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#1568 ~ Friday, September 26, 2003 ~ Editor: Gloria Lee
Along the Way
Only contentment can make you happy -
desires fulfilled
breed more desires.
Keeping away from all
desires and
contentment in what
comes by itself
is a very fruitful
state - a precondition
to the state of
fullness. Don't distrust
its apparent sterility
and emptiness.
Believe me, it is the
satisfaction of
desires that breeds
misery. Freedom
from desires is bliss.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
Daily Dharma
"On the path of meditation we take
into account the harshness of
life, and perpetually temper that with cheerfulness--not out of
ignorance, but out of wisdom.
Contemplating the truth of pain and suffering does not lead to
depression. Rather, it helps us appreciate what we have, which is
buddhanature.
All of us are naturally buddha, 'awake'. Knowing that we are all
naturally awake brings delight.
In dark times like these when we feel even more burdened and
insecure, we should be contemplating our true nature more than
ever.
It can cheer us up on any day."
~Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
From the November, 2003 issue of Shambala Sun.
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
Even the very idea of the wholeness of the Absolute can only be a
concept in consciousness. When consciousness merges in the
Absolute,
who or what can there be left to know or experience anything?
~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Desire to capture Reality at the mind-level means trying to
confine
the unknown and unknowable within the parameters of the known --
it
cannot be done!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~
The Wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
"When you see sorrow and suffering,
be with it. Do not rush into
activity. Neither learning nor action can really
help. Be with
sorrow and lay bare its roots--helping to understand is real
help."
Ben Hassine ~ NDS
book recommendation http://www.dharmapunx.com
Can you tell us why you liked this book?
I know it is by Stephen Levine's ("Who Dies" and other books) son Noah and traces his journey through the punk scene. I looked at it in a bookstore and couldn't decide if it was worth shelling out the money for the hardcover or not, or whether I should wait for the paperback.
So if you could tell us why you are recommending it, it would help!
David
All right David,
Let me try. I am reading it at the moment, so I didn't read the whole of the book yet. Why do I recommend this book? Because I feel there is something very genuine, authentic and lively in the story of this angry&young American. Something that is nearly always missing in the "Blissy-Just-Be-One" spiritual entertainment business. Do I hear Noby here? :-) I came to the insight that genuine freedom comes unexpected and that this freedom is of a total different order. It has nothing to do with our petty little techniques and mental imageries. I think we confuse our images of what it should be like with the real thing. The real thing cannot be cheated or corrupted by thought. In this book I find a very clear and direct indicator that this is indeed so. I always feel great joy when I read or hear of these daring souls that care to share this in public in all humility and honesty. I felt this joy while reading the story of this "punk". Also I guess this book is a very strong "de-conditionizer". But above all I like this book because reading between the lines a very ancient wisdom is revealed.
This ancient wisdom is ever new and comes to us in forms we never expected. And it can never be captured.
Oh well,
Ben :-)
Gill Eardley ~ Rumi to Hafiz
I love this album, every track is
superb... gill
Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
Album: 'All That You Can't Leave Behind' by U2
I'm not afraid of anything in this world
There's nothing you can throw at me that I haven't already heard
I'm just trying to find a decent melody
A song that I can sing in my own company
I never thought you were a fool
But darling, look at you
You gotta stand up straight, carry your own weight
These tears are going nowhere, baby
You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment and now you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better now you're stuck in a moment
And you can't get out of it
I will not forsake, the colors that you bring
But the nights you filled with fireworks
They left you with nothing
I am still enchanted by the light you brought to me
I listen through your ears, and through your eyes I can see
And you are such a fool
To worry like you do
I know it's tough, and you can never get enough
Of what you don't really need now ... my oh my
You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it
Oh love look at you now
You've got yourself stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it
I was unconscious, half asleep
The water is warm till you discover how deep
I wasn't jumping for me it was a fall
It's a long way down to nothing at all
You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better now
You're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it
And if the night runs over
And if the day won't last
And if our way should falter
Along the stony pass
And if the night runs over
And if the day won't last
And if your way should falter
Along the stony pass
It's just a moment
This time will pass
Joe Riley ~ Rumi to Hafiz
Another favorite from this CD (and ya
takes your metaphors where ya find them....)
to listen to the song, use this link: www.panhala.net/Grace.wma
Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that
Changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness
In everything
Grace
She's got the walk
Not on a wrapper on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside
Of karma, karma
She travels outside
Of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips
Between her fingertips
She carries a pearl
In perfect condition
What once was hers
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stains
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace finds goodness
In everything
Sandy Carmichael ~ Rumi to Hafiz
Here's an artist I've recently been
introduced to: Jan Phillips. Her
song "One" is phenomenal and worth the cost of the CD.
(It's actually the
only song I've heard from the CD. Gotta get my own copy.)
The lyrics are
found here:
http://www.janphillips.com/lyrics.html#9
and a sound clip can be found here (click "One"):
http://www.janphillips.com/samples.html
Unfortunately the wonderful bass voice comes in only at the last
second
of the clip.
Joe Riley ~ Panhala
photo by Alan Larus
Yes! No!
How necessary it is to have opinions! I think the spotted trout
lilies are satisfied, standing a few inches above the earth. I
think serenity is not something you just find in the world,
like a plum tree, holding up its white petals.
The violets, along the river, are opening their blue faces, like
small dark lanterns.
The green mosses, being so many, are as good as brawny.
How important it is to walk along, not in haste but slowly,
looking at everything and calling out
Yes! No! The
swan, for all his pomp, his robes of grass and petals, wants
only to be allowed to live on the nameless pond. The catbrier
is without fault. The water thrushes, down among the sloppy
rocks, are going crazy with happiness. Imagination is better
than a sharp instrument. To pay attention, this is our endless
and proper work.
~ Mary Oliver ~
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Viorica Weissman ~ MillionPaths
What brings understanding is love. When your heart is
full,
then you will listen to the teacher, to the beggar, to the
laughter of children, to the rainbow, and to the sorrow of man.
Under every stone and leaf, that which is eternal exists.
But we do not know how to look for it.
Our minds and hearts are filled with other things than
understanding of "what is". Love and mercy, kindliness
and generosity do not cause enmity. When you love,
you are very near truth. For, love makes for sensitivity,
for vulnerability. That which is sensitive is capable
of renewal. Then truth will come into being.
It cannot come if your mind and heart are burdened,
heavy with ignorance and animosity.
___ J. Krishnamurti
~ ~ ~
Devotee:
Oh , how great these people are.
How fortunate they are to be so learned and to have
such deep understanding so as to be able to discuss
with our Bhagavan.
Compared with them, what am I,
a zero in scriptural learning ?
Bhagavan :
(reading the devotee's thoughts)
What ? This is only the husk!
All this book learning and capacity to repeat the scriptures
by memory is absolutely no use.
To know the truth you need not undergo all this torture
of learning.
Not by reading do you get the truth.
BE QUIET , that is truth ..
BE STILL , that is God.
Mazie Lane ~ HarshaSatsangh
The question about the Heart
arises because you are interested in
seeking the Source of consciousness. To all deep-thinking minds,
the enquiry about the 'I' and its nature has an irresistible
fascination. Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart or the
Seat of
Consciousness, it is all the same. The point to be grasped is
this,
that HEART means the very Core of one's being, the Centre,
without which there is nothing whatever.
~Sri Ramana Maharshi
Whenever
learners or those beyond learning awaken the mind, for the first
time they plant one
buddha-nature. Working with the four elements and
five clusters, if they
practice sincerely they attain enlightenment. Working
with plants, trees, fences
and walls, if they practice sincerely they will attain
enlightenment. This
is because the four elements and five clusters and
plants, trees, fences and
walls are fellow students; because they are of the
same essence, because they
are the same mind and the same life, because
they are the same body and
the same mechanism.
Dogen Zenji, Japanese Zen Buddhist Grand Master
Awakening the Unsurpassed Mind,
#31
Translated by Thomas Cleary, Rational Zen: The Mind of
Dogen Zenji
 |
When one Buddha
who perfected the Way
beholds the Dharma world,
all those in the plant-and-tree realms,
without exception,
attain Buddhahood.
- Keami, Nue (a No libretto),
circa 1440
This curiosity,
although distracted by belief,
has never been about belief but
living.
This is why I wave
Good-bye to believing -
simple curiosity about
what remains when
past beliefs give way to
what's beyond them.
It's the only
thing I am at all
curious about --
perhaps in the same way
the butterfly,
emerging from its cocoon, is
curious in its new
Winged-ness --
the lure of the sudden swelling
breeze, the pulsing urge of
life for life
that will not,
cannot be denied.
Being lifts off
from a branch,
discards the dry cocoon of
past, and in a flight of
breathless sighs,
heartbreaks through
the startled skies!
~ Mazie & b