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Nondual Highlights #2196 - Friday, July 8, 2005 -
Editor: Gloria Lee
“All that is left
to us by tradition
is mere words.
It is up to us
to find out what they mean.”
ibn al-`Arabi, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam,
translated by Reynold A Nicholson
posted to AlphaWorld
To be aware is to be awake. Unaware means
asleep. You are aware anyhow, you need not
try to be. What you need is to be aware of
being aware. Be aware deliberately and
consciously, broaden and deepen the field
of awareness. You are always conscious of
the mind, but you are not aware of yourself
as being conscious.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
posted to Along the Way
“Most of us can learn to live in perfect comfort on higher
levels of power. Everyone knows that on any given day there are
energies slumbering in him which the incitements of that day do
not call forth. Compared with what we ought to be, we are only
half awake. It is evident that our organism has stored-up
reserves of energy that are ordinarily not called upon - deeper
and deeper strata of explosible material, ready for use by anyone
who probes so deep. The human individual usually lives far within
his limits.”
William James
posted to AlphaWorld
"{There are two paths leading to oneness with the Tao.} The first is the path of acceptance. Affirm everyone and everything. Freely extend you goodwill and virtue in every direction, regardless of circumstances. Embrace all things as part of the Harmonious Oneness, and then you will begin to perceive it. The second path is that of denial. Recognize that everything you see and think is a falsehood, an illusion, a veil over the truth. Peel all the veils away, and you will arrive at the Oneness. Though these paths are entirely different, they will deliver you to the same place: spontaneous awareness of the Great Oneness."
~ Lao Tzu (c.604-531 B.C.)
While the first path is that of Bhakti (Surrender/Love), the second is of Jnan (Knowledge of Self). Even Ramana Maharshi always said these are the only two main paths and every path we know of is actually one of these.
Tat tvam asi (You are that)
posted by Sachin Chavan on MillionPaths
A mother, even at the risk of her own life, protects her
child, her only child. In the same way should you cultivate love
without measure toward all beings. You should cultivate toward
the whole world--above, below, around--a heart of love unstinted,
unmixed with any sense of differing or opposing interests. You
should maintain this mindfulness all the time you are awake. Such
a state of heart is the best in the world.
-Majjhima Nikaya
From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000
Scene: 1999, Mick Brown is interviewing H. H. the
Dalai Lama for the book he was writing about the
Tibetan political intrigues concerning the naming of
the 17th Karmapa. The interview had gone long past its
schedule stopping time, and the secretary to His
Holiness was impatient for His Holiness to leave.
Mick Brown continues..
"Before leaving for India, I had been asked by a
Western nun to bring a photograph of her dying mother,
to give to the Dalai Lama for his blessing. I gave the
envelope to His Holiness, expecting him to pass it to
his secretary to deal with. Time was pressing.
Instead he opened it. Carefully, he read my friend's
letter. His secretary hovered, almost willing the
Dalai Lama, it seemed, to finally bring the meeting to
an end. But now he turned his attention to the
photograph. He held it cupped in his hand for what
seemed like an eternity, regarding the picture of the
woman with an expression of utmost compassion on his
face, as if there was nothing more important in the
world that he could be doing at that moment. At
length, he put the letter and the picture back in the
envelope, and tucked it inside his robes, beside his
heart.
Throughout our conversation, I had been aware of a
nagging doubt growing in my mind; the talk of
politics, of disputations, had made me somehow forget
the essence of Buddhist practice. It dented my faith.
In this one small gesture, the Dalai Lama had restored
it.
A few days later I received an e-mail from my nun
friend. The day after my meeting with the Dalai Lama
she had received an e-mail from his private secretary.
His Holiness wished her to know, it said, that I had
given him the letter, and that she and her mother were
in his thoughts."
~Mick Brown
From the book, "The Dance of 17 Lives,"
published by Bloomsbury.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1582345988/angelinc
posted by Amrita Nadi to Daily Dharma
In January this year I spent a very special evening in
the company of
an Apache Indian, J., a guest from the US visiting the
area;
At a certain moment he asked the people gathered there: what is
water? what is fire? what is earth? what is air? and if there was
anybody who wanted to bring an answer. And yes, there were people
who
stood up willing to come with answers. And there was so
interesting,
and funny, and people came with lots of answers, plenty of
answers; a
woman that I was told later she was an actress acted the 'Earth'
so
well that we all hardly could stop laughing long after her show
was
over. There were answers, plenty of them, all kinds of answers:
scientific, mystical, romantic, mysterious, allegorical. And lots
of
good laughs.
When all this came to an end, J. mentioned there was still
another
answer: "I don't know."
That brought to my attention the fact that no one came with this
answer, "I don't know". And the fact that JK
mentioned in his talks
so often the humble mind, the sensitive, open mind, the mind who
knows to say "I don't know." And I knew I was
spending the evening
in the company of a great one.
posted by Viorica Weissman to MillionPaths