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#3240 -
Monday, July 28, 2008 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Nonduality Highlights -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
Some interesting podcasts of Stephen Wingate, Sailor Bob Adamson,
Gilbert Schultz, etc
http://urbangurucafe.com/wordpress/index.php
posted to Wisdom-l
"The mind, the Buddha, living creatures - these are not
three different things."
~Avatamasaka Sutra
posted to Daily Dharma
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Immutable
Recognizing the power of our minds means that even as unfortunate
or terrible things happen to us, we can receive them in a more
spacious and ultimately more enlightened way. The Buddha taught
his students to develop a power of love so strong that the mind
becomes like space that cannot be tainted. If someone throws
paint, it is not the air that will change color. Space will not
hold the paint; it will not grasp it in any way. Only the walls,
the barriers to space, can be affected by the paint. The Buddha
taught his students to develop a power of love so strong that
their minds become like a pure, flowing river that cannot be
burned. No matter what kind of material is thrown into it, it
will not burn. Many experiences--good, bad, and indifferent--are
thrown into the flowing river of our lives, but we are not
burned, owing to the power of the love in our hearts.
-- Sharon Salzberg, in Lovingkindness
Not Going Elsewhere in this Mind
by Toni Packer
From http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2003/summer/packer.html
This moment of being here, what does it mean? It means not
resisting whatever is here: anxiety, discomfort, pain or
disturbance. That's much easier said than done. By not resisting
I mean resistance melting away in the awareness of being here-not
giving way to fantasy, rather seeing fantasy as fantasy, as a
veil hiding what is here in utter simplicity. To see that! That's
not just saying, "Okay, all of this is just thoughts and
fantasy." This is more thinking and it doesn't help, as we
all have found out. It may even arouse anger because things have
not changed in spite of all this work of being with them.
Have you ever experienced the difference between saying,
"This is all thought," and directly seeing the
appearance of thoughts and their effects on the body? Please hold
it for a moment; don't just say "yes" or "no"
and go on reading without stopping for a moment and wondering.
Sitting quietly with energy gathering can be of immense help in
detecting what is thought and what isn't. It allows one to
experience directly how a thought generates emotion-pleasure or
pain, sorrow or fear, and the credence given to it all-without
acting on it. We assume that thinking tells us the truth about
ourselves and the world. In thinking without seeing, everything
seems so real, so true; there's no space here for questioning.
Can there be seeing without thinking?
Wondering comes out of a moment of not going anywhere in thought,
a moment of stopping- taking a deep breath and exhaling. It is a
moment of not knowing where to go, because there is no place to
go. It's realizing that all of the places thought can go to are
fantasy. In our daily predicament of pain, of work fatigue or
boredom, there seems to be incessant thought activity, with its
restlessness, dissatisfaction, lack of fulfillment and searching
for something different. There is the strong desire to alleviate
what we don't like, to get rid of it. Can there be momentary
freedom from our consuming restlessness? From thinking,
"Where could I go next to be free?"
People frequently ask me, "Why is my mind and life so
terribly restless?" I can't answer this for you. Of course I
can give answers, but we need to realize for ourselves that the
nervous impulse to search for explanations and relief, and the
impatient thrashing about to be free, is just more brain
activity. Can there be a humble moment of being here without
knowing? Can we let pain, discomfort and uncertainty be here
without knowing?
When people come to Springwater they say, "Here it's
relatively easy to be with problems. But it isn't easy at home,
in the office, with the family or in a relationship."
Actually it isn't difficult anywhere when it dawns what it truly
means to be in this moment. It may be a moment of quietly
listening to a spouse, to a partner or a boss, or carefully
holding the steering wheel and letting the landscape go by,
feeling the foot on the pedal, the touch of the upholstery and
the different sounds of the motor. Or sitting at the desk,
suddenly attending to the feel of the pen in the hand that is
holding it, writing a check, experiencing the touch of the paper,
the sound of the moving pen, the amazing appearance of ink
patterns on the check, then tearing it off, the perforations
giving way to the pull, one by one. Writing the check with loving
attention is the only thing happening right now! There's no need
to slur over it, thinking of what else has to be done. There's
just full attention to what is happening right now. When this
takes place it feels like a new discovery. Everything is taking
care of itself. Not dutifully-it's not a duty to work
attentively, but rather turns out to be a delight when it happens
without force. It's freedom from the burden of the future.
Can you catch yourself as you're speeding along? Listen to the
sound of speeding? Constitutionally some of us are speedier than
others. We are different characters and body types. But both
speedy and slow body types are burdened with the thought of all
that has to be done in the future. So as we find ourselves racing
with thoughts and sensations of restlessness, can we become aware
of it as it is happening and wonder whether it has to be that
way?
You don't know the answer, but the question is already a break in
the current. See if it is possible to slow down in thinking,
walking, arranging things, writing, talking to someone. This
means simply watching the speedy body-mind-just watching it!-not
saying, "I mustn't speed, I must slow down, this is no good,
Toni says so." Just watch what you're doing right now; watch
it carefully, attentively, and witness the amazing slowing down
in the simple presence of attention.
When we're here together we affect each other. Somebody walking
or doing things attentively affects us if we really see it. It is
sort of contagious, as is the speeding. This doesn't mean we have
to do things in slow motion. Just see what happens when you
become aware. How is it when there is close attention to the
hands washing a dish under the running water, scratching off the
egg that has caked on, soaking it some more and seeing it
disappear in the dishpan, lifting it out, shaking the drops off
and putting it on the drain rack, with attention? It's wonderful,
and it's amazing to realize how little attention we usually give
because we're driven by thoughts about the past or future. This
is not said blamefully. It's the natural task of the brain to
anticipate the future, to solve problems. The more problems we
have, the busier the brain gets in trying to solve them. But
right now it's just giving attention to this moment of not going
anywhere other than where we are, gently, not prescribing
anything. Attention has everything in it to illuminate everything
that's here, like a moment of clouds parting and the light coming
through-and what a different world it is! Different and yet the
same.
Are we together on this? Are we looking at all this together?
It's easy to just follow words, but to look directly, that's not
so easy. I was reprimanded the other day by someone who said,
"I don't want you to teach me. I've tuned out the last ten
minutes because I don't want to be taught by you." I don't
want to teach you either. I'm looking myself, because all of
these things I have described are things I have observed in
myself. I'm looking and conveying in words what is discovered. If
we all begin to look then we're not teaching each other, we're
exploring together, discovering alone and together the incredible
presence of this moment of not going elsewhere in this mind.
Allspirit Website:
http://www.allspirit.co.uk