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Nondual Highlights Issue #1886 Tuesday, August 10, 2004 Editor: Mark
As evening comes
With a hundred swans above
at least, and geese
not knowing where to sleep
When everyone with wings
emerges from the ground
Mosquitoes and the ants,
small flies and everyone
with long legs
Come hovering in pairs
until the sun goes down
Then suddenly they're gone
leaving an empty space
Where passing my right ear
this is a bumble bee
on his night flight home
And he says; Hey!
Sleepwalking one
I'm leaving you alone
A few steps further down
between the lambs and sheep
You will rise the question who
is talking in the stream
Who's resting in the moors,
the mountains and the sea,
Who keeps the mighty light
in darkness of the night
If it's not to late
reach for the pebble beach
If it's not to soon
it is told by the moon
My love, because there is no token
come listen carefully
My love is silently,
inside this symphony
My Love, how can it be broken
when it is only me.
-
Poem and images by Al Larus on AdyashantiSatsang
Sickness, in and of itself, is not a problem. It's our attachment
to it - or to health - that gives us pain. And, given the
definitions I found for the word 'nonattachment,' it's no wonder
we have misguided notions about it. According to Webster, the
term means: 'Indifference, separation, aloofness, isolation and
quiet.' But, according to the Buddhist point of view,
nonattachment is exactly the opposite of separation. You need two
things in order to have attachment: the thing you're attaching
to, and the person who's attaching. In nonattachment, on the
other hand, there's unity. There's unity because there's nothing
to attach to. If you have unified with the whole universe,
there's nothing outside of you, so the notion of attachment
becomes absurd. Who will attach to what?
- John Daido Loori, Roshi, posted to Daily Dharma
Where there is pain, the cure will come;
where the land is low, water will run.
If you want the water of mercy, go, become low!
Then drink mercy's wine and become drunk
- Rumi from Mathnavi II 1939-40), translation by William C.
Chittick, The Sufi Path of Love,
State Univ. of New York Press, Albany, 1983, posted to Sunlight
SPEND THE NIGHT
Open me like a book
& read what your heart desires
We're moving the spirit in the dark
homesick for somewhere
that doesn't exist
You make me forget
the name I call myself
We aren't wooden soldiers
but we can still catch fire
When I see how
you do a dance
I want you to do me too
If you want your eyes opened
you'll first have to close them
So many lonely people
trying to hide their fires
from the wind & rain
We put our candles in the window
where everyone can see
When our candles burn down
we become the flames together
so the light won't die
People say you're using me
I hope it's true
There's so much love
that needs making
everywhere we turn
When I'm feeling no pain
what else can't I feel?
Our colors bleed together
We spend the night
trying to buy a dream
we won't forget
before we can write it down
Is it safe reading poetry this closely?
No it's not
That's why we do it
- Steve Toth on SufiMystic
Question Contains the Answer by N. Balarama Reddiar
The answer is contained in the question itself, for the answer is
always the ever-existing Self and the question is only a
modulation of it." This remarkable saying of Sri Bhagavan
finds an apt illustration in the following instance.
One of our old devotees, the late Sri. A. Bose, lost his only
son, a bright boy of twenty. Upset very much by this loss he had
a private interview with Bhagavan, which was arranged during His
resting time between twelve and two in the afternoon. At one
stage in the interview he asked Bhagavan in what appeared a
challenging mood, "What is God?". For such a
long-standing devotee, the question seemed incongruous!
Bhagavan kept silent for a while and then gently said, "Your
question itself contains the answer: What is, (is) God."
This illuminating answer was amazingly the question itself! One
should note here that it is not merely a clever or well
thought-out answer. That may be so in the case of ordinary men. A
Jnani’s utterances are free from the intermediary action of
the mind, which colors and often distorts the truth. In the case
of the seers, it is said ‘sense follows speech.’ Also,
Bhagavan’s silence before answering the question was
evidently meant to prepare the questioner to receive the full
impact of the answer.
- Contributed by Viorica Weissman to MillionPaths
What is so special about this time and this this place
in human history? Look not to the tragedies only,
but to where all seems to be well. The human eye
is taught to see the darkness and to make extraordinary
honoring of 'what is wrong'. Yes, most certainly.
But let it also be known what is so very right.
"Very well," you say, "but how does one do that?
Where does one look to find all right?"
Begin with yourselves. Take inventory, but not
as you have done in your lives, not to find
where more is needed or less has seemed to become
essential. But look to where, at this moment, all is well.
Dare to do that. And when your eyes have become
accustomed the the Light, then allow your gaze
to wander to further places and different circumstances.
This is not a call to New Age Pollyannaism.
It is a call to balance.
- Emmanuel
Let it be known that restoring your world
to its perfection and safety will require much
more than mountains of weapons or the buttressing
of ramparts. The remedy is much more forceful
than these and belongs to each and every one of you.
You must hold the enormous courage to live with an
open and loving heart. Until that comes to pass,
you will walk in a density unknown up to now.
Live the truth of who You are.
- Also Emmanuel