Anims of Pema Choling Shaydra at work in the fields
Click here to go to the next issue
Highlights Home Page | Receive the Nondual Highlights each day
#1807 - Monday, May 24, 2004 - Editor: Jerry
Gill Eardley
Allspirit Inspiration
http://www.ordinarymind.com/dharma_talks_frameset.html
Real practice means being willing to stay in this
moment of life as it is, without falling into hope
or expectation on the one hand or despair on the
other. And that inevitably means being able to
tolerate enormous uncertainly about where our
lives are headed, simply responding as unselfishly
as we know how to the requirements of this moment.
gill
Allspirit Website:
http://www.allspirit.co.uk
Inner Bliss
Eleven Verses on Self-Inquiry (Atma Vichara Patikam)
4
In dreamless sleep, this thought 'I am so-and-so' does not at all
exist. In the true state of Self-knowledge also, this thought 'I
am
so-and-so' does not at all exist. But in the states of waking and
dream, which rise in between the darkness of sleep and the pure
light
of Self-knowledge, the thought 'I am this body' seems to appear
and
dissapear. Therefore this limited 'I' is not real; this 'I' is
only a
thought.
The Other Syntax
If your mind is fixed on a certain spot,
it will be seized by that spot and no activities
can be performed efficiently.
Not to fix your mind anywhere is essential.
Not fixed anywhere, the mind is everywhere....
The Original Mind is like water which flows freely,
whereas the deluded mind is like ice...
There is a passage in the Diamond Sutra that says:
"The mind should operate without abiding anywhere."
- Takuan (1573-1645)
NDS
To divide and particularise is in the mind's very nature.
There is no
harm in dividing. But separation goes against fact. Things and
people
are different, but they are not separate. Nature is one, reality
is
one. There are opposites, but no opposition.
--Nisargadatta Maharaj
Awakened Awareness
Stuart Holroyd, Krishnamurti: The Man,
Mystery and the Message
Part Two: The Message
Chapter 9
On Mind, Consciousness and the Self
(excerpt)
True intelligence then, consists in looking, listening, inquiring
and
being choicelessly aware. It is a function of the mind that is
simple, in
the sense that it is uncluttered with convictions, opinions,
habits of
thinking in terms of measurement or comparison. It is not
personal, and it
is quite different from thought.
'You may be very clever, very good at arguing, very learned. You
may have
experienced, lived a tremendous life, been all over the world,
investigating, searching, looking, accumulating a great deal of
knowledge,
practiced Zen or Hindu meditation. But all that has nothing to do
with
intelligence. Intelligence comes into being when the mind, the
heart and
the body are really harmonious.'
As intelligence comes of harmony, actions governed by it bring
harmony
into the world. Morality and virtue then, are not the observance
of
prescriptions of principles, but consist in the spontaneous
functioning of
intelligence in the world, which 'naturally brings about order
and the
beauty of order'. This, Krishnamurti maintained, 'is a religious
life'
Anims of Pema Choling Shaydra at
work in the fields
http://www.kuenselonline.com/article.php?sid=4077
The 90 anims (nuns) of Pema Choling Anim Shaydra,
their ages ranging from 11 to 66 years, are
ensuring their food for the year, planting
potatoes, barley, and other hardy crops that
survive in Bumthang’s harsh climate. In this
deeply spiritual valley of central Bhutan, food
is grown in traditional style, the hard way. The
Shaydra, established in 2001, is the highest
centre of learning for nuns in Bhutan. The
students follow a Buddhist curriculum that will
enable them to graduate with a masters degree in
Buddhist Philosophy after nine years.
...
“During the Buddha’s time women had the
opportunity to study the dharma but the number of
nunneries had reduced over the years,” said
Gangtoe Trulku. “We hope to give women an equal
opportunity to pursue higher studies in dharma.”
There are about 500 nuns in less than a dozen
nunneries all over Bhutan. The dratshang
lhentshog (central monastic body) sees Buddhist
Shaydras as an option after mainstream education,
especially for the many teenage girls who have
dropped out of regular schools.
...
There is a shortage of women teachers well versed
in dharma studies with the experience to manage
schools. Pema Choling will prepare the nuns to
become khenpos (the learned ones) and teachers
within their own communities. A long-term goal
for them is to start schools, train other women,
and provide education opportunities for the next
generation of girls in Bhutan, according to
Gangtoe Trulku who started the Shaydra after
numerous requests made by women around the
country.
Read more: http://www.kuenselonline.com/article.php?sid=4077
If you would like to receive emails telling of news stories like this, join the Nonduality Salon News Service list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSN