The Cricket and the Rose
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Nondual Highlights #2366 - Sunday, January 15, 2006 - Editor: Gloria Lee
The Cricket and the
Rose
In fall
the cricket
beneath the rose bush
watches
as the
roses fall
to the very ground
that is his kingdom also.
So they're neighbors,
one full of
fragrance,
the other
the harper
of a single dry song.
We call
this time of the year
the beginning of the end
of another circle,
a convenience a
nd nothing
more.
For the cricket's song
is surely a prayer,
and a prayer, when it is given,
is given
forever.
This is a truth
I'm sure of,
for I'm older than I used to be,
and
therefore I understand things
nobody would think of
who's young and in a hurry.
The snow is very beautiful.
Under it
are the lingering
petals of fragrance,
and the timeless body
of prayer.
~ Mary Oliver ~
(New and
Selected Poems Volume Two)
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Using the
mind to look for reality is delusion. Not using the mind to look
for reality is awareness.
--Bodhidharma
posted by Ben Hassine
Once I was told
' All you need is the first prayer,
the one you know by heart '
Then one day, by Grace
Perhaps not,
at an expected place
A shining spot,
An open gate
The words resonate
*********
If I have presented any theory
Then I am at fault
But I have not accepted any theory
I am totally free from any blame
Nagarjuna in
Vigrahavyavartanikarika
The cessation which results from the burning
Down of the entire fuel of the knowable entities
Is the ultimate body of the victorious one
At that time there is neither birth nor death
The body of peace radiates like a wish fulfilling gem
Until sentient beings are liberated, for the endowment of the
world
The emanations of peace appear eternally without conceptions
From Madhyamakavatara
by Alan Larus
shining
we are all shining
shining
shining
sometimes it is so bright
the light drops off of you
and off of me and fills up
and other times it is so
quiet and simple and lit
like easy in out breathing
a flash, a gentle glow,
it's constant, constantly
here, streaming, radiant.
i've fallen to my knees,
i've fallen into this gaze,
i've remembered what is real.
and yet ever, in each flow,
each meandering, i am so
new, newly grateful there
is no more loss of this constant.
i wonder how it ever seemed
it wasn't here, wasn't clear.
poised in this gentle awareness
i enter all the distinctions
that bloom in this unfolding.
and over and over it cannot
be said yet i reword this bow
to the light that is as you are,
this light that is as i am,
and i find there is no twist
without love in this unspeakable.
even as it falls away i am with
the movement riding the current,
shining, shining, absorbed.
shining. watching you shine.
by Josie Kane
Tricycle's Daily Dharma: January 15, 2006
Attention,
Attention
There's an old Zen story: a
student said to Master Ichu, "Please write for me something
of great wisdom." Master Ichu picked up his brush and wrote
one word: "Attention." The student said, "Is that
all?" The master wrote, "Attention Attention."...
For "attention" we could substitute the word
"awareness." Attention or awareness is the secret of
life and the heart of practice.... Every moment in life is
absolute itself. That's all there is. There is nothing other than
this present moment; there is no past, there is no future; there
is nothing but this. So when we don't pay attention to every
little this, we miss the whole thing. And the contents of this
can be anything. This can be straightening our sitting mats,
chopping an onion, visiting one we don't want to visit. It
doesn't matter what the contents of the moment are; each moment
is absolute. That's all there is, and all there ever will be. If
we could totally pay attention, we would never be upset. If we're
upset, it's axiomatic that we're not paying attention. If we miss
not just one moment, but one moment after another, we're in
trouble.
--Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special: Living Zen