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#2258 - Monday, September 12, 2005 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Shoulders
A man crosses the street in rain,
stepping gently, looking two times north and south,
because his son is asleep on his shoulder.
No car must splash him.
No car drive too near to his shadow.
This man carries the world’s most sensitive cargo
but he’s not marked.
Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE,
HANDLE WITH CARE.
His ear fills up with breathing.
He hears the hum of a boy’s dream
deep inside him.
We’re not going to be able
to live in this world
if we’re not willing to do what he’s doing
with one another.
The road will only be wide.
The rain will never stop falling.
~ Naomi Shihab Nye ~
(Red Suitcase)
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“A spiritually advanced person is efficient and reliable,” explains Ari.
“If one individual is awakened, then the family, the village, district, nation,
the whole world, can awaken."
- Dr
Ariyaratne
Winner of the Gandhi Peace Prize and Ramon Magsaysay Award
Don't strain. Don't force anything or make grand, exaggerated
efforts. Meditation is not aggressive. There is no place or need
for violent striving. Just let your effort be relaxed and steady.
-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Mindfulness in Plain
English"
"Why is the sea king of a hundred
streams?
Because it lies below them.
Therefore it is the king of a hundred streams.
If the sage would guide the people, he must serve with humility.
If he would lead them, he must follow behind.
In this way when the sage rules, the people will not feel
oppressed;
When he stands before them, they will not be harmed.
The whole world will support him and will not tire of him.
Because he does not compete,
He does not meet competition."
~ Lao Tsu
posted to Daily Dharma
Practice Love, Give Joy and Protection
Arouse
your will, supreme and great,
Practice love, give joy and protection;
Let your giving be like space,
Without discrimination or limitation.
Do good things, not for your own sake
But for all the beings in the universe;
Save and make free everyone you encounter,
Help them attain the wisdom of the way.
-Prajnaparamita
From "The Pocket Buddha Reader," edited by Anne
Bancroft, 2001
From Talks with Ramana Maharshi
33
A visitor: "The Supreme Spirit is Real. The world is
illusion," is
the stock phrase of Sri Sankaracharya. Yet others say, "The
world is
reality." Which is true?
M.: Both statements are true. They refer to different stages of
development and are spoken from different points of view. The
aspirant starts with the definition, that which is real exists
always; then he eliminates the world as unreal because it is
changing. It cannot be real; "not this, not this!" The
seekers
ultimately reaches the Self and there finds unity as the
prevailing
note. Then, that which was originally rejected as being unreal is
found to be part of the unity. Being absorbed in the Reality, the
world also is Real. There is only being in Self-Realization, and
nothing but being.
posted to Practice of Self Inquiry by Richard Clarke
"When all the
false self-identifications are thrown away, what remains
is all-embracing love."
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
A dragon was pulling a bear
into its horrible mouth
A courageous man went and rescued the bear.
There are such helpers in the world, who rush to save
anyone who cries out. Like Mercy itself,
they run toward the screaming.
And they can't be bought off.
If you were to ask one of those, "Why did you come
so quickly?" he or she would say, "Because I heard
your helplessness."
Where lowland is,
that's where water goes. All medicine wants
is pain to cure.
And don't just ask for one mercy.
Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet.
Take the cotton out of your ears, the cotton
of consolations, so you can hear the sphere-music.
excerpt from -- Mathnawi II: 1932-60
Version by Coleman Barks
"The Essential Rumi"
posted to Sunlight