investment in the three recent Self and Mind books connects with the TSK vision.
It just occurred to me that in both the “Self and Mind” series and the “TSK” series—in “Inside Knowledge” and “Dimensions of Mind”–Jack has expanded on his editorial role and joined the dialogue more directly, thereby providing our western mind a way to feel represented in a shared attempt to understand our lives.
Hi Michael,
We’ve been using this year hiatus between TSK classes… (Hopefully Jack will at some point conduct us to the next prelation or expansion of the vision :-)… to ‘backfill’ our scope of understanding of mind and our inquiries into our ‘root text’ – the TSK vision (as Ron phrases it).
As you and TS Elliot point to… it has been a returning to where we started, ‘for the first time’…as the sound of a slender space seems to expand — understanding seems to allow for more. Had I only read these books as a much younger man…? Ah well… How fortunate I feel to have them now.