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#2030 -
Subhuti asked: "You say, Honored One, that a follower of
the way does not need to build up goodness and happiness. Why is
that?"
The Buddha replied: "Subhuti, a true follower will express
goodness and happiness but will not be caught up in the concepts
of goodness and happiness. That’s why I say that he does not
need to build up goodness and happiness, which would only be
concept traps, for goodness and happiness will be there without
any idea of them."
-Diamond Sutra
From "Buddha Speaks," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000.
Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications,
posted to MillionPaths by Gloria Lee
The Way does not need cultivation;
Just don’t pollute it.
What is pollution?
As long as you have a fluctuating mind,
Creating artificialities and pursuing inclinations,
All is pollution.
If you want to understand the Way directly,
The normal mind is the Way.
What is normal mind?
It has no artificial contrivance,
No right or wrong, no grasping or rejection,
No ordinariness and no sanctity.
- Ancestor Ma (709-788)
woodblock print by Lee Love: http://www.flickr.com/photos/togeika/
“Some discoveries provide answers to questions. Other
discoveries are so deep that they cast questions in a whole new
light, showing that previous mysteries were misperceived through
lack of knowledge.”
Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, 2004, p. 39
posted to AlphaWorld
"Yoga Class" photo by Michael Bowes from nondualnow
The center of the Cosmos lies in the center
of your own heart.
A trillion times a second, you're both creating
and destroying the entire universe.
So of what is there to be afraid?
Is a Mother ever afraid of her own infant?
At every moment, you are already cradling
your Beloved.
Even as you, yourself, are being cradled.
- Chuck Hillig
posted to Along the Way
The seeker said
to himself, "If I'd known
the real meaning of this
being with God,
how should I have gone
searching for Him?
But that knowledge depended
on this journeying:
that knowing can't be gained
by thinking, no
matter how precise."
- Rumi
posted to Along the Way
Hand colored woodblock print, "The Visit," by
Jean Shannon,
"Many Japanese
temples and shrines are literally breathtaking because they are
at the top of a heart-pounding climb of stairs.
The aged buildings
and the dense woods give the visitor a sense of having stepped
into another time."
http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~ikiru/prints/img6.htm
Two Buddhas, photo by Sam Pasciencier
Loss of mindfulness is why people engage in useless pursuits,
do not care for their own interests, and remain unalarmed in the
presence of things which actually menace their welfare.
-Buddha
From Sayings of the Buddha: Reflections for Every Day, by William
Wray, 2004. Reprinted by arrangement with Arcturus Publishing,
posted to MillionPaths by Gloria Lee
~ ~ ~
Dear Gloria and list,
As my mind is distracted by silly funny things most of the time,
this true saying from the Buddha only reminds me of my own
welfare and my favorite Monty Python Quote. I apologize in
advance if this is seen as off-topic here on this list, where a
serious tone is preferred, but I can not restrain from posting
it. Even Bhagavan was found reading Mickey-Mouse comics and
laughing cheerfully (see U.G Krishnamurti http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0031.htm
) My quote is from a scene from Monty Python's movie "The
Meaning of Life". Interesting enough, although this is the
scene which gave the movie its title, it usually goes by
unnoticed by most of the viewers ...
_________
Script:
Three people at an office are discussing the meeting-agenda
see: http://tinyurl.com/646pw
CHAIRMAN:
.... Item six on the agenda: the meaning of life. Now, uh, Harry,
you've had some thoughts on this.
HARRY:
That's right. Yeah, I've had a team working on this over the past
few
weeks, and, uh, what we've come up with can be reduced to two
fundamental concepts. One: people are not wearing enough hats.
Two:
matter is energy. In the universe, there are many energy fields
which
we cannot normally perceive. Some energies have a spiritual
source
which act upon a person's soul. However, this soul does not exist
ab
initio, as orthodox Christianity teaches. It has to be brought
into
existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this
is
rarely achieved, owing to man's unique ability to be distracted
from
spiritual matters by everyday trivia.
[pause]
BERT:
What was that about hats, again?
HARRY:
Oh, uh, people aren't wearing enough.
CHAIRMAN:
Is this true?
EDMUND:
Certainly. Hat sales have increased, but not pari passu, as our
research initially--
BERT:
But when you say 'enough', enough for what purpose?
GUNTHER:
Can I just ask, with reference to your second point, when you say
souls don't develop because people become distracted,...
[rumble]
...has anyone noticed that building there before?
see: http://tinyurl.com/6q2v8
________________
Cheers
Martin
Energy Radiated from Bhagavan
As told by Wolter Keers, a Dutch teacher and writer who
visited Bhagavan in 1950, just before his mahasamadhi:
The first time I saw Bhagavan, even at a distance, I immediately
recognised that this was the being I had been looking for all my
life. My immediate experiences in his presence cemented that
conviction. As I sat before him, I became aware of an all-
penetrating, all-conquering love that nothing in me was able to
resist. But when I use the word 'love', I don't think I quite
encapsulate the driving, unstoppable energy with which Bhagavan
effortlessly radiated this dissolving force. If I say that I was
repeatedly struck by jolting, shuddering, mind-dissolving bolts
of lightning, you will get a better idea of just how powerful his
presence was. Or perhaps you won't, because I have discovered
that no one who has not experienced this kind of energy for
himself can really understand what I am hinting at. You will get
the idea of some magnificent being radiating light, but you will
not have that experience for yourself.
The Power of the Presence, part three. David Godman
posted to MillionPaths by Yarden
Happy Fourth Anniversary
to Million Paths!
Ellam Ondre
Gyan
~ ~ ~
Dear Gyan,
Thank you! So kind of you to have
mentioned this!
I shall bring today an old post from
Carlos Castaneda's 'The Teachings of Don Juan' that inspired the
name of the list four years ago.
I wish everybody to continue enjoying
our list, and thank you all for your friendship and company.
Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always
keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should
not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To
have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then
will you know that any path is only a path and there is no
affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what
your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path
or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look
at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as
you think necessary. This question is one that only a very old
man asks. Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same:
they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into
the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long long
paths, but I am not anywhere. Does this path have a heart? If it
does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both
paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One
makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one
with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you
strong; the other weakens you.
Before you embark on any path ask the
question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you
will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble
is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that
he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill
him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave
the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to
work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart
is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.
I have told you that to choose a path you
must be free from fear and ambition. The desire to learn is not
ambition. It is our lot as men to want to know. The path without
a heart will turn against men and destroy them. It does not take
much to die, and to seek death is to seek nothing.
For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have a heart, on any path that may have a heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel--looking, looking, breathlessly.
