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#2415 -
Thursday, March 9, 2006 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Mind is poised in the state of bare awareness, there is no directing the mind. One is not looking within for anything; one is not looking without for anything. One is simply letting the mind rest in its own natural state. The empty, clear and unimpeded nature of mind can be experienced if we can rest in an uncontrived state of bare awareness without distraction and without the spark of awareness being lost. The pure nature of mind calls to mind an image such as the sun or the moon, a luminous body.
Kalu Rinpoche on Mahamudra
posted by Jax to Way-of-Light
photos by Alan Larus http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/ulsteinvik.htm
There's a story of three people who are watching a monk standing on top of a hill. After they watch him for a while, one of the three says, "He must be a shepherd looking for a sheep he's lost." The second person says, "No, he's not looking around. I think he must be waiting for a friend." And the third person says, "He's probably a monk. I'll bet he's meditating." They begin arguing over what this monk is doing, and eventually, to settle the squabble, they climb up the hill and approach him. "Are you looking for a sheep?" "No, I don't have any sheep to look for." "Oh, then you must be waiting for a friend." "No, I'm not waiting for anyone." "Well, then you must be meditating." "Well, no. I'm just standing here. I'm not doing anything at all." ...Seeing Buddha-nature requires that we... completely be each moment, so that whatever activity we are engaged in--whether we're looking for a lost sheep, or waiting for a friend, or meditating--we are standing right here, right now, doing nothing at all. --Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen\
"(Bohm) suggests that what the cosmos is doing as we dialogue is to change its ideas of itself. Our doubts and our questions, our small truths and large ones are all forms of its drive toward clarity and truth. Through us, the universe questions itself and tries out various answers on itself in an effort parallel to our own - to decipher its own being. This as I reflect on it, is awesome. It assigns a role to man that was once reserved for the gods."
Renee Weber, Dialogue with Scientists and Sages: The Search for Unity, 1986.
photo by Alan Larus http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/Observing.htm
Look at the birds. Even flying
is born
out of
nothing. The first sky
is inside you, Friend, open
at either
end of day.
The work of wings
was always
freedom, fastening
one heart to every falling thing.
-- Li-Young Lee
LOST
STAND STILL.
The trees ahead and the bushes beside you are not lost
Wherever you are is called here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger.
You must ask permission to know it and be known.
Listen, the forest breathes, it whispers
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again saying HERE.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a branch does is lost on you,
Then you are truly lost.
STAND STILL. The forest knows where you are.
You must let it find you.
-- David Wagner, Who Shall Be the Sun
On the road
My friend, the traveler
Remember
We are here,
Hidden under various disguises,
Posted
As guards, guides and companions
Along your life's journey,
Waiting
To give you assistance
To extend a helping hand
To provide succor.
We are
But a reflection of your virtues
Manifesting in time
Of necessity.
Savings
Placed by your forgotten
Selfless deeds
In the inexhaustible
Divine
Treasure-house.
Yours for the taking
When the need arises.
We are
The friend
Of friends
Whose face is always hidden
Yet ever revealed
In the silent smile
Of your heart,
In the caress of the wind,
In the soothing coolness of spring water.
And the secret is
That
Forgetting yourself
You too
Are one
Of
Us.
in love
yosy posted to Allspirit
The Zenlike Stammering of St. John of the Cross
Nine verses made upon an ecstasy of high contemplation
by St John of the Cross 1542-1591
I entered into unknowing,
and there I remained unknowing
transcending all knowledge. I entered into unknowing,
yet when I saw myself there,
without knowing where I was,
I understood great things;
I will not say what I felt
for I remained in unknowing
transcending all knowledge. That perfect knowledge
was of peace and holiness
held at no remove
in profound solitude;
it was something so secret
that I was left stammering,
transcending all knowledge. I was so 'whelmed,
so absorbed and withdrawn,
that my senses were left
deprived of all their sensing,
and my spirit was given
an understanding while not understanding,
transcending all knowledge. He who truly arrives there
cuts free from himself;
all that he knew before
now seems worthless,
and his knowledge so soars
that he is left in unknowing
transcending all knowledge. The higher he ascends
the less he understands,
because the cloud is dark
which lit up the night;
whoever knows this
remains always in unknowing
transcending all knowledge. This knowledge in unknowing
is so overwhelming
that wise men disputing
can never overthrow it,
for their knowledge does not reach
to the understanding of not understanding,
transcending all knowledge. And this supreme knowledge
is so exalted
that no power of man or learning
can grasp it;
he who masters himself
will, with knowledge in unknowing, always be
transcending. And if you should want to hear:
this highest knowledge lies
in the loftiest sense
of the essence of God;
this is a work of his mercy,
to leave one without understanding,
transcending all knowledge.
translation: anonymous, Teresian Carmel
posted by Ben Hassine to Awakened Awareness