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Thursday June 7, 2001







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Snow and Ice



Be like the snow and ice on the mountain.

It does not concern itself with change



At what moment does the ice

yield to its desire to be water?

Where does the crystal blue water

turn into the muddy and raging river?

At what point in time does the river

merge into the bottomless sea?

Who can say when brackish water

arises into the infinite blue sky?

How does the dark forboding cloud

return itself to ice on the blue mountain?



Water does not concern itself with change.

Be as blue snow and white ice on the mountain.



Be as water and you will understand

what it means to be still and still running.



mark christopher valentine




Thanks for the beautiful poem, Marksan. Glo

Let your actions be like clouds going by; the clouds going by are
mindless. Let your stillness be as the valley spirit; the valley spirit
is undying. When action accompanies stillness and stillness combines
with action, then the duality of action and stillness no longer arises.
Pei-chien (1185-1246)



Nonexperience - Anthony de mello

from "One Minute Wisdom"

At a discussion on the God experience, the Master said,
"When God is experienced, the self disappears. So who will do the experiencing?"

"Is the God experience, then, a nonexperience?"

"It is like sleep," said the Master.
"The sleep experience is only known when sleep is over."

________________________________
Love makes the heart laugh.
I wish you Love. [God is Love]
CyberDervish
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More posts on "Enlightenment an involuntary action"?

Hi Jan,

Your comment is from the perspective of 'you'.

Involuntary action for whom - 'you', 'me'...?

There is * no entity * in the cosmos!

Love,
James


Hi James,

And who/what makes you conclude that?
º
º Involuntary action for whom - 'you', 'me'...?

Thanks for the laugh - could it be there is a perspective where that question is irrelevant?
º
º There is * no entity * in the cosmos!

And how can you be absolutely sure the cosmos isn't an entity?
Quotes and thoughts won't help :)
Back to the labeling game? Like defining human mind-bodies as 'automatons' and applying that to
'whatever'? And substitute the term 'automatons' for the next scientific & engineering "breakthrough"? How
"predictable"...

Joy and Light,
Jan


The is no one to conclude. Action comes from the situation itself- life manifests - it is its own knowing.

Obviously you are well aware that most folks identify with the
manifestation and suffering - this does not deny the manifestation.

The cosmos is not an entity-object because that would require a 'me'. There is no me and no other.

You are correct that we could play the labeling game and turn in circles unless/until it is seen that the
question is irrelevant.

Isn't stating the question is irrelevant a statement of Truth
that parallels: 'there is * no entity * in the cosmos'. Both these
statements point to freedom.

Love,
james


Namaste, James!

Quite so!

As there is no entity in the cosmos,
and as the cosmos is not an entity,
and as the cosoms is not within an
entity,

there is neither voluntary nor involuntary
action occurring in the cosmos.

nor is the cosmos occurring voluntarily
or involuntarily.

Well-said!

Dan

kensan....it would be so lovely to sit in zazen with you....we are one in
spirit....it would nice to be one as brothers.....tessahara is the buddhist monastery in the ventana wilderness
where i sometimes practice....^^~~~~

The Between Times, A Pilgrimage
(Tessahara)

As wind that whispers through the valley
Gently lifting the wings of birds in flight
May he who goes before us all guide us
May she who comes after each one of us
pick us up when we stumble or falter.

On our pilgrimage from this place to that
we recall that our journey is from there is here.
To go is the same as is to remain.
to remain is the same as is to go.
It is in our end that we discover
that which we have sought from our beginning.

It is in the between time which exists
after the end of our last prayerful breath,
but before the beginning of the next
that our frail hearts first hear the whisper of love.

May she who comes after each one of us
pick us up when we stumble or falter.
May he who goes before us all guide us
as wind that whispers through the valley,
gently lifting the wings of birds in flight.

Mark Christopher Valentine




"Awakening, cultivating altruistic mind" comes to me from Mahayana via
Tibetan teachers. Whenever one is doing any practice at all, and this
can be every moment, then one consciously 'gives away' the merit or
spiritual force accumulated. Motivation or intention is always
examined, what are minds contents, positive, negative, dull whatever...
which avoids allowing the clinging self from 'owning' anything, most
especially the notion that 'I' am doing anything grand. It is the
transformational aspect of practice but works well for folks in any
self-obsessing phase. All of thought seems to arise out of emptiness
or radiant mind. (If one can even find a 'mind' or a 'thought'). Seems
a big peaceful nothing.

I couldn't get the hang of 'merit'- but finally got the fact that there
actually is a growing force, an accumulation of wisdom-energy, what to
call it?...and the more you give it away, the more you 'have' until
ultimately you have nothing at all except peace having completely given
away "I", ultimate dana. Before I had this first episode with energy,
I was a do or die, enlightenment for 'me' person. After, a clear
realization came that 'I' wasn't going anywhere until we all went
together. Took years to understand this fully.

Joyce Short from HarshaSatsangh


Drilling the Artic

Beloveds,

I received the following reply from NDRC, an environmental group trying to
organise, among other things, resistance to proposed American oil
imperialism in Alaska. The message that Jerry posted (attached) contains
information about this, but the NDRC website does not have facilities for
non-US citizens to participate. Below is info for everyone who wants to
voice their objections / have an input.

Love, Sarlo

«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

Dear Sarlo,

Thank you for contacting NRDC regarding your desire to take action to
help save the Arctic Refuge despite the fact that you are not a US
citizen. Our BioGems website ( www.savebiogems.org/arctic ) is set up
to send messages to Members of Congress regarding the Arctic Refuge, and
our system sends emails based on your US address. This is because
Members of Congress generally take note of correspondence only from
their own constituents. However, if you would like to send
correspondence to congress, you will find complete contact information
in our Congressional Directory ( http://www.nrdcaction.org/congdir.html
). As a non-US citizen, however, your voice is probably more powerfully
used writing to the President. I have included his contact information
below. Please feel free to cut and paste our draft letter into your own
email program or to a word processor, and please feel free to alter the
draft letter to explain why you find this issue so pressing regardless
of your country of origin. Thank you again for taking the time to write
to NRDC, and thank you for taking action.

Sincerely,
Jessenia Hernandez
NRDC BioGems Education

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

SWITCHBOARD: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

president@whitehouse.gov

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