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Nondual Highlights
Issue #2201 Wednesday, July 13,
2005
Karma
is not fatalistic or predetermined. Karma means our ability to
create and to change. It is creative because we can determine how
and why we act. We can change. The future is in our hands, and in
the hands of our heart.
Buddha said:
'Karma creates all, like an artist, Karma composes, like a
dancer.'
- Sogyal Rinpoche, posted to DailyDharma
Do you think I know what I'm doing?
That for one breath or half-breath
I belong to myself?
As much as a pen knows what it's writing
or the ball can guess where it's going next.
- Rumi, from The Essential Rumi,
version by Coleman Barks, posted to AlongTheWay
Waves appear to be born, and to die.
But if we look more deeply, we see that the waves,
Although coming and going, are also water,
Which is always there.
Notions like high and low, birth and death,
Can be applied to waves,
But water is free of such distinctions.
Enlightenment for the wave
Is the moment the wave realizes that it is water.
- Thich Nhat Hahn, posted to JustThis
When men dream, each has his own world.
When they are awake, they have a common world.
- Heraclitus, posted to The_Now2
I Have Come to Shine
I have come
to pull you by your ear,
and bring you to myself.
I will make you selfless,
I will make you fearless,
then I will place you in the
heart and the soul of the king of Souls.
I have come like a breeze of Spring
to you, oh, field of flowers,
so I can keep you by my side,
and hold you tight.
I have come to shine on you,
as you walk this path.
Like the prayer of lovers,
I will help you reach the
roof of the heavens.
I have come to take back that kiss
that you stole from me.
You are my catch, my game,
my prey, my hunt.
You have escaped my trap so far,
but run toward that trap once again.
Run, run, or I will chase you there.
Remember what the lion said to the deer.
"You are so beautiful,
you are so lovely
run in front of me,
so I can catch you
and tear you to pieces."
Be like the deer, accept the wounds
like a shield of a warrior.
Don't listen to anything
but the whooshing of the arrows heading
toward you.
From the dust of the Earth to a human being
there are a thousand steps
I have been with you through these steps,
I have held your hand and walked by your side.
You may think that I have left you
on the side of the road.
Don't complain,
don't become mad,
and don't open the lid of the pot.
Boil happily and be patient.
Remember what you are being prepared for.
You are a lion's cub,
hidden inside a deer's body,
with one strike I will wipe that illusion
and rid you of it.
You are my ball, and you roll because
of the strike of my polo mallet.
Just remember,
it is me who is chasing you
even though it is me who is helping you run.
- Rumi, from Hush - Don't Say Anything to God
- Passionate Poems of Rumi by Shahram Shiva,
posted to AlphaWorld
WHAT A BLESSING
Don't hide - the sight of your face is a blessing.
Wherever you place your foot,
there rests a blessing.
Even your shadow,
passing over me like a swift bird,
is a blessing.
The great Spring has come.
Your sweet air,
blowing through the city, the country,
the gardens, and the desert
is a blessing.
He has come with love to our door;
His knock is a blessing.
We go from house to house, asking of him.
Any answer is a blessing.
Caught in this body,
we look for a sight of the soul.
Remember what the Prophet said:
"One sight is a blessing."
The leaf of every tree brings a message
from the Unseen world.
Look! Every falling leaf is a blessing.
All of Nature swings in unison -
singing without tongues,
listening without ears.
What a blessing!
O soul, the four elements are your face -
Water, wind, fire, and earth -
Each one is a blessing.
Once the seed of faith takes root
it cannot be blown away,
even by the strongest wind -
Now that's a blessing!
I bow to you,
for the dust of your feet
is the crown on my head.
As I walk toward you,
every step I take is a blessing.
His form appeared before me, just now,
as I was singing this poem. I swear.
What a blessing!
What a blessing!
Every vision born of earth is fleeting;
Every vision born of heaven is a blessing.
For people, the sight of Spring warms their hearts;
For fish, the rhythm of the ocean
is a blessing.
The brilliant Sun
that shines in every heart -
for the heavens, earth, and all creatures -
What a blessing!
The heart can't wait to speak of this ecstasy.
The soul is kissing the earth saying,
O God, what a blessing!
Fill me with the wine of your silence.
Let it soak my every pore
For the inner splendor it reveals
is a blessing,
is a blessing.
- Rumi, Ghazal 451, version by Jonathan Star, from A
Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi,
Bantam Books, 1992, posted to Sunlight