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#1995 - Monday, December 6, 2004 - Editor: Gloria
One doesn't
discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore
for a very long time.
- Andre Gide
“There are some
things one can only achieve by a deliberate leap in the
opposite direction. One has to go abroad in order to find the
home one has lost.”
Franz Kafka
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is
not reading them.”
Joseph Brodsky
“Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of
hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we
have to shout."
Henry David Thoreau
"There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so
fully as those we spent with a favorite book."
Marcel Proust
posted on AlphaWorld
photo by Alan Larus Sisyphus and the Burden of Life
From Nothing Special By Charlotte Joko Beck
If we can see that there
is just this moment, then pushing the rock up the hill
or watching it roll back down are in a way the same thing. Our
ordinary
interpretation is that Sisyphus's task is difficult and
unpleasant. Yet all that
happens is simply pushing the rock and watching it roll back,
moment by
moment. Like Sisyphus, we are all just doing what we're doing
moment by
moment. But to that activity we add judgments, ideas. Hell lies
not in
pushing the rock, but in thinking about it, in creating ideas of
hope and
disappointment, in wondering if we will finally get the rock to
stay at the top.
"I've worked so hard! Maybe this time the boulder will
stay."
Our efforts do make things
happen, and in making things happen, we get to
the next second. Perhaps the boulder will stay at the top for a
while; perhaps
it won't. Neither event is in itself good or bad. The weight of
the boulder, the
burden, is the thought that our life is a struggle, that it
should be other than it
is. When we judge our burden to be unpleasant, we look for ways
to escape.
Perhaps one person gets drunk to forget about pushing the
boulder. Another
manipulates people into helping push it. Often we try to shift
the burden onto
someone else so we can escape the work.
What would be the
enlightened state for King Sisyphus? Just to push the rock
and to have abandoned hope that his life will be other than it
is.
Because we are human, we
think that feeling good is the aim of life. But if we
simply push our current boulder and practice being aware of what
goes on
with us as we push, we slowly transform.
When we truly live each
moment, what happens to the burden of life? What
happens to the boulder? If we are totally what we are, in every
second, we
begin to experience life as joy. Standing between us and a life
of joy are our
thoughts, our ideas, our expectations, and our hopes and fears.
It's not that
we have to be totally willing to push the rock. We can be
unwilling, so long as
we acknowledge our unwillingness and simply feel it.
Unwillingness is fine. A
major part of any serious practice is "I don't want to do
it." And we don't. But
when our unwillingness drifts into efforts to escape, that's
another matter.
"I'll call my friends and we'll talk about how terrible
things are."
Our practice is to see
that we are just pushing-to get that basic fact. .
Nobody realizes this all the time; I certainly don't. But I
notice that people
who have been practicing for some time begin to have a sense of
humor
about their burden. After all, the thought that life is a burden
is only a
concept. We're simply doing what we're doing, second by second by
second.
The measure of a fruitful practice is that we feel life less as a
burden and
more as a joy. That does not mean that there is no sadness, but
the
experience of sadness is exactly the joy.
posted on nondualnow by Patrice Brown
UTAGAWA
HIROSHIGE
Yokkaichi
Late Edo ( 1833-34)
53 Stations on the Tokkaido
The true nature of appearances is that
they've never been born
If birth seems to happen it's just clinging, nothing more
The spinning wheel of existence has neither a base nor a root
If things seem to be stable, that's only a thought
The true nature of the mind is union, inseparability
If you separate its aspects, you're hooked on some view
The sign of the true lamas is that they hold a lineage
The ones who make stuff up are just being dumb
The mind's basic reality is like the clear and open sky
But the dark clouds of thoughts just cover it all up
So let the lama's pith advice
Be the wind that blows those clouds away
Even confused thoughts themselves are clear light
that shines so brilliantly
Experiences so bright like sun and moonlight
Without any direction, clarity shines timelessly
You cannot hold it, you can't say what it is
So many kinds of certainty shine like the stars in the sky
Whatever arises is the greatest bliss
Its nature is simplicity, the dharmakaya expanse
The six dependent appearances are empty naturally
This natural flow is effortless, there's not a klesha in sight
Within this basic state, completely relaxed
Wisdom without fixation abides continuously
The three kayas inseparable—the greatest miracle
~Songs of Milarepa
found at the website
http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2002/winter/experiences
posted on Daily
Dharma image from:http://www.artgallery.org.my/assets/images/2004_necessary_distractions_002_yokkaici.jpg
This may interest some members- so i am passing it on. Regards, Alan
"We are very pleased
to announce a wonderful new book from the pen
of Ramesh S. Balsekar. All material in this book is never before
published.
Wayne Liquorman calls it,
"The best book from Ramesh since Peace
and Harmony in Daily Living."
THE ONE IN THE MIRROR By Ramesh S. Balsekar
In this book Ramesh gives
the essence of his Teaching in short, simple,
readily understandable passages. Subjects covered range from
"Free
Will" to "Meditation" to "Human
Relationships." The book is a collection
of quotes, writings and aphorisms, some just a single sentence
and
others several paragraphs long, all written by Ramesh himself
during
the 2003 Kovalam Seminar. Each piece is a sparkling jewel through
which the Teaching shines forth and is complete in itself. Thus
the book
can be opened randomly and enjoyed in small delicious bites.
"
Softcover 98 pages $13
To order click here http://advaita.org/store/index.htm and then Latest Releases
posted on SatsangDiaryGroup by Alan Adams-Jacobs
A haiku by the Zen
poet Basho.
When you read this poem, ask yourself, What does it mean to reach
the journey's end? What does it mean to be still alive? And what
is autumn?
Ivan ============
Thought for the Day:
Don’t externalize
your power.
Don’t externalize your delight.
Don’t externalize your purpose.
============
Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --
 |
Journey's end-- By Basho Translated by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto Journey's
end-- |
The Circle of Life as Taught by Little Deer and Shakti
This wonderful story for dog lovers or the mystically inclined may be read online. The link is being given due to length, but Michael Bowes knows how to tell a tale. http://www.spiritualsisters.com/bowes1.htm
