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Friday, November 9

JOYCE SHORT

"Mistakenly discerning a self, one mistakenly
perceives there to be a myriad of things other than
oneself. With this delusion as it's basis, no
matter how much cultivation is amassed and no
matter what states of consciousness open up, it's
all delusion. Sentient beings are deluded; losing
themselves, they chase after things. When the
deluded dream of ego breaks up, you become aware
that all existence is the self. 'There is no self
in the sage. Because there is no self, there is
nothing which is not the self." Snatch away the
person but not the objective world'. Pursue
practice in the midst of delusion. All delusion is
manifest reality."

Hakuun Yasutani Roshi commenting on Genjokoan.

__________________________________________________________

RASHMI MOORJANI

PLAY

Consciousness at play

In different colors

In the form of little toddlers

Paving it's way into myriad toys

Catching the attention of the little guys

Oh! Consciousness your very gaze

Could it be more wondrous

Than your tender babes

______________________________________________________________

JAN BARENDRECHT

The witness is witness whenever, whatever.
Ever unaffected, untouched, no matter what happens,
no matter what doesn't happen.

______________________________________________________________________

NET SUFI

JACK KORNFIELD ON NISARGADATTA

There's something in us, in our nature, which
compels us to discover. I remember a very powerful
moment with the old guru who I studied with,
Nisargadatta Maharaj, who taught the way of Nisarga
Yoga. "Nisarga" means natural. The basic
translation of his name was "Mr. Natural". He was
this 80-year old cigarette-smoking man. He had a
little cigarette stand. He was kind of a
combination like Krishnamurti and Fritz Perls. He
would put you on the hot seat when you came in and
ask you about your spiritual life. One day we were
in a room about this big. People were coming in and
asking questions. Somebody came in and asked a
question and was a little bit dissatisfied and
left. And another person raised their hand and
said, "Maharaj, what will happen to that person who
came and asked that question and left? Is it all
over for them in this life? They didn't stay here.
You are a great guru, and they weren't interested,
and they went home." And he twinkled at that
moment, he really lit up, and he said, "It's too
late. Even the fact that they put their foot in
this room, even if they hadn't asked the question,
means that somewhere in there there's a seed of
really knowing who we are and what this life is
about. Not what you were taught in elementary
school or what's on TV or the newspapers, but a
deep seed of knowing our true nature, that wants to
discover; it's like coming home. The fact that he
just walked in the room means that that seed has
started to sprout. And no matter if he tries to
forget it and goes back and gets lost, sooner or
later that will manifest in awakening."

Jack Kornfield

----------------------------------------------

MATTHEW

.............of course old "mr. natural" failed to
mention that it would most likely be much later
(ie:not this lifetime), cause thats just too
depressing for hopeful seekers to hear. Can you
even consider not "getting it" this lifetime? I
don't mean giving up. I don't mean not practicing.
Just giving up any hope of it ever happening. Ever.
But continueing on as if it could happen in the
next moment (cause it could). What else is there to
do anyway? .............matthew

______________________________________________________________________

MATTHEW

JAN COX QUOTES

from www.jancox.com

November 9, 2001.

MY KINGDOM FOR A TROPE: MY KINGDOM IS A TROPE
__________________________________

WHAT IS THE REAL GOAL?

Those who seek enlightenment; those who crave
awakening those who long for liberation, all want
the same thing -- peace; that is all it is --
peace.

And what is the great-disrupter-of-peace? -- the
desire for fame? -- for wealth? -- for power? --
no, the desire in your mind to be right -- even in
disputes with your own thoughts.

Peace comes from being in step with a certain
rhythm; in the old infra cortical homeland there
was graceful, peaceful rhythm in life which
everyone felt, but the tempo of life in the new
city of consciousness is different; thinking caused
man to become jerky and agitated; he lived longer
and in greater comfort, but at the cost of his
sense of original rhythm -- -- which resulted in
the loss of peace.

While thought is responsible for the changes in
man's physical life that allows him to live in
greater peace with his external environment it is
also the cause of his lack of internal peace. Tit
for tit and also tit for some men's anti tit
attitude; fair's fair and fairs are fair, and top
prizes always go to the most docile cow

On a mountain top above the city and in a valley
below are two armies who fight incessantly over
possession of that singular territory which lies
between them. There are no casualties in this
conflict – save those who report on it.

Cocking his inner ear, one man said: "Hark! Is that
what I think that is?" Then thought: "What else can
that ever be but that. A is always A and can never
be B."

"Okay sergeant -- smoke out the disrupters with the
laughing gas; spray `em with the self-directed
insouciance & drive-by dismissal."

Words may not be mightier than a sword, but
laughter can be almost as cutting -- and worse
dreaded by many.

Men lived at home in peace -- until the right &
wrong knuckles of the mind came rapping on their
door.

Those hip to city ways stop answering the door.

MECHANIC'S FACT If you do not know where a noise
comes from, you cannot stop it.

EVERYBODY'S FACT Nobody knows where the noise comes
from.

AN ADVANCED CONFLICT Just above the left & right
ears of a mighty giant in another mighty universe
are two kingdoms who have, immemorially waged
endless battle over possession of the territory
that lies between them laterally. Those wise to
city ways on this planet wipe the word, "lateral"
from their shirt front.

Measure things mentally to yourself only in the
simplest possible sentences with no multiple
objects, adjectives or adverbs; as strange as this
may sound, it can be of extreme assistance in
clarifying your inner sight.

ONE OF THE FEW UNCONDITIONALLY DEPENDABLE FACTS
(Remember that herein, "knowledge-of" &
"thinking-about" refers to things untouchable.)

He who thinks, argues; he who argues, argues with
himself; he who argues with himself -- debates the
demented.

The adding to of ideas in the quest for peace
further destroys peace, thus is only the hollow man
enlightened; the blank man awakened; the empty man
liberated; them all restfully at peace in the
silent bosom of the-great-knowing; the knowing that
there is nothing worth knowing to be known.

THE UNRESOLVABLE RUB OF RESIDENCY If there was a
village of people who were cultured & asleep, and
down the road another village of people who were
rustic & not asleep, and you would prefer to live
among one group rather than the other -- you are
asleep & between worlds.

If the wise man of the kingdom did not attempt to
impose the right-way-of-thinking on the people,
peace would reign and the land would awaken.

Moving to the city caused men to be in a hurry,
Moving to the city caused men to become clumsy.
Moving to the city caused men to lose their ability
to peacefully nap. Moving to the city caused men to
develop cloudy sight, (inner cataracts). Moving to
the city caused men to have questions,
uncertainties, fears. Moving to the city caused men
to believe they know things they do not. Moving to
the city caused men to wrangle over trifles. Moving
to the city caused men to be in two places at once.
Moving to the city caused men to wear watches.
Moving to the city caused men to want wealth.
Moving to the city caused men to seek recognition,
moving to the city caused all of these neat things
to happen to men so that, in essence: moving to the
city caused man to become Man.

One man's motto is: "From the thalamus up: life is
a dream; from there down: either a nightmare or a
ball."

ALL THAT THE FEW NEED TO KNOW REGARDING CONFLICT
Those who urge the king to war are fools, likewise
those who plead with him to seek peace, and anyone
who will not or cannot point this out to his
majesty is the biggest fool of them all. (No trope
here fer sure, huh?!)

Once a man is awake enough to know what the word
really represents, his aim then is just to get by
-- to just get by -- IN PEACE.

Never show a righteously driven reformer your best
side; it will but inflame him, and he will disrupt
your peace even more. There is no wrestling to
satisfaction with one who is dumber than you are,
and all voices in consciousness who call-you-out
and challenge the incorruptibility of your natural
sight, are your mental inferiors.

Tangling with those who understand nothing keeps a
kingdom in turmoil. Unspoken sight knows what it
sees, while the spoken sort sees nothing; and a
debate between the two only blinds the sighted, and
raises the blind's stupid esteem of himself.

The peace sought by the few comes not from
struggling with the voices which are the cause of
all disquiet.

Even though the unsighted are said to be asleep,
unlike matters in the external world, it is this
internal disquiet that produces the sleep.

The peace of clear sight is the only sleep of the
awakened.

The enlightened -- the unmoved -- the indifferent:
none make trouble for themselves – and live
(internally) in something resembling peace.

You cannot be both right and at peace; you cannot
be both right and awake; struggling to be right
makes you lose all sense of rhythm, and being in
step with the rhythm in life IS being awake.

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