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#1549 - Tuesday, September 9, 2003 - Editor: Jerry
Harsha
NDS
Is everything fine just the way it is?
What is the true nature of authentic?
How can we solve our problems and the problems the world faces?
I am not really sure but do know that it does not cost us much to
be kind to each other.
Like my father once said, "Love is not something you get,
it's something you give away."
You can read my article, "The Ordinary Mind Is the Buddha
Mind" now on the HS web site.
http://www.harshasatsangh.com/
It is the third article in the "Buddhism" section.
May all being be free from sorrow.
May everyone's life be a blessing to others.
Love to all,
Harsha
Mystical Gifts.
I'm considering a resolution that embraces the philosophy Walt Whitman puts forth in his poem "To a Certain Cantatrice":
Here, take this gift,
I was reserving it for some hero, speaker, or general,
One who should serve the good old cause, the great idea,
The progress and freedom of the race,
Some brave confronter of despots, some daring rebel;
But I see that what I was reserving belongs to you just as much
as to any.
Giving can be done in a myriad of ways. Marv Hiles writes in the fall issue of "The Way Through" about a woman who lived alone in North Dakota within sight of an interstate highway. She told him she kept her porch light on all night to remind the truckers that "someone was at home." -more- link no longer active
David Oller
Alice's Restaurant
Japanese Incense Ceremony Kodo and Incense Class - Phoenix
Well, it's coming up soon. September 18th!
I spoke with Mark Ambrose, and he is going to be there.
With a little encouragement, perhaps you can get Mark to start a
Kodo
Kai chapter in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.
Now is really the time to get involved in Kodo Kai, we are in the
process of training basic instructors, and setting up local
chapters.
So, the ground floor costs are very small.
The purpose of these basic instructors is to train other basic
instructors, so there will be enough basic intructors in an area
to
begin advanced instruction. Right now a person can certify as a
basic
instructor for $25.00 for the class, and $25.00 registration. In
addition to that, they also become Founding Members of Kodo Kai.
Once we have a few advanced instructors, some changes will
happen:
The emphasis will shift from training instructors to doing Formal
Kodo Presentations. With Basic Instruction you can perform a
simplified version of Kodo and Kodo games, and for many people
this
may be perfect in its own right. With Advanced Instruction you
will
be able to give a full formal presentation, and to this day we
have
yet to do this. It is coming!
Depending on the Area, attending a Formal Presentation will cost
between $50.00 and $100.00.
At these Formal Presentations, no formal training will occur, but
as
with all Kodo Ceremonies, everyone begins training their nose by
playing the games, and this is an important part of Kodo
Training.
As this evolves, training of Basic Instructors will end, and be
replaced by a system similar to Japan, where after attending the
ceremonies a few times, the Instructor may take you on as a
student,
and begin your training as a Kodo Instructor. Normally this type
of
training takes place with small groups of 3 to 5 people, and you
pay
the instructor for their time.
The number of places wanting to sponsor Kodo Ceremonies is
growing
quickly. Some interested facilities are: Cruise Ships, Spas,
Stores,
and Tea Houses. At this time, I could travel full-time doing
presentations, and we will help instructors with places to give
presentations. Combine this with fees for Kodo Instruction and
someone could easily do this full time, get to travel if they
like,
and make a good income.
Soon we will be registering Kodo Kai members in any area, and
there
will be benefits of this membership. Kodo Kai members will be the
only ones who can purchase special items, like the new Kodo Kai
Kodo
Cup etc.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
David
http://www.japanese-incense.com/kodo.htm
Open letter to Dr. Greg Tucker and Leo Hartong (Awakening to the dream) and Non-Duality-Saloon
Good morning Gentlemen!
Ramesh Balsekar in 'Ultimate Understanding' says this:
"It is not easy to accept that all 'beings', including
ourselves, are merely
illusory phenomena!"
Now, that makes me feel so, SO unbelievably L O N E L Y !
The Self must feel very, endlessly incredibly lonely!
That's why it voluntarily (does it?) play hide and seek, just to
repress its
loneliness?!
This idea increases my PANIC to let go!
(It doesn't help at all to say that there is nobody to experience
panic.
Panic happens, which is already enough suffering, even when
nobody
is in reality there, to suffer from it.!)
What happens after letting go?
Do I become as lonely again, as how I started in the first place
?
...hope you know what I mean!
Thanks for your help!
fox
www.feel.ch/wakeup.htm
Gene Poole
NDS
Here is a website which has some of the
best visual sensory distortion examples
I have seen:
http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/saishin-e.html
The first one is extraordinary; just let your eyes drift
to the red arrows, around the periphery of the object,
and see what happens.
We 'know' that our senses can be deceived; but what
do we know, about the sense of perception, itself?
Could it be... that our sense of perception (usually
called 'mind) is easily distorted?
If this is so... do we enact behaviours, based upon
distorted perception?
Could it be... that much of what is regretted of
the world... is the product of such behaviour?
Michael Read
NDS
http://www.kwanumzen.com/pzc/newsletter/v04n07-1993-Mar.html -- link no longer active
an excerpt:
On Buddha's Enlightenment Day, Chun Song Sunim said, "Buddha is number one stupid man!" Everybody asked themselves what this meant. "Everybody already has enlightenment. Why did he sit for six years, see a star, and then get enlightenment? That's stupid! If you see a star, you get enlightenment NOW!" So everybody wondered: now see a star, now get enlightenment? Where is this star? Nobody understood. "HERE! HERE! This is the star!" But still nobody understood. Then he hit the floor with his Zen stick and yelled "KATZ!!" Still nobody understood him. But under the floor a sleeping dog was woken by the hit. Jumping up, it hit its head. The dog howled. "Only this dog has enlightenment," Zen Master Chun Song said.
--------------------------------------------
Jerry Katz
KATZ! Reminds me of gym class in the 8th grade in New Jersey. Especially when they brought out the parallel bars. The Italian kids would be swinging on the bars, turning on one hand, standing upside down on their shoulders, leaping off to the mat.
The Jewish kids would be measuring to see if the bars were actually parallel. They'd be filing legal documents if there was any question about it.
Me, I'd be in the back of the line hoping someone would get severely injured so that I'd miss my turn.
But when Rodger straddled through the bars on his hands with really nothing more than the sounds of torture, and Glen didn't slip and rip a shattered tibia through his flesh while convulsing due to a fractured skull, like I was hoping for, I had only one other chance. The clock.
But there were still 7 minutes left. I kept looking at that large gymnasium clock with the metal cage around it. I was focused on the seconds as they ticked off. I knew the gym teacher, Mr. Van, was tending to Glen who was lying down. (That was really the most brilliant gimmick: walk up to the parallel bars and then collapse to the mat. Secretly he was my hero.)
Then I heard it. KATZ!
What if I couldn't boost myself up onto the bars? What if I actually did worse than Rodger? Should I complain more loudly than he did in order to show my pain and how hard I tried? Or should I really try so hard that I would go one step further than Rodger? It would mean a lot. And if I did surpass him, how would I explain to my mother the white bone sticking through my elbow?
As much as I hate the parallel bars, I see they are still legal and available for sale on the internet. They shouldn't be. Motorcycles are much safer.
The only parallel bars I loved as a kid were the railroad tracks where I'd walk alone and then cut into the industrial part of the city, trespassing and smelling the chemicals of one factory after another before they hit the Passaic River. I liked them. There was even an ice cream factory that smelled of ammonia. They'd give me peach ice cream.
Next time I'll tell you about the vaulting horse, which had no purpose at all, like a parallel bars thalidomide baby.
Mary Bianco
NDS
Sunbeams
http://www.thesunmagazine.org/332_Beams.pdf
Bible Hockey
http://www.thesunmagazine.org/331_Smith.pdf
David McMullin
Eckhart's first newsletter arrived vial email.
I presume to quote the interview contained therein.
Enjoy -
David
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Interview with Eckhart Tolle
The Spiritual Teaching and Teacher
-August 25, 2003
By Kim Eng © Kim Eng 2003
KE: Large numbers of people are beginning to awaken
spiritually at this time. Many of them look to a teacher,
such as yourself, for guidance and support. Although
ultimately nobody can do it for you, a teacher is no doubt
helpful - some would say essential - during the process of
awaking. In the face of such overwhelming demand for
spiritual truth, why is it that you have substantially reduced
your public teaching for the remainder of 2003? (except
October, see Eckhart's "upcoming events" at www.eckharttolle.com).
What is your message to all those awakening beings who rely on
you for guidance?
ET: Don't rely on me. Whoever and whatever you rely
on externally will let you down sooner or later. All forms
dissolve, change, die, leave you. Many people feel they are
being drawn to me, the "form" of Eckhart, but they are
wrong. They confuse form with essence. When people
come to a talk, an intensive, or a retreat, they don't come to be
with me, although this is how it may look on the surface.
They come to be with themselves, or rather, to be themselves more
fully. Something shines through the form of Eckhart, and it
is one with the essence of who you are. The peace,
stillness, joy or intense aliveness you feel in the presence of
the spiritual teacher emanates from the one Source within
yourself, inseparable from who you are at the deepest
level. The teacher cannot give it to you. He or she
reveals to you what is already there, within yourself.
The teaching is continuously available to you through the books,
tapes, videos. For those who are ready to awaken, they are
just as powerful as the physical presence of the teacher.
But beware of excessive attachment to these things and the
constant need for more, which is not a true need but a
mind-created one. One needs to see when the point has been
reached where that which is helpful, that which puts you in touch
with the truth of who you are, has served its purpose.
Buddha had the beautiful analogy of the "raft crossing the
river" - once you have crossed the river, you don't carry
the raft around with you. As long as you need the raft, the
teaching is there.
Through the books, tapes, videos, the teaching is there in its
full power, and that teaching, if you allow it, will put you in
touch with the only living teacher there is: your own innermost
being. But the egoic mind keeps saying: I need, I want, I
must have. The mind's need for more is a way of avoiding
and truly being with the teaching. Which is here now.
KE: You are already yourself, fully.
ET: Yes, nothing essential can or needs to be added.
KE: What is the nature of that self that we already
are? Can one say anything about it?
ET: One can only point; but not explain or define.
One can say: space, or inner spaciousness, is who you are at the
deepest level. It is utterly still, yet vibrantly
alive. I have nothing to give you except that: space.
But since space is the essence of who you are, I have nothing to
give you (Eckhart chuckles). If you look for anything
other than space in a spiritual teacher, you will be
disappointed, let down. Whatever he or she gives you, it
will never be enough. Nothing in the realm of form will
satisfy you for long.
KE: Yes, form is duality. Therefore, at sometime or
another, the opposite must occur.
ET: When you internally allow each moment to be as it is,
when you witness your thoughts and emotions as they happen, space
arises within you - stillness, peace. That is who you
are. That is beyond the opposites.
Iamom
Live Journal
discussion among futurists
Incidentally, I think that all the major world religions were founded in an earlier phase of human evolution by people whose consciousness clearly was way beyond the ordinary. They left behind teachings that hold within them a profound seed of the truth about the evolution of our species. But the structures that built up around those religions have narrowed them to the point where, now, while we're engaged in this period of massive transition, they are becoming regressive.
--Barbara Marx Hubbard, from current issue of What Is Enlightenment?
I've always thought that. I've always thought that the seeds of
all religions are the same, and that they're essentially true and
good; it's the organized religions themselves that have sprung up
around those teachings that have created the confusion and war.
In this article about the near future of humankind (i.e. within
the next 20-100 years), Marx Hubbard also discusses the necessity
for us to evolve past our current limited state of consciousness
in order to collaborate and cooperate effectively with the rest
of the world. In her opinion, the very survival of humankind
depends on a type of global human cooperation the likes of which
we simply haven't seen yet, nor has been seriously considered by
industrialized world leaders. The finite resources available to
us in our current oil-based economy will not be able to sustain
the next doubling of the world's population, which will happen
not too long from now. In very plain terms, it would seem that
something has to give in order for us to survive as a species.
It's a good issue of WIE so far. Other futurists in this
discussion include the inventor of the music synthesizer and
technology futurist Ray Kurzweil, along with evolutionary
biologist Elisabet Sahtouris, business and technology guru Jeremy
Rifkin, and a number of
others. Ken Wilber fans might also enjoy the dialogue between
himself and Andrew Cohen, the founder of the magazine. I haven't
read it yet, but their discussions are usually pretty good.