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Thursday, August 23

MICHAEL JOHNSON

Taking your advice, I have changed my question. :-)

How did you meet the eye of the Master?

How do you know that you did meet it and that it is
not just another trick of the mind making you think
you met it?

What can you say to help me meet the Master's eye?

JERRY

doubting seems to be the road you're on, and all
roads go to the same place, so may as well stay
with it. at some point it may not seem important to
waste energy doubting anymore.

MICHAEL READ

Ordinary mind is buddha mind. Ordinary body is god
body. Ordinary life is all life.

When the thought arises that you are not, discard
it, let it go. When the thought arises that you
are, discard it, let it go. When the thought arises
that someone else is not, discard it, let it go.
When the thought arises that someone else is,
discard it, let it go.

Treat all thoughts in this manner, discard them,
let them go. Persist in this and soon you will see
that which you have always been, not that which you
imagime you will become.

If you imagine that you are bound, you are bound.
If you imagine that you are free, you are free.
Truly, neither state is the real state of affairs.
You are neither bound nor are you free. You are the
infinite self playing all the parts, suffering all
the pain, enjoying all the pleasure.

Entertain no fantasies about what is real or what
is unreal and the natural state is revealed in all
its simple splendor. It is not logical. It is not
illogical.

Purpose, meaning what are they? More fantasy!
Simply do what comes to hand to do and you are
doing everything.

Combine acceptance with judgement and you wear a
heavy chain. Practice compassion mixed with pity
and you wear leaden shoes. Allow all things to be
as they are and you are clothed in the finest
silks, shod in comfortable shoes.

Ignore this babbling madman and you are truly free!

HAHAHAH and HOHOHO!

Peace - Michael

TONY O'CLERY

As I understand it the enquiry 'Who am I?', is not
a mantra but a search for the source of our origins
or suffering. Vipassana in Bhuddism follows the
same route look for the source and you will see
there is no separate I. This deep enquiry is
experiential and cuts the ties of the samskaras to
the personality

____________________________________________________________________

MICHAEL READ

Here's somethnig from the song of the Advadhut.
Chapter 3 verse 33

Though you may be spoken of, you have neither name
nor form. Whether you are divided or undivided,
there's nothing here but you. O mind, O shameless,
wandering, mind! Why do you weary yourself so? I'm
nectarean knowledge, unchanging bliss; I'm
everywhere, like space.

And, from the only truly enlightened being in the
entire universe:

Hey! How ya doing? Uh-oh! Still believing
everything you think?

______________________________________________________________________

GLORIA LEE

THE ONENESS OF THE HUMAN FAMILY

Baha'i: "Blessed is he who preferreth his brother
before himself." -- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of
Baha'u'llah, 71

Buddhism: "Hurt not others in ways that you
yourself would find hurtful." -- Udana-Varga, 5:18

Christianity: "All things whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them." --
Jesus, in Matthew 7:12

Confucianism: "Do not unto others what you would
not have them do unto you." -- Analects 15:23

Hinduism: "This is the sum of duty: do naught unto
others which would cause you pain if done to you."
-- Mahabharata 5:1517

Islam: "No one of you is a believer until he
desires for his brother that which he desires for
himself." -- Sunnah

Jainism: "In happiness and suffering, in joy and
grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard
our own self." -- Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara

Judaism: "What is hateful to you, do not to your
fellow man. That is the law: all the rest is
commentary." -- Talmud, Shabbat 31a

Native American: "Respect for all life is the
foundation." -- The Great Law of Peace

Sikhism: "Don't create enmity with anyone as God is
within everyone." -- Guru Arjan Devji 259, Guru
Granth Sahib

Zoroastrianism: "That nature only is good when it
shall not do unto another whatever is not good for
its own self." -- Dadistan-i-Dinik, 94:5

Compiled by the Temple of Understanding, a global
interfaith organization
http://www.silcom.com/~origin/sbcr/sbcr233

______________________________________________________________

ERIC BLACKSTEAD

As Bhagwan Nityananda used to say,"Do what you
like, but never throw anyone out of your heart".

yours in the bonds, eric

__________________________________________________________________

Notes from a Mystic Law Compliance Officer

By Weasel Jones I'm here to set you straight -- you
and all your pantywaist friends who think Buddhism
is about inner revolution, doing your best and
coming to some sort of realization about your life.
That ain't Buddhism. Buddhism ain't Buddhism unless
you're kicking butts and taking names. That's what
I do. I'm a Mystic Law Compliance Officer. I carry
a badge.

Oh, sure, I've seen plenty of dharma bums like you.
You think the Mystic Law is self-enforcing. You
think that the law of cause and effect functions of
its own accord and doesn't need any help from me.
That's where you're wrong, bucko.

{...}

....I was working the Conformity detail out of
Rampart the night the call came through. The lady
said her husband was starting to think for himself.
He was developing an appreciation for the fluidity
and non-dogmatic nature of the dharma. He was
enjoying his Buddhist practice, she said. I'll
never forget the sound of her voice. "Enjoying."

It cut me to the core. It's the kind of thing you
see a lot of in my line of work. But you never get
used to it. It can make a tough guy crack. I've
seen guys go mad.

I grabbed a thick stock of scriptural quotations. I
needed the strongest ones, snipped out of context
and thus made more maneuverable and suitable to my
purposes. I planned to use them as a cudgel, which
is the best way to use any religious text, whether
it's the Bible, the Koran or the Gosho.

My job is not a pretty one.

As I sped to the scene, I reminded myself that I
have security clearance for and access to the
Buddha's true intent. I'm special. I'm not gonna
let some punk challenge me and everything I stand
for. When I showed up at the house, things had
gotten ugly. The suspect was in his bare feet,
sitting on his living room floor with a bunch of
dangerous sympathizers, eating refreshments. They
were engaged in illicit conversation about the most
sacred and secret teachings. Raving lunatics all.

When I flashed my badge and introduced myself, the
suspect menaced me with the following statement:

"I have to find the Buddha within me and within
others. No one can do this for me. So why should I
bow to a religious authority who is -- ultimately
-- arbitrary and impotent?"

His group of pitiful dupes turned their glassy eyes
to me.

(more at:

http://www.buddhajones.com/Articles/ComplianceOfficer.html

___________________________________________________________________

this good letter was received. If anyone in the
area would like to contact this person, write me
for her email address. I've already sent a copy of
the letter to Greg Goode, who is in New York.

jerry
--------------

Hi there, My name is Betty Appelbaum, I'm 37yrs of
age, and live in the Bay Ridge, Brooklyn area of
New York. If you have any sources that would enable
me to make contact with other "nonduality" people
in my area, I would be very interested. Just
discovered youre web-site, fing it very exciting.
Thanks....

GREG GOODE

We had lunch today. She actually works in the same
law firm I do, and we've known each other for
several years - she's very sweet! She's interested
in the spiritual way of looking at things,
beginning to become interested in nondualism. One
of her interests is to meet and talk with more
people interested in the spiritual way of looking
at things.

If anyone lives in the area and would like to get
together, like Bogie said in Casablanca, "This
could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

_______________________________________________________________________

GENE POOLE

Valerie stated, and asked:

> yes, but shouldn't those who live in one's heart
> only be allowed to reside there within detachment?
> I mean, what roles do expectations play within our relationships?
> All they lead to is griefs and disappointments.
> agreed?
> so - how does one retain detachment?

> valerie

First, we can create a significant distinction
between 'detachment' and 'non-attachment'.

Detachment is a disconnect, essentially a denial
that there is anything going on.

If something is going on, and you tend to get
hooked and enrolled and embroiled in it, and thus
suffer and regret, as you mention above:

All they lead to is griefs and disappointments.
agreed? so - how does one retain detachment?

Then, the lure of 'detachment' becomes very
attractive, but it is a sop of narcosis, rather
than a true balm of healing.

One should not, in my opinion, aim for detachment,
but instead, for non-attachment.

Non-attachment admits that something is going on;
it admits that I am susceptible, that I am
vulnerable, and that I have more life-experience to
gain, before I can put it on auto-pilot. Maybe, I
can never put it on auto-pilot; maybe, my whole
problem is that I can't get it out of auto-pilot,
and therefor, keep crashing into obstacles that
'weren't supposed to be there'.

Non-atachment rescues me from endless cycles of
self-punishment, and allows every situation to
become part of my ongoing illumination. How this is
so, is by tracking my involuntary reactions, and
moderating them with my learned wisdom. This I call
'abiding'. Eventually, my involuntary reactions
become extinct. I see no goals, no rewards, and
also no punishments. Movement is eventually
minimized; I see that the speed of my play, excites
the game to greater challenge. I allow what I have
learned to guide me, thus to avoid repeating
lessons already experienced.

If I assume that there is some point at which I can
let it all go, I will be irritated, annoyed,
depressed, and even despondent that I am not at
that point 'yet'. This position, one of brash
idealism, causes the continual comparison between
'what is' and 'what should be'. The consequence of
this continual comparison, is a sense of
discontent, a pain, an angst, which serves to drive
me to ever-greater feats of spiritual attainment.

How could I possibly take a rest, how could I
justify just sitting around, doing nothing? And
worse, how could I justify having a thought,
without a concurrent feeling? Shouldn't every
thought, be accompanied by an emotion? What kind of
person has no feelings, no attachments, no opinion,
no preference? Isn't that like brain-death, or
something?

Certainly, we must always strive to the ever-upward
direction, cultivating sensitivity to the higher
vibratory states and realms? I mean, isn't that how
you escape of the hell that life is? Isn't that
what transcendence is for? After all, if I can
sense that something is wrong, shouldn't I strive
to fix it, and to move to make the world a better
place, as well? Isn't that how I avoid 'making more
Karma', too?

The vast disparity of idealism, is the disconnect
of detachment; the world 'isn't real', until I see
it correctly. When I see the world correctly, then,
the world is real, because I am then proved to be
real, by my ability to see what is real, as opposed
to what is illusory. When the scales are removed
from my eyes, by the advent of my own cosmic
purity, only then, will I be able to see and
understand what is real. At least, that is the
idealistic version of things.

lacking idealism, I find no immediacy, but what is
now; even this, is a flux of events, which I
experience as a conversation to which I am witness,
but am not conscious of originating. I can imagine
myself as the creator, but somehow that does not
lend itself to a wholistic experience; I am still
drawn to learning. I am still vulnerable, tender,
and still tend to get hooked. That is why I
practice non-attachment. I do not deny what is, I
do not know what is, but I am at peace with what
is, most of the time.

There are moments when I feel the arising of
discontent, I have conditioned myself to ask myself
just what is really going on. Most of the time, the
answer I get is that I am running a racket, usually
one of either fear and selfishness or idealism. And
each of those camouflages the other; each justifies
the other.

By following myself around, I am able to pick up my
own leavings. As witness, I am aware of when I am
taking a dump on someone, and thus I strive to not
dump, no matter how much the other may seem to
'deserve it'. I understand that once the first turd
is thrown, certain reactions are quite predictable.
Non-attachment allows the turd to be seen as a
neutral entity, rather than as a weapon.

Our reactions portray our assumptions, far more
accurately and honestly than do our professings and
protestations. A person may state high ideals, and
believe thus to have high ideals, but the whole
thing can be a circuitous racket, denial enabling
resentment, resentment fueling incessant
acting-out, and the inevitable reactions of others,
justifying endless cycles of this tail-chasing
fury.

I live on the end of the tip of the tongue of the
Living Universe, a surfer whose balance is his only
grace, hanging ten over the keyboard here , riding
the endless wave, propelled by the momentum of
life, and basically making it up as I go along. It
helps to have a big vocabulary and a bigger
knowledge-base. What distraction can I afford, from
the effect of an unbalanced relationship? Am I so
skilled, powerful and wise, that I can afford to
ignore or deny any facet of my seeming experience?

When I cease depending upon external sources of
'wisdom', do I find or notice grace balance; I
cease seeking formulas for liberation, knowing I do
not have the judgement necessary to know the
difference between liberation and anything else. In
the meantime I abide, but I abide as one who stands
always naked under the downpour of a powerful
waterfall, not sure what to make of the water. I
abide not knowing, and in that state of liberation
from assumption, find that I can understand
something of the language which the Vast Living
Universe is constantly speaking and manifesting,
this conversation known as 'reality' or 'what is'.

Now I give this back, back and out, a
re-transmission of what I hear and observe. I try
to be as accurate as possible in this expression. I
do not see much in the way of creativity going on
in me, just mainly a lot of reassessments and
ongoing modifications of past judgements. It is a
work in progress, but one illuminated by the
intense thousand-petaled lotus which creates my
awareness, a living mandala of form changing in
emptiness, a fluctuation in space. It is the points
which shift the least, which I attend to as guides
to going deeper.

It is the deepest beacons which create the highest
mountains.

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