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#3150 - Monday, April 28, 2008 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Nonduality Highlights -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights     

"In whatever place you find truth, with whatever name it may be labeled, take it."   

-- Paul Brunton, Notebooks (v2, Pt1, 3.109) posted by Mark Scorelle to Wisdom-l

"Zen is not interested in theories about enlightenment, it wants the real thing. So it shouts, and buffets, and reprimands, without ill- will entering in the slightest. All it wants to do is force the student to crash the word-barrier. Minds must be sprung from their verbal bonds into a new mode of apprehending.  

-- Huston Smith posted by Tom McFerran    


PERFECTION  

A priest was in charge of the garden within a famous Zen temple. He had been given the job because he loved the flowers, shrubs, and trees. Next to the temple there was another, smaller temple where there lived a very old Zen master. One day, when the priest was expecting some special guests, he took extra care in tending to the garden. He pulled the weeds, trimmed the shrubs, combed the moss, and spent a long time meticulously raking up and carefully arranging all the dry autumn leaves.  

As he worked, the old master watched him with interest from across the wall that separated the temples. When he had finished, the priest stood back to admire his work. "Isn't it beautiful," he called out to the old master. "Yes," replied the old man, "but there is something missing. Help me over this wall and I'll put it right for you."  

After hesitating, the priest lifted the old fellow over and set him down. Slowly, the master walked to the tree near the center of the garden, grabbed it by the trunk, and shook it. Leaves showered down all over the garden. "There," said the old man, "you can put me back now."  

"Zen Stories" posted by Tom McFerran  


Resistance to what is
causes us to see imperfection
everywhere,
within as well as without

When all flaws are accepted
the illusion of imperfection
dissolves in presence

The Great Undoing
Stuart Schwartz
Non-Duality Press
posted by Mark Scorelle to Wisdom-l    


"The mind is more comfortable in a landscaped park because it has been planned through thought; it has not grown organically. There is an order here that the mind can understand. In the forest, there is an incomprehensible order that to the mind looks like chaos. It is beyond the mental categories of good and bad.  

You cannot understand it through thought, but you can sense it when you let go of thought, become still and alert, and don't try to understand or explain.  

Only then can you be aware of the sacredness of the forest. As soon as you sense that hidden harmony, that sacredness, you realize you are not separate from it, and when you realize that, you become a conscious participant in it.   In this way, nature can help you become realigned with the wholeness of life.  

Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth posted by Roma  


REFUGE  

We had a "Refuge" ceremony at our Zendo yesterday -- a Zen ceremony of "Lay Ordination" where 6 people took vows and refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha -- or Awakening, the Way, and our Companions, as we say it at our Zendo. 

It began with this ...

"When knowing stops, when thoughts about who we are fall away, vast space opens up and love appears. Anything that gets in the way of understanding this is a cause of suffering and something to refrain from.

Moment by moment, thought appears, the earth appears, we appear.
When we test each bit of life against the heart, we find we cannot reject any, for we are the only hands and eyes eternity has. With our virtues, our failures, and our imperfections, this is the body we take refuge in, this is what we offer the world.

By their nature, vows are not things we hold perfectly. Vows are the bridge we build between the spacious world and the things we do everyday.  They encourage us to follow our questions when they arise, and underlying our vows is compassion for everything that has the courage to live."

I was asked to say a few words, as a member of the community, to welcome our new members... It occurred to me that "refuge" is not shelter from the storm, so much as refuge in the storm.  There is no place left out of refuge, no person or thing left out.  It is only our resistance to life and what we are that causes suffering ... so as the Hopi Elders say "Let go of the shore, look around and see who is with you, and celebrate."

posted by Carol Spooner

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