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Nonduality Highlights: Issue #3647, Sunday, September 6, 2009, Editor: Mark
There is no evil like hatred,
And no fortitude like patience.
Thus I should strive in various ways
To meditate on patience.
My mind will not experience peace
If it fosters painful thoughts of hatred.
I shall find no joy or happiness;
Unable to sleep, I shall feel unsettled.
A master who has hatred
Is in danger of being killed
Even by those who for their wealth and happiness
Depend upon his kindness.
By it, friends and relatives are disheartened;
Though drawn by my generosity they will not trust me;
In brief there is nobody
Who lives happily with anger.
Hence the enemy, anger,
Creates sufferings such as these,
But whoever assiduously overcomes it
Finds happiness now and hereafter.
Therefore I should totally eradicate
The fuel of this enemy;
For this enemy has no other function
Than that of causing me harm.
Whatever befalls me I shall be patient,
I shall not disturb my mental joy;
For having been made unhappy, I shall not
accomplish what I wish
And my virtues will decline.
- Shantideva, from A Guide To The Bodhisattva's Way Of Life,
posted to DailyDharma
The only way that worry will stop is through the proper
understanding that change is the very basis of life, that we
cannot continuously have something we like. We've got to be
prepared to accept things in life which may not be acceptable.
- Ramesh Balsekar, posted to ANetofJewels
A post to The_Now2 by Benjamin Schiltz and a reply by Bill
Rishel:
Good day and love to all
Adyashanti explained of an experience he has had I think on a
school playground but I forget where he had this experience, but
when he had it was as a child. I also cant remember how many
times he experienced this in his youth.
I can relate to it because I have had this experience three times
in my childhood. I would like to hear if any of you have had this
experience one or more times in your lives. Thanks
The experience (Ed. note - I believe Benjamin is quoting a
conversation between Adyashanti and a friend...):
One most notable time; I was sitting my livingroom with my friend
standing in front of me. I spontaniously awoke as if I was living
a dream before. I knew of who he is but I didnt know his given
name. I knew him and of my surroundings. But all knowledge of who
I was was gone. I could sense that I was someone else who now
goes by the name Benjamin but he wasnt truth or real. So I sat
there as my friend looked at me in wonder and eyeballing me with
an odd look and eyebrows slanted as if he was saying, "your
acting odd". But all I could is just look around and wonder
what happened to Benjamin. Everything was gone. I was free. But I
of course didnt just let it be and I placed too much attention
back onto Benjamin, and then I came to wondering what just
happened. Whew, thank god I am back. LOL.. well that was my
thought being thankful I had gotten my mind back.
You have said it perfectly. And it is interesting to note that
the 'I' in "I am back" is just the mind.
Now looking back upon it, I wished that I had just staying in
that moment of nothingness. Because I was aware of everything and
knew my friend but I also knew the true being that he is.
No point in regretting. That such moments of pure innocence are
initially episodic is completely natural.
You may think that in this state that you will feel a Bliss, but
you dont even feel that. You dont feel anything. Or you dont
place attention on it because I believe it is because we are it.
If this makes any sense.
I'm glad to see you speak to this, as I never seem to find the
words. "Beyond bliss" seems not to convey. When you
say, "...you don't place attention on it...because we are
it," an astute comment! I've never considered it that way,
but yes... it does make perfect sense.
We don't place attention on "it" because "it"
is a quality of "non-focus;" a freedom from focus, a
complete allowing.
(and now back to Benjamin):
Please I would love to hear from you, if you have had this
experience spontaniously. If you meditated and induced this
awareness then by all means please join and in this topic.
Namaste
Love
Benjamin
Neither meditation nor anything else can "induce" the
state you speak of, IMO. That is because it is not a state, per
se. It is the background of every state. What you experienced was
not the "entering into" a particular state, but the
temporary suspension of your ordinary mental processing. Notice
that you returned to "Benjamin" by a "placing of
your attention on" "Benjamin". It was that
directing of attention that "brought you back".
The present lacks the qualities of "certainty" that the
mind has come to expect. I expect it was discomfort with the
uncertainty that led to the effort to "return to
Benjamin".
Our practice of being simply present entails learning to be OK
with uncertainty, to accept whatever is as is.
All that really matters, after all, is being simply present.
There is nothing especially important about the experience you
recount here. Being simply present, accepting of whatever is, is
the "highest". Special states of consciousness come and
go. Acceptance means to just let them come, and let them go.
Bill
Every sin, every disease, and every lack that have ever touched
our lives have been a necessary part of our entire experience
without which we would not have been made ready or prepared to
receive the unfoldment of a truly spiritual message. Whatever...
depths you and I have known, that was the experience necessary
for us to reach the heights.
- Joel Goldsmith
Now is the Time
Now is the time to know
That all that you do is sacred.
Now, why not consider
A lasting truce with yourself and God.
Now is the time to understand
That all your ideas of right and wrong
Were just a child's training wheels
To be laid aside
When you finally live
With veracity
And love.
Hafiz is a divine envoy
Whom the Beloved
Has written a holy message upon.
My dear, please tell me,
Why do you still
Throw sticks at your heart
And God?
What is it in that sweet voice inside
That incites you to fear?
Now is the time for the world to know
That every thought and action is sacred.
This is the time for you to compute the impossibility
That there is anything
But Grace.
Now is the season to know
That everything you do
Is sacred.
- Hafiz, from The Gift - Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master,
Translations by Daniel Ladinsky