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#1517 ~ Friday, August 8, 2003 ~ Editor: Gloria Lee
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Viorica Weissman ~ Million Paths
Q: it is said that prarabdha karma is only a small fraction of the karma accumulated from previous lives . Is this true ?
Maharshi: A man might have performed many karmas in his previous births. A few of these alone will be chosen for this birth and he will have to enjoy their fruits in this birth. It is something like a slide show where the projectionist picks a few slides to be exhibited at a performance, the remainig slides being reserved for another performance. All this karma can be destroyed by acquiring knowledge of the Self. The different karmas being the result of past experiences, and the mind is the projector. The projector must be destroyed so that there will be no further births and no deaths.
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BE AS YOU ARE, The
Teachings of Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from The
Four Quartets
I said to my soul, be still,
and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for
you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the
dancing.
--T.S. Eliot,
Four Quartets
also posted on The Other Syntax list
Photo by Al Larus
Lisbeth ~ Monks and Mystics
Hua Hu Ching thirty eight
Why scurry about looking for the truth?
It vibrates in every thing and every not-thing, right off
the tip of your nose.
Can you be still and see it in the mountains? the pine
tree? yourself?
Don't imagine that you'll discover it by accumulating
more knowledge.
Knowledge creates doubt, and doubt makes you
ravenous for more knowledge.
You can't get full eating this way.
The wise person dines on something more subtle;
He eats the understanding that the named was born
from the unnamed, that all being flows
from non-
being, that the describable world
emanates from an
indescribable source.
He finds this subtle truth inside his own self, and
becomes completely content.
So who can be still and watch the chess game of the
world?
The foolish are always making impulsive moves, but
the wise know that victory and defeat
are decided by
something more subtle.
They see that something perfect exists before any move
is made.
This subtle perfection deteriorates when artificial
actions are taken, so be content not to
disturb the
peace.
Remain quiet.
Discover the harmony in your own being.
Embrace it.
If you can do this, you will gain everything, and the
world will become healthy again.
If you can't, you will be lost in the shadows forever.
~ translated by Brian Walker
http://hjem.get2net.dk/civet-cat/zen-writings/hua-hu-ching.htm
Along the Way
Dive deep; one does not get to
the precious
gems by merely
floating on the surface. God
is without form, no
doubt; but He also has a
form. By meditating on
God with form one
speedily acquires
devotion; then one can
meditate on the
formless God. It is like throwing
a letter away after
learning its contents, then
setting out to follow
its instructions.
- Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
by M. (Mahendranath Gupta)
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Society, 1942
Joe Riley ~
Panhala Love
Love means to learn to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills—
A bird and a tree say to him: Friend. Then
he wants to use himself and things
So that they stand in the glow of ripeness.
It doesn’t matter whether he knows what he serves:
Who serves best doesn’t always understand.
~
Czeslaw Milosz ~
Steve Toth ~ Rumi - Hafiz, with photo by Al Larus
MERCY
We aren't sweet talkers who melt
at the first drops of rain
We know love is like a storm
that pours on the inside
Love doesn't mind laughing
you off the stage
It can fry your imagination
in its crucible
& have you breathing fire
It can make time stand still
or fly like lightning that knows
just where to strike you
Most animals will run from a fire
Not humans
We look for things to cook
If you've lost your ego
perhaps a word
of praise or blame will help
you find it
How many ways are there to say
you have nothing to say
or to explain why silence is better
than any explanation?
All language is a form of play acting
We had all eternity to work on nothing
but we came here anyway
so have mercy when demonstrating
the divine breath in action
Loneliness is lonely for us
All our lives have been spent
setting up this moment
in which we come together
while sharing this poem
connecting different times & places
with our love alone
True poetry fears no reading
Love knows us inside out
& loves us anyway
Love does whatever we lovers do
Let your heart be light
Let it shine
No umbrella,
getting soaked,
I'll just use the rain as my umbrella.
-- Zen monk Daito quoted in "Zen and the Art of
Anything" by Hal W. French
To Practice This Thought: Just deal with whatever happens to you.
* * * * * * *
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Your true nature
is something never lost to you even in moments of delusion, nor
is it gained at the moment of Enlightenment. It is the Nature of
the Suchness. In it is neither delusion nor right understanding.
It fills the Void everywhere and is intrinsically of the
substance of the One Mind.
-"The Zen Teachings of
Huang Po," translated by John Blofeld
From "Teachings of the Buddha," edited by Jack Kornfield,
Margaret James ~ Rumi - Hafiz
Yi Ok-Bong (?
-1592)
I am anxious to know how you are late.
As moonbeams surge on the windowpanes, my longing deepens.
If footsteps in dreams can leave their traces,
The stony path near your home must be worn to sand.
*****
Having promised to come, why are you so late?
Plum blossoms in the yard are ready to wilt.
A sudden cawing of a magpie* on the branch
Makes me line my eyebrows, looking into an empty mirror.
*The cawing of a magpie, according to Korean folklore, announces
the coming of a long-awaited person.
The Moonlit Pond - Korean Classical Poems in Chinese_
Translated and Introduced by Sung-Il Lee
Copper Canyon Press