Pema Pera: Hi Storm!
Pema Pera: Wow, landscaping while I watch!!
Storm Nordwind: Hi Pema!
Storm Nordwind: Sure. Very quick before i go to work!
Pema Pera: wonderful!
Pema Pera: I have a question about landmarks
Pema Pera: How to indicate people at the tea house to go here?
Pema Pera: give them a tp?
Pema Pera: is that easy for you to set up?
Storm Nordwind: I’ll put a temporary teleporter there in a minute
Pema Pera: THANKS!
Pema Pera: And as for a lm — can I use these coordinates here, for a slurl from outside, or is there only one entry point allowed per lot?
Storm Nordwind: Only one landing point. I can divide it off though
Pema Pera: yes, that would be great!
Pema Pera: I’ll wait here, take your time
Pema Pera: if you can give me the slurl when you’re done, I can update the web site
For a while I just watched, enjoying Storm digging and moving the soil. After a while, water appeared and started to flow through the new moat. Storm stepped back, looked at it, and seemed to be as pleased as I was with the result.
Pema Pera: Hi Storm!
Storm Nordwind: I’ll tidy it up later but that will be ok for now
Pema Pera: Looking nice and watery!
Pema Pera: sure
Pema Pera: thanks a lot!
Pema Pera: So what slurl shall we use here?
Storm Nordwind: Now for a landing point
Pema Pera: for the web site
Pema Pera: yes
Storm Nordwind: I think here
Pema Pera: Fine!
Storm Nordwind: What do you say about dividing off this square plus the tea house?
Pema Pera: great idea!
Storm Nordwind: ok wait one
Pema Pera: yup
Storm Nordwind: OK done. renamed. Landing point where I am standing
Pema Pera: wonderful!
Pema Pera: can you give coordinates?
Pema Pera: for slurl?
Storm Nordwind: You’ll see them on about>options
Pema Pera: ah, great,yes
Pema Pera: 195, 148, 75
So there is was: our new landing point, just outside the moat, in front of one of the entrance bridges: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rieul/195/148/75
Storm Nordwind: I will put a tp ball at the old tea house
Storm Nordwind: yes
Pema Pera: yes please, thanks!
Pema Pera: perhaps we need two
Pema Pera: one inside and one out
Storm Nordwind: oh?
Pema Pera: many newbies tp right into the tea house
Storm Nordwind: perhaps. don’t want too much floating text though
Pema Pera: and don’t know how to use their camera to look outside
Pema Pera: no
Pema Pera: some of them, even after quite a while, are still like babes in the woods
Pema Pera: with respect to camera control :)
Pema Pera: only hopping in and out the tea house
Pema Pera: simply returning to the last place they went poof
Pema Pera: I have asked moon to create a sign with his logo
Pema Pera: what shall we put up on the sign?
Pema Pera: “for the new Play as Being meeting place, click here” ?
Storm Nordwind: one thing at a time!
Pema Pera: yes, sure
Pema Pera: take your time!
We then walked over to the tea house, where Bertrum was waiting inside. Storm quickly put up a nice and natural looking stone, to the South end of the row of stone benches, as a teleporting device.
Pema Pera: Hi Bertrum!
Pema Pera: We were standing outside
Storm Nordwind: That works
Pema Pera: great!
Pema Pera: so clicking on the rock?
Storm Nordwind: I see about inside
Pema Pera: k!
Storm Nordwind: Yes just a touch will do it
Pema Pera: let click?
Storm Nordwind: left click or sit on - both work
I tried first a left click, and next thing I knew is that I tumbled
out of the sky near the moat. I walked back, tried the sit-on-it option
and yes, that worked too. Again I walked back, and this time I entered
the tea house to greet Bertrum, who was still inside, and so was Storm.
Pema Pera: Hi Bertrum!
Bertrum Quan: hi pema
Pema Pera: a small sign on the wall perhaps?
Pema Pera: or at the central fire?
Pema Pera: Bertrum, we are in the process of moving to a new place.
Pema Pera: nearby
Storm Nordwind: I was going to put a cup on the table
Pema Pera: and we are setting up teleportation sations
Pema Pera: great idea Storm!
Bertrum Quan: a singing bowl?
Storm Nordwind: No sound though - it would disrupt!
Pema Pera: as for a sign, would you like to leave that to Moon, or is it easy to do it right here, with his latest logo from the pab google group web site?
Storm Nordwind: I have no more time so let’s leave it to him
Pema Pera: fine, thanks a lot for doing all this so quickly, Storm!
Storm Nordwind: Let me try it
Bertrum Quan: amazing process
Both Bertrum and I had been watching the speed with which Storm first created a tea cup, starting with what seemed like jus a block of wood, and then changing it into a tp device. Storm disappeared, and returned a few moments later.
Storm Nordwind: Seems ok
Pema Pera: yeah, Storm is a true expert
Pema Pera: ah, you tp’ed yourself?
Storm Nordwind: sure
Storm Nordwind: it works fine
Pema Pera: yes, I tried out the one outside
Storm Nordwind: Please left click on it and try it
Pema Pera: both by left clicking and sitting on it
Pema Pera: yup!
Pema Pera: but we lost Bertrum :)
Storm Nordwind: He tried it too!
Pema Pera: see whether he can find his way back
Pema Pera: otherwise I’ll pick him up
Pema Pera: thanks a lot!
Storm Nordwind: Dakini can remove these when she likes
Pema Pera: yes, in a month or so
Storm Nordwind: A final check and I will take my bath and go to work!
Pema Pera: great, enjoy!
I touched the bowl as well, and wound up once again at the new place, where I was greeted by Bertrum.
Bertrum Quan: pera, when will the others arrive?
Pema Pera: Hi Bertrum, there may not be any others
Pema Pera: this is a quiet time in SL
Pema Pera: most people in the US are asleep
Pema Pera: but please make yourself comfortable!
Bertrum Quan: oh. is Storm in the US?
Pema Pera: no, he is in Scotland
Pema Pera: so he is not asleep
Pema Pera: and I am in Kyoto, Japan
Pema Pera: so I’m awake too :)
Pema Pera: And you?
Bertrum Quan: US and I am awake (but perhaps not in a Buddhist sense,,,).
Pema Pera: haha
Pema Pera: You’ve been here a few times now, yes?
Bertrum Quan: yes.
Pema Pera: I remember meeting you here before
Pema Pera: Did you get a chance to play with the 9-sec explorations?
Bertrum Quan: yes. i found the meeting interesting. no, I don’t think i did the 9-second extercise
Pema Pera: it may be fun to try — and it doesn’t take much time
Pema Pera: would you like to take a seat?
Pema Pera: we’ll stay here for now
Given the quiet time, it occurred to me that this was as good a time as any for Bertrum to give the 9-sec exploration a try.
Pema Pera: if you like, you can do it right now: just drop whatever was on your mind, take a good breath, and wait for something like 9 seonds — doesn’t have to be precise.
Bertrum Quan: i’m having a bit of troubly with my display…
Bertrum Quan: on this laptop. i’m sorry for the typos. the keyboard is small…
Pema Pera: no problem at all!
Pema Pera: And since there are only two of us, let’s not worry about the environment
Pema Pera: How about just spending roughly 9 seconds or whatever short period, dropping what you’re doing, taking a breath, letting things be open, and then return to normal — when you do that, what happens? Don’t make it fancy, just try as a little informal experiment :-)
Bertrum Quan: okay. just give me another moment with the computer…. sorry
Bertrum Quan: okay.
Pema Pera: take your time!
Bertrum Quan: truth is the computer is a distraction… but there is a sense of anticipation.
Pema Pera: How did it feel to take the breath?
Bertrum Quan: relaxing
Bertrum Quan: it’s hard to free the mind from the need to explain…
Bertrum Quan: how do you feel when you do the experiment?
At that moment my internet connection stopped working. It took me a while to get it up and running again, and then I had to re-login.
Bertrum Quan: what happened?
Pema Pera: Hi sorry, my internet connection dropped
Pema Pera: I’m using a cell phone type connection that is not too reliable
Pema Pera: here in a coffeeshop in Kyoto
Bertrum Quan: okay.
Pema Pera: :)
Bertrum Quan: is it acceptable for me to ask you how you respond as well?
Pema Pera: of course!
Pema Pera: For me it has been a very interesting complementary practice
Pema Pera: to all that I have explored in the last 38 years
Pema Pera: so in that sense, when I tell what happens, I am reporting not only on PaB, Play as Being, as such, but of course my whole life experience is folded in there — as must be the case for everybody of course.
Pema Pera: so that is one footnote
Pema Pera: another footnote, related, is that if I were to say precisely what happened, it would have many references to people I have met, in real life or through books or dreams, etc, and ideas and other parts of networks of thoughts, images, visions, etc, that would take quite a while to explain
Pema Pera: So with those two footnotes, I’ll have to limit myself quite a bit to what I can easily report
Commenting this part now, I’m smiling at the thought of Dakini smiling, reading this, seeing how somebody had succeeded in letting me talk. Quite a while ago, she had noticed that I rarely talk about my own experiences. Truth is, however, that I am rarely asked these questions, and whenever I am asked, I do talk :-).
Pema Pera: What happens for me is that the very moment I start a 9-sec exercise, I am reminded of Being
Pema Pera: and it is as if a window opens in a stuffy room
Pema Pera: fresh air instantly there
Pema Pera: or another image: sunlight streaming in freely in an otherwise dark room
Pema Pera: and almost instantaneously I feel the presence of Being, in and as everything beyond its seeimingly thingness
Pema Pera: I feel and see myself as an appearance without substance
Pema Pera: an illision, but a valuable and rich one that I deeply respect, together with all other aspects of appearance in this realm where we find ourselves
Pema Pera: I feel the responsibility to celebrate in a genuine and natural way what IS
Pema Pera: and I feel the trust that I can just step aside and let that happen
Pema Pera: without any effort from my side
Pema Pera: then in the next second, all that settles and takes a bath in time so to speak
Pema Pera: the initial instant is connected with all time all space
Pema Pera: the next second is like stepping into the train of time, and seeing it leaving the platform
Pema Pera: then the next 8 seconds are again very different
Pema Pera: seem very very long . . . .
Pema Pera: a little lifetime
Pema Pera: another reincarnation
Pema Pera: and during that time anything can happen
Pema Pera: vision-like images
Pema Pera: or thoughts
Pema Pera: or any sensory impressions, memories, fantasies
Pema Pera: or sometimes just silence
Pema Pera: even boredom or dullness
Pema Pera: but wonderful boredom and wonderful dullness, since they are expressions of Being
I didn’t want to monopolize the conversation, though.
Pema Pera: Well, Bertrum, I guess you got more than you asked for :-)
Bertrum Quan: that’s extraordinary… you enter a timeless state of being… when time in this case expands….
Pema Pera: entering is not quite what happened — more a recognition that that is the only reality, and a realization that the illusion of time was just that . . . .
Pema Pera: an illiusion . . . .
Pema Pera: nothing is entering . . . there is no coming no going . . . and yet no non-movement either, it is beyond all those dichotomies
Pema Pera: and from that “place” that is no place you can watch all the comings and goings, like a movie, like a dream, and really enjoy and taste them, without becoing caught up in them, respecting and appreciating without buying into.
Bertrum Quan: what I meant by a timeless sense of being was to be freed from the illusion of linear time…
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: fourth time, it is called sometimes, different from past, present, future
Pema Pera: and holding those three, in a way — but words are trickly . . . .
Pema Pera: *tricky
Pema Pera: trickles too . . . :)
Bertrum Quan: yes, the words tend to limit, define in ways that work against what we are attempting to articulate…
Bertrum Quan: the illusion that you speak of is inherent in language as well i think…
Pema Pera: inherent in the whole way we deal with ourselves, each other, the world — and yes, language codifies that, and is part of the tight mesh that (seems to) keep(s) us trapped — but we are never trapped.
Pema Pera: this very moment all there is is Being
Pema Pera: it’s all rather funny
Bertrum Quan: i see it as a paradox
Bertrum Quan: a paradox provides us a means to break free and reach that state of Being… it is not easy, however. you have prepared yourself over time…
Bertrum Quan: I have not.
Bertrum Quan: what was useful to you early on?
Pema Pera: well, those are hard questions to answer, mostly because they are wrongly posed . . . .
Pema Pera: I did not break free
Pema Pera: there is no I and nothing to break free from
Pema Pera: this may sound like I’m trying to trick you through language but
Pema Pera: it really is essential to see this . . . and there is no way to prepare for seeing, for Being . . .
So that was the correct answer, but it seemed only fair to odd an incorrect answer, on the relative level at which we normally talk . . . .
Pema Pera: even so, relatively speaking, which was of course what you meant, I realize that, yes
Pema Pera: you could say there was a lot of preparation and investment — but all that is illusionary
Pema Pera: not necessary
Bertrum Quan: yes, that is what i meant
Pema Pera: you don’t have to repeat what I did
Pema Pera: if what I found has any value
Pema Pera: I ought to be able to convey it in such a way as to point out shortcuts ;)
Pema Pera: PaB is the shortest shortcut I’ve found so far . . .
Pema Pera: but of course, different people resonate in different ways
Pema Pera: no way to know who “gets” what out of it how quickly
Pema Pera: and remember, that way of speaking is fundamentally flawed.
Pema Pera: I have given Adams another koan
Pema Pera: she likes them and what is more, actually really works with them!
Pema Pera: see her blog, linked to the PaB blog
Pema Pera: http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/
Pema Pera: hers is called Rubble Born Thoughts
Pema Pera: http://rubblebornthoughts.wordpress.com/
Bertrum Quan: I’ve been to your blog, read some of the trascripts, looks at the research idea…
Bertrum Quan: looked (read)
Pema Pera: the second koan I gave her was something like “how can you `get’ something if there is nothing to `get’”
Pema Pera: what did you make of it?
Bertrum Quan: I didn’t see the Adams material on the blog… where is it exactly?
Pema Pera: various places in the last ten days, since she started coming to PaB
Bertrum Quan: okay, i’ll take a look…
I invited Bertrum for a second (very brief) round.
Pema Pera: would you like to do another 9 seconds exploration right now?
Pema Pera: just for fun :)
Bertrum Quan: a question first: do you feel the practice is necessary to prepare one to see through the illusion of duality?
Pema Pera: nothing is necessary
Pema Pera: in that sense, you can just directly take Being as the main topic
Pema Pera: For example, another link on the PaB page is
Pema Pera: http://avastu0.blogspot.com/
Pema Pera: by someone following the tradition of Nisargadatta — no practice, just reminders of that IS.
Pema Pera: but various forms of practice can help, yes.
Pema Pera: btw, Stim, my main collaborator in these matters, Steven Tainer in RL, has a blog that he just started a few days ago,
Pema Pera: and he addresses points you just mentioned.
Pema Pera: http://flipp6er.wordpress.com/
Pema Pera: Weblog of Flipp6er — it is called
Bertrum Quan: are there links from your blog?
Pema Pera: all in the bottom right corner of my blog under links yes
Pema Pera: so no need to write them down
Before wrapping up, I wanted to make sure, as much as I could, that I did not give any wrong impressions.
Pema Pera: By the way,
Pema Pera: Allow me to add three disclaimers, for the record so to speak :-)
Bertrum Quan: okay, thanks.
Pema Pera: 1) what I describe is only some very small glimmers; I know people who see all this much more clearly, so I want to be very modest and I certainly don’t want to claim any particularly special insights — I’m somewhat reluctantly speaking merely ’cause you asked :>)
Pema Pera: 2) the words I use may well be misleading, as you already indicated too; they may invoke rather different images than what I am trying to convey
Pema Pera: 3) I’ve given a very very toned-down version, not even PG :). To be more honest in my descriptions, I would have had to throw in all kinds of much more weird and wild seeming stuff as well, but that then would require me to say even for more, and I’ve talked a lot already. At least I think I’ve given some of the essence.
Pema Pera: … words are only faint whispers here . .. .
Bertrum Quan: words are what we have… i do think i understand an essence of what you are saying
Pema Pera: would you like to try another 9 seconds?
Bertrum Quan: okay.
Pema Pera: Not to put you on the spot, but it may be fun to just try
Pema Pera: k
Bertrum Quan: okay–not fun, but interesting
Pema Pera: I hope it’s fun too! (^_^)
Pema Pera: play is important — hence not “deftly studying Being” but rather “Play as Being”
We paused a while, and Bertrum tried out the 9-sec exploration.
Bertrum Quan: yes, the play’s the thing that will…. i can give more of an answer this time…
Pema Pera: please feel free to do so, in whatever way
Bertrum Quan: my response is whole– feeling contradictory feelings at the same time: movement and lack of movement, breath and lack of breath, sounds of like and silence.
Bertrum Quan: not like–life
We were both silent for a while.
Pema Pera: glad to hear that, Bertrum! — isn’t it nice to just allow yourself to explore?
Pema Pera: No judgment, no expectations, just do it
Pema Pera: I recommend to keep a lab journal at hand, a note book or just a piece of paper or a computer file
Pema Pera: and just to jot down whatever comes up during the 9 seconds
Pema Pera: the very fact of recording helps to focus the mind
Pema Pera: and later it may be interesting to reread
Pema Pera: well, thanks for coming over!
Pema Pera: It’s dinner time here by now
Bertrum Quan: thank you for your conversation.
Pema Pera: thank you too!
Bertrum Quan: will future meetings be somewhere else—the teleporter?
Pema Pera: I suggest you try the 9-sec exploration, perhaps just for one hour, 4 times an hour, or two hours — no need to do it the whole day right away
Pema Pera: Would be very interesting to hear what you will find
Pema Pera: Yes, soon the meetings will be at the new place
Pema Pera: but now you know how to find us at either place :)
Pema Pera: be well, and c u !
Bertrum Quan: yes, thank you.
