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#1688 - Sunday, January 25, 2004 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Manual of
Ink-Bamboo
Wu Chen (1280-1354) dated 1350
Ink on paper
from: http://www.asianart.com/splendors/bamboo.html
And when
That is seen in its
Immanence and transcendence
Then the ties that have bound the
Heart are loosened, the doubts
Of the mind vanish, and the law
Of karma works no more.
- Mundaka Upanishad
Don’t
be surprised,
Don’t be startled;
All things will arrange
Themselves.
Don’t cause a disturbance,
Don’t exert pressure;
All things will clarify
Themselves.
- Huai-nan-tzu
Those who
are known
As Real People
Are united in essence
With the Way,
So they have endowments yet
Appear to have none;
They are full yet
Appear to be empty.
They govern the inside,
Not the outside.
Clear and pure, utterly plain,
They do not contrive
Artificialities but return
To simplicity.
- Lao tzu
Quotes from: http://www.dailyzen.com/
Harsha ~ HarshaSatsangh
Sahaj in
sanksrit means easy and natural.
Sri Ramana used to say that what is Sahaj for the
Siddha is the practice of the Sadhaka.
There is saying in Hindi, "Sahaj pake so meetha hoy."
It means that easy and natural baking leads to
sweetness.
Probably something like the English saying that soup
that simmers slowly tastes best in the end.
The title of an OSHO book is "Grass grows by itself".
Easy and natural is the way. Everything else makes it
appear that somewhere other than where you already are
is more attractive.
Lahiri Mahasya used to say, "Banat Banat ban Jaye"
which has a similar meaning..."happening, happening,
happened."
All of these sayings, "You are the doer", "You are
not
the doer" might have some meaning to someone at some
point in time. All are concepts only for the mind to
struggle with.
To be easy and natural is, well, it is to be easy and
natural and it is best because it is easy and natural.
What is not easy and natural will produce inner
conflicts. We already have enough of those. Of course
for some people making more conflicts may be easy and
natural. In that case go for it!
Being easy and natural in awareness allows for the
recognition of the Self, which by its very nature is
easy being, natural, and wholeness of awareness aware
of itself as its own ananda. There is no good way to
express it.
My teacher (who was a monk for 29 years) once told me
that as a young monk he was very very strict with
himself. "Sometimes, too much judgment and discipline
can be a form of violence with oneself." he told me.
Another time when we were talking about gurus, I
mentioned many names. He knew most of them personally
(Krishamurti, Muktaananda, Chinmoy, Rajneesh,
Chiddananda, Swami Rama, Swami Satchintananda, etc.).
Those he liked, he would only say, "He is a good man."
Finally, my teacher said to me, "You should never
follow a guru." I looked at him puzzled (because he
was my guru, you see). He smiled and said in his thick
Bombay Indian accent, "What if the guru goes crazy and
tells you to do strange and crazy and weird things..."
I had a good laugh! He added, "that does happen you
know....". I laughed even harder. Well, it does
happen you know.
As Sri Ramana never tired of saying,... the only true
guru is your Heart, your own Self.
So wise sages tell the advanced aspirants to be
natural. Make the effort, if natural. Follow a
teaching if it is easy and makes sense. If something
makes no sense, there is no point in following it. So
what if it is considered the supreme teaching and so
on by someone well known and supreme. For all you
know, what the supreme and well known people say could
all be crap. Think about it. What do they really know.
What can anyone really and truly know?
So rest, if it feels natural to rest, watch the
spiritual parade pass by and not be moved by any
teaching. Or join the parade and sing your song. Your
nature will make you act in a certain way. That is why
you can be at ease.
Self-remembrance, Awareness aware of itself,
Self-abidance, all of these mean the same.
Easy and natural is one being aware of the innate
wakefulness through the winds of emotions, colors, and
change.
To the extent one can grasp it, simply remain aware
and if you become conscious of some intangible cloud
of unknowing which you cannot go through, become
comfortable with it, stay with it, and breath it in
and out.
Love to all
Harsha
Joyce, know_mystery
The Man
Watching
I can
tell by the way the trees beat, after
so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes
that a storm is coming,
and I hear the far-off fields say things
I can't bear without a friend,
I can't love without a sister
The storm,
the shifter of shapes, drives on
across the woods and across time,
and the world looks as if it had no age:
the landscape like a line in the psalm book,
is seriousness and weight and eternity.
What we
choose to fight is so tiny!
What fights us is so great!
If only we would let ourselves be dominated
as things do by some immense storm,
we would become strong too, and not need names.
When we
win it's with small things,
and the triumph itself makes us small.
What is extraordinary and eternal
does not want to be bent by us.
I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestler's sinews
grew long like metal strings,
he felt them under his fingers
like chords of deep music.
Whoever
was beaten by this Angel
(who often simply declined the fight)
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand,
that kneaded him as if to change his shape.
Winning does not tempt that man.
This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~
Daily Dharma
Good
morning, dears! The teaching, "Thinking About Not
Thinking," by a
Western Zen Master had so much good stuff in it, i had a
hard time
choosing an excerpt for this morning's quote. If you get a chance
to
read the whole teaching, i hope it will be beneficial to you -
yes, it's
not very long. ,^)) love to all, dharma grandmother
"But our thoughts and stories have never been how we were
really able to
actually live: to see and hear and cook and eat and stand up and
sit
down.
"Whatever you or I think about anything is inconsequential.
It means
nothing about who we are or what is actually going on.
"So what is going on here? Are you feeling your breath, your
hands, your
feet? Are you seeing the colours, the depth of the space in front
of you
and to the side, above and below? Are you hearing the sounds, the
sound
of (present sound) of your breath, the breathing of the person
next to
you? Are you feeling the temperature of the air on your skin?
"Thoughts rise and fall and come and go just like the breath
comes and
goes. We don't need to try to stop thinking in order to practice.
We
just need to allow ourselves to recognize that the world is
unthinkable.
That who we are is beyond thought and cannot be captured in the
web of
our same old stories."
~Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho
From the article, "Thinking About Not-Thinking,"
from the White Wind Zen Community.
http://www.wwzc.org/dharmaTalks/notThinking.htm
~ ~ ~
LOL..
i don't know, this just struck me as very funny. Maybe it will
bring a smile to you, too.
A friend of mine, who knows nothing about Buddhism, just sent me,
in all
seriousness, this quote in an e-mail. i think Carl Sagan was
serious too
which makes it even funnier - or maybe more profound. Or maybe it
was
the fermented grape juice cookie Mr. Raccoon gave me tonight.
,^)) love,
dg
~~~~
Hi Amrita,
I am reading the book, "Contact," by Carl Sagan, and
here's a Q & A
taken from the book that might interest you.
Q: "Do Buddhists believe in God or not?"
A: "Their position seems to be that God is so great he
doesn't even have
to exist."
Mazie Lane ~ Adyashanti Satsang
Wisdom from the Simpsons
Homer: How can we be soulmates Marge, when you like Mantovani and I like Monty Hall? How can we be spirit-twins when you like Itchy and I like Scratchy? How can we be one heart when you like Slim Fast and I like Duff beer? Marge, how can we be Best Friends when you like Reverend Lovejoy and I like rubber doll toys? Marge: Homer, our differences are only skin-deep. Homer: Oh yeah, you're right, but our sames go clear to the bone.
Viorica Weissman ~ MillionPaths
Oceans
By
Juan Ramon Jimenez
I have a
feeling that my boat
Has struck, down there in the depths,
Against a great thing.
And
nothing happens!
Nothing…Silence…Waves…
--Nothing happens?
Or has everything Happened,
And are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?
Ben Hassine ~ Awakened Awareness http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakenedawareness/
Typed from The Second Krishnamurti Reader, Edited by Mary Lutyens, chapter "The Heart and the Mind", pages 249 - 252 THE HEART AND THE MIND
Questioner: This division is not only in the mind. It is even stronger in the feelings. The Muslims and Hindus do not think themselves separate, they feel themselves separate, and it is this feeling that actually makes them separate and makes them destroy each other.
Krishnamurti: Exactly: the thinking and the feeling are one; they have been one from the beginning and that is exactly what we are saying. So our problem is not the integration of the different fragments but the understanding of this mind and heart which are one. Our problem is not how to get rid of classes or how to build better utopias or breed better political leaders or new religious teachers. Our problem is the mind. To come to this point not theoretically but to see it actually is the highest form of intelligence. For then you do not belong to any class or religious group; then you are not a Muslim, a Hindu, a Jew or a Christian. So we now have only one issue: why does the mind of man divide? It not only divides its own functions into feelings and thoughts, but separates itself as the 'I' from the 'you' and the 'we' from the 'they'. The mind and the heart are one. Don't let us forget it. Remember it when we use the word 'mind'. So our problem is why does the mind divide?
Questioner: Yes.
Krishnamurti: The mind is thought. All the activity of thought is separation, fragmentation. Thought is the response of memory which is the brain. The brain must respond when it sees a danger. This is intelligence, but the same brain has somehow been conditioned not to see the danger of division. Its actions are valid and necessary when they deal with facts. Equally, it will act when it sees the fact that division and fragmentation are dangerous to it. This is not an idea or an ideology or a principle or a concept -- all of which are idiotic and separative; it is a fact. To see danger the mind has to be very alert and awake, all of it, not just a segment of it.
Questioner: How is it possible to keep the whole brain awake?
Krishnamurti: As we said, there is no 'how' but only seeing the danger, that is the whole point. The seeing is not the result of propaganda or conditioning; the seeing is with the whole brain. When the brain is completely awake then the mind becomes quiet. When the brain is completely awake, there is no fragmentation, no separation, no duality. The quality of this quietness is of the highest importance. You can make the mind quiet by drugs and all kinds of tricks but such deceptions breed various other forms of illusion and contradiction. This quietness is the highest form of intelligence which is never personal or impersonal, never yours or mine. Being anonymous, it is whole and immaculate. It defies description for it has no quality. This is awareness, this is attention, this is love, this is the highest. The brain must be completely awake, that's all. As the man in the jungle must keep terribly awake to survive, so the man in the jungle of the world must keep terribly awake to live completely.
Viorica Weissman ~ MillionPaths
Ramana Maharshi & J. Krishnamurti - Illusion of Difference
excerpt:
In fact, both teachings give rise to similar confusions for inquirers. Both Ramana Maharshi and Krishnamurti state that transformation, in the sense of having a true perception of who we really are, can be attained now, yet both point to practices that seem to involve time.
It is my contention that this is a paradox that one has to unravel for oneself, for it is in the very unravelling of the paradox that we gain an insight into the logical difficulties of attempting to understand that which is beyond the intellect with the intellect. Also, to attempt to explain it intellectually would be to shy away from the real inquiry.
In this view one can see the significance of the Zen koan whose sole purpose is to frustrate the intellect into surrender with its maddening verbal play and so allow the mind to see its real nature.
http://users..iafrica.com/n/no/noumenon/autumn95.htm