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XAN

Who is looking out of these eyes and perceives light and
dark?


DAN

The only question worth asking.
There is no discussion that leads to the answer.
When nothing is asserted or denied - there is no more
"looking out"


HARSHA

Thank you wise Xan and Dan.
You teach us well to put down our book of learning and look
into the stillness from where the look emanates.
Perhaps there is only that emanation forever unnamed.
Who can say what it is?
The Tao or the ice cream in the mouth of a child or the
melting of lovers Into love.

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MELODY

For me for years, there was much longing and hunger, but
never a sense of 'being' whole. Quite the opposite. For me
the quest and longing was initially to *become* whole, and
the later on...the quest was to *recognize* (what I
accepted only on faith).. my wholeness.


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"I see nonduality for the masses..."(Jerry)

JAN

"Nonduality for the masses" sounds like a familiar manifesto
:) For some who are thinking to "hold the reigns" it is an
utmost danger with the prospect of being put out of a job.
For other disciplines with complicated rituals it is a
danger too, once the "rationale" of nonduality is
understood. It reminds of a nice yoga story in an old book
by Swami Sivananda (recapped): A guru had taught a bright
student valuable knowledge but it had to be kept a secret.
Of course, the student distributed the knowledge to all
villagers and the guru soon heard every one talking about
it. When the student visited the guru again, the guru
asked: "why did you ignore my command to keep it a secret?"
The student answered: "I am not different from my fellow men
in any way. So what benefits me will benefit everybody and
I told anyone, willing to listen. If only one really
benefited from it, it is worth your punishment". The guru
had no choice but to agree...

***

The advantage of nondualism is the knowledge that liberation
or moksha / nirvana isn't to be attained, as this knowledge
can cut through all layers of ignorance easily.
But this isn't done; at the first glimpse of "truth" is is
forgotten one will be overtaken by theses subtle tendencies
unless they are destroyed. Desires are an affliction as
well; as long as there is a desire to be a teacher, one
isn't. When the mind is empty,
no notion of guru or student can arise. Although nonduality
offers an easy ride to freedom, at the first glimpse of
"truth", freedom (often) is misinterpreted as the free
ticket to follow the whims of the (enlightened) mind; those
teachers are followers (LOL).
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TIM H.

Duality, even for the nondual, is east chasing west and west
chasing east and yet, from 'here', the only place that 'I'
can 'be', all ways are north, south, east, and west and the
sun does not move. Why does north not chase south and south
not pursue north?
Perhaps they do... and the mixed up 'direction' is 'within'
the 'you'. The argument is the argument and 'where' it
stops no body 'knows'... and we laugh at those that beat
their chests telling us the 'way' it 'is'... dogs chase and
bury bones and cats are suckers for all things that sparkle
and peek out from under the covers... you hear the truth
and say 'I know this' to which I can only reply 'Old hat
never worn.' Thank God that there are snowmen to wear those
'old hats' and bring a little magic into our lives.

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SKYE

My work in this dimension is in expressing the
*essence* of the personality matrix in the fullness of its
creativity. It seems to be my natural bend, so to speak.
So i loved Papaji's reply to U.G. Krishnamurti. When U.G.
said to him "I don't believe in spiritual experiences"
Papaji replied "If you say you don't believe in experiences,
what then is the difference between you and a rock?

So to me there is the one truth of our being, of which i am
awakening to, and within that truth are unborn dimensions,
not a sterile singularity by any stretch of my *imagination*
:-) sorry guys i know some of you don't see much value in
that word but i love it and use it joyfully. If there is a
sterile singularity i am simultaneously there already,
between the 0-1 of the atom, between each now moment i
exist, but it is not my study. I am here to learn the
fullness of love and play. To *identify* with creativity,
sorry guys another no no word. Does that mean i'm not
towing the nondual line? :-)))

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GENE

"...doctrines, then when boiled down, are then served as the
main course 'for all'. But to attempt to live on such fare,
is like trying to live exclusively on vitamin pills; absent
the roughage of actual food, the body withers, in spite of
all 'knowledge' of nutrition."


LYNNE

My metaphor for this is concentrated orange juice. It needs
to be mixed with water (everyday life, ie. taking care of
the kids, work, play, etc) in order to be used as it was
meant to be. A little frozen orange juice concentrate is
great as a "cool" snack (Harsha :} you might like this) but
in order to drink the orange juice...

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NORA

I've heard or read that there was a lot of laughing at
Papaji's satsangs and in his house--also Satyam Nadeen says
the realized person will just laugh his way through life
because of its glorious absurdity(very rough paraphrase)
Francis Lucille also says to Celebrate Life!
Which brings me back to church--i've been attending Bible
Study at the local Presbyterian church cause i'm friends
with the woman associate minister who is leading it..we've
been studying Ecclesiastes--and the minister just can't get
it--she's truly puzzled by it as are the attenders who are
trying to attach Jesus and salvation to everying(for a
mainline church, the people are awfully conservative) But i
think it's beautiful--nondualism through a Greek-Jewish
philosophical lens--the book seems to be saying that life is
totally senseless, but enjoy your food and wine and
spouse--in other words--laugh your way through this
absurdity of so-called life which we know isn't real
anyway...

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DAN

A really good laugh and everything disappears.
Then there's only that laughing sound echoing.


XAN

Papaji said: When you are laughing you cannot think.
You are your original Self.

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GREG

From some long-time Osho sanyassins, I know that Osho also
played with the notion of enlightenment. I wonder if he
even believed in it. I saw in one biography of his, that he
was quoted as saying, "I'm not enlightened, I just do
psychology."


Here's a story that one sanyassin told me, happened at
Osho's ashram in India:


One day at 3am he posted a list on the public bulletin board
that said, "It has come to my attention that the following
ten people are enlightened:
Name 1 Name 2 ... etc.
Name 10 The next day, people read this in amazement! Most
of the ten people started acting different, spouting
pronouncements, acting like important radiant beings, etc.
Except for one little Indian guy who said "I don't know what
he is talking about, I'm the same, the same!" A few days
later, Osho posted another note on the bulletin board,
saying, "Just fooling, none of them are enlightened." They
were all able to laugh at themselves and the whole thing.


SARLO



There's more to this great story:
It actually happened at the (in)famous Oregon ranch, and he
put out a list of 21 enlighteneds. The reactions were
varied but indeed most were of the self-important category.
The most hilarious was from a long-time on-again-off-again
claimer who couldn't resist needling his most prominent
"rival," a sort of "head monk" figure who was on many
people's short list for "most enlightened," but not on
Osho's list. Neither of course came out looking so good
when the list was recanted, nor did the other strutters and
preeners.
The most interesting reactions were of a different
category. One woman didn't really believe it but her trust
in Osho was so great that she just accepted it, and again
when he took it away. And there were two Indians on the
list, one of whom begged Osho not to torture him like this
since he knew he wasn't enlightened, and the other who just
noted wryly that "Osho is such a rascal." He made no fuss
when Osho "unenlightened" him, but when he died three years
later Osho revealed that he had in fact been the only one of
the lot who actually was enlightened. Major hoot! A great
device for all of us to get twirled around in our
expectations and projections.
Thanks for the gossip op

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OLD HAG

Talking about teachers:


A few years ago, I read about a formal debate that two
contemporary Buddhist teachers had (i forget their specific
names, i will call them Zen Master and Rinpoche). It seems
the followers of the Japanese Zen Master and the followers
of a Tibetan lama (Rinpoche), had been arguing about which
of their teachers knew more Dharma, so the teachers agreed
to this debate to answer the question (Dharma debate is an
acceptable and highly respected practice in Buddhism).


The day of the debate, the Japanese Zen Master comes into
the room with his large entourage, and then the Tibetan lama
follows with only his interpreter. They sit across from
each other, each on a little dais prepared for them, about
ten feet apart .


They have pulled straws to see who begins, and the Zen
Master has won.
He reaches into a bowl of fruit that is next to him, selects
an orange and holding it up, says to the Tibetan lama, "What
is this?"


Rinpoche and his interpreter whisper back and forth for a
few minutes, and then look blankly at the Zen Master. The
Zen Master, still holding the orange in front of him,
repeats,"What is this?" But, Rinpoche whispers to his
interpreter, shakes his head a few times, and still says
nothing.


The Zen Master has a triumphant look upon his face. Holding
the orange even higher, he says, "Can you tell me what this
is? Look at what I am holding! What is this?"


The Tibetan Lama whispers some more to his interpreter, and
finally the interpreter says,"Rinpoche wants to know if this
guy is crazy, always asking what that is. Don't they have
oranges in Japan?"


The Zen Master stands up, bows to the Tibetan lama, and
walks out of the hall, followed by his entourage.


The Tibetan lama and his interpreter smile to each other,
and on his way out, Rinpoche picks up the orange, and begins
to peel it, to take a bite.

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