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#2066 - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - Editor: Gloria  

The vitality of thought is in adventure.
Ideas won't keep.
Something must be done about them.

     - Alfred North Whitehead  

To find our calling is to find the intersection between our own deep gladness
and the world's deep hunger.
    - Frederick Buechner
 

  from Daily Dharma ~ Amrita Nadi  

"Things that are Real
are given and received in Silence."

~Meher Baba

  from Allspirit Inspiration ~ Gill Eardley  

From Chapter 4 of 'Walden' by Henry David Thoreau

"But while we are confined to books, though the most
select and classic, and read only particular written
languages, which are themselves but dialects and provincial,
we are in danger of forgetting the language which all things
and events speak without metaphor, which alone is copious
and standard. Much is published, but little printed. The rays
which stream through the shutter will be no longer remembered
when the shutter is wholly removed. No method nor discipline
can supersede the necessity of being forever on the alert.

What is a course of history or philosophy, or poetry, no matter
how well selected, or the best society, or the most admirable
routine of life, compared with the discipline of looking always at
what is to be seen? Will you be a reader, a student merely, or a
seer? Read your fate, see what is before you, and walk on into
futurity."

from MillionPaths ~ Viorica Weissman  

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."

Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.

~Hafiz
From: The Gift      

The Cosmic Egg -- NASA photo of the visible Universe  

  A shortcut into the path is to be inwardly empty and outwardly quiet, like water that is clear and still, myriad images reflecting in it, neither sinking nor floating, all things spontaneously so.

-Fu-jung
From Teachings of Zen, edited by Thomas Cleary, © 1998.  

from MillionPaths ~ Viorica Weissman

Lucy Cornelssen, Hunting the 'I'

The dominating Hindu-philosophy of today is the Advaita-Vedanta; and Ramana Maharshi is considered the most prominent figure representing this philosophy.

'A-dvaita' means 'not-two', the 'One without a second'. There is only One principle, Brahman, essence and substance of all and everything; diversity is merely appearance. Brahman as the ultimate nature of man is called Atman, the Self, merely for convenience's sake; Atman is Brahman. The world too is Brahman; to see it as the world of diversity is Maya, illusion.

The idea of Maya is the point where the antagonists of Advaita-Vedanta attack the system as showing inconsistency against its principle of A-dvaita, Maya being 'second' to account for diversity, which cannot be included in 'the One!'

Ramana Maharshi supported Sri Sankara and the Advaita-system:
"The tantriks and others of the kind condemn Sri Sankara's philosopy as Maya-path without understanding him aright. What does he say?

 He says: (1) Brahman is real; (2) The universe is a myth; (3) Brahman is the universe.
He does not stop at the second statement but continues to supplement it with the third. What does it signify? The universe is conceived to be apart from Brahman, and that perception is wrong. The antagonists point to his illustration of 'the snake in the rope'. In dim light one can think a coiled rope to be a snake. This is unconditioned superimposition. After the truth of the rope is known, the illusion of the snake is removed once and for all.

But they should also take into account the conditioned superimposition, i.e., 'the water in the mirage'.

"The mirage does not disappear even after we know it to be a mirage. The vision is there, but the man does not run to it for water. Sri Sankara must be understood in the light of both these illustrations. The world is a myth. Even after knowing it, it continues to appear. It must be known to be Brahman and not apart." (Ramana)

In order to recognize our self-image, we can no longer identify with it. In other words, we have to learn how to objectify our own mental processes.

    -Matthew Flickstein, Journey to the Center
Reprinted from Daily Wisdom: 365 Buddhist Inspirations, edited by Josh Bartok.  

           Anything you do for the sake of enlightenment
        takes you nearer.  Anything you do without
        remembering enlightenment puts you off.  But
        why complicate?  Just know that you are above
        and beyond all things and thoughts.  What you
        want to be, you are it already.  Just keep it in mind.
           

                          - Nisargadatta Maharaj

Just as the footprints of any creature that walks the earth can
be placed in the elephant’s footprint, which is the largest of all
--even so mindful attention is the one quality that ensures ease
of mind at all times.   Mindful attention causes beneficial thoughts that have not yet
arisen to arise. It also causes harmful thoughts that have
already arisen to vanish. In the one who is mindful, the good
that is to be will be realized.  

-Anguttara Nikaya From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne
Bancroft, 2000
 

  from Allspirit Inspiration ~ Gill Eardley  

"We must implement these good teachings in daily life.
Whether you believe in God or not does not matter so
much, whether you believe in Buddha or not does not
matter so much; whether you believe in reincarnation
or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good
life. And a good life does not mean just good food,
good clothes, and good shelter.  These are not sufficient. 
A good motivation is what is needed:  compassion
without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just
understanding that others are human brothers and sisters
and respecting their rights and human dignity. That we
humans can help each other is one of our unique human
capacities. We must share in other peoples' suffering;
even if you cannot help with money, to show concern,
to give moral support and express sympathy are them-
selves valuable.  This is what should be the basis of
activities; whether one calls it religion or not does not
matter." 

~ Dalai Lama

  from Daily Dharma ~ W.Kelly  

"If you wish to calm waves, when you try to make this happen,
they arise all the more.  Likewise, even if you apply antidotes to
ideation, the waves of thoughts will flow out again.

When you just leave them alone, after awhile the waves of water will
subside. Likewise, if you know how to practice at ease, without
exertion, the waves of ideation will naturally be calmed."
~ Rendawa Zhonnu Lodro


from the book, "Naked Awareness, Practical Instructions on the Union
of Mahamudra and Dzognchen," published by Snow Lion  

Hillman: Ikkyu, the crazy Japanese monk, has a poem:

You do this, you do that
You argue left, you argue right
You come down, you go up
This person says no, you say yes
Back and forth
You are happy
You are really happy

What he is saying is: Stop all that nonsense. You're really happy. Just stop for a minute and you'll realize you're happy just being. I think it's the pursuit that screws up happiness. If we drop the pursuit, it's right here.

from http://www.scottlondon.com/insight/scripts/hillman.html

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