"This is to be done by one skilled in aimswho wants to break through to the state of peace:
Click here to go to the next issue
Highlights Home Page | Receive the Nondual Highlights each day
#2024 - Saturday, January 8, 2005 - Editor: Gloria
Highlights Home Page and Archive: http://nonduality.com/hlhome.htm
There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the
mirror that
reflects it.
- Edith Wharton
Action springs not from thought,
but from a readiness
for responsibility.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
LOVING-KINDNESS
Here is the Karaniya Metta Sutta,
The Buddha's Words on Loving-Kindness (Always inspiring!)
"This is to be done by one skilled in aims
who wants to break through to the state of peace:
Be capable, upright, & straightforward,
easy to instruct, gentle, & not conceited,
content & easy to support,
with few duties, living lightly,
with peaceful faculties, masterful,
modest, & no greed for supporters.
Do not do the slightest thing
that the wise would later censure.
Think: Happy, at rest,
may all beings be happy at heart.
Whatever beings there may be,
weak or strong, without exception,
long, large,
middling, short,
subtle, blatant,
seen & unseen,
near & far,
born & seeking birth:
May all beings be happy at heart.
Let no one deceive another
or despise anyone anywhere,
or through anger or irritation
wish for another to suffer.
As a mother would risk her life
to protect her child, her only child,
even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
with regard to all beings.
With good will for the entire cosmos,
cultivate a limitless heart:
Above, below, & all around,
unobstructed, without enmity or hate.
Whether standing, walking,
sitting, or lying down,
as long as one is alert,
one should be resolved on this mindfulness.
This is called a sublime abiding
here & now.
Not taken with views,
but virtuous & consummate in vision,
having subdued desire for sensual pleasures,
one never again
will lie in the womb."
~The Buddha
From: http://accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/suttanipata/snp1-08.html
Daily Dharma ~ DharmaG
image by Zen Oleary http://www.pbase.com/zenpo/image/38348305
Meditation Tip Weekly - Poonjaji - January 08,
2005
------------------------------------------------
Keep Quiet Here and Now.
You are Happiness, you are Peace, you are Freedom.
Do not entertain any notions that you are in trouble.
Be kind to yourself.
Open to your Heart and simply Be.
Poonjaji nondualnow ~ Brantley
Be what you are.
That which is, is ever present.
Even now you are It,
and not apart from It.
Be yourself and nothing more.
Ramana Maharshi
The Essential Teachings of Ramana Maharshi
MillionPaths ~ Josie
WHAT IS YOUR TRUE MIND?
"The flurry of ideas and thoughts arising and passing
away without
constancy is not the true mind. That which shifts and changes
unstably,
sometimes good, sometimes bad, is not the true mind. That which
wholly
depends on external things to manifest, and is not apparent when
nothing
is there, is not the true mind.
"Suppose you turn the light of awareness around to look
within, and
sense tranquility and oneness; do you consider this the true
mind? You
still do not realize that this tranquility and calm oneness are
due to
the perception of the false mind: there is subjective mind
perceiving
and the object perceived. This tranquility and oneness belong to
the
realm of inner states. .... How could it be the true mind?
"So if these are not the true mind, what is the true mind?
Try to see
what your true mind is, twenty four hours a day. Don't try to
figure it
out, don't try to interpret it intellectually, don't try to get
someone
to explain it to you, don't seek some other technique, don't
calculate
how long it may take, don't calculate your own strength, just
silently
pursue this inner investigation on your own: 'Ultimately what is
my own
true mind?'"
~Yuan-hsien
From the book, "The Teachings of Zen,"
published by Barnes and Noble, translated by Thomas Cleary.
Daily Dharma ~ DharmaG
Through developing wisdom we can achieve awakening. The
Buddhadharma is not about anything else; it is about
accomplishing and perfecting one’s own character. When one
has perfected one’s character, love and compassion will
exist. Without them, we will suffer from resentment, unhappiness,
and blame.
-Jamin Sunim, in Women’s Buddhism, Buddhism’s Women
Copyright Wisdom Publications 2001. Reprinted from Daily Wisdom: 365 Buddhist Inspirations, edited by Josh Bartok
Joyful Mind
From: 'Start Where You Are'
by Pema Chodron:
There's a lot of joy as your burden begins to lessen, and it
comes from doing anything that begins to change the pattern
of fearing and wanting to resist what's unpleasant. Resistance
is really what causes the pain; more than the anger itself, or
the jealousy itself, it's resistance that causes the pain.
Anything
that begins to lighten up that resistance helps us to relax and
open and celebrate.
Sooner or later you will find yourself in a situation where you
can't change the outer circumstances at all, and you realize it
all comes down to how you relate to things -whether you
continue to struggle against everything that's coming at you or
you begin to work with things. "Always maintain only a
joyful
mind" can be very helpful to remember in such a situation.
Anything that helps us not to be so desperate about pleasure
and not to fear its transitory nature is also introducing us to
being at home in our world and being able to help other people.
In popular songs you hear lines like Freedom's just another word
for nothing left to lose" or "I've got plenty of
nothing and nothing's
plenty for me." "Great bliss arising from the
experience of emptiness"
is how it's described in traditional Tibetan texts, which sounds
somewhat remote from personal experience. However, all these
words are saying the same thing: we practice and we live in order
to be able to relax and lighten up and not make such a big deal
about everything that happens-the successes and the failures, the
rewards and the punishments.
Allspirit Inspiration ~ Gill Eardley
Allspirit Website: http://www.allspirit.co.uk
The full-face masks worn by skilled actors in Japanese Noh drama can induce a variety of perceived expressions with changes in head orientation. Rotation of the head out of the visual plane changes the two dimensional image characteristics of the mask which viewers may misinterpret as non-rigid changes due facial muscle action. The figure shown at the link below shows the same Edo-period Noh mask, Magojiro, at three inclinations.
www.kasrl.org/noh-mask-effect.gif
"Every Time…"
From: "Kindness: Making a Difference in People's
Lives: Formulas, stories, and insights"
By Zelig Pliskin, Shaar Press
Every time you act kindly, the world has more kindness.
Every time you are compassionate, the world has more compassion.
Every time you smile to someone, the world is a more cheerful
place.
Every time you help transform someone’s worry into serenity,
the world is a more serene place.
Every time you calm someone who is angry, the world is a more
pleasant place.
Every time you give money to charity, the world is a more
charitable place.
Every time you encourage someone to do something for others, you
are creating a partner to make a better world.
Some people spend way too much time complaining about the awful state the world is in. There is too much aggression and violence. There is too little kindness and compassion. There is too much anger and depression and too little serenity and joy.
If someone complains and complains, the world is still full of whatever it is the person is complaining about and now more complaining has been added. Conversely, if someone spreads compassion and kindness, the world improves. The ripple effect can spread these positive qualities. A little positive action is more beneficial than a mountain full of complaints.
Every time you visit someone who is ill, you are making the
world a kinder place to live in.
Every time you comfort a mourner, you are making the world a
kinder place to live in.
Every time you judge someone favorably, you are making the world
a kinder place to live in.
Every time you lend one of your possessions to someone, you are
making the world a kinder place to live in.
Every time you help a stranger find his way, you are making the
world a kinder place to live in.
What comes out from all of this is that there is no such thing as an insignificant kind act. Because every time you do an act of kindness you are elevating the world we live in.
