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Nondual Highlights Issue #2067 Sunday, February 27, 2005
Editor's note: I often find myself sitting and thinking "I
don't want to hold on anymore", and yet I find some
underlying holding on. What is that? That's my inquiry these
days...
When Bankei held his seclusion-weeks of meditation, pupils from
many parts of Japan came to attend. During one of these
gatherings a pupil was caught stealing. The matter was reported
to Bankei with the request that the culprit he expelled. Bankei
ignored the case.
Later the pupil was caught in a similar act, and again Bankei
disregarded the matter. This angered the other pupils, who drew
up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief, stating that
otherwise they would leave in a body.
When Bankei had read the petition he called everyone before him.
"You are wise brothers, " he told them.
"You know what is right and what is not right. You may go
somewhere else to study if you wish but this poor brother does
not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not? I
am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you
leave."
A torrent of tears cleansed the face of the brother who had
stolen. All desire to steal had vanished."
- Zen story
Oh, it is so easy to condemn someone we know for sure is wrong.
eh? Gathering together for mutual support makes the condemnation
even stronger, and more "right" - see all these people
who agree with me? It feels good to be on the "right"
side. eh? i am away from "pile" (home) for a couple
weeks, and wow! such juicy chances to condemn: what she wears,
what movie is worst, what spouse should know better, what child
is naughty, what president is wrong, what country is evil, what
terrorist should burn in hell... i do not always resist, the
logic sometimes sounds good, and i join in... immediately heart
and mind start shrinkin', gettin' leaner & meaner,
contracting into delusional world while ole "I" is
jumpin' up and down with delight! What would happen if we let
labeling people and stuff "wrong" go? "Any"
condemnation tightens our shackles. And why are we here, but to
be free?
- dharma grandmother on DailyDharma, Zen story from Zen
Flesh, Zen Bones, by Paul Reps, published by
Shambhala.
Weeds are flowers too,
once you get to know them.
- A. A. Milne - Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. posted to The_Now2
Maharaj: All knowledge is like the son of a barren woman.
Presently there are only beingness and functioning. The
individuality and personality are thrown overboard.
There is no personality, so there is no question of birth, life,
or death. What remains is only the consciousness without name or
form. The form needs a name, but when both are not there, then
the consciousness remains only for so long as the body is there,
but without any individuality. The body is of as much use now as
it was prior to birth and after death.
How do you know me? You know me only the acquisition of body
form, name and form. Do you really see me as I am? I doubt it.
Now the conclusion is that the unborn is enjoying the
birth-principle. That principle that is born took so much time to
understand this, and is it is the unborn only which prevails. It
took so much time for the Self to understand the Self. We have
tied around our necks so many concepts; death, this "I
AM",etc.
Similarly, Concepts, of good and evil are unnecessary. We have
developed these concepts and are caught in them. How does one
think about Self-knowledge? Do you abide in the Self or in the
process do you think of something else as the Self? You are
wrapped up and lost in your concepts. For instance, you have a
concept about friendship. How long do you keep your friends? You
keep them so long as they are useful to you. So long as a friend
is of some benefit to you, that’s how long you would like to
keep that friendship.
Now, how can I actually derive benefit out of a friend? I, as an
individual, am not there, so how can there be a question of
benefit? Benefit to whom? How can there be a question of
friendship at all. Anybody, who comes here can sit. I will allow
him to sit for some time, but later on I will say, "You may
leave," Why? Because I have no intention or purpose of
having any friendship with that person. Ordinarily, there is some
purpose for deriving certain benefits out of an association with
another. When you meet someone in friendship, there may be some
intention to serve one another. But I have no friends. Even this
"I Amness" will not remain as my friend.
I am not able to talk any longer - the spirit is willing but the
flesh is weak. Previously I used to welcome people but now I am
not in a position to welcome them. They come, they sit and they
go by themselves. I cannot even extend my hospitality. All my
knowledge has gone into liquidation. I am unconcerned.
- Nisargadatta, from Consciousness and the
Absolute
We will now look at a chief characteristic of spiritual sleep.
When this is under-stood, all the pieces of life fall into place,
revealing the whole picture.
Man has a false idea of who he is. He has an illusory sense of
identity. This false self is manufactured out of self-flattering
imaginations and out of self-pleasing labels. He labels himself
as a successful man, or as an intelligent thinker, or as a human
being with lofty motives. But these are mere ideas he has about
himself and he is not these ideas. We can easily prove this.
Whenever a man feels depressed or irritated, it is simply because
his false identity seems not to be confirmed. Both these
reactions are false, so man is their slave.
Have you ever noticed how nervous people get when their pet ideas
are challenged? Let this be a clue for you. By patient
self-investigation we discover who we are not, and that ends the
anxiety of not knowing who we are.
To summarize this vital point, man wrongly believes that he
possesses a separate self, an individual ego. This false idea
causes fear, loneliness, neurosis. It throws him into conflict
with other people who are also under the illusion of having
separate selves. No man is apart from the whole, from the all.
Man is one with the universe. Human beings are like dozens of
ponds, each reflecting the light from the same moon. This is not
philosophy, this is fact.
- Vernon Howard, from The Esoteric Path to a
New Life, posted to GuruRatings
It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependency on
form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the outer
forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions
that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you
with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to
enjoy and appreciate them - while they last.
All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will
come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss
anymore. Life flows with ease.
- Eckhart Tolle, posted to truevision
Self-enquiry is the direct path to Self-realization or
enlightenment. The only way to make the mind cease its outward
activities is to turn it inward. By steady and continuous
investigation into the nature of the mind, the mind itself gets
transformed into That to which it owes its own existence.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar, from A Net of Jewels,
posted to AlongTheWay