One of the most important aspects of Dragon Tradition is its contemplative nature. People who truly follow a dragon path are always keeping their eyes open to see the hidden truths in all that is around them. These are truths that most often can not be communicated in words to others. You can lead people to the same realizations, but you can not just tell them what those realizations are and expect them to understand it as fully as someone who gained it through experience and contemplation. In this way, the Dragon Tradition root teachings are there to help you glean more from what you observe.

Practice of Detachment

The most important practice is that of detachment, or what the Buddhists would call "emptiness". When we see something or read something that significantly inspires us or rings with truth, we have a tendency to hold on to that belief or idea pretty strongly. What the Dragon Tradition teaches is that we don't hold on to those things so intensely that we might miss the Divine message in something else because it appears to conflict with an already established belief. The Dragon communicates truth to us every moment, and if we are open enough to those truths, every moment can be a profound experience in unfolding consciousness.

Detachment has very little to do with detaching from physical and material things. However, much of what holds us back is our attachment to the idea that we need physical and material things, so the two concepts here are somewhat intertwined. This is one reason that monks have often took vows of poverty. This is because we have a hard time separating our material wealth and belongings from our ideas about who we are. Since our path doesn't require a vow of poverty, it seems very important that we meditate on our relationship with the material world and how we define our relationship with money and things. The old way was to get around the problem by removing the material things that surrounded it. Our way is to try to understand ourselves within our current existence so that we can more responsibly change things based on a more whole picture of who we are.

We can't just wave a magic wand and become "empty" or "detached". We have decades of conditioning that makes us judgmental and critical. Even after years of meditation and work on this path, I still find myself snapping to a quick judgment about things. When I catch myself doing this, I try very hard to look at the situation from many angles and realize that the truth is only partly visible from our vantage point, no matter how perceptive we are. Sometimes it is hard to convince the rational mind to relax its judgmental nature. It has to be sweet-talked and nurtured until it begins to experience the first results of the power of detachment. More and more, we find it easier and easier to see things in a broader perspective. This practice eventually opens us up to a much deeper consciousness that is beyond the human experience and places us directly into the Cosmic realm. I'll be talking more about that later.

A Way of Seeing

Another very helpful thing is to be able to look at the world through the lens of a Universal Model. Whether that model be astrology, the kabala, or the glyph of the pentagram, five elements ruled by spirit, our model helps us to see deeper into what we are observing. The specific model is moot, but what is important is that it be simple enough in your own mind to reflect, moment to moment, on what you see. My personal model involves a glyph of the four elements and their corollaries. This "Dragon’s Wheel" is simple and powerful and allows me to gain insights I wouldn't have been able to gain had I not become intimately close to the model. You'll find that contemplation of daily life will strengthen your relationship with your model. Make sure that you don't attach to the baggage often accompanying models. Kabala can often pull you into a very intellectual state. You need to not dwell in these states, and allow your contemplation to be gentle and non-grasping. It is helpful to remember that in every model there is an aspect of each element present in every other element within the model. To strongly classify something in only one place is to cheat yourself out of the subtle truths of existence.

Another important aspect of contemplation and non-judgment is non-dualistic thought. Dualism is the idea that existence is a battlefield between the forces of good and evil. By its very nature, the Dragon Tradition and its practitioners should reach beyond (not away from, but through) the human condition and human beliefs to a place where the Cosmos, or Creation is in perpetual motion. Where creation and destruction are part of the order of things. We have to be very careful about labeling anything as good or evil or right or wrong. Contemplation has a connotation of not passing any judgement, but just watching. We look through the lens of our model, nothing sticking to the lens, and strive to see things from the broadest perspective possible. Sometimes we feel the need to use dualistic language around others when they are discussing or experiencing an especially blessed or traumatic event. We have to realize that our path is not their path and not everyone can walk the dragon path with their eyes wide open. It is sometimes okay to use dualistic language in these cases, but we have to be careful not to retreat to the dualistic ideas that we are communicating. Sometimes it is better to find a way to communicate that avoids this language altogether.

What makes us different?

Our tradition allows us to be at home in any practice that has a true Unity teaching at its core. Most world religions have this Unity teaching, even if buried deep in the writings of its mystics. Our tradition is firmly rooted in the imagery of this Unity teaching. Our realization that all existence is consciousness, making up the body, mind and spirit of the Dragon, it transcends human spirituality, traveling through it, not avoiding it. We dive through the religious trappings of humanity to the core of what spirituality is all about. This core is beyond what we know of as human, although it also contains all those human aspects as well. By doing this, we see our humanity by looking at it from the outside. We better see who we are by understanding that we are more than our humanity. We are part of the body/mind/spirit of the Dragon and are inseparable from it. Some might think that this can make us in-compassionate. Quite the opposite happens. We see ourselves as part of something bigger, so our compassion becomes broader to encompass the Creation rather than just our humanity, family, church, nation and neighbors. Our vision is very much what many religions started out with before being misguided by their priest-hoods.

Our imagery is what really sets us apart. The imagery of the Dragon as the body, mind and spirit of the cosmos is much like the idea of the Tao. "That which can be named is not the true Tao." The Dragon Vision is the vision of all of manifest existence being a living body of something that we can only call "Dragon". In early mythology the dragon was often depicted with the head of one animal, the body of another, the feet and legs of another and the tail of another. It was depicted as an amalgamation of many different animals. We take this vision a little farther and see the Dragon much like it is seen in Kundalini Yoga and the Kundalini Serpent. In Kundalini, the Serpent is the sleeping mother goddess at the base of your spine that is all of existence in potential. In our Vision, the Dragon is one way of describing the entirety of creation. Because that creation both is an expression of divine consciousness and is divine consciousness, it is holy and perfect. As aspects of that creation, we are also holy, and, from the viewpoint of the Creator, also perfect.

Many cultures teach that we are made in the image of the Creator. If we are all aspects of the cosmos, therefore aspects of the Creator, then our challenge is to see ourselves from three separate viewpoints. These viewpoints directly reflect depths of consciousness long taught in eastern spirituality. The first major connection of our consciousness is with our humanity. We connect firmly with the Unity of our collected consciousness as a people. It isn't enough to connect with your family or village, town, state, country, etc. We must connect with humanity as a whole and experience our part in it. We have to explore our divine nature through this vision of human unity. One of the most important surviving teachings of Christianity is the idea that the Body of Christ is the sum total of all of humanity. The practice of receiving the Eucharist is a commemoration of the truth that we are all firmly and inextricably connected to every other human on the planet and what we are individually and together is Divine consciousness that has taken human form.

The second connection that we have to make is a connection to the consciousness of the Creation. This is the core work of what we call the Dragon Tradition. Our goal is to see ourselves as more than our humanity and embrace our connection with the Creation itself. This work gives us a deep sense of belonging and correctness and, as a side effect, gives us a great respect for our environment, because we can't be separated from it. This specific focus empowers us and liberates us at the same time. By stepping through our humanity to a cosmic viewpoint, we liberate ourselves from human ideas and beliefs who's origins have been long forgotten along with their deeper inner lessons. By setting up our foundation in such a place, we can move more easily among humanity, able to explore its many aspects without allowing any one thing to take us in and distract us from the most important of connections...

The third and most important connection is the connection that transcends the Creation and gives us access to the consciousness of the Creator. This state of consciousness is achieved through firm commitment to emptiness and non-attachment and constant contemplation of all that is around you and all that is within you. On the way to this consciousness, you connect to the consciousness of the Creation, swimming in an ocean of consciousness. When we can shed the illusion of the creation, and detach from the idea of an Ocean, the Ocean is no more, and we experience the true Unity of that which we are part and whole.

In eastern teachings, the states of consciousness associated with these three connections are called "samadhi". It is traditionally taught that Buddha gave 84,000 teachings called sutras. Each of these sutras are supposed to be able to bring the practitioner to the state of samadhi. Each practice, in and of itself, if done with devotion and intention, would bring the practitioner the experience of divine unity. Part of the lesson of this teaching is that there are many ways to achieve unity consciousness. Other eastern traditions teach various ways of achieving the same states. The states of samadhi are often shrouded in a cloud of mystery, making it seem like they are only for a chosen few. The teaching is that Buddha achieved enlightenment to help us end our suffering, to show us that anyone can do it, and proceeded to describe at least 84,000 ways. Our tradition really leaves us open to these states of consciousness and allows us to experience our unity based on how much we can embrace our vision while not attaching to that which might hold us back.

If we are to look at the idea that we are created in the image of the divine, then we should look at the depth of what that entails. If the creation is part of the Creator, and the creation is made from and an express of Divine Consciousness, then we are created in that image. We are a microcosm that reflects the macrocosm. We are a paradox in that we contain the image of all of creation within us. In that, we are Dragon, in as much as the creation is Dragon. We are Tao as much as the creation is Tao.
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Я христианин ...Интересно текст этот ересь иль нет? =)
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- покормите ^.=.^
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