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Issue #1432 - Friday, May 16, 2003 - Editor: Gloria
Hidden birds sing as cool and
clear
As a bamboo forest.
Between swinging willows
Sun beams glimmer
Like golden threads.
Clouds return to this calm valley.
The winds carry the fragrance of almonds.
By sitting alone all day long
I clear my mind of a thousand thoughts.
To speak of this is beyond words;
Only by sitting under the quiet forest
Can we ever understand.
- Fa Yen (885-958)
Waiting
Waiting sells off
the present moment
on the auction block
of the not-now,
waiting conjures up ghosts,
remembered realities sewn
with past images,
grabbed from the random
roulette wheel of memory,
waiting is always empty,
it is your soul panhandling,
and the price is your life.
- Zen
Oleary
May 14, 2003
I sought Zen from temples and teachers,
Then found it along the way of Tsao His
Inside this moment forever.
When walking now, I walk Zen.
When sitting, I sit Zen.
Talking, quiet; moving, stillness,
The calm within.- Hsuan Chyuen (655–713)
The water of the mind,
how clear it is!
Gazing at it,
the boundaries are invisible.
But as soon as even
a slight thought arises,
ten thousand images crowd it.
Attach to them,
and they become real.
Be carried by them,
and it will be difficult to return.
How painful to see a person
trapped in the ten-fold delusions.- Ryokan
Manuel Hernandez A Net of Jewels
"Discard every
self-seeking motive as soon as it is seen and you need not
search for truth; truth will find you."
The Wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Joseph Riley Panhala
No, no, there is no going back.
Less and less you are
that possibility you were.
More and more you have become
those lives and deaths
that have belonged to you.
You have become a sort of grave
containing much that was
and is no more in time, beloved
then, now, and always.
And so you have become a sort of tree
standing over the grave.
Now more than ever you can be
generous toward each day
that comes, young, to disappear
forever, and yet remain
unaging in the mind.
Every day you have less reason
not to give yourself away.
~ Wendell Berry ~
(The Sabbath Poems, 1993, I)
Gill Eardley Allspirit
What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure?
I think it is the hope of loving,
or being loved.
I heard a fable once about the sun going on a journey
to find its source, and how the moon wept
without her lover's
warm gaze.
We weep when light does not reach our hearts. We wither
like fields if someone close
does not rain their
kindness
upon
us.
~Meister
Eckhart
lunar eclipse photo from: www.mikey.net/astronomy/
David Bozzi
Awakening
Snap piece.
Icicle twig off
frozen heart.
Lick. Suck.
Tongue melts taste.
Cools hot mouth.
Summer hibernates
under layers of winter
awaiting spring.
I snuggle
like a bear in my cave
insulated in body fat
stored to last a lifetime,
I sleep.
Soul fire
breathes warmth.
Burning.
Dreaming.
Dreaming of awakening.
Your voice lands gently
on cozy ears
like snow flakes,
like sun
kissing snow
like a long, lost lover...
Daily Dharma
"Alexander Berzin, a translator
for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, commented on the connotation of
the word ‘refuge’ as a translation of the Tibetan term.
He pointed out that ‘refuge’ conveys a sense of
isolation, of withdrawing into an ivory tower, whereas what it is
meant to represent is an active process, a constant engaging of
the dharma path. He himself uses an alternative
translation, ‘wholehearted commitment.’" ~~Chagdud
Khadro
From the book, "Red Tara Commentary,”
published by Padma Publishing.
Joyce (Know Mystery) Spiritual Friends
"Whitebird"
"And it won't help any, it won't get us anywhere!
it won't wipe away what has been
nor hold off what is to be
if you hear me saying-
-LOVE is a little white bird-
and the flight of it so fast
you can't see it
and you know it's there
only by the faint whirr of its wings
and the hush song coming so low to your ears
you fear it might be silence
and you listen keen and you listen long
and you know it's more than silence
for you get the hush song so lovely
it hurts and cuts into your heart
and what you want is to give more than you can get
and you'd like to write it but it can't be written
and you'd like to sing it but you don't dare try
because the little white bird sings it better than you can
so you listen and while you listen you pray
and one day it's as though a great slow wind
had washed you clean and strong inside and out
and the little white bird's hush song
is telling you nothing can harm you
the days to come can weave in and weave out
and spin their fabrics and designs for you
and nothing can harm you
unless you change yourself into a thing of harm
nothing can harm you....
I give you the little white bird
-and my thanks for your hearing me-
and my prayers for you
my deep silent prayers."
~ Carl Sandburg ~
http://www.megafoundation.org/Ubiquity/UbiQSum01/UltraPeacock.jpg
My hut settled among neighbors,
I ignore the noise of horses and carts.
You ask how I get along;
My mind remains wide,
So my place is naturally remote.- Tao Yuan Ming (365 – 427)
This, and other Zen poems from:
http://www.dailyzen.com/homey.asp
Bondzai SufiMystic
I found this great book by Norman Fischer... He has a nice
translation of the Psalms called "Opening to You"
Here is Psalm 1
HAPPY IS THE ONE WHO walks otherwise
Than in the manner of the heedless
Who stands otherwise
Than in the way of the twisted
Who does not sit in the seat of the scornful
But finds delight in the loveliness of things
And lives by that pattern all day and all night--
For this one is like a tree planted near a stream
That gives forth strong fruit in season
And whose leaf doesn't wither
And whose branches spread wide--
Not so the heedless
They are like chaff scattered by the wind
Endlessly driven, they cannot occupy their place
And so can never be seen or embraced
And they can never be joined
What you see is always lovely and remembered
But the way of heedlessness is oblivion
_______________________________
Opening to You Psalm 15
WHO CAN REST in your tent?
Who can stand on your mountain?
The one who walks upright
Does what is good
Utters true words of the heart
And does not deceive with the tongue
Who does no harm to a neighbor
And never reproaches others
who sees crookedness for what it is
And honors the truth that flows from you
Whose word is firm even in difficulty
Who gives asking nothing in return
And does not seek advantage
At the expense of the innocent
The one who lives this way
Will never be shaken
Nonduality Discussion from SufiMystic
"Good, evil ... what is the difference?"
Michael McCarthy: My take:
1. Duality is not real, but only apparent. That it "seems" so
terribly, terribly real is beside the point.
Bill Rishel:
I think you are missing the point. What you perceive is real to you. That is
exactly why I feel it is a mistake to say there is no good or evil. This is
like having a preference and pretending you don't. Self deception is not
exactly the best path to truth. If anything is beside the point to us most
of the time it is the non dual perspective. That is as it should be as
non-duality has no problem with duality, it encompasses and embraces it. If
it didn't it wouldn't be non-dual.
We are all both dual and non-dual at all times. A decision to attain a
non-dual perspective is the same thing as maintaining a dual perspective.
This might seem like some kind of impossible catch 22 if not for grace. All
That Is is pulling us toward itself. We are unable to drive ourselves toward
it. We are however permitted the illusion that we can drive ourselves to
heaven so to speak. I for one prefer reality to illusion.
MM: 2. So-called action by so-called persons always arises "organically",
be it a confrontation in a dark alley or the brushing of teeth.There is no synthetic maker. Only one Maker. The "pseudo-entity"
never acts. Just as the pseudo-entity is only apparent, so all
actions attributed to such are only apparent.
BR: What is the value of making people into so-called people? Every person who
has ever walked the earth was a so-called person. Why not call people,
people and be done with it. As to calling folks pseudo entities same goes
there. Every action performed since the dawn of creation was performed by a
"pseudo entity" that includes Buddha, Jesus, Nisargadatta and anyone else
you care to mention. These labels seem to to keep life at arms length. To
what end?
Can non-duality act in any way and still maintain its non-dual status? I
don't think so. Perhaps "acting" is our proper function as we are both dual
and non-dual simultaneously. That would seem to give us slightly greater
status than apparent pseudo beings deserve....My Private Hallucination:
There is no "indefinitely sustained suspension of tension".
The reason for this is that "suspension of tension" is a relative
term. It is stated from the perspective "not always sustained tension".
Non-duality is not the same as indefinite samadhi. Again, indefinite
samadhi is a relative term. Non-duality, on the other hand, is not
a *state*. This is very difficult to comprehend for one who is trying
to "realize Non-duality", for it is inherently impossible to comprehend
from such a perspective. Realization of Non-duality is inherently
*non-coincident* with a perspective of seeking attainment thereof.
So why speak of Non-duality if it is not attainable through a process
of seeking attainment?
Because Non-duality *is the case*. It is the only truth. All else is
fiction. It is inherently impossible to attain something that is
already, and always has been, the case. There is no change in state
required.
Ramana Maharshi addresses what seems to me this very issue (of "sustained
samadhi" or "liberation") with a directness and lucidity that leaves
me in awe. I quote him:
'Bondage' and 'Liberation' are mere linguistic terms. They
have no reality of their own. Therefore they cannot function
of their own accord. It is necessary to accept the existence
of some basic thing of which they are the modifications. If
one enquires, 'for whom is there bondage and Liberation?' it
will be seen, 'they are for me'. If one enquires, 'who am
I?', one will see that there is no such thing as the 'I'. It
will then be as clear as an amalaka fruit in one's hand that
what remains is one's real being. As this truth will be
naturally and clearly experienced by those who leave aside
mere verbal discussions and enquire into themselves inwardly,
there is no doubt that all realized persons uniformly see
neither bondage nor Liberation so far as the true Self is
concerned.
Ramana Maharshi
Spiritual Instruction
Ch. IV
The above quote and its full context can be found at:
http://www.ramana-maharshi.org/spiritb.htm
Gill Eardley Allspirit
The Realization of the Nondual traditions is uncompromising:
There is only Spirit, there is only God, there is only Emptiness
in all its radiant wonder. All the good and all the evil, the very
best and the very worst, the upright and the degenerate -- each
and all are radically perfect manifestations of Spirit precisely
as they are. There is nothing but God, nothing but the Goddess,
nothing but Spirit in all directions, and not a grain of sand, not
a speck of dust, is more or less Spirit than any other.
~Ken Wilber
------------
Allspirit Website: http://www.allspirit.co.uk
'Misinformation" poster courtesy of Gene Poole
Hey Jerry,
Happy Birthday!
Folks, I had coffee with Jerry earlier today - he didn't tell me
it was his birthday - he even bought the coffee! - anyway - I can
attest that there really is a nondualguy...and the dude is ageless?
Love and Gratitude,
James
ps - my birthday is Nov. 10
~ ~ ~
Thank you for the birthday greetings, the sentiments, revelations, good will, creative efforts, and humor. We're a great group. We have great creative artistic people, enough friction to keep it interesting, and people who know how to prattle, entertain, confess, converse, and educate. Thank you for your thoughts and your company.Jerry
