Nondual Highlights
Issue #1575 Saturday, October 4,
2003 Editor: Mark
"You see,
Pooh," I said, "a lot of people don't seem to know what
Taoism is..."
"Yes?" said Pooh, blinking his eyes."
So that's what this chapter is for - to explain things a
bit."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh.
"And the easiest way to do that would be for us to go to
China for a moment."
"What?" said Pooh, his eyes wide open in amazement.
"Right now?"
"Of course. All we need to do is, lean back, relax, and
there we are."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh.
Let's imagine that we have walked down a narrow street in a large
Chinese city and have found a small shop that sells scrolls
painted in the classic manner. We go inside and ask to be shown
something allegorical - something humorous, perhaps, but with
some sort of Timeless Meaning. The shopkeeper smiles. "I
have just the thing,", he tells us. "A copy of The
Vinegar Tasters!" He leads us to a large table and unrolls
the scroll, placing it down for us to examine. "Excuse me -
I must attend to something for a moment," he says, and goes
into the back of the shop, leaving us alone with the painting.
Although we can see that this is a fairly recent version, we know
that the original was painted long ago; just when is uncertain.
But by now, the theme of the painting is well known.
We see three men standing around a vat of vinegar. Each has
dipped his finger into the vinegar and has tasted it. The
expression on each man's face shows his individual reaction.
Since the painting is allegorical, we are to understand that
these are no ordinary vinegar tasters, but are instead
representatives of the "Three Teachings" of China, and
that the vinegar they are sampling represents the Essence of
Life. The three masters are K'ung Fu-tse (Confucius), Buddha, and
Lao-tse, author of the oldest existing book of Taoism. The first
has a sour look on his face, the second wears a bitter
expression, but the third man is smiling.
To Kung Fu-tse (kung FOOdsuh), life seemed rather sour. He
believed that the present was out step with the past, and that
the government of man on earth was out of harmony with the Way of
Heaven, the government of, the universe. Therefore, he emphasized
reverence for the Ancestors, as well as for the ancient rituals
and ceremonies in which the emperor, as the Son of Heaven, acted
as intermediary between limitless heaven and limited earth. Under
Confucianism, the use of precisely measured court music,
prescribed steps, actions, and phrases all added up to an
extremely complex system of rituals, each used for a particular
purpose at a particular time. A saying was recorded about K'ung
Fu-tse: "If the mat was not straight, the Master would not
sit." This ought to give an indication of the extent to
which things were carried out under Confucianism.
To Buddha, the second figure in the painting, life on earth was
bitter, filled with attachments and desires that led to
suffering. The world was seen as a setter of traps, a generator
of illusions, a revolving wheel of pain for all creatures. In
order to find peace, the Buddhist considered it necessary to
transcend "the world of dust" and reach Nirvana,
literally a state of "no wind." Although the
essentially optimistic attitude of the Chinese altered Buddhism
considerably after it was brought in from its native India, the
devout Buddhist often saw the way to Nirvana interrupted all the
same by the bitter wind of everyday existence.
To Lao-tse (LAOdsuh), the harmony that naturally existed between
heaven and earth from the very beginning could be found by anyone
at any time, but not by following the rules of the Confucianists.
As he stated in his Tao To Ching (DAO DEH JEENG), the "Tao
Virtue Book," earth was in essence a reflection of heaven,
run by the same laws - not by the laws of men. These laws
affected not only the spinning of distant planets, but the
activities of the birds in the forest and the fish in the sea.
According to Lao-tse, the more man interfered with the natural
balance produced and governed by the universal laws, the further
away the harmony retreated into the distance. The more forcing,
the more trouble. Whether heavy or light, wet or dry, fast or
slow, everything had its own nature already within it, which
could not be violated without causing difficulties. When abstract
and arbitrary rules were imposed from the outside, struggle was
inevitable. Only then did life become sour.
To Lao-tse, the world was not a setter of traps but a teacher of
valuable lessons. Its lessons needed to be learned, just as its
laws needed to be followed; then all would go well. Rather than
turn away from "the world of dust," Lao-tse advised
others to "join the dust of the world." What he saw
operating behind everything in heaven and earth he called Tao
(DAO), "the Way."
A basic principle of Lao-tse's teaching was that this Way of the
Universe could not be adequately described in words, and that it
would be insulting both to its unlimited power and to the
intelligent human mind to attempt to do so. Still, its nature
could be understood, and those who cared the most about it, and
the life from which it was inseparable, understood it best.
Over the centuries Lao-tse's classic teachings were developed and
divided into philosophical, monastic, and folk religious forms.
All of these could be included under the general heading of
Taoism. But the basic Taoism that we are concerned with here is
simply a particular way of appreciating, learning from, and
working with whatever happens in everyday life. From the Taoist
point of view, the natural result of this harmonious way of
living is happiness. You might say that happy serenity is the
most noticeable characteristic of the Taoist personality, and a
subtle sense of humor is apparent even in the most profound
Taoist writings, such as the twenty-five-hundred-year-old Tao Te
Ching. In the writings of Taoism's second major writer,
Chuang-tse (JUANGdsuh), quiet laughter seems to bubble up like
water from a fountain.
"But what does that have to do with vinegar?' asked Pooh.
"I thought I had explained that," I said.
"I don't think so," said Pooh.
"Well, then, I'll explain it now."
"That's good." said Pooh.
In the painting, why is Lao-tse smiling? After all, that vinegar
that represents life must certainly have an unpleasant taste, as
the expressions on the faces of the other two men indicate. But,
through working in harmony with life's circumstances, Taoist
understanding changes what others may perceive as negative into
something positive. From the Taoist point of view, sourness and
bitterness come from the interfering and unappreciative mind.
Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is
sweet. That is the message of The Vinegar Tasters.
"Sweet? You mean like honey?" asked Pooh.
"Well, maybe not that sweet," I said. "That would
be overdoing it a bit."
"Are we still supposed to be in China?" Pooh asked
cautiously.
"No, we're through explaining and now we're back at the
writing table."
"Oh."
"Well, we're just in time for something to eat," he
added, wandering over to the kitchen cupboard.
- from The Tao of Pooh
by Benjamin Hoff
That we are at all
is the great mystery. The unknown force animating us, present in
all that is blooming and fading, is our deepest felt
sense, and, strangely, the feeling we most often overlook. Like
breathing, this aliveness-this passionate presence-is taken for
granted, and we pay attention instead to an endless stream of
thoughts.
Yet, as our attention comes to rest more in pure presence, a
natural intelligence emerges. This intelligence bypasses our
genetic gifts, IQ, age, cultural conditioning, and education. We
might call it an intelligence of the heart.
Free of dogma, ideology, and religious beliefs, Dharma Dialogues
point to and celebrate that silent luminous presence which
awakens natural intelligence and suffuses our lives with love.
Arjuna Ardagh's new
novel is now available and being shipped from this website.
"I give you ten days, starting today. I will show you all
you need to see. It is up to you."
Matt Thomson's life has become a bad joke. With Christmas just
around the corner, he's lost his job, his car, his house, his
wife and kids, and even the front door key to his buddy's attic
room where he now sleeps. Matt is a hair's breadth from a leap
off a high bridge into the welcome oblivion of icy waters. But a
seemingly random encounter with a coffee shop Goddess instead
dumps Matt into the lap of a very unlikely guru.
Meet Joey Murphy: ex-Merchant Marine, entrepreneur, teacher, wild
man. His idea of a good time is playing Blind Man's baseball on
the edge of a cliff. Joey takes Matt on the roller-coaster ride
of his life, a ten day adventure dodging cop cars, debunking
Mother Divine, visiting paradise artfully disguised as Taco Bell,
and trading intimate secrets with total strangers.
Matt is reluctantly forced to shed old ideas like so many layers
of skin, and he comes to love and trust his nemesis in the
process. Joey does succeed in showing Matt most of what he needs
to see, but in the end it is up to Matt to discover the ultimate
punch-line for himself.
In my complete nature
there is neither I nor God.
Here, I am what I have always been
before I was I, or God was God.
Here, I remain as the uncreated and uncaused.
All things emanate from
and have their cause in
this causeless ground
in this fertile emptiness
in this which is neither dark nor light.
No eye has ever gazed upon this--
only from it.
- Adyashanti
... The ‘I’
that you seem to be is both the creator and perceiver (there’s
only wholeness). A creator that has not been created but just IS!
When you can ‘arrive’ at such a total moment of
knowing, where are you then? One is at once here and now, and yet
nowhere at all! - thus completely divorced from time and space.
All this had become clear to me when I experienced the
Supersentience Light. ‘My existence’ that seems so real
to me is also extremely nebulous, ethereal, whereas what is
‘solid’ is spirit itself. Clarity brings the reverse of
what you had formerly believed. On the deepest level, existence
and non-existence are seen to be the same. I see clearly there is
no space and time as such because that would imply separation.
Time and space have to be an illusion because of one simple fact
- I am aware of time and space! This awareness of time and space
is not only a fact but also the recognition that the awareness of
it is not bound in time and space. My awareness of time and space
is proof to me that ‘I AM’ is not bound by time and
space. After all, how can ‘awareness’ be locked in
time? Isn’t it the only changeless thing then? Awareness is
timeless and I am that!
I am the dream of the Universe and, simultaneously, I am the
subject of the dream. I am at once the creator of everything and
I am everything created. I am the beginning and the end and yet
beginningless and endless - I am my origin and the result of
everything created and uncreated - I am the Self!
To learn not to expect. Not expecting is a great art. When you no
longer live in expectation, you live in a new dimension. You are
free. Your mind is free. Your body is free. To understand
intellectually that we are not a psycho-physical entity in the
process of becoming is a necessary first step, but this
understanding is not sufficient. The fact that we are not the
body must become an actual experience that penetrates and
liberates our muscles, our internal organs and even our cells. An
intellectual understanding that corresponds to a sudden, fleeting
recognition of our true nature brings us a flash of pure joy, but
when we have full knowledge that we are not the body, we are that
joy.
How can I perceive in a sensorial fashion that I am not the body?
We all experience moments of happiness which are accompanied by a
perception of expansion and relaxation. Before this body
perception, we were in a state of timelessness, an unadulterated,
causeless joy of which the physical sensation is simply the
ultimate consequence. This joy perceives itself. At that moment,
we were not a limited body in space, not a person. We knew
ourselves in the immediacy of the moment. We all know this
felicity without cause. When we explore deeply what we call our
body, we discover that its very substance is this joy. So we no
longer have the need or the taste or even the possibility of
finding happiness in external objects.
How is this deep exploration accomplished?
Do not reject the body sensations and emotions that present
themselves to you. Let them blossom fully in your awareness
without any goal or any interference from the will.
Progressively, the potential energy imprisoned in muscular
tensions liberates itself, the dynamism of the psychosomatic
structure exhausts itself, and the return toward fundamental
stability takes place. This purification of body sensation is a
great art. It requires patience, determination and courage. It
finds its expression at the level of sensation through a gradual
expansion of the body into the surrounding space and a
simultaneous penetration of the somatic structure by that space.
That space is not experienced as a simple absence of objects.
When the attention frees itself from perceptions that hold it in
thrall, it discovers itself as that self-luminous space which is
the true substance of the body. At this moment, the duality
between body and space is abolished. The body is expanded to the
size of the universe and contains all things tangible and
intangible in its heart. Nothing is external to it. We all have
this body of joy, this awakened body, this body of universal
welcoming. We are all complete, with no missing parts. Only
explore your kingdom and take possession of it knowingly. Do not
live any longer in that wretched shack of a limited body.
- An excerpt from Eternity Now
by Francis Lucille.
I went to a
festival, and at it they had a bonfire. They invited us to write
down what we wished for our
lives, and throw it into the fire. I put in that I wanted to be
guided by my intuition. When I go deep into meditation, I really
enjoy it, but when I come out, I have a sense of losing it. Can
you give me some insights on this?
We have the experience of feeling separate from God, from our
intuition. There is confusion. We have a feeling that we want to
step out of the confusion and be at peace, to know Truth for
ourselves and to be happy. We think that if we can work, purify,
and change ourselves, maybe someday we will be happy.
The only moment that you can ever be happy is this instant. That’s
it. You cannot know Truth in the past or in the future.
How can we know Truth now? It is easy. All that we can give to
anybody or anything is our attention. Check for yourself and see
if this is true. Where your attention is, is what you experience.
Correct?
If you put your attention on your toe, you experience your toe,
if you put your attention on what you want, you experience
longing, and if you put your attention on what is wrong, you
experience wrongness or negativity. Where your attention is, is
where you are giving all your energy to, in other words, what you
are worshipping.
Your attention has been running here and there, after this
attraction, that perception, thought after thought, always
looking for something to make you happy. Nobody was able to tell
you how to be happy, therefore you tried to listen to your
intuition, because you felt that you could listen to some wisdom
inside yourself, and as a result, your life would be better, more
in harmony.
Is it possible to say, "Well, I can do it myself?"
Normally, our attention is focused on our thinking, our
perceptions, on evaluating and labelling. You meet somebody and
evaluating happens. Can I trust him or her? Am I attracted? Etc,
etc. The mind is playing.
Nobody gets the idea to bring their attention to who they are.
This instant you are Here. The mind has been running, thought
after thought, and we have never had the idea to bring our
attention to its source from where thoughts arise.
In this instant everything that exists is changing. However,
these changes appear in Awareness, which is not changing. For
example, there is space in this room. When we build walls, we
have a room and the creation of inside and outside space. If we
knock the walls down, the space is still here. It is unchanged
whether the walls are here or not. Walls do not alter it. Space
is space, but we don’t notice the space, correct?
We define it by something else.
We define it by what we sense. Different experiences appear -
happiness, sadness, hot, cold, enjoying, suffering. These
experiences come and go. Usually there is thinking; occasionally,
not thinking. Every object is changing. Your experience is
changing, your body is changing, and your thoughts are changing.
Now, look in your own experience. Do you change? You were a young
boy, and now you have the body of a man. Inside, do you sense
yourself as different?
No.
You don’t feel different, and if you ask somebody who is
eighty, they will tell you the same. Beliefs might have changed,
the body is changing, yet the essence of you does not feel
different at all. You are the same. Speak in this moment of your
own experience of this which is unchanging, You.
I want to hear how you speak because up to now you have never
spoken about this. Nobody ever invited you to speak about this,
not your teachers nor your parents. Nobody invited you to speak
about This that is unchanging. What is your experience?
Love.
Yes, and you have been thinking that someone else is the source
of love.
Yes.
This is what they sing about in country western songs;
"looking for love in all the wrong places." Most of us
believe that love is outside of ourselves, and someone else is
necessary for us to feel love. We do not know where to find love.
Now, This that is unchanging, what do you have to do for it?
To connect with it.
Who is connecting with it?
There is nothing in-between. Only getting rid of the hurdles.
What hurdles? What hurdles are there at this moment?
Nothing really. But when I go outside it might start.
Outside of where?
Outside of this space. Outside of love.
How can you go outside of love? Where does love end?
No, it does not end.
Okay. How are you going to go outside of love?
I’m getting distracted.
If I give you a diamond worth five billion dollars, will you
forget where you keep it? If you have never had five billion
dollars, will you go now and party and leave it on the beach
somewhere?
No, no, no.
You won’t be distracted from this diamond.
I would run out of money very quickly. I’d give it to too
many people.
This love you can give to as many people as you like; it can
never run out. You cannot buy it for five billion dollars. Now,
how can you get distracted from love?
Before you were distracted because you did not know love. You
thought love came from women, and you were running after them,
thinking that one of them is the source of love. Then when that
did not work out, another one. Then trying to get the intuition
which one was the correct one, right? Where was love hiding?
Now it is not hiding. I love connecting with it.
There are no hurdles. There never were any. At this moment, you
don’t recognize the value of what you have just now
discovered. Once you know the secret, nothing can distract you
from it. Old thoughts can come up, but they push you back to
love, because every time you pick up a thought that hasn’t
been seen through yet, it is so painful compared to this love.
Once you have found love, you don’t want to kiss anything
else.
Is it a matter of love neutralizing the effects of old thoughts?
Not trying to shove anything away or leaving them, but
neutralizing them?
By simply staying with love every old pattern, based on this idea
of non-love, will come up and be seen to be love itself.
The love affair at this moment does not seem overwhelming. I
imagined it as a huge experience. Also, it does not seem like it
is not existing. It is sort of constant, like a hum.
What you are saying is beautiful. Some people experience
themselves as peace, silence, nothing, or everything. The truth
is, It cannot be named, and the danger is that people think the
experience should be a particular way. You are speaking from your
own experience. Once you listen to this hum, really listen to it,
really be it, it fills everything. This is the beauty. If you
only pay a little attention to it, then you only experience it a
little. The more you kiss it, the more you love it, the more it
loves you.
Like during meditation in the morning?
This is permanent meditation. The experience you are speaking of
now is about knowing who you are. What you are speaking about is
Yourself, right? That which is unchanging, Here, always present.
To be with Yourself is to be love, peace, and silence. Not as an
idea, but actually, Now! This is the ultimate truth. There is
none higher than this. This is the end of the search. Once you
know this, you know everything. So simple.
I will take that in.
Yes, beautiful. Simply be. When attention wants to move from This
that is unchanging, the moment you notice, simply return
attention to yourself. Instant by instant, that’s all.
Because through the senses, the entire universe is appearing in
you. In This that you are, all time, all space, everything is
appearing. Everything that is changing is appearing in That. All
of eternity, every known universe, every known reality, every
known galaxy is appearing in you. All the gods, all the heavens,
all the hells, everything is appearing in you. To know You is to
know the source of everything.
How do we construct our life around love in our daily activities?
Very clear question. Now I have to ask you from your own
experience. This instant now, breathing is happening. Who is
breathing?
My body.
Okay. Who is seeing?
Somehow seeing is happening.
What are you doing to see? What are you doing to breathe?
It is happening automatically.
Now, how is life happening?
I am initiating things.
Who is this I that is initiating? Let’s find this I now. At
this moment, your head is shaking. Who is doing that?
The automatic.
But then we say, "I am doing everything." This is
arrogance, isn’t it? It is a lie.
Yes, I am not doing anything.
But we think that we are initiating, yes?
Yes.
Okay. Find out who is initiating.
In this moment, I am not initiating. Everything is happening, and
love and support surround me.
Even this I that is surrounded by love, look at what this is. Up
to now you have been imagining that you are somebody. When you
simply keep your attention on the truth of yourself, on this
"unchanging," then all the habits to think a certain
way will reveal themselves and show themselves to be mirages that
give the appearance of suffering. You will find that daily life
has always taken care of itself and will always take care.
As funny as that sounds, there is nothing you have to do, because
you cannot control anything. There is not a you to do it! If you
earnestly look for the you that is supposed to be doing
everything, you will find there is nobody. This becomes your own
experience that is absolutely unshakeable. Who is it that you
think you are? Really check this out. You will make a fantastic
discovery.
It is beautiful.
This is your first time in Satsang,and immediately you wanted to
know. Beautiful! Somehow there has to be a ripeness to hear. If
you have beliefs and are attached to them, then you cannot know
this. When you are really willing to look for yourself, or if it
happens by grace, then you realize! Once you know and you notice
that different thoughts come up by themselves, you either keep
returning to This that is unchanging, your own Self which is
always present, or you investigate the thought/feeling and see if
it is true and what you get for believing it.
You will find that something interesting starts to happen. We
have a stream of thoughts which gives the feeling there is
something wrong and that you need to get or do something to be
happy. For example, that you have to meditate and search, work on
yourself, or some strategy to try to become happy.
The moment you keep quiet with who you are, what is needed? You
bathe in the ocean of love. This is too simple for most people.
But we still do physical things.
Even when physical things are happening, there is awareness of no
doer. Attention can stay with You. You can check this now. We can
talk together, and by simply staying with You, the talking is
happening in space. Somehow the whole perception of everything is
different.
Yes, it is growing.
In one instant. Just like that.
There is a constant pressure from society. If you are talking to
somebody, they always want to know who you are. They want to know
what you identify with. This could be a distraction.
Of course, it could be a distraction, but have you ever fallen in
love with a woman?
Yeah, all the time.
When you fall in love with a woman, not much will distract you.
Even eating and sleeping don’t distract you. You can only
think of this person.
Not quite that much. But yeah. I did feel like cutting my whole
day short.
This is a love affair with Truth.
Oh yeah, okay. (laughter)
Beautiful.
So falling in love with Love.
Falling in love with Love itself.
And then it is always there.
Of course.
Yes, in abundance.
You know the Secret.
Okay, ways to fall in love with yourself?
Just this instant. Any way is a distraction, because a way is a
postponement. A way means not now but later, in other words, a
postponement. To be in love with Love means to be it, walking
down the street, eating, making love, playing music. Everything,
everything! You are simply Love Itself.
You can be in prison or in any circumstance, it does not stop you
from This. Nothing can stop you from being with yourself. This is
not dependent on time, place, circumstance, or anything else.
You may still be active, but you are with yourself. Then
everything you say comes from That, and That shines through.
Others may feel that and be attracted or not.
Thank you, that was good.
One correction, not "was" good, "is" good!
Oh, "is" good! Fine. That solves that. (laughter) Next.
"We do not need to search in order to
find our true Being. We already are it, and the mind
which searches for it is the very reason why we cannot
find it."
Monkfish Publishing
presents: ENLIGHTENMENT
BLUES. My Years with an
American Guru, By Andre van der Braak. THE LANKAVATARA SUTRA. An Epitomized
Version, Translated by D.T. Suzuki.
Compiled/Edited by Dwight Goddard.
blooming and fading, is our deepest felt
sense, and, strangely, the feeling we most often overlook. Like
breathing, this aliveness-this passionate presence-is taken for
granted, and we pay attention instead to an endless stream of
thoughts.
our
lives, and throw it into the fire. I put in that I wanted to be
guided by my intuition. When I go deep into meditation, I really
enjoy it, but when I come out, I have a sense of losing it. Can
you give me some insights on this?