#2918
- Monday, September 3, 2007 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Nondual Highlights
Follow my ways and I will lead you
To golden-haired suns,
Logos and music, blameless joys,
Innocent of questions
And beyond answers.
For I, Solitude, am thine own Self:
I, Nothingness, am thy All.
I, Silence, am thy Amen.
- Thomas Merton posted to AlongTheWay
From The Experience of
No-Self by Bernadette Roberts
Perhaps the only philosophy or
theology that can help us cross the stream is one that admits:
when you have learned it all and lived it thoroughly, then you
had better get ready to have it all collapse when you discover
the highest wisdom is that you know nothing.
It is said that St. Thomas Aquinas,
after writing his masterful tomes on Christian theology, suddenly
had an experience of God that so silenced his mind that ever
after, he never wrote a single word. In other words, St.
Thomas literally fell outside his own frame of reference when he
came upon "that" which no mind can comprehend nor pen
describe. ...
It seems that ultimately we must go
beyond all frames of reference when the Cloud of Unknowing
descends, and all the thrashing around looking for a life
preserver won't do a bit of good.
Nevertheless, I now see a possible
line of travel that may be of use before crossing the
stream. It would be to start with the Christian experience
of self's union with God, whereby we loose the fear of ever
becoming lost -- since we can only get lost in God. ...
But when the self disappears
forever into this Great Silence, we come upon the Buddhist
discovery of no-self, and learn how to live without anything we
could possibly call a self, and without a frame of reference, as
we come upon the essential oneness of all that is.
Then, finally, we come upon
the peak of Hindu discovery, namely: "that" which
remains when there is no self identical with "that"
which Is, the one Existent that is all that Is. ...
- posted by Ragna to
GardenMystics
Sacrifice your intellect in love for the Friend:
for anyway, intellects come from where He is.
The spiritually intelligent have sent their intellects back to
Him:
only the fool remains where the Beloved is not.
If from bewilderment, this intellect of yours flies out of your
head,
every tip of your hair will become a new knowing.
In the presence of the Beloved, the brain needn't labor;
for there the brain and intellect spontaneously produce
fields and orchards of spiritual knowledge.
If you turn toward that field, you will hear a subtle discourse;
in that oasis your palm tree will freshen and flourish.
- Rumi,
Mathnawi IV, version by Camille and Kabir Helminski Rumi: Jewels
of Remembrance
The Buddha stressed the
dynamic nature of existence. This resonates with the ideas of
some early Greek philosophers, such as Heraclitus, who maintained
that, "All is flux" and "You can't step into the
same river twice." Now, all this sounds like common sense.
Yet there is something in our minds and emotions that kicks back
at the idea of change. We are forever trying to break the dynamic
world-dance, which is a unity, into separate "things,"
which we then freeze in the ice of thought. But the world-dance
doggedly refuses to remain fragmented and frozen. It swirls on,
changing from moment to moment. laughing at all our pitiful
attempts to organize and control it. In order to live skillfully,
in harmony with the dynamic Universe, it is essential to accept
the reality of change and impermanence. The wise person therefore
travels lightly, with a minimum of clutter, maintaining the
proverbial "open mind" in all situations, for he or she
knows that tomorrow's reality will not be the same as today's. He
or she will also have learned the divine art of letting go --
which means not being attached to people and possessions and
situations, but rather, when the time for parting comes, allowing
that to happen graciously.
Since the moon
is full tonight,
let us call upon the stars in prayer.
The power of concentration,
seen through the bright, one-pointed mind,
is shaking the universe.
All living beings are present tonight
to witness the ocean of fear
flooding the Earth.
Upon the sound of the midnight bell,
everyone in the ten directions joins hands
and enters the meditation on Mahakaruna.
Compassion springs from the heart,
as pure, refreshing water,
healing the wounds of life.
From the highest peak of the Mind Mountain,
the blessed water streams down,
penetrating rice fields and orange groves.
The poisonous snake drinks
a drop of this nectar
from the tip of a blade of grass,
and the poison on its tongue vanishes.
Mara's arrows
are transformed
into fragrant flowers.
The wondrous action of the healing water--
a mysterious transformation!
A child now holds the snake in her innocent arms.
Leaves are still green in the ancient garden.
The shimmering sunlight smiles on the snow,
and the sacred spring still flows toward the East.
On Avalokita's willow branch,
or in my heart,
the healing water is the same.
Tonight all weapons
fall at our feet
and turn to dust.
One flower,
two flowers,
millions of little flowers
appear in the green fields.
The gate of deliverance opens
with a smile on the lips
of my innocent child.
Last night I had the very special
privilege of hearing Thich Nhat Hanh speak. Imagine this: A warm
night. A full moon. A gentle breeze. Several hundred people
gathered in church pews. And in walks this short, humble
Vietnamese monk, his shaved head and soft eyes immediately
recognizable. He was followed by a retinue of monks and nuns,
some young, a few elderly, all dressed in simple brown cloth.
Before his talk, he led the entire audience in a meditation on
the breath, and the joy of being present.
Thich Nhat Hanh spoke about the power of experiencing grief
rather than running from it, the power of being present with that
grief, in order to transform it and release it and make room in
our hearts for compassion. He spoke of presence and awareness as
ways to free ourselves, our nations, the world from the fear and
misunderstandings that lead to cycles of war, suffering, anger,
and more war.
At the end of the evening, a young woman in the audience asked if
he would speak about love. He paused for a moment, and then
replied, "To love... we must be present."
This is to inform to all seekers in the path of
Self-Realization, that we just launched a comprehensive
portal to disseminate the message of Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj.
Please visit http://www.maharajnisargadatta.com/
<http://www.maharajnisargadatta.com/>
posted to MillionPaths Ed.
note: This site has the entire text of "I Am That" and
includes extensive resources
for Ramana Maharshi, along with other sages, Upanishad texts, and general Advaita Vedanta
resources as well.
