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#3636 - Wednesday, August 26, 2009
- Editor: Gloria Lee
Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
We are now back online with Facebook. Let's start over from the start. If you are not already on Facebook, you would need to join first. Go to www.facebook.com
If you have "Fear of Facebook", here's some guidance. Be sure to set up all your personal info and your page as available only to friends. You get to select and allow who can see your page. Just do not respond to any of these "off facebook" games, quizzes, gifts etc. Just say NO. You are not required to have a photo or even to develop your page to just be a member. Start by going to Facebook.com, sign up, then do a search on groups, and enter Nonduality Highlights. Somehow, 27 intrepid souls have joined so far.
The main reason for doing this was based on the fact that the list here is a totally one-way form of communication. We just know that all our subscribers are extremely worth knowing. If perhaps something you read here sparks a question, there is now a place to bring it up for discussion. Or it could be just a fun casual place. Both fun and deep thoughts would be good, too. Obviously, I am not an expert at this and in the facebook world, Jerry and I just became friends.
Clicking on this photo or the link apparently works for some.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=253882475071
"One's own misdirected thought can do one more harm than one
who hates you or wishes you ill.
Even one who loves you very much cannot do you as much good as
your own properly directed thought."
--The Buddha
From the Dhammapada
Stop worrying about success
When you no longer need to make an effort, that is
success, or liberation. At that point, there are no more
vexations. Nevertheless, you have neither thrown away vexations
nor grasped liberation. If you want to hold on to enlightenment
and keep away vexations, that is not the true natural state.
But to follow your own nature, in this sense, is not the same as following your personal habits or whims, as in the expression "be natural." Nature here refers to your self-nature, or Buddha-nature. Some people think that one can become a buddha through meditation. This is wrong. The potential for Buddhahood is within your own nature. If it were true that Buddhahood depended on meditation, then if you stopped meditating after you became a buddha, you would become a common person again. The objective of practice is to be in accord with the natural way, so that your true nature can manifest itself. Just practice according to the methods taught by the Buddha and do not worry about being a success.
–Master Sheng-Yen, from "Being Natural," Tricycle, Summer 1995
Read the complete article.
Realization is nothing to be gained afresh;
it is already
there. All that is necessary is to get rid of the thought
'I
have not realized'.
Stillness or peace is realization. There is no moment
when the Self is not. So long as there is doubt or the
feeling
of non-realization, the attempt should be made to rid oneself
of these thoughts. They are due to the identification of
the
Self with the not-Self. When the not-Self disappears, the
Self alone remains. To make room, it is enough that objects
be removed. Room is not brought in from elsewhere.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
posted to Along The Way
The degree of enlightenment which a mystic
has reached corresponds also to the degree of freedom from the
ego which he or she has reached.
— Notebooks of Paul Brunton posted to Wisdom-l by
Mark Scorelle
Questioner: How does the jnani proceed when
he needs something to be done? Does he make plans, decide about
details and execute them?
Maharaj: Jnani understands a situation fully and knows at once
what needs be done. That is all. The rest happens by itself, and
to a large extent unconsciously. The jnani’s identity with
all that is, is so complete, that as he responds to the universe,
so does the universe respond to him. He is supremely confident
that once a situation has been cognised, events will move in
adequate response. The ordinary man is personally concerned, he
counts his risks and chances, while the jnani remains aloof, sure
that all will happen as it must; and it does not matter much what
happens, for ultimately the return to balance and harmony is
inevitable. The heart of things is at peace.
from
I Am That
Nisargadatta Maharaj
chapter 101
posted to Wisdom-l by Mark Scorelle
Enlightenment
Means
Not describing
Nor discussing
What enlightenment
Is.
It is so simple
It’s a shame to admit
Even the lowest of the base
Know it.
Yet the most profound intellect
Can but glimpse
A mere reflection
Of its depths.
No amount of words
Can describe the taste
Of honey.
Eat!
The enlightened ask not
They are
The answer. --yosy