DHARMA OCEAN DISCUSSES INVOKING THE PRIMEVAL FIRE
Originally published on sunrisenews.co
This article was adapted from Dharma Ocean Podcast 243, a talk given by Dr. Reggie Ray at the Blazing Mountain Retreat Center in Crestone, CO. Dr. Reginald “Reggie” Ray is the Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation, dedicated to the evolution and flowering of the somatic teachings of the Practicing Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
There’s a burning quality to awareness. It’s subtle, but it’s there. Space and awareness co-exist. When we first meet space, it seems very empty, but the more we get to know it, the more we begin to detect that the very nature of space is not only empty, it’s warm — and it’s not only warm — it’s actually burning. It’s on fire.
That awareness burns up anything solid. This is why we have such a tough time in life, because we are always trying to pin down our situation and who we are to have some reference point that we can relate to. Every time we try, that burning quality of awareness is at work. That’s the first noble truth — that no matter how we try to solidify things, everything is always being burned, and that’s what pain is. Awareness is burning up our attempts to solidify our life, to pin things down, to find some kind of reference points, some kind of enduring security and comfort.
The very nature of life itself is movement. Life is always flowing. It’s a river that has no banks. Life begins with the first warmth of space. And then it ends up in everything that we see in the universe. All of it is flowing; all of it is in process. So the burning quality is what life comes out of. This burning quality protects life — it’s the origin of life. It’s what protects life from our attempts to freeze and impede it.
The Hawaiian fire goddess’s name is “Pele.” This is a name given to the life force. We could give it other names — religions have given other names — but Pele is the mistress of the depths. What that means is that the deepest reality of being is fire. The first thing that happens whe space moves into form is fire.
That depth is always there. That fire is always burning. When we seek life, we can touch it. When we feel out of touch with life, we can touch it. It’s extraordinarily loving. It’s actually the nature of love itself, that primeval fire. But if we try to co-opt life, it becomes wrathful, and the wrath is an expression of love.
The world is filled with living energies. The elements are alive, and all the deities of the world are fundamentally all emissaries of the elements. They’re all representing life in different ways, and they are expressions of direct wisdom. They’re not as hesitant and shut down as we are. When we invoke them, it’s not a trivial thing — it’s not inconsequential.
When we start trying to create personal territory out of the flow and unfolding of life, we’ll be called to account in some way. We need the help of the unseen world to make the journey. If we were just left to our own devices, we wouldn’t be able to do it because our capacity for self-deception is so deep. We have to live and act and be creative, respecting that fiery nature of reality — and when we do, then things will go well.
We’re talking about a certain kind of magic in the universe that we are invoking and requesting to be part of our life. And the magic is that when you start drifting and losing track of what you’re doing, you get a message. When we are truly being ourselves, the more we are completely and totally the person that we are and the person we were meant to be, that itself is life. So strangely enough, when we invoke the power of life, we are really calling to our own person at the same time. We are beyond ourselves. And the more that we grow as people and fulfill the purpose of being a human being in this world at this time, the more we’re beyond ourselves and the more we feel that something is happening with us that is beyond anything that we’ve ever been able to imagine. Our life becomes an exploding star, a supernova in space. And this explosion is of cosmic significance; it’s a universal blessing: for it is out of supernovae that all the elements are created that make life possible on earth and elsewhere throughout all the realms of space.
Strangely enough, that is us. That’s who we are. We are an exploding star — our light and our inspiration. That love needs to go out to the whole universe. That’s the very nature of being human. When we begin to become that supernova, we feel more ourselves than we ever have in our whole life. We feel so completely that this is who I am, and this is why I’m here. And every atom in my body is being fulfilled. Life being life. In unleashing life, we come to who we are, and we become who we are by becoming who we are. When we invoke the primordial fire, that process unfolds. We are being nourished and opened and expanded, and we’re being protected at the same time.
We’re being protected from being inauthentic. That’s a very good kind of protection. It’s not about being protected from obstacles. What we perceive as evil forces out there are just egoic projections onto the world. What we’re being protected from is not being ourselves. We’re being protected from all the tendencies in us to want to hide and not become who we are. Ego gets paranoid, of course, but this whole world is a world of blessing. And when we think the world’s a bad place, what we’re doing is we’re projecting our own ego’s paranoia onto the world. This protection of fire protects us from thinking we need to be protected from the world.
Fire is the basic element. There are two ways to work with fire. One is fire as the element and fire in the hearth, fire in the fire pit, the fire in the sun, the fire in the stars and the moon, the fire at the center of the earth, which is the most wrathful. That is what’s interesting about volcanoes. That’s the most wrathful and powerful, primeval experience of fire that any human could ever have. If you’ve ever stood at the edge of a volcano, you feel you’re not even on the earth; you’re not even in the universe. It’s so terrifying. So you can work with fire in that way. And that’s actually, in some sense, the most accessible way to work with it.
That’s working with the outside element, but then at a certain point, you realize the fire is inside too. It’s in us, and it’s burning all the time. And it’s the heat in our body and the nature of our sexual desire and our passion and our love for others. And it’s ultimately the fire of our own awareness. So whether we’re working outside or inside, we’re working with the same primordial, primeval fire. And again, it has two sides. It empowers and protects us, and the protection is empowerment. The protection is protecting the life force in us so that we have no choice but to become who we are. Shall we all become what we are, shall we all become supernovas?
About Dharma Ocean
Dharma Ocean is a global educational foundation in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, focusing on somatic meditation as the way to help students — of any secular or religious discipline, who are genuinely pursuing their spiritual awakening. Dharma Ocean provides online courses, study resources, guided meditation practice, and residential retreats at Blazing Mountain Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado.
