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#2813 - Monday, May 14, 2007 - Editor: Gloria Lee
The Nondual Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
One: Essential Writings on Nonduality: http://nonduality.com/one.htm
On the tip of my tongue
( This praise turning ripe,
bursting in spring )
is silence alone.
--Alan Larus photos: http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/shores/May15.htm
"A lamp dispels the darkness
accumulated over a thousand ages.
In the same way,
the one clear light of one's consciousness
dispels the darkness and obstacles
of ignorance accumulated over the ages."
-- Tilopa
From the book "Mahamudra and Atiyoga"
by Giuseppe Baroetto
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/8124603227/angelinc
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DailyDharma/
To find a Buddha, you have to see your nature. Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha. If you don't see your nature, invoking Buddhas, reciting sutras, making offerings, and keeping precepts are all useless. Invoking Buddhas results in good karma, reciting sutras results in a good memory; keeping precepts results in a good rebirth, and making offerings results in future blessings, but no Buddha.... To find a Buddha all you have to do is see your nature. Your nature is the Buddha. And the Buddha is the person who's free: free of plans, free of cares. If you don't see your nature and run around all day looking somewhere else, you'll never find a Buddha.
--The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma From Everyday Mind
Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many
gods as you please, observe ceremonies and sing devotional hymns,
but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons,
without realizing the Oneness.
-Sankara from "The Wisdom of the Hindu
Gurus," edited by Timothy Freke
If you consider all the people you know who seem truly happy,
there is likely to be one trait - one essential perspective on
life - that each of these happy people share... It is the word
now. It is the understanding that happiness exists at just one
time. And that time is now.
-- Willie Nelson
From The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart
wisdom-l@yahoogroups.com
Mark Scorelle
Touching One Life at a Time
We have recently enjoyed receiving letters from Fred in Florida,
so we
asked him if we could share some excerpts with you.. .
January 5, 2004: Dear Open Gate Sangha, A couple of weeks ago I
came
across a guy in here who had a copy of the teachings of
Adyashanti and
I was able to read a few pages of it. The teachings struck a deep
resounding chord within me...
January 30: I've been a seeker for almost 19 of the 22 years that
I've
been incarcerated and I have never come across a teacher who
speaks
directly to such a deep part of my being. The words of
Adyashanti are
most certainly alive with Truth which immediately resounds within
the
inner-most part of one's being. To say that I'm moved deeply by
them
would be a gross understatement. My heart tells me that I've
finally,
blessedly, found my way home.. .
March 5: I've been doing some heavy inquiry into the Truth of
that
which we are. There is, of course, the contradictory sense that
there
is this "me" which feels itself to be separate. My
question is, how
does one break the habit of operating from this "me"
and allow the
Truth to "take over; so to speak? I see the illusion that
the entire
world is caught up in. I've had a taste and have fallen in love
with
my Self. Where do I go from here? .. .
June 30: The last letter was written when I was about two weeks
into
doing 90 days in what is commonly called "the hole"
(also known as
solitary confinement). And although it was supposed to be a
punishment (e.g., they take all of your possessions; sleeping on
a
steel bed; and being locked in 24 hours a day) it turned out to
be
quite a blessing for me. For the most part I was on retreat
simply
Be-ing. A calm, gentle spaciousness came which I would sit with
for
hours on end. And the longer I sat in this wonderful Truth of who
I am
the deeper I seemed to go. I was really astonished at the nature
I
found within the Self. It wasn't something to attain and then
hold on
to, but something that is already there. One simply rests in
That,
letting everything go... We have a small sangha here (we average
about
six guys) and share our books among ourselves. Adya's teachings
have
played a central role.
July 18: I was rather pleasantly surprised when I heard that my
June
30th letter was found to be inspiring. I'd never considered that
any
part of my life situation could be an inspiration. To me it
simply is
what it is with the important part being the attitude and
awareness
with which I choose to experience it all. This is especially true
since I've become acquainted with the teachings of Adyashanti. I
truly
believe that I was ripe for Adya's teachings when they came my
way.
They speak to me like a voice from my own inner Self. The deeper
I go
into them the more it's as if I've always known these things.. .
I've got 108 years and at present my parole date is set at 2032.
So
I'll probably be hanging out around here for a little longer.
Occasionally it pains me deeply that I seem to have screwed my
life up
so badly, and did it at such a young age (18) but that's really
all
just "the story." My life hasn't stopped. I didn't stop
growing,. and
learning. My life is simply different from most folks, and my
being
busted not only (in all probability) saved me from destroying
myself
but it took away all of the distractions and set me firmly on the
spiritual path. Because of that, and the fact that I've found
answers
in Adya's teachings I cannot count my life as a waste, even if I
have
to spend the rest of it in here. And if I can assist another in
finding their own way to truth? That would be the ultimate
satisfaction.
May you all continue to experience the freedom, peace and love
that
you already are.
Namaste, Fred
wisdom-l@yahoogroups.com
Mark Scorelle
--- In allspirit@yahoogroups.com,
Terry Murphy wrote:
from "The Way of Chuang Tzu" trans Merton... I have
posted this piece
more than any other single "teaching"... more than the
hsinhsinming,
more than dogen's genjokoan (The Manifestation of Truth)...
it's
probably in the archives...
*The Pivot*
Tao is obscured when men understand only one of a pair of
opposites,
or concentrate only on a partial aspect of being. Then
clear
expression also becomes muddled by mere wordplay, affirming this
one
aspect and destroying all the rest.
Hence the wrangling of the
Confucians and Mohists; each denies
what the other affirms, and affirms what the other denies.
What use
is this struggle to set up "No" against
"Yes," and "Yes" against
"No." Better to abandon this hopeless effort and
seek the true light!
There is nothing that cannot be
seen from the standpoint of the
"Not-I." And there is nothing which cannot be
seen from the
standpoint of the "I." If I begin by looking at
anything from the
viewpoint of the "Not-I," then I do not really *see*
it, since it is
"not-I" that sees it. If I begin from where I am
and see it as I see
it, then it may also become possible for me to see it as another
sees
it. Hence the theory of reversal that opposites produce
each other,
depend on each other, and complement each other.
However this may be, life is
followed by death; death is
followed by life. The possible becomes impossible; the
impossible
becomes possible. Right turns into wrong and wrong into
right - the
flow of life alters circumstances and thus things themselves are
altered in their turn But disputants continue to affirm and
deny the
same things they've always affirmed and denied, ignoring the new
aspects of reality presented by the change in conditions.
The wise man therefore, instead of
trying to prove this or that
point by logical disputation, sees all things in the light of
direct
intuition. He is not imprisoned by the limitations of the
"I," for
the viewpoint of direct intuition is that of both "I"
and "Not-I."
Hence he sees that on both sides of every argument there is
both right and wrong. He also sees that in the end they are
reducible to the same thing, once they are related to the pivot
of
the Tao.
When the wise man grasps this
pivot, he is in the center of the
circle, and there he stands while "Yes" and
"No" pursue themselves
around the circumference.
The pivot of the Tao passes
through the center where all
affirmations and denials converge. He who grasps the pivot
is at the
still-point from which all movements and oppositions can be seen
in
their rightful relationship. Hence he sees the limitless
possibilities of both "Yes" and "No."
Abandoning all thought of
imposing a limit or taking sides, he rests in direct
intuition. Therefore I said, "Better to abandon
disputation and seek
the true light!"