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#2706- Sunday, January 21, 2007 - Editor: Gloria Lee  

Nondual Highlights      

"In the presence of Sangha, in the light of Dharma,
in oneness with Buddha - may my path
to complete enlightenment benefit everyone!"  

In this passing moment karma ripens
and all things come to be. 
I vow to choose what is:
If there is cost, I choose to pay.
If there is need, I choose to give.
If there is pain, I choose to feel.
If there is sorrow, I choose to grieve.
When burning - I choose heat.
When calm - I choose peace.
When starving - I choose hunger.
When happy - I choose joy.
Whom I encounter,  I choose to meet.
What I shoulder,  I choose to bear.
When it is my death,  I choose to die.
Where this takes me,  I choose to go.
Being with what is - I respond to what is.  

This life is as real as a dream;
the one who knows it can not be found;
and, truth is not a thing - Therefore I vow
to choose THIS dharma entrance gate!
May all Buddhas and Wise Ones
help me live this vow.  

--Shodo Harada, Roshi  

From the Great Vow Monastery Chant Book posted to Daily Dharma  

  Interview with Bernadette Roberts
Author of —The Experience of No-Self  

In this exclusive interview with Stephan Bodian, (published in the
Nov/Dec 1986 issue of YOGA JOURNAL), author Bernadette Roberts
describes the path of the Christian contemplative after the experience
of oneness with God.  

.... excerpt:  

Stephan: You mention in 'The Path to No-Self' that the unitive state is
the "true state in which God intended every person to live his mature
years". Yet so few of us ever achieve this unitive state. What is it
about the way we live right now that prevents us from doing so? Do you
think it is our preoccupation with material success, technology, and
personal accomplishment?  

Bernadette: First of all, I think there are more people in the state of
oneness than we realize. For everyone we hear about there are
thousands we will never hear about. Believing this state to be a rare
achievement can be an impediment in itself. Unfortunately, those who
write about it have a way of making it sound more extraordinary and
blissful that it commonly is, and so false expectations are another
impediment - we keep waiting and looking for an experience or state
that never comes.  

But if I had to put my finger on the primary obstacle, I would say it is
having wrong views of the journey. Paradoxical though it may seem, the
passage through consciousness or self moves contrary to self, rubs it
the wrong way - and in the end, will even rub it out. Because this
passage goes against the grain of self, it is, therefore, a path of
suffering. Both Christ and Buddha saw the passage as one of suffering,
and basically found identical ways out. What they discovered and
revealed to us was that each of us has within himself or herself a
"stillpoint" - comparable, perhaps to the eye of a cyclone, a spot or
center of calm, imperturbability, and non-movement. Buddha
articulated this central eye in negative terms as "emptiness" or "void",
a refuge from the swirling cyclone of endless suffering. Christ
articulated the eye in more positive terms as the "Kingdom of God" or
the "Spirit within", a place of refuge and salvation from a suffering
self. For both of them, the easy out was first to find that stillpoint and
then, by attaching ourselves to it, by becoming one with it, to find a
stabilizing, balanced anchor in our lives. After that, the cyclone is
gradually drawn into the eye, and the suffering self comes to an end.
And when there is no longer a cyclone, there is also no longer an eye.
 

  A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly,
once your mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world
active, so does self-awareness affect changes in the mind.
In the light of calm and steady self-awareness, inner
energies wake up and work miracles without any effort on
your part.   --Nisargadatta  

  "Generally speaking, on this path it is important to work on real
truth. When real truth stamps the mind, the path becomes self-
evident. If the mind is not true, then even if you attend lectures
everyday and discuss the path constantly, this just provides topics
of conversation and is ultimately of no benefit on the path.

So what is the real truth? It is just a matter of looking back into
the purity of your own mind in the course of daily activities, not
being led astray by anything. That is because the mind is like a
monkey, consciousness like a horse: without the tool of great
awareness watching them, it will be truly hard to control them no
matter how clever your devices.

But when the mind has been settled, so that it merges back into
oneness, and all traces of birth and extinction disappear, then you
naturally realize basic subtle illumination, thoroughly empty, yet
uncannily penetrating and effective."
--Hui-ching (1528-1598)

From the Daily Zen website, published at:
http://dailyzen.com/zen/zen_reading0701.asp

posted to Daily Dharma  

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