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#1556 - Sunday, September 14, 2003 - Editor: Gloria

Truth’s naked radiance
Cut off from the senses
And the world,
Shines by itself
No words for it.

- Pai-chang Huai-hai (720-814)

photo by Alan Larus http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/view.htm

Daily Dharma

"Presence is pure consciousness – consciousness that has been reclaimed from the mind, from the world of form.  The inner body is your link with the Un-manifested, and in its deepest aspect is the Un-manifested: the Source from which consciousness emanates as light emanates from the sun.  Awareness of the inner body is consciousness remembering its origin and returning to the Source.”

  ~Eckhart Tolle

~ ~ ~

"The ultimate nature of mind is primordial awareness, from which thoughts emanate like light radiating from the sun.  Once this nature of mind is recognized, delusion vanishes like clouds dissolving in the sky.  The nature of mind free from delusion is without birth, existence, or cessation.  In the terminology of the Mantrayana, it is called primordial continuous mind, or ever present simplicity.  It is also described in the sutras; for example, the Prajnaparamita says:

  ‘Mind,

     Mind does not exist,

        Its expression is clarity.’"

 ~Dilgo Khyentse

From the book, "The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones”, published by Shambhala
~ ~ ~
 

"Right view is the essential foundation for entering into the spiritual path.  Right view in the beginning doesn’t apply to right view of self.  That is the end of the path.  It is basically concerned with the first two noble truths.  When we see clearly that we are fighting a losing battle so long as we keep trying to have sense pleasures and protect ourselves from losing our ego, then we’re on the way.  That’s the moment of entering the path, and it’s a moment of joy.  With it a certainty arises that the way out has been found and that the final result must come.  It’s just a matter of time.  That joyous feeling is essential for meditation and meditation is essential for treading the path."

~Ayya Khema

From the book, "Being Nobody, Going Nowhere,” published by Wisdom Books

A Net of Jewels

"When you demand nothing of the world, nor of God, when you want nothing,
seek nothing, expect nothing, then the Supreme State will come to you
uninvited and unexpected!"
 ~Nisargadatta Maharaj

"Were I very rich, what difference would it make? I am what I am. What else
can I be? I am neither rich nor poor, I am myself."
~Nisargadatta Maharaj

Gill Eardley ~ Rumi to Hafiz

Say Yes Quickly

Forget your life. Say God is Great. Get up.
You think you know what time it is. It's time to pray.
You've carved so many little figurines, too many.
Don't knock on any random door like a beggar.
Reach your long hands out to another door, beyond where
you go on the street, the street
where everyone says, "How are you?"
and no one says How aren't you?

Tomorrow you'll see what you've broken and torn tonight,
thrashing in the dark. Inside you
there's an artist you don't know about.
He's not interested in how things look different in moonlight.

If you are here unfaithfully with us,
you're causing terrible damage.
If you've opened your loving to God's love,
you're helping people you don't know
and have never seen.

Is what I say true? Say yes quickly,
if you know, if you've known it
from before the beginning of the universe.

'Open Secret'
Versions of Rumi by John Moyne and Coleman Barks

~ ~ ~

"Be free of thoughts, be free of the mind, and be free
of any idea. Then there is nothing left.
You leave your shoes outside when you go into a room.
You leave your body behind when you die.
In this present moment, take leave of everything you have
and everything you can think of.
Walk away from them all and be free.
It's very simple and very beautiful".

From: 'Nothing ever Happened' David Godman

~ ~ ~

Patience

What patience a landscape has, like an old horse,
head down in its field.
Grey days,
air and fine rain cling, become one, hovering till at last,
languidly, rain relinquishes that embrace, consents
to fall. What patience a hill, a plain,
a band of woodland holding still, have, and the slow falling
of grey rain... Is it blind faith? Is it
merely a way to deeply rest? Is the horse
only resigned, or has it
some desirable knowledge, an enclosed meadow
quite other than its sodden field,
which patience is the key to? Has it already,
within itself, entered that sunwarmed shelter?

~Denise Levertov


Talking to Grief

Ah, Grief, I should not treat you
like a homeless dog
who comes to the back door
for a crust, for a meatless bone.
I should trust you.
I should coax you
into the house and give you
your own corner,
a worn mat to lie on,
your own water dish.
You think I don't know you've been living
under my porch.
You long for your real place to be readied
before winter comes. You need
your name,
your collar and tag. You need
the right to warn off intruders,
to consider
my house your own
and me your person
and yourself
my own dog.

~Denise Levertov

Fran ~ E-zendo

This is from the book  "No Begining No End"  

This is Suzuki-roshi's translation of the six-line
poem that expresses Tozan's realization.

Do not try to see the objective world.
You which is given as an object to see is quite
different from you yourself.
I am going my own way and I meet myself which includes

everything I meet.
I am not something which I can see (as an object)
When you understand self which includes everything
You have your true way.

The famous waka is attributed to Zen mater Bankei:
"As this mind is unborn and undying
earth, water, fire, and wood
are its temporary dwelling"

This body is the physical self, and when the physical
self dies, we cannot see, we cannot hear, our feet
can't run, our hands can't grasp.  But original mind
is still here, and again original mind is the one that
has been seeing, hearing, laughing, or crying all
along. 

The Dharma is not just a subject to think about.  It
is something to directly experience that actualizes
the natural radiance of our original mind.

by Jakusho Kwong

Viorica Weissman ~ Million Paths

Life is given. Nothing is earned, so learn to serve others , not your desire and greed and ego. They steal your energies, whereas devotion builds your strength and protects the intelligent flame that leads to the truth within.    ~Lalla, Naked Song

Ben Hassine ~ NDS

Song of Man

I was here from the moment of the
Beginning, and here I am still. And
I shall remain here until the end
Of the world, for there is no
Ending to my grief-stricken being.

I roamed the infinite sky, and
Soared in the ideal world, and
Floated through the firmament. But
Here I am, prisoner of measurement.

I heard the teachings of Confucius;
I listened to Brahma's wisdom;
I sat by Buddha under the Tree of Knowledge.
Yet here I am, existing with ignorance
And heresy.

I was on Sinai when Jehovah approached Moses;
I saw the Nazarene's miracles at the Jordan;
I was in Medina when Mohammed visited.
Yet I here I am, prisoner of bewilderment.

Then I witnessed the might of Babylon;
I learned of the glory of Egypt;
I viewed the warring greatness of Rome.
Yet my earlier teachings showed the
Weakness and sorrow of those achievements.

I conversed with the magicians of Ain Dour;
I debated with the priests of Assyria;
I gleaned depth from the prophets of Palestine.
Yet, I am still seeking truth.

I gathered wisdom from quiet India;
I probed the antiquity of Arabia;
I heard all that can be heard.
Yet, my heart is deaf and blind.

I suffered at the hands of despotic rulers;
I suffered slavery under insane invaders;
I suffered hunger imposed by tyranny;
Yet, I still possess some inner power
With which I struggle to great each day.

My mind is filled, but my heart is empty;
My body is old, but my heart is an infant.
Perhaps in youth my heart will grow, but I
Pray to grow old and reach the moment of
My return to God. Only then will my heart fill!

I was here from the moment of the
Beginning, and here I am still. And
I shall remain here until the end
Of world, for there is no
Ending to my grief-stricken being.

Song of Man/Kahil Gibran

Yosy ~ Monks_Mystics

:) friends, just now finished watching a beautiful film called "samsara", a french/indian production, a tale about a buddhist monk seeking enlightment... highly recommended.
Ed note: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196069/

Gill Eardley ~ Allspirit Inspiration

All the violence, fear and suffering
That exists in the world
Comes from grasping at self.
What use is this great monster to you?
If you do not let go of the self,
There will never be an end to your suffering.

~Shantideva

~ ~ ~

Stay United with the Larger Body

Your own growth cannot take place without growth in others.
You are part of a body. When you change, the whole body
changes. It is very important for you to remain deeply connected
with the larger community to which you belong.

It is also important that those who belong to the body of which
you are part keep faith in your journey. You still have a way to
go, and there will be times when your friends are puzzled or even
disillusioned by what is happening to you. At certain moments
things may seem more difficult for you than before; they may look
worse than when you began. You still have to make the great
passage, and that might not happen without a lot of new distress
and fear. Through all of this, it is important for you to stay united
with the larger body and know that your journey is made not just
for yourself but for all who belong to the body.

Think about Jesus. He made his journey and asked his disciples to
follow him even where they would rather not go. The journey you
are choosing is Jesus' journey, and whether or not you are fully
aware of it, you are also asking your brothers and sisters to follow
you. Somewhere you already know that what you are living now
will not leave the other members of the community untouched.
Your choices also call your friends to make new choices.

'The Inner Voice of Love'
Henri J. M. Nouwen

------------
Allspirit Website: http://www.allspirit.co.uk

Joe Riley ~ Rumi to Hafiz

Over And Over Tune  

You could grow into it,
that sense of living like a dog,
loyal to being on your own in the fur of your skin,
able to exist only for the sake of existing.  

Nothing inside your head lasting long enough for you to hold onto,
you watch your own thoughts leap across your own synapses and disappear --
small boats in a wind,
           fliers in all that blue,
                      the swish of an arm backed with feathers,
a dress talking in a corner,
                      and then poof,
                                            your mind clean as a dog's,
your body big as the world,
           important with accident --
                                            blood or a limp, fur and paws.  

You swell into survival,
           you take up the whole day,
you're all there is,
           everything else is
not you, is every passing glint, is
           shadows brought to you by wind,
                      passing into a bird's cheep, replaced by a
                                            rabbit skittering across a yard,
a void you yourself fall into.  

You could make this beautiful,
           but you don't need to,
living is this fleshy side of the bone,
           going on is this medicinal smell of the sun --
                      no dog ever tires of seeing his life  

keep showing up at the back door
even as a rotting bone with a bad smell;
feet tottering, he dreams of it,
wakes and licks no matter what.

~ Ioanna Carlsen  

Alan Larus

Green

Have you seen the leaves these days? The green secret turning darker shining in between.  

And then who's hurled  when the last ray leaps into the heart of a winter world.  

It's not too soon. Climb high and look beyond the fifth moon.  

Right there in south so bright and thin a golden light is moving in.  

http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/green.htm

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