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#1616 - Friday, November 14, 2003 - Editor: Gloria      

If you wish to move in the One Way
do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully
is identical with true Enlightenment.
The wise man strives to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many;
distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the [discriminating] mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.

-Seng-tsan, "Verses on the Faith Mind"

From "Teachings of the Buddha," edited by Jack Kornfield, 1993

  .    

http://www.msnbc.com/news/986857.asp?b=hi     .

Nina ~ Natural Enlightenment  

Jeff, perhaps it was after your time,
(or perhaps not)
or perhaps your son used to watch
The Muppet Show. Do you recall the
peanut gallery? The two old men
that sat in the balcony and heckled
all the muppets, making jokes about
their muppet antics?

Nowadays, I can look back on the muppet
show and see that it was fairly well-balanced
and representative psychologically. The peanut
gallery represented the Inner Critic, that
grain of sand that rubs and begs for change.

What would the show have
been without their crotchety
relief? Nothing but sunshine and floppy
muppet heads, and that woulda been too
bad, because Kermit would never have
had the dark night of his muppet soul
and written the song "It Isn't Easy Being
Green" and asked those tough questions,
like "Who am I?" and "Is this love for
Ms. Piggy, or something greater?"

Joe Riley  

Song for a wake .... (may be heard at link)

www.panhala.net/End_of_the_Line.wma

End of the Line -- The Traveling Wilburys

(Chorus 1)
Well it's all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it's all right, if you live the life you please
Well it's all right, doing the best you can
Well it's all right, as long as you lend a hand

You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring
Waiting for someone to tell you everything
Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring
Maybe a diamond ring

(Chorus 2)
Well it's all right, even if they say you're wrong
Well it's all right, sometimes you gotta be strong
Well it's all right, As long as you got somewhere to lay
Well it's all right, everyday is Judgment Day

Maybe somewhere down the road aways
You'll think of me, wonder where I am these days
Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays
Purple haze

(Chorus 3)
Well it's all right, even when push comes to shove
Well it's all right, if you got someone to love
Well it's all right, everything'll work out fine
Well it's all right, we're going to the end of the line

Don't have to be ashamed of the car I drive
I'm glad to be here, happy to be alive
It don't matter if you're by my side
I'm satisfied

(Chorus 4)
Well it's all right, even if you're old and grey
Well it's all right, you still got something to say
Well it's all right, remember to live and let live
Well it's all right, the best you can do is forgive

(Chorus 5)
Well it's all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it's all right, if you live the life you please
Well it's all right, even if the sun don't shine
Well it's all right, we're going to the end of the line

Gill Eardley ~ Rumi to Hafiz
I always think that to be able to look into the eyes of one
true Master is worth one hundred years studying His doctrine,
His teaching. In Him you have a direct example of enlightenment,
of life, while in others you have only a shadow, which may help
you also, but not directly. As the Buddha says, "My doctrine is only
a raft helping to bring you over to the other shore, not ultimate
reality; you shouldn't worship it."

Thich Nhat Hanh in 'The Raft is not the Shore'

The Great Black Heron

Since I stroll in the woods more often
than on this frequented path, it's usually
trees I observe; but among fellow humans
what I like best is to see an old woman
fishing alone at the end of a jetty,
hours on end, plainly content.
The Russians mushroom-hunting after a rain
trail after themselves a world of red sarafans,
nightingales, samovars, stoves to sleep on
(though without doubt those are not
what they can remember). Vietnamese families
fishing or simply sitting as close as they can
to the water, make me recall that lake in Hanoi
in the amber light, our first, jet-lagged evening,
peace in the war we had come to witness.
This woman engaged in her pleasure evokes
an entire culture, tenacious field-flower
growing itself among the rows of cotton
in red-earth country, under the feet
of mules and masters. I see her
a barefoot child by a muddy river
learning her skill with the pole. What battles
has she survived, what labors?
She's gathered up all the time in the world
--nothing else--and waits for scanty trophies,
complete in herself as a heron.

By Denise Levertov, from Sands of the Well. Copyright © 1996 by Denise Levertov. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

  “How should those who enter
the path apply their minds?
All things are originally uncreated
and presently undying.
Just let your mind be free;
you don’t have to restrain it.
See directly and hear directly;
come directly and go directly.
When you must go, then go;
when you must stay, then stay.
This is the true path.
A scripture says,
“Conditional existence is
the site of enlightenment,
insofar as you know it as it really is.”

- Niu-t’ou Hui-chung (683-769)

Practicing Spirituality with Catholics
Day 15

FEEL LOVED

Sometimes I say to God: "You know what's wrong with you?"

And God asks, "What?"

And I begin to enumerate. "You love too indiscriminately. You trust people
way too much. You're far too forgiving. And you're entirely too patient!"

Having said that, I invite God to tell me what's wrong with me. But all I
hear God say is, "You know, Honey, I really get a kick out of you!"

Which only proves my point.

-- Melannie Svoboda in "Everyday Epiphanies: Seeing the Sacred in
Everything"

  Steve Toth ~ Rumi to Hafiz  

AT THE DISCOUNT STORE

We walk more than a mile
     making our way along the blackberries
     to the discount store
Last night was a cold snap
     & in one aisle five strangers
are discussing the pluses & minuses
     of various space heaters.

Sometimes when people are talking
     I see them as so beautiful
I want to hug & kiss them
     & tell them I love them
Or break out laughing & never stop
Or I see them as wonderful creatures
     who are going to die
& I want to take their hands
     look deeply into their eyes
& let them know that's it's all right
     for there to be conversations like this
     among the living

But I do none of these things
     knowing nothing about space heaters
     I just keep listening

Zen Teaching given to a Lady

To study Zen you must penetrate through the barrier of the ancestral teachers. To learn the Path you must come to the end of the road of mind. When the road of mind is cut off, the whole body appears. It’s like a person drinking water: she knows for herself whether it’s cool or warm. When you reach this stage, do not ask just anyone about it: you must join a real Zen teacher and show her how your mind is working.

- T’aego (1301-1382)

  Joe Riley ~ Panhala  

Throw Yourself Like Seed  

Shake off this sadness, and recover your spirit
sluggish you will never see the wheel of fate
that brushes your heel as it turns going by,
the man who wants to live is the man in whom life is abundant.  

Now you are only giving food to that final pain
which is slowly winding you in the nets of death,
but to live is to work, and the only thing which lasts
is the work; start then, turn to the work.  

Throw yourself like seed as you walk, and into your own field,
don't turn your face for that would be to turn it to death,
and do not let the past weigh down your motion.
Leave what's alive in the furrow, what's dead in yourself,
for life does not move in the same way as a group of clouds;
from your work you will be able one day to gather yourself.  

~ Miguel De Unamuno ~  

(from Roots and Wings, edited and translated by Robert Bly)

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