Nondual
Highlights
#1111 Friday, June 21, 2002
Editor: Gloria Lee
photo by Jacques De Rouviere
summer solstice
longer is the dance
on a summer solstice eve
as light spins shadows
by Mary Bianco
--------
SHAWN from
HarshaSatsangh
Gangaji excerpt:
I thank you. You demonstrated a clear introduction to your Self.
Your true
Self. The core that has never been touched by any experience of
wounding,
that remains free, whole, innocent, pure, radiating peace that is
the
endless experience of one's Self.
Please don't misunderstand me. I don't have anything against
wounds or
working with wounds. Clearly, it all has its place. Just as you
tell
children certain stories to make them relax so that their growth
can happen,
you have been told certain stories so that you could somehow deal
with your
identification with the traumas of the past. Processing can be
very useful,
but there comes a time in a particular life-stream where you are
only
willing to settle for the truth. Somehow, in your life-stream,
you have made
a prayer for truth, a plea for truth, and satsang has come to you
to tell
you to stop. Stop the commentary. Stop the dialogue. Stop, and
then see.
Maybe the commentary will return, but now you have been given a
key, a
secret. It is a secret that was given to me by my master, Papaji,
and by my
master's master, Ramana. It is the secret of Self-inquiry. It is
the secret
of turning the mind inward to see "who" is suffering
after all, rather than
continuing to follow the mind's outward flow into why, and how
come, and
when, and who did what to whom. It is very simple, and it is a
sign of
maturity that you can allow simplicity. Many people have fought
with me for
hours around the periphery of the wound or the imagery that
floats up. Your
willingness is a beautiful indication of maturity and true prayer
to be
liberated from identification with woundedness.
Maybe you have been liberated from the denial of the wound
before. Now you
can be liberated from indulgence or affirmation of the wound. Not
theoretically, but directly through your own experience of
yourself as that
which is eternally whole. Not because I say so, but because you
must have
glimpsed the truth of this. Throughout all of your tales of
woundedness,
still, somehow you glimpsed the radiant beauty that you are. This
is a very
lucky lifetime. Be true to your luck in this lifetime. Be
grateful to that.
Stop paying homage to these wound gods, and start paying homage
to this that
you have realized to be universal consciousness. Then see. See
where your
life will be taken.
Direct experience is primary. We have tried going about it the
other way
around, understanding mentally and then attempting to make
reality follow.
That is called affirmation or positive thinking, and it can be
very useful.
It is much better than negative thinking. But finally you want
direct
experience with no thinking necessary. Then whatever thought
arises of
worthlessness, you have been given a key. More than that, you
have accepted
the key. You have put it in the lock of the knot in your heart
and allowed
your heart to see itself as universal, boundary-less, and free.
Isn't it
amazing? It is eternally amazing. If it is not amazing, then you
haven't
heard what I am saying. Truth is not something one can ever be
blasé about.
If you are blasé about it, you have conceptualized it into some
kind of
religion. Truth is fresh and alive, always for the first time.
What wonder!
II. Observe the eight precepts -- recognizing them as nothing but
eight falling leaves in an endless forest of softly falling
leaves:
1. refrain from killing living creatures -- remembering that,
with
each breath, billions of micro-organisms spontaneously perish,
regardless of which ones you happen to cherish.
2. taking what is not given -- realizing that true wealth is
measured
by what you no longer need.
3. unchaste conduct -- realizing that chastity or the lack
thereof
are fictional, conceptual attributes superimposed by the
conditioned
mind on that which is without conditions.
4. false speech -- realizing that nothing can be said.
5. avoid intoxicants -- such as belief in an independent self.
6. eating outside the time -- no longer compelled to flee into
transcendence for the meal that is always right before you.
7. no entertainments, beautifying -- recognizing the supreme
Attractiveness of one's own Inherent Nature.
8. simple sleeping-place -- Resting in the OneHeart.
--------
VIORICA
WEISSMAN from MillionPaths
Make your question clear for yourself. First live with the
question.
When you really ask yourself a question, it comes from the
answer.
You are not able to ask a question without already in some way
having the answer. The question comes from the answer, so live
with your question, wait. You must wait without waiting for the
answer to appear in the question; wait without grasping, without
talking,
without concluding . Be totally open to the answer; the answer
will come
only in your complete openess . The answer never comes from the
brain,
the brain knows only the already known.
~ ~ ~
taken from
Transmission of The Flame
Jean Klein
~ ~ ~
AND
Dr. Klein , you keep reminding us there is nothing to do
and we also keep asking you how to do it. Would you say
something about that ?
Accept as a principle that there is nothing to attain ,
because what we are looking for is our nearness . What we
are looking for is the looker . When you know this , you will
feel how every step you take to attain yourself is a going
away. Then there is a completely natural giving-up,
because there is nothing to gain , nothing to lose. See how
this understanding acts on you. You will find yourself,
naturally , as you were before you were born.
AND
So while you were a disciple of Pandiji's you were never
drawn to other teachers for clarifications?
There was no desire at all in me for that. I didn't go to India
to find
a teacher. The teacher found me. There is only one teacher.
I quickly came to the conviction that there is nothing to teach
and that what you are looking for doesn't belong to any teaching
or 'teacher'. So why look for anyone? It is the presence of the
guru that shows there is nothing to teach because the teacher
is established in the "I am". So I realized that only
the "I am",
not a mind or a body, can bring you to the "I am".
~ ~ ~
taken from
Transmission of The Flame
Jean Klein
~ ~ ~
--------
JOHN LOGANIS
from HarshaSatsangh
Ah, that is the case, "be handled by COMPETENT professionals
..."
Many "professionals" are so busy treating the condition
and its
effects, that they fail to deal with the human being who may be
working with a different neurological system than is
"normal".
In a different universe, my next door neighbor has a child with
Downs
Syndrome. I went next door to speak to the parent about
something. I
was not greeted; I was asked what I wanted; the person to whom I
spoke turned without a word and went in the back to get someone
else;
the Downs child greeted me, made eye contact and gestured for me
to
sit down on a nearby couch.
That behavior went totally unrecognized by anyone present (except
me
of course).
The point being that an impaired neurology did not diminish the
humanity of the child -- who was more "real" than
anyone else in the
house. The people in the house talk over "Daniel" all
the time, so he
does funny things to "act out", throwing things
sometimes, rapping on
the fence to get the attention of our dogs, etc. Like anyone he
wants
attention AS A PERSON.
Take that personhood away from someone with any disability and
that
person is diminished -- and their needs are not met, and the
needs of
the disability is not met.
I would like to hear just one professional ask a simple question:
WHAT BENEFIT DOES THIS CONDITION BRING TO THIS PERSON AND TO OUR
WORLD?
---------- BONDZAI from
Nisargadatta recommended a Zen website from
which this passage was selected by editor
IMAGES by
Charlotte Joko Beck
Most religions have something to say about images and how we
hold them in our lives. 'Thou shalt have no other Gods before
me...'.
Yasutani Roshi, speaking to a student, 'You need not be concerned
about the image on the alter; you should be concerned about the
image in your mind.'
My self-centered anger arises when my image of myself is
threatened. So: what image of yourself do you hold? 'I am a kind
person.' 'I am a good parent.' 'I accomplish worthwhile things.'
'I
am an authority on (science, plants, cooking, diet, dogs ...
whatever).'
Or my image can be the opposite. 'I am a mean person.' 'I am a
mediocre parent.' 'I never accomplish anything.' On and on. Our
images are deeply rooted. We love them. They run our lives. They
are who we think we are.
Some psychological therapies attempt to replace a negative image
with a positive one. Effective but only to a point. Our
attachment to
any image, positive or negative--since we will defend our
idol--leaves us in the long run in a state of slavery; the idol
rules our
existence and we are helpless under its domination.
All poor relationships (and their constant arguments) are based
on
the defense of images. When caught in an emotional storm, ask
yourself, 'What image do I have of myself that I feel I must
defend?'
Keep in mind the difference between 'I must be a good teacher (or
student, athlete, musician, therapist, or ...) and just being a
good
teacher. Any defended image invariably blocks the open
awareness from which effective action springs. And the image 'I
am one who sees clearly, who has realization, who is enlightened'
is itself the barrier to true seeing. Being 'enlightened' is
being
without image; undefended and open to life as it is. It is being
able
to feel the pain of the desperately defended images of others. It
is,
of course, compassion.
