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Nonduality Highlights: Issue #4331, Saturday, August 6, 2011
Thoughts just witnessed get cut off for the simple reason that
there is no comparing, no judging, no decision making.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar, from A Net of Jewels, posted to
AlongTheWay
When you meditate, just rest and watch the nature of your mind.
There will be a space where past thoughts have ceased and future
thoughts have not yet arisen, and that space is completely empty
of all fixations. If you recognize this space, simply continue to
remain within it.
One cannot say this moment of emptiness has been seen, nor can
one say it has not been seen. But the one who thinks, 'I have
seen it,' this is the one to be recognized. And the one who
thinks, 'I have not seen it,' is also the one to be recognized.
It is the one who performs all the actions. This is the one that
you must recognize as the nature of your mind. This nature is
beyond coming and going, it always remains like space.
Thoughts come and go, so do not hold on to them, but pay
attention to what always remains, no matter what comes and goes
around it.
- Garchen Rinpoche, posted to DailyDharma
Happiness
"If there is unhappiness in you, first you need to
acknowledge that it is there. But don't say, "I'm
unhappy." Unhappiness has nothing to do with who you are.
Say: "There is unhappiness in me." Then investigate it.
A situation you find yourself in may have something to do with
it. Action may be required to change the situation or remove
yourself from it. If there is nothing you can do, face what is
and say, "Well, right now, this is how it is. I can either
accept it, or make myself miserable."
The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your
thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking.
Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral, which
always is as it is. There is the situation or the fact, and here
are my thoughts about it.
Instead of making up stories, stay with the facts. For example,
"I am ruined" is a story. It limits you and prevents
you from taking effective action. "I have fifty cents left
in my bank account" is a fact.
Facing facts is always empowering. Be aware that what you think,
to a large extent, creates the emotions that you feel. See the
link between your thinking and your emotions. Rather than being
your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.
Don't seek happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it, because
seeing is the antithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive,
but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is
rather than making up stories about it.
Unhappiness covers up your natural state of well-being and inner
peace, the source of true happiness.
- Eckhart Tolle, from: A New Earth, posted to The_Now2
Ram Tzu loves you...
So he is out to destroy you.
He knows you are your own
Worst enemy
So to destroy you
Is to save you.
Your ego must be smashed
Or you will surely die.
Yet words are like
Sledge hammers with greased handles.
They're difficult to guide
To their target,
Dangerous,
Liable to hit anything.
Ram Tzu loves you.
You can trust him.
Just put your head right here.
That's it.
Nothing to worry about...
Why do you hesitate?
- Ram Tzu, posted to AlongTheWay
When the listener has become thirsty and craving,
the preacher, even if he is as good as dead,
becomes eloquent.
When the hearer is fresh and without fatigue,
the drunk and mute will find
a hundred tongues to speak.
- Rumi, Mathnawi I: 2379-2380, version by Camille and
Kabir Helminski, from Rumi: Daylight, posted to Sunlight
Various Disguises and Scams
A bird lit in a meadow where a trap was set.
Grain had been put out on the ground,
and nearby a fowler had wrapped himself in grass
and pulled roses and red anemones over his head like a cap.
The bird had some notion that this clump of grass
was not all grass, but at first look,
he had no argument about what it might be.
He hopped a circuit around the strange heap
and asked,
"Who are you, out here in the wild?"
"I am a renunciate,
content to live like the grass.
After my neighbor's death, I closed my shop.
I gave up associating with every human being
that came along, and now I'm trying to be a friend
of the One. I saw that my jaw
would eventually be bound in the shroud,
so I figured it was best to use it less now.
You birds wear beautiful green robes
with gold embroidery, but at the end
you too will be wrapped in unsewn cloth."
All faces turn back into dirt.
The moist-dry, hot-cold parts
rejoin their kinfolk, and our spirits
receive a letter from the world
of pure intelligence. It says,
"So your five-day buddies left you!
Learn who your true friends are."
Some children, when they're playing with strangers,
get so hot and preoccupied with the game,
that they take off their shirts. Night comes,
and their clothes are gone, stolen.
It's impossible to play in the dark,
and now they're afraid to go home.
You've heard the line,
This present life is a play.
You've thrown off your clothes in the fun of living.
They floated away in the wind,
and now you're scared.
While it's still day, I've realized
that men are thieves, and that most of life
is wasted, half in looking for a lover,
and half in worrying over the plots
of our enemies. The former desiring
carries off our cloaks, and the latter
anxiety takes our caps.
Yet we remain
completely and obliviously absorbed
in our play. It's getting dark.
Death is near. Leave the game.
Saddle the horse of remorse
and catch up with the thief.
Get your clothes back. That confession-horse
is the speediest there is.
But keep it tied safely
when you're with the thief.
A certain man on this way to the village
has a ram that he leads along behind him.
A thief sneaks up and cuts the halter rope.
Finally the man notices and runs left and right
looking for the lost ram.
He sees the thief
beside a well, though he doesn't know
that it's the thief. The ram is elsewhere.
He goes to ask if he's seen a loose ram.
The thief is kneeling by the well crying.
"What's the matter?"
"My purse has fallen in.
If you can help me get it out, I'll give you
a fifth of everything in it. You could soon have
one-fifth of a hundred gold dinars
in your hand!"
The man thinks, "That's enough
by buy ten rams! One door is shut,
and God opens ten new doors."
He slips out of his clothes and climbs down
into the well, where there is nothing, of course,
and the thief carries away his clothes.
Oh, it takes a prudent man
to make it into the village!
When one loss causes a greedy panic,
then more losses are liable to come.
Imposters appear in many disguises.
Stay in your refuge with God,
and they won't deceive you.
- Rumi, Mathnawi VI: 435-477, poetic version by Coleman
Barks, from Feeling the Shoulder of the Lion, posted to
Sunlight