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Issue # 1256 - Tuesday/Wednesday, November 12-13, 2002 - Edited by Jerry
SAM
dive in
jump
pull aside the curtain
brush it away and see
the clear world shining...
___________________________________________________________________
JAN SULTAN
Once you clearly understand that there is nowhere to go
and nothing to achieve, then you have arrived. That's
when you begin to see the perfection of the eternal
present moment and the 'what is'. Any thought or image of
some paradise Island, for example, only takes you away
from the perfect here and now.
There was a time when I day dreamed about far away,
exotic, exciting places [and visited some of them]. Now
these places seem forlorn and alien to me. I am only
comfortable in the here and now. [And it matters not
where that 'here and now' is or what is going on there!]
In the here and now I belong, in the here and now I AM.
Elsewhere I am in limbo, trapped in the labyrinth of the
mind!
GREG GOODE
Have you ever considered that the here and now, as you
speak of it, is just another style of arising objects,
with its own kind of appearance? "What is" is never
anywhere but here.
You are not giving full credit to those moments that are
filled with frustration, ego, with supposed "me-ness"
and
other stuff.
Being in the here and now is not a mental, psychological
thing. It's not a time when things feel nice and
un-constricted. It is not a time when there feels like
"I" am out of the way. Rather, it is inescapable, and
mixed into all times and places.
So even when it feels like Jan is in the middle of
things, and things suck, THIS TOO is here and now!
Basically, you are never out of it, even when you think
so!!!
Love,
HERE in Hong Kong, NOW clicking the Send button :-)
KIBUKA
Hi all,
I'm new to this list. I experienced a powerful awakening
earlier this year, which was truly beyond words, however
after a few days I realised that there was "nowhere to
go and nothing to achieve" and felt a deep sense of
peace and happiness. Things/ideas/opinions which seemed
to important before, just melted away and I became quite
child- like (not "child-ish"). This allowed me to go
back
to my every-day life, but as a changed person with a new
all-encompassing perspective on life. Thanks for the
post Jan:)
still staring at the sun,
~Kibuka
____________________________________________________________________
BILL
from Alice's Restaurant
This past weekend, I enjoyed a relaxing evening with my
kodoh cup comparing several of the Aloeswoods that David
recommended. I started with Tsukigase...my first
impression was sweet and sour with a touch of dignity. I
then heated some Ogurayama which initially seemed sweet
like a blossom, then deepened more like the sweetness of
a rich dessert. The Hakasui, of course, was wonderful...
opening like a sublime adventure, spicy and uplifting.
Finally, I brought out my tiny piece of Green Kyara...
just a sliver on the mica plate...it opens like a
majestic vision and remains.
Gassho,
Bill
Transmutation Stone IV, by Fred Casselman ("inspired by
our trip to Nova Scotia in September 2000.")
http://www.earthecho.com/nwork/nwcc/nwcc.html
_____________________________________________________________________
GLORIA LEE
from NDS
Do not engage in the search for reality through concepts,
but to be in the world of living reality.
Japanese Zen master Dogen said, "All phenomena are mind,
mind is all. Mind contains rivers, mountains, moon and
sun." In Zen experience there is no longer an object of
knowledge.
Nagarjuna's Treatise of Great Understanding
(Mahaprajnaparamita Sastra i.e. commentaries) says:
"All phenomena can be understood to be in two categories:
mind and matter. On the conceptual level, we distinguish
mind and matter, but on the level of awakening, all is
mind. Object and mind are both marvelous. Mind is matter,
matter is mind. Matter doesn't exist outside of mind.
Mind doesn't exist outside of matter. Each is in the
other. This is called the nonduality of mind and matter."
When we discriminate between subject and object, we're
removed from Zen and its guiding principle of
nonduality.
An awakened person lives in the material world the same
as everyone else. When she sees a rose, she knows that
it's a rose, like everyone else. But she is neither
conditioned nor imprisoned by concepts. Concepts now
become marvelous skillful means in her possession. An
awakened person looks, listens, and distinguishes
things, all the while being perfectly aware of the
presence that is the perfect and non-discriminative
nature of everything. She sees deeply the nature of
interbeing.
As long as our activity is based on conceptual
discrimination, it's not free. The free person sees all,
because he knows that there is nothing to be seen. She
perceives all, not being deceived by concepts. When she
looks at things, she sees their true nature. When she
perceives things, she penetrates their nature of
interbeing. Thus while living in the world she possesses
the secret of the arising and manifestation of
phenomena. This is the only way to arrive at awakening.
Free of errors caused by concepts, she lives in peace and
freedom, even in the world of karma. Using skillful
means, she realizes her calling of awakening in this
conditioned world, without thinking whether the world is
conditioned or unconditioned.
Excerpted from ZEN KEYS by Thich Nhat Hanh.
__________________________________________________________________
CARL
from Sufi Mystic
* Something Invisible *
Once I asked my Master,
"What is the difference
Between you and me?"
And he replied,
"Hafiz, only this:
If a herd of wild buffalo
Broke into our house
And knocked over
Our empty begging bowls,
Not a drop would spill from yours.
But there is Something Invisible
That God has placed in mine.
If That spilled from my bowl,
It could drown this whole world."
I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz
by Daniel Ladinsky
Jim Lo Scalzo http://www.usnews.com/usnews/photography/portfolios/loscalzo/portfolio_scal.htm
__________________________________________________________________________
ROBERT COOPER
from Daily Dharma
"Hold the sadness and pain of samsara in your heart and
at the same time the power and vision of the Great
Eastern Sun. Then the warrior can make a proper cup of
tea."
--Trungpa Rinpoche
"Buddha has chosen one of the really very potential words
- shunyata. The English word, the English equivalent,
"nothingness", is not such a beautiful word. That's why
I
would like to make it "no-thingness" - because the
nothing is not just nothing, it is all. It is vibrant
with all possibilities. It is potential, absolute
potential. It is unmanifest yet, but it contains all.
In the beginning is nature, in the end is nature, so why
in the middle do you make so much fuss? Why, in the
middle, becoming so worried, so anxious, so ambitious -
why create such despair? Nothingness to nothingness is
the whole journey.
--Osho Take it Easy, Volume 1 Chapter 5
__________________________________________________________________________
THOMAS MURPHY
from See What Is
eyes of an onlooker
Seeing oneself
as an onlooker
is self-importance.
Seeing oneself
through the eyes of another
is indulgence--
diminishing perceived stature
to fit limitations
ascribed to others.
True freedom,
being non-local,
transcends consideration
of stature and position.
Slavery is obeisance to recollection.
Liberty is freedom of identity.
See every nuance of identity
as a convenience of expression.
While one is likely to feel
as one is thought to be,
one cannot be
who one is thought to be.
~ tomas
______________________________________________________________
VICKI WOODYARD
This one's for you, Sarlo....
The Sleeping Teachers List
As I was lying down for my afternoon nap, I'll be darned
if a funny thought didn't pop into my mind. It would
give me no peace until I got up and drug myself to the
computer and composted , excuse me, composed,...the
following. Note to myself: Need to get a following....
Rules for Becoming A Sleeping Teacher
l. Don't miss nap time. Milk and cookie prasad is given
afterwards.
2. Never use the word drug as in "I drug myself to the
computer. " To be a Sleeping Teacher you must not
use the word drug unless you are slyly insinuating
that you knew Don Juan personally, not to mention
Jon Lovitz.
3. Refer to the Sleeping Teacher list often...at least
every time you turn over or turn your mattress. Say
to yourself and to anyone who will listen..."The
Sleeping Teacher List is a doozie" (as in snoozie).
I often get my most unenlightened thoughts right in
the middle of my spiritual siesta.
4. Never kick an awakened teacher. Those of you who are
awakened teachers know who you are. Cover your
famous fannies.
5. As as a Sleeping Teacher (not to be confused with a
Schlepping Teacher, that's a whole `nother schtick
entirely, having to do with toting your own karma)
communicate no deep thoughts to recalcitrant
students. Rem (Rapid "I") movement is to be taken as
the teaching.
6. Wipe your mouth. You "Dozin' Zengis" are moistly
slobbering in your sleep.
7. This is not a rule but an encouraging memo to
Sleeping Teachers:
At last count, awakened teachers had reached the
quadrillions. Some are no longer in the Milky Way but in
a galaxy far, far away. Thank God.
8. The Sleeping Teachers List is motivated by honesty. A
good Sleeping Teacher never lies...unless he is
sleeping, which doesn't count, does it...
9. Time to get up--time to make the donuts. Jerry Katz
is waiting. We doze but we never close.
10. If you would like to become a Sleeping Teacher, the
rules of admission are strict. But I forget what
they are.
A few of you reading this may be of the so-called
Awakened Teacher persuasion and think that being a
Sleeping Teacher just might be easier...and you get to
wear jammies instead of those miserable loincloths. I
know what you're thinking.....can I aspire to become a
Sleeping Teacher?.....in your dreams!
Vicki Woodyard
http://www.bobwoodyard.com
_____________________________________________________________________
GREG GOODE
You ask, "What is the difference between a realized
person and one who is not realized yet?"
The difference between a realized person and an
unrealized person is that the unrealized person sees a
difference.