The Dragonfly Sutra

Sunday 8 August 2021: On the 13th Anniversary of the Terma of Gaia Awakening, Nemeta offers the recitation of the Dragonfly Sutra to all visitors. This version is sung by Dan the Celt.

Revision and Clarification

August 22, 2024 is the 192nd year before the end of Kali Yuga which began in 3012 BCE and ends in 2216 CE. That is 5318 years, approximately one-fifth of one Kalpa, one precessional cycle of 25,920 years in cosmic time. It is no small matter that the midpoint of Kali Yuga is around 550 BCE at the moment when the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni or Siddartha, is said to have lived.

Many Buddhists around the world today, regardless of what think they know about the theory and practice of that program presumed to lead to Enlightenment, do not know, or may have overlooked or been prevented from knowing, that the Enlightened One who lived about 2500 years ago left a cautionary message about the end of the Dharma, which he predicted to occur at the end of Kali Yuga — that is, now, in our time. There are textual citations with some commentary on this prediction here and there in Dog Zen. Suffice to say, what you find in this course affirms the end of the Dharma. The instructions of Lama Luv Mutt assert in no uncertain terms that the Dharma — from the Sanskrit root dhr-, “traction, tread” — has lost its tread, like a set of bald tires that spin in their tracks. He blames the management for mishandling the Dharma because, acting from their presumed state of superior realization, they can do nothing but teach and advise others how to attain that state. And that is a dead end dharma.

Dog Zen is a takedown and refutation of the Dharma. An outrageous objective, perhaps. An outrageous claim, for sure. Consistent with that claim is the statement that the Dragonfly Sutra is the last and most excellent of all sutras, which can neither be improved nor surpassed, and which trumps all previous discourses of Buddhist instruction and renders them obsolete and useless. How can this be so? It can be demonstrated on two counts. First count, as explained in the original introduction of this landing page, the Dragonfly Sutra is a not a metaphysical or philosophical discourse. It is an eleven-line, fifty-five-word poem that describes how dragonflies fly in precise and meticulous detail. Period. On the second count, this most excellent of all sutras is not an exposition to be taught, it is a teaching of non-attainment of what you already realize by the mere fact of having a mind. Thus, the most you can say about it, and all that needs to be said, is that it describes how rigpa works without the use of any philosophical or metaphysical language.

Rigpa: the Tibetan word adopted into the jargon of Dog Zen, meaning “what directs mind to its own activity,” or, in plain English, the power of attention. The first instruction of Dog Zen (“counting to one”) is:

What directs your attention to the productions of your mind is not a product of your mind.

And so… This revision and clarification of the landing page of The Dragonfly Sutra is timed to the release of a new playlist on the John Lamb Lash YouTube channel. You may review the original introductory talk:

Benefits of the Dragonfly Sutra:

To which I am adding these notes and a couple of corrections:

00:01 – 8:30: Sets out a view of what you find on Nemeta, for visitors and for faculty.

8:30: Needs correction. Nemeta relies on loans from students, not donations.

8:50 – 11:35: Explains that Dog Zen is an independent construction of new and original material, but related to Planetary Tantra.

11:35 – 17:45: Describes what the DFS is, period. Sutra : literally “thread,”; connotations, discourse or exposition. Originally I advised not to write down the DFS — but you can find it below. Since your mind is not fit for purpose, the sutra is a tool for honing and improving the mechanism of mind. Mind contrasted to intelligence.

17:45 – 22:25: How the DFS differs from all other previous sutras (also explained above): it is not expository. The sutra itself instructs, it is not a textual work that contains instructions.

22:25 – 31:00: My particular view on so-called Enlightenment. My critique of the vast tradition of Buddhist teachings, including a record of those who attained the realized state (Sambodhi) and commentaries on that record. HOWEVER, the bearing of all that instruction is to present practices for attaining Enlightenment. Those who claim to have realized the enlightened state can do nothing but expound on that state — with the intention of “transmission of the Dharma.” Differences in Dog Zen: it presents non-attainment instruction, and it distinguishes “practices to attain Enlightenment” from the practices OF Enlightenment, the realized state. Genuine realization has to be proven, not by perpetuating the exposition intended to lead to Enlightenment. The Maitreya Process is educational, demonstrating how to teach FROM the realized state. This is a novel proposition uniquely applicable in the closing years of Kali Yuga.

31:00: The benefits of using the Dragonfly Sutra:

1. Clears and hones the tool of mind, which is not alive, better to express the living intelligence you embody.
2. 35:35: Capability of streaming Bodhi, Bodhicitta, from the root buhd-, “awake, awakening.” Bodhicitta happens when you access and express your innate, embodied intelligence.Correction 37:37: Cit means intelligence, not consciousness. Citta means intellect. Streaming Bodhi includes access to DI, Dakini Instruction, subliminal, subvocal instruction coming from the mind of the planet — correct as stated. Here is where Dog Zen interfaces with Planetary Tantra.40:10 The talk Anahata: Silent Intonation has not yet been provided. Ana – hatta, literally “not struck,” like the sound of a drum that is not struck.Correction 41:40: The use of an IT/Archontic analogy for the mind. This analogy works in certain ways. For instance, AI/IT can compile and sort lists using algorithms, and do it better and faster than the human mind, even though it has to be programmed to do so by the human mind. It follows, then, if mind is mechanical like a Swiss Army knife,  and not Archontic like a word-processing app, what is mechanical is superior to AI/IT. Oddly, though, even bizarrely, both mind and AI are not alive! A fact of life which, unfortunately, often disposes human animals to confound the two and surrender their minds to the Archontic spell of AI.
3. 42:00: The AI analogy of the cursor illustrates the supreme benefit of the DFS. The attention function of your mind (rigpa) is like a cursor, a prompting tool. Optimally,  your attention can become the prompt for the intelligence of the living earth so that the planetary animal mother detects and follows what your attention does, and acts on what it shows her and where it leads her. This is the paramount and unique achievement of the DFS and Dog Zen. To 47:30, conclusion.

Shakyamuni himself declared that the moment would come when the Dharma would outlive its value and decline into drivel and dross for the infatuation of inferior minds. Dog Zen is a comedic takedown of the totality of Buddhist teachings of all schools, especially the Diamond Vehicle and Dzogchen. It teaches how to have fun with “Enlightenment” and doing so, it makes fun of it. Likewise, listening to and reciting the Dragonfly Sutra is fun, a delight.

§ To continue with the revision of the original landing page:

Upon its introduction, I set a boundary on public release of the complete Sutra in written form, and other conditions as well. Now, some four years later, I do not hold anyone to these requirements. So, here is the complete written form of the 11th-line, the 55-word text of The Dragonfly Sutra. It was composed on the last day of the Idris Shift, July 3, 2019, in Oudenaken, Belgium.

Tathagate

The beat of wings
moving on air
stirred by wings
that flutter then and there
makes not a sound
on its own, and the stroke
that lifts the hull to flight
and steadies it to alight
measures a slight delay
in the interplay of the matching wings
and there gathers speed with the other pair

The opening mantra, Tathagate, means “what moves on, and what causes to move on.”

In the area of the Sacred Groves that features The Dragonfly Sutra, you will also find the exposition of Dog Zen. Talks and text on the Sutra and Dog Zen complement each other and share a common aim: to present non-attainment teaching in the way suitable to the conditions at the end of Kali Yuga. These conditions are unique and rigorous. Lama Luv Mutt likes to emphasize that Dog Zen is the “consummate end” of Buddhism. As the saying goes, the Buddha Dharma has lost its tread. There are Buddhist scriptures that predict the end of the Dharma at the final stage of Kali Yuga, right now. But if that end is consummate, then it produces the final flowering of enlightenment, an instruction that cannot be surpassed, to which nothing more can be added.

The Diamond Sutra is “the jewel ornament of liberation”– a Buddhist trope from a text written by Gampopa (1074-1153 C.E.), one of the two most important disciples of Milarepa. Dog Zen is the liberation of the path of liberation. The unique signature of Ch’an and Zen Buddhism is “direct pointing to the nature of mind” — a notin on which all scholars and presumed masters agree. Dog Zen refames this notion in a single line, already stated:

What directs your attention to the productions of your mind is not a product of your mind.

To correct the longstanding meme of “direct pointing to the nature of mind,” Lama Luv Mutt proposes “dierct pointing to the event of mentation.” Reflection on that single line liberates your attention, rigpa, so that it can attend directly to its optimal spontaneous activity. Recitation of The Dragonfly Sutra hones the liberated attention and holds it steady on the experience of satori, sudden enlightenment, the non-attainment of what you already know and does not need to be attained.

Always take note: There is no metaphysical significance in The Dragonfly Sutra. It is not a coded philosophical message. It has no symbolic value whatsoever. There is nothing in it to analyze or interpret. It contains no hidden message, it carries no reference to anything outside itself. It connotes absolutely nothing beyond the bare description of how a dragonfly flies..(Typically, a word may both denote and connote. Hollywood denotes a place, an area in Los Angeles. What it connotes is a lot more, of course.) When reciting and reflecting on The Dragonfly Sutra, it is imperative that you realize that it does not connote anything. To benefit from this Sutra, be mindful to dismiss from your mind any connotations or interpretations that may arise as you contemplate it. There is nothing to understand here. Take it purely as it sounds.

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Previous content:

§ My great friend Richard Lair, whom I met on a passage ship sailing from Yokahama to Bombay, now lives in Thailand near the Burmese border (Chang Mai). Some of you may recall that name from my account of how I encountered a living Bodhisattva in the manifestation of a Cambodian girl near Angkor Wat in October 1965. Years later, I realized that it was the Organic Light I saw at that moment, streaming from her brow like liquid ivory. Lair was with me on that occasion and participated in what I saw.

Apologies for the witless and discounting commentary on this vid. You see that Lair (as I always called him, being Lash in turn) limps slightly. That is due to having been diagnosed with polio at an early age, around ten, as I recall, and having spent some time (perhaps months) laid out prone in an “iron lung.” Lair never told me in so many words, but I inferred that his remarkable, strikingly calm and poised demeanor may have come from that period of immobility and isolation. He is one of the most elegant creatures I have had the fortune to meet in my life. He introduced me to many treasures including the works of Rilke and Tibetan Buddhism, no less. One of his pithy comments on my character was that “it carries a soupçon of Bon Po.” He sniffed the terton in the making.

That’s Lair conducting. In another vid, Richard comments with his inimitable soft understated humor that it is the heaviest orchestra in the world. They did the calculations and found out that it weighs more than the total company of the Berlin Philharmonic. I assume that covers both players and instruments. He and Dave Soldier have consulted with musicians who concur that it is indeed music judged by professional standards.

“Taking Down Buddhism”

Words from the revered Indian Guru Ramana Maharshi (1879 – 1950) with background picture of his sanctuary site at Arunachala Hill in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, S. India

In the above talk I indicate that those presumed to be enlightened can do nothing but teach how to attain enlightenment, making Buddhism a redundant system. My critique of Buddhism in this respect extends also to the yogic schools and Vedic philosophy, exemplified in Ramana Maharshi, who is assumed to have attained the state of “god-realization,” in the jargon of those schools.  According to this revered master, the sole and supreme purpose in life is to realize TAT TVAM ASI, Thou Art That, you are what you seek. In my view, this is a banal assertion of terminal narcissism. I disagree with the claim that the only purpose of life is to attain self-realization, defined either in Buddhist or Vedic terms, or on any terms whatever! As I argued many years ago in The Seeker’s Handbook (1991), Asian and Eastern forms of philosophy and practice cannot satisfy the question of finding purpose in life. I stand as strongly as ever on that point.

Additional to that objection, I have another. It concerns the syntax of the two selves, higher and lower, real and illusional, etc., inherent to the Vedic systems and Buddhism. Exposition of the DFS and DZ provides a totally novel solution to the problem of the two selves. This issue goes to the interpretation of Ken Wheeler (YT Theoria Apophasis) regarding the fundamental mistake in Buddhism about annata, the no-self doctrine: Ken Wheeler. Although I do not follow Wheeler who reiterates the two self paradigm, I do find his critique of annata drawn from the Pali Canon of Ceylonese Buddhism to be instructive.  I agree firmly that Buddhism today has nothing to do with its original philosophy. Wheeler rightfully condemns it as nothing but a pulpy concept of secular humanism. I treat this error in a Dog Zen talk on non-duality and the meme of higher and lover selves.

– revision jll March 20, 2020 – August 24, 2024