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Nondual Highlights Issue #1954 Tuesday, October 19, 2004 Editor: Mark
One
evening I returned to my hermitage from a walk in the hills, and
I found that all the doors and windows of the hermitage had been
blown open. When I left the house, I hadn’t secured them,
and a cold wind blew through the house, opened the windows, and
scattered the papers from the desk all over the room. Immediately
I closed the doors and windows, lit a lamp, picked up the papers,
and arranged them neatly on my desk. Then I started a fire in the
fireplace, and soon the crackling logs brought warmth back to the
room.
Sometimes in a crowd we feel tired, cold, and lonely. We may wish
to withdraw to be with ourselves and become warm again, as I did
at the hermitage sitting by the fire, protected from the cold,
damp wind. Our senses are our windows to the outside world, and
sometimes the wind blows and disturbs everything within us. Many
of us leave our windows open all the time, allowing the sights
and sounds of the world to invade us, penetrate us, and expose
our sad, troubled selves. We feel so cold and lonely and afraid.
Do you ever find yourself watching an awful TV program, unable to
turn it off? The raucous noises, explosions of gunfire, are
upsetting. Yet you don’t get up and turn it off. Why do you
torture yourself in this way? Don’t you want to close your
windows? Are you afraid of solitude - the emptiness and the
loneliness you may find when you face yourself alone?
We are what we feel and perceive. If we are angry, we are the
anger. If we are in love, we are the love. If we look at a snowy
mountain peak, we are the mountain. Watching a bad TV program, we
are the TV program. While dreaming, we are the dream. We can be
anything we want, even without a magic wand. So why do we open
our windows to bad movies and TV programs, movies made by
sensationalist producers in search of easy money, movies which
make our hearts pound, our fists tighten, and send us back into
the streets exhausted? Who allows such movies and TV programs to
be made? Especially for the very young. We do! We are too
undemanding, too ready to watch whatever is on the screen, too
lonely, too lazy, or bored to create our own lives. We turn on
the TV and leave it on, allowing someone else to guide us, shape
us, and destroy us. Losing ourselves in this way is leaving our
fate in the hands of others who may not be acting responsibly. We
must be aware of what kinds of prgrams do harm to our nervous
systems, our minds, and our hearts, and which programs and films
benefit us.
I am not just talking about movies and TV programs. All around
us, how many lures are set there by our fellows and ourselves? In
a single day, how many times do we become lost and scattered
because of them? We must be very careful to protect our fate and
our peace. That does not mean shutting all our windows, for there
are many miracles in the world we call ‘outside.’ Open
your windows to these miracles. Look at any one of them with the
light of awareness. Even while sitting beside a clear, flowing
stream listening to beautiful music, or watching an excellent
movie, do not entrust yourself entirely to the stream, the music,
or the film. Continue to be aware of yourself and your breathing.
With the sun of awareness shining in us, we can avoid most
dangers - the stream will be purer, the music more harmonious,
and the soul of the artist completely visible in the film.
Around us, life bursts forth with miracles - a glass of water, a
ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter,
raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles
everywhere. Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes
that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a
bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust
as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with
the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired and feel
discouraged by life’s daily struggles, we may not notice
these miracles, but they are always there.
Have a look at the apple tree in your yard. Look at it with
complete attention. It is truly a miracle. If you notice it, you
will take good care of it, and you too are part of its
miraculousness. Even after caring for it for only a week, its
leaves are already greener and shinier. It is exactly the same
with people who are around you. Under the influence of awareness,
you become more attentive, understanding, and loving, and your
presence not only nourishes you and makes you lovelier, it
enhances them as well. Our entire society can be changed by one
person’s peaceful presence.
Our minds create everything. The majestic mountain top, brilliant
with snow, is you yourself when you contemplate it. Its existence
depends on your awareness. When you close your eyes, as long as
your mind is present, the mountain is there. Sitting in
meditation, with several sense-windows closed, you feel the
presence of the whole universe. Why? Because the mind is there.
If your eyes are closed, it is so that you can see better. The
sights and sounds of the world are not your ‘enemies.’
Your ‘enemy’ is forgetfulness, the absence of
mindfulness.
- Thich Nhat Hanh, from Essential Writings,
edited by Robert Ellsberg, posted to awakenedawareness by Ben
Hassine
I've always loved friends of the Way,
Always held them dear.
Meeting a stranger with silent springs;
Greeting a guest talking zen;
Talking about mysteries on a moonlit night;
Searching for truth until dawn,
The tracks of our inventions disappear,
And we see who we really are.
- Han-shan, posted to DailyDharma
Bluebirds & Things
We speak often
in dreams
connected as we are
by a thread
that winds around
the universe
when a deer walks
in a forest in Kerala
or a sea lion snuffles
on a rock or
a tiger pads at
the water's edge
the eardrum
of the world
vibrates this web
we're woven into
like spider's prey
& we whisper
people songs
made with words
while crickets
rub thighs together
& howler monkeys
laugh themselves
off branches and
we dream talking
of bluebirds & things.
© Zen Oleary, October 19, 2004, posted to SufiMystic
across the lake
the tree a nest
the nest an egg
inside the blue
the heartbeat of the galaxies
a promise and a key
each step observed.
each land and sea
how nothing ever ever
did not come on through
this narrow lane
how nothing ever ever
did not pass
this empty handed thief
to imagine he's
been asking 'who am I?'
makes me laugh,
makes me cry
with a hammer hitting carefully,
on who can he
rely to be
A fragile jar
so utterly
and plainly obsolete.
this one and only
thought of it?
- Al Larus, link posted to AdyashantiSatsang
Suppose you know the definitions of all substances
and their derivatives,
what good is this to you?
Know the true definition of yourself.
That is indispensable.
Then, when you know your own definition, flee from it,
that you may attain to the One who cannot be defined,
O sifter of the dust.
- Rumi, from Mathnawi
V:564-565, version by Camille and Kabir Helminski, Rumi:
Jewels of Remembrance, Threshold Books,
1996, posted to Sunlight
The play of concepts is endless. Concepts about the body, the
mind, spirit, universe, cosmos, big bang, small bang, how the
world came into being, shiva, shakti, etc.
And then there are concepts about concepts, and thoughts about
the nature of thoughts!
What to do? The questions are thoughts and the answers are
thoughts.
And thinking about questions and answers requires thoughts.
What to do?
Nothing to do.
The quicksand of concepts entangles one more and more, the more
seriously one takes them. It is the stuff of religion,
philosophy, spirituality, great writers, great thinkers, great
teachers, great leaders, etc.
The presumption to understand, teach, and help others to improve
themselves reveals the unrelenting grip of the ego.
But the ego is not bad. It is something natural. It arises as a
natural condition.
The wise say, that, "I am the doer" notion is bondage.
The real method to self knowledge is simple.
To go to the root of the ego or the mind, one needs to become
aware of one's complete helplessness. That takes time. That takes
spiritual maturity. To feel truly that not my will Lord but thy
will be done. In doing so, the surrender can take place and one
can naturally do what one is destined to do.
If by Grace, one can bring the awareness upon its own essence, to
see and feel its own essential being, that is all that needs to
be one. That is all that can be done!
In this awareness, one can stare at the originating point of
thoughts and feelings and symbols and visions which rise in it,
and see itself as the source, not as a thought but as a well of
being that perpetually springs forth in itself and dissolves in
itself never losing its inherent quality of naturalness,
sat-chit-ananda.
It is the essence of simplicity. Pure Being. That is what Sri
Ramana taught. To be aware of the "I AM" as
feeling/awareness. That is the direct practice. To be simply
aware of yourself.
Spiritual practitioners seek complex and glamorous practices
leading to rich experiences and knowledge. This is good as well.
All according to one's inclinations.
But there are some who have consumed enough knowledge and enough
experiences and lose the desire for any of it. Spontaneously, the
directness of one's own awareness manifests as one's own self.
One's Own Self is the Self of all. One Heart. Same Heart. All
Heart.
Love to all
Harsha
- originally posted to HarshaSatsang on October 31, 2003, and
reposted to MillionPaths by Gloria Lee
