http://www.pbase.com/1heart/image/73855598
http://www.pbase.com/1heart/image/73868639
by Mazie Lane and Bob O'Hearn
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#3021 - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
"Wu wu hu zhi zhi"
[How would I know that?]
~ Zhuangzi
This phrase appears a number of times in chapter
two of the Zhuang Zi [Chuang Tzu]. It expresses
the thought that nothing can be known for sure,
and therefore there is no reason to speculate
what the fundamental nature (or ultimate truth)
of any phenomenon is. A mind free of speculation
is free to fully participate in the immediate
moment of world. A mind free of speculative a
priori assumptions is better able to accurately
and objectively perceive and evaluate events
which are occurring and therefore respond more
effectively.
~ ray sigrist
http://www.apophaticmysticism.com/
Heron stands in the blue estuary,
Solitary, white, unmoving for hours.
A fish! Quick avian darting;
The prey is captured.
People always ask how to follow Tao. It is as
easy and natural as the heron standing in the
water. The bird moves when it must; it does
not move when stillness is appropriate.
The secret of its serenity is a type of vigilance,
a contemplative state. The heron is not in mere
dumbness or sleep. It knows a lucid stillness.
It stands unmoving in the flow of the water.
It gazes unperturbed and is aware. When Tao
brings it something that it needs, it seizes the
opportunity without hesitation or deliberation.
Then it goes back to its quiescence without
disturbing itself or its surroundings. Unless it
found the right position in the water's flow and
remained patient, it would not have succeeded.
Actions in life can be reduced to two factors:
positioning and timing.
If we are not in the right place at the right time,
we cannot possibly take advantage of what life
has to offer us. Almost anything is appropriate
if an action is in accord with the time and the place.
But we must be vigilant and prepared. Even if the
time and the place are right, we can still miss our
chance if we do not notice the moment, if we act
inadequately, or if we hamper ourselves with
doubts and second thoughts. When life presents
an opportunity, we must be ready to seize it without
hesitation or inhibition. Position is useless without
awareness. If we have both, we make no mistakes.
http://www.duckdaotsu.org/1/positioning.html
contributed by -ts-
Alan Larus Photos
http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/Tanum_4.htm
"The way of
daily life is the way of working with our viewpoints. We do
that just as we work with our thoughts in meditation practice. We
just
recognize, 'this is just a viewpoint, it's not me. This
viewpoint has
arisen in this circumstance. It is there. I do have a feeling
about
it, but it's not the absolute truth. It's just a viewpoint.'
When we understand that this is a viewpoint that comes from
conditions
and train ourselves the same as we train ourselves in meditation,
when
we train ourselves minutely in our daily lives to understand our
viewpoints are just viewpoints, this makes a tremendous
difference in
how we live. When we don't try to protect or justify our
viewpoints,
suddenly there's freedom, a spaciousness and happiness in our
lives."
-Zoketsu Norman Fischer
From the journal, "Karuna," edited by Kristin Penn,
published by the
Karuna Meditation Society.
posted to Daily Dharma
"We now come to what is
perhaps the trickiest trap set in the
path of the spiritual pilgrim - his blithe assumption that he
can use conditioned thinking to find truth and reality.
Impossible!
The everyday mind, although conditioned, is strictly limited in
its
activities, like a collie dog tied to a post.
The ordinary mind consists of stored up memories of facts. It
knows only the old, habitual ways. Now, this is good and neces-
sary whenever we want to conduct our business or cook a dinner
for we call upon our memory of facts.
But any attempt to use the mechanical mind to penetrate the
spiritual world will always fail, even if it appears to itself
to succeed. Genuine spirituality means to break into the unknown,
the unconditioned. And this is why so many seekers fail. They
inwardly or fearfully resist the unknown mysteries of reality or
they prefer the falsely assumed security of familiar words and
exterior authorities."
- Vernon Howard
http://www.pbase.com/1heart/image/73855598
http://www.pbase.com/1heart/image/73868639
by Mazie Lane and Bob O'Hearn
Rumi poetry read by Coleman Barks, with time lapse photography