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#1690 - Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - Editor: Jerry
There is no journey.
There is no destination.
You are already here.
-leonard jacobson-
from Nonduality Beagle: The Varieties of Canine Nondual
Expression
http://nondualitybeagle.cjb.net
Daily Dharma
"Ah, fortunate sons and disciples gathered here,
This body of ours is impermanent like a feather on a high
mountain
pass,
This mind of ours is empty and clear like the depth of space.
Relax in that natural state, free of fabrication.
When mind is without any support, that is Mahamudra.
Becoming familiar with this, blend your mind with it--
That is Buddhahood."
~ Machig Labdron
From the book, "Machig Labron and the Foundations of
Chod," published
by Snow Lion Publications.
A small noisy room
"Dear Soen Sa Nim,
Three days ago I started a new job. I work with three
women in a
small room with no windows. Usually there is no work for
more than
two of the four of us. All day long they talk: they talk
about sex,
desires, angers. All day long the radio plays loud music
about love
and suffering.
Often I find the atmosphere - the 'way it is' there -
depressing. My
bodhisattva mind keeps getting lost in fear and anger. The
money is
useful right now, but I fear becoming suffering. Some
friends of
mine are now making a lot of money. I think often, 'What do
I do in
this life?' I feel I waste myself at jobs like this
one. Buddhist
pratice has almost literally saved my life. I know the
thoughts and
feelings I experience are not my true self but are just coming
and
going, coming and going, Still, blue is blue, fear is fear,
desire is
desire. What should I do in this situation?
Thankyou,
Michael"
"Dear Michael,
Thank you for your wonderful letter. How are you? You
say 'No
windows... working with three women ... all day long they talk of
sex, desire, and anger.' This situation is your best
teacher. It is
better than a Zen master, better than the sutras, better than the
Bible. If you hold on to the actions of these women, then
you will
become a demon. But if you don't hold on to their actions
by judging
or giving in to them, then their moment-to-moment actions will
make
you wise.
An eminent teacher said, 'Wisdom is ignorance; igorance is
wisdom.'
This means, how do you keep a just-now mind? Checking your
mind is
ignorance. If you don't check your mind, then you can see,
you can
hear, you can smell - all things, just like this, are the
truth.
Then not only sex, desire, and anger, but also a dog barking, a
chicken crowing - everything is the correct Dharma.
For example, when you go to the movies to see a comedy, your
mind and
everone else's mind is laughing. When the film is sad, your
mind is
sad. At that time, if you don't check your mind, then your
mind does
not move. Then funny is just funny, sad is sad, good is
good, bad is
bad. Everyhing appears clearly. That is correct
wisdom. If you can
find correct wisdom, your mind will already be clear like
space.
then, moment to moment, reflected action is possible.
The whole world is like a theater. If you don't check
your mind and
don't check your feelings, then everything is the sutras and the
Bible. A small room with no windows is OK. Talking
about sex,
desire, and anger is OK. You will only ask, 'How can I help
them?'
This is reflected action; this is the action of a bodhisattva who
always has great love and great sadness for all beings.
I hope that you put it all down and don't check anything.
Only go
straight - don't-know. Then your don't-know mind will
become clear,
and in any situation reflected action is then possible.
Then you can
finish the great work of life and death and save all people from
suffering.
Yours in the Dharma,
SS"
Petros Truth
"It is absurd to say that the world is unreal so long as
we ourselves
believe that we (as the ego) are real. Only one who has seen the
unreality
of the ego can see the unreality of the world."
-- Ramakrishna
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Petros-Truth
*
www.ewakening.net
Michael L.
I Am
David Godman has just posted
the first part of a new translation
of the Garland of Guru's
(Sri Ramana Maharshi's) Sayings,
(Guru Vachaka Kovai) on his web site.
The rest of the translation
will be posted in a few weeks.
The Garland of Guru's sayings
is my favorite source of
Sri Ramana's teachings
and it is the only source
I read these days.
You can read this new translation
by clicking this link:
http://davidgodman.org
after clicking that link,
look upper left under "NEW ON THIS SITE"
and then click "Guru Vachaka Kovai".
Take care,
with Love,
Michael L.
R.K. Shankar
I Am
Self-Knowing 5-line Verse 2 (original translation from Tamil)
Because, only the thought, 'This flesh-filled-body alone am
I',
is 'the one thread sustaining the many thoughts',
if (you) go inside (seeking), "Which is the
'I-originating-place'?",
with the thoughts disappearing, as "I-I", in the cave
(of the Heart, that is
the 'vessel',
for melting the five types of the 'metals' of sensual
impressions),
of its own (accord), will shine, the Self-Knowledge!; this is,
Silence!;
(this is,) Abiding-with-Life!; (this is,) the Abode-of-Bliss!
Hey! (It is) Very easy - Self-knowing
Hey! (It is) Very easy.
Parrot's oratory stuns scientists. The
finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to
communicate with people has brought scientists up short. The
bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of
950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.
He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with
novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope - just
as a human child would do.
N'kisi's remarkable abilities, which are said to include
telepathy, feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine.
Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3430481.stm
from The Times of India
The World is What We Think it is
Vinayak Lohani
Since ages we have been witness to an incessant
face-off between faith
and logic. European enlightenment exposed certain flaws in blind
faith
and ushered in an era of rationality, and logic became the
dominant
paradigm.
Metaphysics walks a tightrope between rationality
and faith and it is
here that the dissension between the two is sometimes at its
peak.
Oriental metaphysical thought like the Advaita
Vedanta are expounded on
as rational a ground as metaphysics could ever be.
But at a certain point they have to forsake logic
due to its inherent
limitations and enter a realm where tools of logic are no longer
applicable and things have to be taken on faith.
To understand these limitations, we have to first
understand the nature
and mechanism of logic.
Logic is a continuous build-up, a rearrangement
of certain propositions
whi-ch are known as elementary or object-propositions. These
propositions, which we call 'facts', are based on direct
perceptual
know-ledge or empiricism.
These elementary building blocks of the logical
process hinge upon the
validity of human perception and are limited by the latter's
scope and
validity.
That's why theories such as the geocentric theory
or even Newtonian
mechanics that were once accepted as empirical truths, were later
discarded when such perceptions were invali-dated in light of
newer
revelations of modern science.
Amongst western logicians it was Ludwig
Wittgenstein, the Austrian
philosopher who came nearest to proving the futility of all
logical
speculations to attain the Supreme Truth.
In his seminal work Tractatus Logicus
Philosophicus Wittgenstein argued
that logic is always conveyed through the instrument of language
which
itself is based upon direct human perception.
Language by its very definition is based upon the
collective
consciousness of all human beings, and is not drawn from
perceptions
particular to an individual.
To read the rest of this article please visit http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/444700.cms
Five sayings that I keep on my Outlook Express at all times, adding gems when I find them ~M
Are you worried? Do you have many "what if"
thoughts?
You are identified with your mind, which is projecting
itself into an imaginary future situation and creating fear.
There is no way that you can cope with such a situation,
because it doesn't exist. It's a mental
phantom. ---Eckhart Tolle
As water is serene when free of ripples, so
is the mind serene when free of thought,
when it is passive and fully receptive.
When quiet, the mind reflects Reality.
When absolutely motionless, it dissolves
and only Reality remains. ---Ramesh S. Balsekar
Why are you so afraid of silence?
Silence is the root of everything.
If you spiral into its void
a hundred voices will thunder messages
you long to hear. ---Rumi
Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the
Now, have your dwelling
place in the Now and pay brief visits to past
and future when required to deal with the
practical aspects of your life situation. ---Eckhart Tolle
Under whatever name and form one may worship the Absolute
Reality, it would only be a means for realizing that Perfect
Being without name and form. That alone is true realization,
wherein one knows one's true being in relation to that Reality,
and realizes one's identity with It by being absorbed into It.
---Ramana Maharishi
You need nothing except to be what you are.
- nisargadatta maharaj -
http://nondualitybeagle.cjb.net