Kiss the earth

Walk and touch peace every moment.

Walk and touch happiness every moment.

Each step brings a fresh breeze.

Each step makes a flower bloom.

Kiss the Earth with your feet.

Bring the Earth your love and happiness.

The Earth will be safe

when we feel safe in ourselves.

By Thich Nhat Hanh
Gary Hall

Too lazy to be ambitious

Too lazy to be ambitious,
I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.

Ryokan

A dream within a dream

Take this kiss upon the brow! 
And, in parting from you now, 
Thus much let me avow– 
You are not wrong, who deem 
That my days have been a dream; 
Yet if hope has flown away 
In a night, or in a day, 
In a vision, or in none, 
Is it therefore the less gone? 
All that we see or seem 
Is but a dream within a dream. 

I stand amid the roar 
Of a surf-tormented shore, 
And I hold within my hand 
Grains of the golden sand– 
How few! yet how they creep 
Through my fingers to the deep, 
While I weep–while I weep! 
O God! can I not grasp 
Them with a tighter clasp? 
O God! can I not save 
One from the pitiless wave? 
Is all that we see or seem 
But a dream within a dream?

Edgar Allen Poe

This body is not me.

I am not limited by this body.

I am life without boundaries.

I have never been born,

and I have never died.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,

manifestations from my wondrous true mind.

Since before time, I have been free.

Birth and death are only doors through which we pass,

sacred thresholds on our journey.

Birth and death are a game of hide-and-seek.

So laugh with me,

hold my hand,

let us say good-bye,

say good-bye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.

We will meet again tomorrow.

We will meet at the source every moment.

We meet each other in all forms of life.

contemplation on no-coming and no-going - thich nhat hanh

The ocean of peace lies ahead of me.

Sail the boat, O pilot

You are my constant companion now.

Take me in your lap.

Along our journey to the infinite.

The pole star alone will shine.

Giver of Freedom

Set me free.

May your forgiveness and compassion

Be my eternal resources for the journey —

May the mortal ties fall away,

May the vast universe

Hold me in embrace,

And with an undaunted heart

May I come to know the Great Unknown.

last writings - rabindranath tagore - december 1939

The sun shines down,

and its image reflects a thousand

different pots filled with water.

The reflections are many,

but they are each reflecting the same sun.

Similarly, when we come to know who we truly are,

we will see ourselves in all people.

amma

Start the day with love

Start the Day with Love;
Spend the Day with Love;
Fill the Day with Love;
End the Day with Love;This is the way to God.

sri sathya sai baba

May the long time sun

May the long time sun
Shine upon you,
All love surround you,
And the pure light within you
Guide your way on.

You may not believe in magic, but don’t you think it strange
the amount of matter in our universe has never slightly changed?

That all which makes your body was once part of something more,
and every breath you ever breathe has seen it all before.

There are countless scores of beauty in all the things that you despise.
It could once have been a shooting star that now makes up your thighs!

And, atoms of forgotten life -who’ve long since ceased to roam-
may now have the great honor to call your crooked smile their home.

You may not believe in magic (but I thought that you should know)
the makings of your heart were born fourteen billion years ago!

So next time you feel lonely, when this world makes you feel small,
Just remember that it’s part of you – and you’re part of it all.

“We are travelers on a cosmic journey,stardust,swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity." P Coelho

Like the waters of a river

Like the waters of a river
That in the swift flow of the stream
A great rock divides,
Though our ways seem to have parted
I know thast in the end we shall meet.

(twelfth century Japanese verse)

Constantly regard the universe as one living being

Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the co-operating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web.. And inasmuch as I am in a manner intimately related to the parts which are of the same kind of myself, I shall do nothing unsocial, but I shall rather direct myself to the things which are the same kind with myself, and I shall turn all my efforts to the common interest, and divert them from the contrary.

from The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

The matrix of all matter

There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force. We must assume behind this force the existence of a concious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.

The shape of the wind and moon

Trees show the shape of the wind;
waves blur the shape of the moon.

The wind longs to play with your hair

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair
- Kahlil Gibran

Entangled happenings

Empty handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going -
Two simple happenings
that got entangled
- Kozan

Being nothing you are everything

You live among illusions and in the world of apparitions. But there is a reality. You yourself are this reality, but you don't know this. If you awaken to this reality you will see that you are nothing and being nothing you are everything.
- Kalu Rinpoche

The refleection of the moon

The reflection of the moon fills the autumn river

Look

Don't think: Look!

Red wheel barrow

So much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
- William Carlos Williams

Pity

“At times I go about pitying myself, when all the while I am being carried by great winds across the sky.”

Who am I?

The voyage of self discovery starts within. It starts by looking at ourselves objectively and understanding who we are. When we understand this, our mind is opened to many possibilities and answers will fall into our laps.

Lets start with the basics, We all have a name. Our name has been with us since we were born but it was only really given to us as a label by our parents. Our name is not who we really are.

We all have friends and family who we love. Even though the people closest to us do help to partially define us, they do not define is wholly. If they were all taken away from us, we would still continue to exist, admittedly in a different frame of mind to which we exist at the moment.

A lot of us spend a third of our lives at work. Some try to make the world a better place through their work whilst for some it is just a means to an end - a way to pay the bills. Some people die when they retire as they don’t have anything to keep them going, for them their work is their life but its not really who we are.

Some say that our possessions define us. The fact that we’re wearing the latest fashion, living in a nice house or driving the latest model of car is important to some but it is not our true essence - far from it.

I hope you’re with me so far. I’m saying that things that are external to us do not define who we are. Now lets look at ourselves.

Are we our bodies? Its an interesting question, many people when asked to point to themself would point to either their hearts or their brains. The truth is that every single part of our bodies can be replaced due to the wonders of modern science. Artificial limbs can replace our arms and legs and we can even have an artificial heart.

So then, are we our minds? Are we our brains? Again another interesting thought. Most people would say ‘Yes’ to this but lets think about this a little more. We know that people can be brain dead, their bodies can still be functioning but their brains have died. Therefore, surely we can’t be our brains can we?

So whats left? What are we? Who are we? What is at our core? What is the changeless reality amongst the changing nature of our world? Do we know? Is the answer even important? Only you can decide….

The gap between stimulus and response

Stephen Covey writes in The 8th Habit that "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In those choices lie our growth and our happiness."

Personal spiritual statement

I believe that I have a soul and that the universe has a soul and that my goal in this life is for my soul to become one with the soul of the universe.

To do this I need to:

- Keep this ultimate destination in mind at all times
- immerse myself in the present moment
- remain detached from outside events
- live a simple life
- cultivate love for everyone and everything
- take some quiet time for meditation practice every day
- experience piece of mind and body as often as possible
- experience life in its fullness
- remember that I am love
- being here now
- checking each thought that comes into my mind to make sure it is inline with these principles
- be free
- experience the eternity of time and the infinity of space in every moment
- understand that allo is one and that everything I perceive is part of myself
- move beyond mistaken comcepts and see clearly
- see that life is in a continual, constant transformation and flux
- remove all barriers in my personality
- have a naturally settled mind
- understand my true nature
- have a clear mind and a clean heart
be free from desire and fear

what is enlightenment?

What is enlightenment? What is that state of Cosmic Consciousness, the ultimate awareness called variously - enlightenment, nirvana, satori, samadhi, self-realization, rapture, salvation, ascension, unity consciousness, voidness, and many other terms by many various religions? It is the goal of life, the ultimate destination of every individualized being. It is brought about when the individual personality ascends beyond the illusionary perception of self separateness to merge in the Universal Self from which it originated so very long ago. Spiritual evolution towards this goal takes place over ages but the final ascent of Spirit can happen in an instant of time.

each soul is potentially divine

"Each soul is potentially Divine. The Goal is to manifest this Divinity within, by controlling nature external and internal. Do this either by work or worship or psychic control or philosophy - by one or more or all of these - and be free. This is the whole of Religion. Doctrines or dogmas or rituals or books or temples or forms are but secondary details." [SwamiVivekananda]

we need to stand back

"We need to stand back from all that is going on in
the world, enter that timeless part of ourselves and
learn to feel what it is to be alive. Then we can live
in the world if we wish, but not be a product of it.
Whatever society is today, it will change. All
cultures and civilizations have a limited life span
and what is fashionable at one time is unfashionable
at another. But underlying all that goes on in the
world, our true nature is always there, underlying our
sense of who we are.

We are never apart from our true nature, except
psychologically, whilst we believe in the play that is
being enacted in the world, whilst we identify with it
and immerse ourselves in it. But we always have, if we
are aware of it, the option of standing back and going
into the silent emptiness of our true nature. If we
don’t take this option, then we get swallowed up by
the world and all the meaningless activity, and thus
miss the plot entirely."

--Roy Whenary

the love that moves the stars moves also the heart of man

The finite in man longs for the infinite. The love that moves the stars moves also the heart of man and a law of spiritual gravitation leads his soul to the soul of the universe. Man sees the sun by the light of the sun, and he sees the spirit by the light of his own inner spirit. The radiance of eternal beauty shines over this vast universe and in moments of contemplation we can see the Eternal in things that pass away. This is the message of the great spiritual seers; and all poetry and art and beauty is only an infinite variation of this message.

the more one gives, the more one has

Contrary to the law of matter, where to give more means to have less, in the law of love the more one gives, the more one has. - Juan Mascaro

the finite longs for the infinite

The finite longs for the infinite and we feel the sorrowof things that pass away; but beyond the tears of mankind there is the rainbow of joy. We can love the infinite in all, and thus we can find joy in all.

the spirit can see that all energy is love

Just as the rational mind can see that all matter is energy, the spirit can see that all energy is love, and everything in creation can be a mathematical equation for the mind and a song of love for the soul.

what matters

what matters is not to think much, but to love much - St Teresa

love alone

it is love alone that unites the soul with God - St John of the Cross

To Be or not to Be, that is the question

glimpses of the joys of paradise

whatever pleasures we may get from our emotions, they cannot equal those moments of silent peace that are glimpses of the joys of paradise.

in order to be all

In order to be All, do not desire to be anything.
In order to know All, do not desire to know anything.
In order to find the joy of All, do not desire to enjoy anything.

being can be felt in the silence of the soul

Being can be felt in the silence of the soul. When an inner surrender of the self concious will takes place, there is great peace of mind and body, and gradually the movements of the mind seem to stop. There is no thinking, but there is a deep feeling of Being, of a deeper reality than the reality of ordinary conciousness. Faith in being then becomes absolute: how could one doubt the deepest experience of one's life?

there is no reason

There is no reason why we should want everyone else to follow our path - St Theresa

as a tortoise

When in recollection, he withdraws all his senses from the attractions of the pleasures of sense, even as a tortoise withdraws all its limbs, then his is a serene wisdom. - Bhagavad Gita 2.58

peace in the infinite

Man can only find peace in the infinite, not the finite. "When you set your heart on anything, you cease to throw yourself into the all" St John of the Cross. If we desire anything for its finite pleasure, we shall miss its infinite joy. We should be able to leave all things behind and not look back - it is not to leave a vacuum in the soul, but to desire the highest in all with the fire of burning love.

Even as all waters flow into the ocean

Even as all waters flow into the ocean, but the ocean never overflows, even so the sage feels desires, but he is ever one in his infinite peace. - Bhagavad Gita 2.70

the inner light of being

If we want things as objects of possession we are in the lower region of 'having', but if we find in things objects of contemplation and inner communion we are in the higher region of 'being'. All true love is love of eternity, and the inner light of being is revealed only when the clouds of becoming disappear.

resting unshaken in divine contemplation

When thy mind leaves behind its dark forest of delusion, thou shalt go beyond the scriptures of times past and still to come.
When thy mind, that may be wavering in the contradictions of many scriptures, shall rest unshaken in divine conemplation then the goal of Yoga is thine.

What is Brahman?

Brahman cannot be defined because it is infinite. It is beyond thought and beyond imagination. It is nothing in the mind and nothing outside the mind,nothing past or present or future. These are only conceptions in time and space. But the nearest conecption of Brahman we can have is to say that it is a state of conciousness beyond time when SAT, CHIT and ANANDA, being, conciousness and joy, are one - modern translation of the Upanishads.

There is a spirit

There is a spirit which is mind and life, light and truth and vast spaces. He contains all works and desires and all perfumes and all tastes. He enfolds the whole universe, and in silence is loving to all.
This is the spirit that is in my heart, smaller than a grain of rice, or a grain of barley, or a grain of mustard seed, or a grain of canary seed or the kernel of a grain of canary seed.
This is the spirit that is in my heart, grater than the earth, greater than the sky, greater than heaven itself, greater than all these worlds. This is the Spirit that is in my heart, that is Brahman.
- Chandoga Upanishad

Brahman and Atman

Brahman and Atman. They are two names for one truth, and the two are One and the same. The Truth of the Universe is Brahman: our own inner truth is Atman. The scared Om is a name for both Atman and Brahman. This can be divided into three sounds, but the three roll into one: AUM. One of the meanings of Om is Yes. Brahman, Atman, Om, is the positive truth, the yes, of all.

There was not then

There was not then what is nor what is not. There was no sky, and no heaven beyond the sky. What power was there? Where? Who was that power? Was there an abyss of fathomless waters?
There was neither death nor immortality then. No signs were there of night or day. The ONE was brathing by its own power, in deep peace. Only the ONE was: there was nothing beyond.
Darkness was hidden in darkness. The all was fluid and formless. Therein, in the void, by the fire of fervour arose the ONE.
And in the ONE arose love. Love, the first seed of soul. The truth of this the sages found in their hearts: seeking in their hearts with wisdom, the sages found that bond of union between being and non-being.
Who knows in truth? Who can tell us whence and how arose this universe? The gods are later than its beginning: who knows therefore whence comes this creation?
Only that god who sees in highest heaven: he only knows whence comes this universe, and whether it was made or uncreated. He only knows, or perhaps he knows not.
- Rig Veda x. 129 excerpt from Song of Creation

And I have felt a presence that disturbs me

And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.

Wordsworth - Tintern Abbey

Gayatre

Let our meditation be on the glorious light of Savitri. May this light illumine our minds.

in the world of the thinking mind

When you are in the world of the thinking mind, you are somewhere in the remembered past or the imagined future. You are in a world of thought, memory, concept, idea,
opinion and belief. You are not here now. What you are experiencing is not of the present moment. It is not real. You are in a world of illusion (Maya) and yet you have
come to believe that it real. Almost the entire human population is lost in this illusion. It is the sole source of our suffering. - Leonard Jacobson

can you forget the self?

Whenever a thought arises, do not be carried away by it. You become aware of the body when you forget the Self. But can you forget the Self ? Being the Self how can you forget it? There must be two selves for one to forget the other. It is absurd.
So the Self is not depressed, nor is it imperfect. It is very happy. The contrary feeling is a mere thought which actually has no stamina in it. Be rid of thoughts. Being the Self one remains always realised. Only be free from thoughts. - Ramana Maharshi

god clothed in rags

Man is a god clothed in rags, he is a master of the universe going about begging a crust of bread. He is a king prostrated before his own servants, a prisoner walled in by his own ignorance. He could be free. He has only to walk out of his self-constructed prison, for none holds him there but himself. - Paul Twitchell

words cannot describe everything

Words cannot describe everything. The heart's message cannot be delivered in words. If one receives words literally, she will be lost. If she tries to explain with words, she will not attain enlightenment in this life. -Mu-mon 1228

The "Sublime Joke'' of the Journey

Knowing that we are looking for something we already have and are does not, of course, mean that the journey is unnecessary, only that there is a vast and sublime joke
waiting to be discovered at its end.

wandering from room to room

You wander from room to room
Hunting for the diamond necklace
That is already around your neck!
Rumi

zen opens a man's eyes

Zen opens a man's eyes to the greatest mystery as it is daily and hourly performed; it enlarges the heart to embrace eternity of time and infinity of space in its every
palpitation; it makes us live in the world as if walking in the garden of Eden. - DT Suzuki

every thought

Every thought in consciousness has been born into form, a temporary form and then it dies and goes onto another form. You could say the whole world is consciousness
having taken birth as form, manifesting as form temporarly, and then dying which means dissolving as form. What always remains is the "essence" of all that exists - consciousness itself. - Eckhart Tolle

the real glory of meditation

The real glory of meditation lies not in any method but in its continual living experience of presence, in its bliss, clarity, peace, and most important of all, complete absence of grasping. The diminishing of grasping in yourself is a sign
that you are becoming freer of yourself. And the more you experience this freedom, the clearer the sign that the ego and the hopes and fears that keep it alive are dissolving, and the closer you will come to the infinitely generous "wisdom of egolessness." When you live in the wisdom home, you'll no longer find a barrier between "I" and "you," "this" and "that," "inside" and "outside;" you'll have come, finally, to your true home, the state of non-duality.
Sogyal Rinpoche - The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

moving beyond mistaken concepts

When we learn to move beyond mistaken concepts and see clearly, we no longer solidify reality. We see waves coming and going, arising and passing. We see that life, composed of this mind and body, is in a state of continual, constant transformation and flux.
There is always the possibility of radical change. Every moment - not just poetically or figuratively, but literally - every moment we are dying and being reborn, we and all of life.

'Loving-Kindness - The Revolutionary Art of Happiness' Sharon Salzberg

There is pleasure in the pathless woods

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes
By the deep sea, and music in its roar.
I love not man the less, but nature more,
From these our interviews in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
~Lord Byron

What is life?

"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset." Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator, 1890

Unity

Unity is a state in which nothing is left out of "I am"

knowing others...

Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom.

-Lao Tse

"You have the energy of the sun in you, but keep knotting it up at the base of your spine." - Rumi

Everyone has their own reality and experiences, which are true for them.

Everyone has their own reality and experiences, which are true for them.

True identity

You can find your true identity within yourself. Nobody can find it for you. You must get up in the morning and find your true identity. You need time to be all by yourself, where there is nobody else. It will bring prosperity. Your radiant body will become brighter. There is no make-up that works to make you brighter, or for your character. You can try anything you want, but for character, you have to work with yourself.

Sat Nam

Sat Nam! (I honor the Truth of your identity, which is the same as mine and makes us one.)

Neti Neti Neti

The yogis say, neti neti neti.
I am not this, not that, not the other.

The Christians say, go forth and be filled
with the Holy Spirit.

The Buddhists say, your true nature is Clear Light.

There is something more than meets the eye.
Dive deeply below the surface of your life,
what will you find there?

Turn on your searchlight,
use your miner's helmet,
and dig through the debris of all your days.
Fear not—gold gleams within the darkness.

We are not this, not that, not the other.

naturally settled mind

"If your mind is able to settle naturally of its own accord, and if you find you are inspired simply to rest in its pure awareness, then you do not need any method of meditation. However, the vast majority of us find it difficult to arrive at that state straight away. We simply do not know how to awaken it, and our minds are so wild and so distracted that we need askillful means or method to evoke it."

"By “skillful” I mean that you bring together your understanding of the essential nature of your mind, your knowledge of your various, shifting moods, and the insight you have developed through your practice into how to work with yourself, from moment to moment. By bringing these together, you learn the art of applying whatever method isappropriate to any particular situation or problem, to transform that environment of your mind."

Sogyal Rinpoche,

nature of mind

What is the nature of mind like? Imagine a sky, empty, spacious, and pure from the beginning; its essence is like this. Imagine a sun, luminous, clear, unobstructed, and spontaneously present; its nature is like this. Imagine that sun shining out impartially on us and all things, penetrating all directions; its energy, which is the manifestation of compassion, is like this: Nothing can obstruct it, and it pervades everywhere. Sogyal Rinpoche

let the water settle

"Let the water settle; you will see the moon and stars mirrored in your being." --Jelaluddin Rumi

indivisibility of the universe

desires are just waves in the mind

Desires are just waves in the mind. You know a wave when you see one. A desire is just a thing among many. I feel no urge to satisfy it, no action needs to be taken on it. Freedom from desire means the compulsion to satisfy is absent.

cast your moorings

Meditation will help you to find your bonds, loosen them, untie them and cast your moorings. When you are no longer attached to anything you have done your share. The rest will be done for you.

clear mind and clean heart

Seek a clear mind and a clean heart. All you need is to keep quietly alert, enquiring into the real nature of yourself. This is the only way to peace.

happiness comes from within

True happiness cannot be found in things that change and pass away. Happiness comes from within and can only be found within.

all embracing emptiness

Have you felt the all embracing emptiness in which the universe swims like a cloud in the blue sky?

no steps to realisation

There are no steps to realisation - it happens suddenly and is irreversible. You rotate into a new dimension, seen from which the previous ones are just abstractions. The world of illusions is left behind.

morality

Q. What is right and what is wrong?
A. Relatively, what causes suffering is wrong and what alleviates it is right. Absolutely, what brings you to reality is right and what dims reality is wrong.

the little finger

"Look. This little finger covers the eye and prevents the whole world from being seen. In the same way this small mind covers the whole universe and prevents Reality from being seen."

Pleasure and pain

Pleasure and pain lost their sway over me. I was free from desire and fear. I found myself full, needing nothing. I saw that in the ocean of pure awareness, on the surface of the universal conciousness, the numberless waves of the phenomenal worlds arise and subside beginninglessly and endlessly. As conciousness, they are all me. As events they are all mine. There is a mysterious power that looks after them. That power is awareness, Self, Life, God, whatever name you give it. It is the foundation, the ultimate support of all that is.

Meditation will help you find your bonds

Meditation will help you find your bonds, loosen them, untie them and cast your moorings. When you are no longer attached to anything, you have done your share. The rest will be done for you/

sometimes we may laugh

Sometimes we may laugh. Or, sometimes we may cry. It is all the same, except that laughing makes your body feel better than crying does.

om

Om is this imperishable Word, Om is the Universe, and this is the exposition of OM. The past, the present and the future, all that was, all that is, all that will be, is OM. Likewise all else that may exist beyond the bounds of Time, that too is OM.
From a timeless stillness existence began. That first stirring, the first moment of creation is Om. Om is the seed sound of creation. "In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God," says the Gospel of St. John. That Word is Om.

millions of questions

If you have millions of questions about God and about yourself, you will be able to get most adequate answers to all of them by getting the proper answer to this one question: 'Who am I?' All the other questions revolve around this question. When you know the answer to this question, your life's problems are solved. Illumining questions, questions that come from the very depth of our heart concerning our inner progress and inner achievements, our self-realisation or God-realisation, are very few in number. Besides asking, 'Who am I?' you may want to know the answer to the question, 'What am I here for?' You may also have various specific questions about your own spiritual progress, which are bound to come to you spontaneously. But the only really important question is, 'Who am I?'

I am not the body, but I am the Inner Pilot.

I am not the body, but I am the Inner Pilot.

right in front of your eyes

Awakening is not about opening your eyes for the first time and seeing something different. You are already had your eyes open but you didn't realise what was right in front of your eyes. - Adyashanti

pure spirit

When you're no-thing and no-body then you're just pure spirit

THE ENEMY

The enemy is not the other. The enemy is you - Krishnamurti

unity

unite the individual soul with the Universal Soul

only when the water is still

only when the water is still can you see through it

What's wrong with RIGHT NOW

What's wrong with RIGHT NOW unless you think about it?

mistaken identity

that Awareness which I am talking about is HERE RIGHT NOW. When you are 'enlightened' it will be realised that 'you' always were the Awareness which is your very core RIGHT NOW as we speak. There is NOTHING new to achieve. It's just a case of mistaken identity.

my life is a movement between the two

when it is realised that you are nothing ... that is wisdom, and when it is realised that you are everything ... that is love. My life is a movement between the two.

the knower of Brahman

"The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman" (Mundaka Upanishad, III, 2, 9).

Truly I am Brahman

Look, "you" and "I" have never existed. It is sheer nonsense to consider oneself as having a family or caste. Truly I am Brahman – the Supreme Reality. How can I make salutations to It? Avadhuta Gita

existence-knowledge-bliss

I have told you the quintessence of the Supreme Reality. There is neither "you" nor "I" nor superior nor teacher nor disciple. The Ultimate Reality is simple and spontaneous. I am Existence-Knowledge-Bliss and boundless as space.

minds free

Minds free, thoughts gone.
Brows clear, faces serene.

the man and his shadow

Once there was a man who hated his own shadow. When he walked and found that his shadow was close behind him, he began to walk faster and faster. But the faster he moved, the closer his shadow came. So he ran like a madman, and in the end, he dropped dead.

Those who do not understand the Tao are just like the man who hated his shadow. It is actually very easy to be rid of one's shadow – just rest under a tree. Just rest!

What is born and what dies?

Those who think they will die identify totally with the body, and
think they are a physical body. Likewise with birth. What is born
and what dies?

A body, that's all. Are there not 7 billion (human) bodies? What is
the big deal? Thousands of bodies die daily, thousands more are born
daily.

There is nothing special about the body of a "realized sage." It's
just another body, and it dies the same as any other body.

"Osho" is just a label, a series of concepts, a word. The word is
associated with a body that failed to function and began to
disintegrate at some point. Big deal?

reality is simply the loss of ego

Reality is simply the loss of ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity. Because the ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself. - Sri Ramana Maharshi

the limitless being

"That in whom reside all beings and who reside in all beings, who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being--I am That." Amritbindu Upanishad

you are the supreme Brahman

You are the supreme Brahman, infinite, yet hidden in the hearts of all creatures. You pervade everything. (Shvetashvatara Upanishad. 3:7)

as the rivers flowing east and west

As the rivers flowing east and west
Merge in the sea and become one with it,
Forgetting they were ever separate rivers,
So do all creatures lose their separateness
When they merge at last into pure Being.
(Chandogya Upanishad. 10:1-2)

there is no duality

there is no duality; the mind, awake or dreaming, moves through maya ("illusion"); and only nonduality (advaita) is the
final truth. This truth is concealed by the ignorance of illusion. There is no becoming, either of a thing by itself or of a thing out of some other thing. There is ultimately no individual self or soul (jiva), only the atman (all-soul). - Gaudapada

seek first

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. -Matthew 6:33

underlting all forms of yoga

"Underlying all forms of Yoga is the understanding that the human being is more than the physical body and that, through a course of discipline, it is possible to discover what this 'more' is."

A human being is a part of a whole

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein

like a flash

"Like a flash there is presented to his consciousness a clear conception (a vision) in outline of the meaning and drift of the universe...He sees and knows that the cosmos...is in fact...in very truth a living presence. He sees that instead of men being, as it were, patches of life scattered through an infinite sea of non-living substance, they are in reality specks of relative death in an infinite ocean of life. He sees that the life which is in man is as immortal as God is; that the universe is so built and ordered that without any peradventure all things work together for the good of each and all; that the foundation principle of the world is what we call love, and that the happiness of every individual is in the long run absolutely certain."

the individual soul is non-different from Brahman

Brahman (the Absolute) is alone real; this world is unreal; and the Jiva or the individual soul is non-different from Brahman.

plain and simple

a boat painted and adorned, will carry you across the river; so also will one that is plain and simple

"I am" itself is God

"'I am' itself is God. The seeking itself is God. In seeking you discover that you are neither the body nor the mind, and the love of the self in you is for the self in all. The two are one. The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, really one, seek unity and that is love."

you are not an individual

There are many persons who have a great attachment to their own individuality. They want first and foremost to remain as an individual and then search, for they are not prepared to lose that individuality. While retaining their identity, they want to find out what is the truth.

But in this process, you must get rid of the identity itself. If you really find out what you are, you will see that you are not an individual, you are not a person, you are not a body. And people who cling to their body identity are not fit for this knowledge.

giving up profit

"There's nothing from which the world could profit more than from giving up profit. A man who's no longer thinking in terms of winning and loosing is truly non-violent man, since he's above all conflicts." - Nisargadatta

face to face with truth

When we are face to face with truth, the point of view of Krishna, Buddha, Christ, or any other Prophet, is the same. When we look at life from the top of the mountain, there is no limitation; there is the same immensity. ~Hazrat Inayat Khan

a gentle wind

A gentle wind fans the calm night;
A bright moon shines on the high tower.
A voice whispers, but no one answers when I call:
A shadow stirs, but no one comes when I beckon.
The kitchen man brings in a dish of lentils:
Wine is there, but I do not fill my cup.
Contentment with poverty is fortune's best gift:
Riches and Honour are the handmaids of Disaster.
Though gold and gems by the world are sought and prized,
To me they seem no more than weeds or chaff.- Fu Hsuan

The valley wind

Living in retirement beyond the World,
Silently enjoying isolation,
I pull the rope of my door tighter
And stuff my window with roots and ferns.
My spirit is tuned to the Spring-season:
At the fall of the year
There is autumn in my heart.
Thus imitating cosmic changes,
My cottage becomes a Universe.~Lu Yun

mirror of your perception

If you could get rid of yourself just once,
The secret of secrets Would open to you.
The face of the unknown, Hidden beyond the universe
Would appear on the Mirror of your perception. Rumi

harmony

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." ~Mohandas K. Gandhi

peace means

Peace does not mean the absence of war. Peace means the presence of harmony, love, satisfaction and oneness. - Sri Chinmay

common good

When you desire the common good, the whole world desires with you. Make humanity's desire your own and work for it. There you cannot fail. - I am that

becoming nobody

The game is not about becoming somebody; it's about becoming nobody. Ram Dass

The heart has eyes which the brain knows nothing of.

The heart has eyes which the brain knows nothing of. Charles H Perkhurst

i believe it was the river

I sat there and forgot and forgot, until what remained was the river that went by and I who watched... Eventually the watcher joined the river and then there was only one of us. I believe it was the river. - Norman Maclean

hanging loose

When your mind is free, not concerned, or worried, or focused on anything in particular, and your heart is not grasping or clinging to anything, then you are free. The most characteristic quality is that there is no fixation on anything; you're not focused on any issue or experience. Whatever is there, is there. So there is a freedom of mind. The mind is not saying, "I want this," or "I want to look at this," or "It has to be this way." The mind is loose. The expression "hang loose" tells us what it means to be liberated. A.H. Almaas

life is one indivisible whole

"One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong
in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole." Ghandi

Song of the Soul

I am neither ego nor reason, I am neither mind nor thought,
I cannot be heard nor cast into words, nor by smell nor sight
ever caught:
In light and wind I am not found, nor yet in earth and sky -
Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no name, I have no life, I breathe no vital air,
No elements have moulded me, no bodily sheath is my lair:
I have no speech, no hands and feet, nor means of evolution -
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss in dissolution.

I cast aside hatred and passion, I conquered delusion and greed;
No touch of pride caressed me, so envy never did breed:
Beyond all faiths, past reach of wealth, past freedom, past desire
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is my attire.

Virtue and vice, or pleasure and pain are not my heritage,
Nor sacred texts, nor offerings, nor prayer, nor pilgrimage:
I am neither food nor eating, nor yet the eater am I -
Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no misgivings of death, no chasms of race divide me,
No parent ever called me child, no bond of birth ever tied me:
I am neither disciple nor master, I have no kin, no friend -
Consciousness and joy am I, and merging in Bliss is my end.

Neither knowable, knowledge, nor knower am I, formless is my
form, I dwell within the senses but they are not my home:
Ever serenely balanced, I am neither free nor bound -
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is where I am found.

Shankaracharya

the sense of "I"

The sense of "I " which should have been identified with the whole universe of your experience, was instead cut off and
isolated as a detached observer of that universe. In the preceding chapter we saw that this unity of organism
and environment is a physical fact. But when you know for sure that your separate ego is a fiction, you actually
feel yourself as the whole process and pattern of life. Experience and experiencer become one experiencing,
known and knower one knowing. Each organism experiences this from a different standpoint and in a different way, for each organism is the universe experiencing itself in endless variety. From: 'The Book' Alan Watts

From: 'The Direct Path' Andrew Harvey

When you look past the different terminologies employed by the different mystical systems, you see clearly that they are each talking about the same overwhelming truth--that we are all essentially children of the Divine and can realize that identity with our Source here on earth and in a body.

Although each of the mystical systems expresses it in subtly different ways, this realization that we can all have of our
essential identity with the Divine is always described as a nondual one--that is, as a relationship in which we wake up
to the overwhelming and glorious fact that our fundamental consciousness is "one" with the Divine Consciousness that is
manifesting all things, all worlds, and all events. In other words, we are each of us parts of Godhead who, when we are
aware of it, enter into a naked, nonconceptual identity-of-consciousness with the Source from which all things and all
events are constantly streaming.

The Color Purple

I BELIEVE God is everything. . . Everything that is or ever was or ever will be. And when you can feel that, and be happy to
feel that, you've found It... My first step from the old white man was trees. Then air. Then birds. Then other people. But
one day when I was sitting quiet and feeling like a motherless child, which I was, it come to me: that feeling of being part of
everything, not separate at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed. And I laughed and I cried and I run all round
the house. I knew just what it was. In fact, when it happen, you can't miss it. - Alice Walker

raindrop from heaven

It is as if a raindrop fell from heaven into a stream or fountain and became one with the water in it so that never again can the raindrop be separated from the water of the stream; or as if a little brook ran into the sea and there was thenceforward no means of distinguishing its water from the ocean; or as if a brilliant light came into a room through two windows and though it comes in divided between them, it forms a single light inside.

St Teresa of Avila

and for no reason

*And For No Reason*

And
For no reason
I start skipping like a child.

And
For no reason
I turn into a leaf
That is carried so high
I kiss the sun's mouth
And dissolve.

And
For no reason
A thousand birds
Choose my head for a conference table,
Start passing their
Cups of wine
And their wild songbooks all around.

And
For every reason in existence
I begin to eternally,
To eternally laugh and love!

When I turn into a leaf
And start dancing,
I run to kiss our beautiful Friend
And I dissolve in the Truth
That I Am.

Hafiz/ Trans. Ladinsky

the reality of our experience

Enlightenment is the sudden recognition that non-duality is, has always been, and will always be the reality of our experience. Duality is an illusion. Consciousness is not private and personal, but impersonal, universal, and eternal. There is no limited personal entity, no conscious ego. The ego is a perceived object, not the all perceiving awareness. - Francis Lucille

there is pleasure in the pathless woods

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes
By the deep sea, and music in its roar.
I love not man the less, but nature more,
From these our interviews in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
~Lord Byron

on the treasury of the true dharma eye

Midnight. No waves,
no wind, the empty boat
is flooded with moonlight.- Dogen

no greater mystery

There is no greater mystery than this - that being the Reality ourselves, we seek to gain Reality. We think that there is something binding our reality and that it must be destroyed before the reality is gained. - Papaji

God did not create man in his image

God did not create man in his image, man created God in his image

ego is a process in conciousness

No matter how clearly you grasp the central teaching of Advaita, it confounds the mind. Yet, in the process, it may cause a shift in consciousness from ego identity to consciousness identity, wherein ego is understood as a process in consciousness, and all of the things that arise within consciousness - including the body and the mind - are understood as mere phenomena.

ego is pure illusion

"Ego is pure illusion, created by the mistaken identification with mind and all its projections - mental, emotional, physical, and circumstantial - as who one is . . . Most people cannot see through the illusion, or the defense, long enough to really sever the habit of mental identification . . . the resolve and ruthlessness required to cut the habit of mind is rare." - Amber Terrell

God made sense turn outward

“God made sense turn outward, man therefore looks outward, not into himself. Now and again a daring soul, desiring immortality, has looked back and found himself.
The ignorant man runs after pleasure, sinks into the entanglements of death; but the wise man, seeking the undying, does not run among things that die.
He through whom we see, taste, smell, feel, hear, enjoy, knows everything. He is that Self.
The wise man by meditating upon the self-dependent, all-pervading Self, understands waking and sleeping and goes beyond sorrow.” - Kathopanishad

this fleeting world

Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world
A star at dawn, a bauble in the stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream. - Buddha

why not just be here

Why not just be here, with tenderness, generosity, and compassion? Why not simply rest in the eternal magic of uncompromising attention and affection? Why not fall unguardedly in love with the endless peace into which all things are born, your very own Self? We are all the very Same One. Why hold back?

continuous

Continuous, the sounds gestured towards the Moon falling into the multitude of ponds and all the cosmoses splashed over everything and so the ponds emptied out entirely as we drunk them up in one gulp - and before the Blessed One blinked, That One is gone, and with it, even the Everlasting went with It. - Krishna

when you are stabilised in your own self

When you are stabilized in your own Self, then there is no otherness, you are everything. If you abide in your Self, you are like space and there is no duality left. You are as expansive and as subtle as space, and that is liberation. You are not conditioned by name and form. If you are like space, what is the point of going elsewhere? The space which is here is also everywhere else.

freedom as a human being

Freedom as a human being will always be very limited. Being human is neither limitless nor our ultimate truth. The idea of being human can be a limiting paradigm if it is our final understanding of ourselves. Understanding ourselves as consciousness, we take freedom to a whole new level. We can re-acquaint with consciousness and move beyond the limits of the human being. Yes, we are human, but on a more profound level, we are consciousness. We need not deny that we are human beings, but the essence of these beings is consciousness. The foundation of our existence is boundless consciousness. - Timothy Schoorel

the divine is not meant to be discovered in heaven

The Divine is not meant to be discovered in heaven. If the Divine was meant to be discovered in heaven, we would be in heaven and not here

what is not what if

I prefer to live more with "what is" instead of "what if".

Who am I?

The mind consists of thoughts. The 'I' thought is the first to arise in the mind. When the enquiry ' Who am I?' is persistently pursued, all other thoughts get destroyed, and finally the 'I' thought itself vanishes leaving the supreme non-dual Self alone. The false identification of the Self with the phenomena of non-self such as the body and mind thus ends, and there is illumination, Sakshatkara. The process of enquiry of course, is not an easy one. As one enquires 'Who am I?', other thoughts will arise; but as these arise, one should not yield to them by following them , on the contrary, one should ask 'To whom do they arise ?' In order to do this, one has to be extremely vigilant. Through constant enquiry one should make the mind stay in its source, without allowing it to wander away and get lost in the mazes of thought created by itself. All other disciplines such as breath-control and meditation on the forms of God should be regarded as auxiliary practices. They are useful in so far as they help the mind to become quiescent and one-pointed.

sea of pure conciousness

The separate self dissolves in the sea of pure consciousness, infinite and immortal. Separateness arises from identifying the Self with the body, which is made up of the elements; when this physical identification dissolves, there can be no more separate self. This is what I want to tell you, beloved.
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Chapter 2, 4:12)

as the rivers

As the rivers flowing east and west
Merge in the sea and become one with it,
Forgetting they were ever separate rivers,
So do all creatures lose their separateness
When they merge at last into pure Being.
(Chandogya Upanishad. 10:1-2)

that in whom reside all beings and who reside in all beings

That in whom reside all beings and who reside in all beings, who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being--I am That." Amritbindu Upanishad

Just give up the idea that you have to do something or reach somewhere. That's all you have to do

Student: You are telling us to let go, but it is very difficult.

Poonja: That's because you have the idea that letting go is something that you have to do. To move from one place to another may be difficult if the journey is long and hard. But if you don't have to move at all, how can you say that it is difficult? Just give up the idea that you have to do something or reach somewhere. That's all you have to do.

individual self is nothing more than an idea

It was Sri Ramana's basic thesis that the individual self is nothing more than a thought or an idea. He said that this thought, which he called 'I'-thought, originates from a place called the Heart-centre, which he located on the right side of the chest in the human body. From there the 'I'-thought rises up to the brain and identifies itself with the body: 'I am this body.' It then creates the illusion that there is a mind or an individual self which inhabits the body and which controls all its thoughts and actions. The 'I'-thought accomplishes this by identifying itself with all the thoughts and perceptions that go on in the body. For example, 'I' (that is the 'I'-thought) am doing this, 'I' am thinking this, 'I' am feeling happy, etc. Thus, the idea that one is an individual person is generated and sustained by the 'I'-thought and by its habit of constantly attaching itself to all the thoughts that arise. Sri Ramana maintained that one could reverse this process by depriving the 'I'-thought of all the thoughts and perceptions that it normally identifies with. Sri Ramana taught that this 'I'-thought is actually an unreal entity, and that it only appears to exist when it identifies itself with other thoughts. He said that if one can break the connection between the 'I'-thought and the thoughts it identifies with, then the 'I'-thought itself will subside and finally disappear. Sri Ramana suggested that this could be done by holding onto the 'I'-thought, that is, the inner feeling of 'I' or 'I am' and excluding all other thoughts. As an aid to keeping one's attention on this inner feeling of 'I', he recommended that one should constantly question oneself 'Who am I?' or 'Where does this "I" come from?' He said that if one can keep one's attention on this inner feeling of 'I', and if one can exclude all other thoughts, then the 'I'-thought will start to subside into the Heart-centre.

all-embracing love.

When all the false self-identifications are thrown away, what remains is all-embracing love.

nisargardatta - 3 years

When I met my guru, he told me: 'You are not what you take yourself to be. Find out what you are. Watch the sense "I am", find your real self'. I obeyed him, because I trusted him. I did as he told me. All my spare time I would spend looking at myself in silence. And what difference it made, and how soon! It took me only three years to realize my true nature.

the cause of suffering

The cause of suffering is in the identification of the perceiver with the perceived. Out of it desire is born, and with desire blind action, unmindful of results. Look around and you will see - suffering is a man-made thing.

the world is but a show

The world is but a show, glittering and empty. It is, and yet it is not. It is there as long as I want to see it and take part in it. When I cease caring, it dissolves. It has no cause and serves no purpose. It just happens when we are absent-minded. It appears exactly as it looks, but there is no depth in it, nor meaning. Only the onlooker is real, call him Self or Atma. To the Self, the world is but a colourful show, which he enjoys as long as it lasts and forgets when it is over. Whatever happens on the stage makes him shudder in terror or roll with laughter, yet all the time he is aware that it is but a show. Without desire or fear, he enjoys it, as it happens. = I am That

Q: You are giving a certain date to your realization. ... What happened?

M: The mind ceased producing events. The ancient and ceaseless search stopped - I wanted nothing, expected nothing - accepted nothing as my own. There was no `me' left to strive for. Even the bare `I am' faded away. The other thing that I noticed was that I lost all my habitual certainties. Earlier I was sure of so many things, now I am sure of nothing. But I feel that I have lost nothing by not knowing, because all my knowledge was false. My not knowing was in itself knowledge of the fact that all knowledge is ignorance, that `I do not know' is the only true statement the mind can make. Take the idea `I was born'. You may take it to be true. It is not. You were never born, nor will you ever die. It is the idea that was born and shall die, not you. By identifying yourself with it you became mortal. Just like in a cinema all is light, so does consciousness become the vast world. Look closely, and you will see that all names and forms are but transitory waves on the ocean of consciousness, that only consciousness can be said to be, not its transformations. In the immensity of consciousness a light appears, a tiny point that moves rapidly and traces shapes, thoughts and feelings, concepts and ideas, like the pen writing on paper. And the ink that leaves a trace is memory. You are that tiny point and by your movement the world is ever re-created. Stop moving, and there will be no world. Look within and you will find that the point of light is the reflection of the immensity of light in the body, as the sense `I am'. There is only light, all else appears. - I am that

nothing is

The final answer is this: nothing is. All is a momentary appearance in the field of the universal consciousness. Continuity as name and form is a mental formation only, easy to dispel.

before the world was, conciousness was

Before the world was, consciousness was. In consciousness it comes into being, in consciousness it lasts and into pure consciousness it dissolves. At the root of everything is the feeling "I am". The state of mind "there is a world" is secondary, for to be, I do not need the world, the world needs me.

two bodies: personal and universal

You may say you have two bodies: the personal and the universal. The personal comes and goes, the universal is always with you. The entire creation is your universal body. You are so blinded by what is personal, that you do not see the universal.

stop thinking of the world

The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real because you think of it all the time; cease thinking of it and it will dissolve into thin mist.

the person and the witness

[The person and the witness] both are modes of consciousness. In one, you desire and fear; in the other, you are unaffected by pleasure and pain, and are not ruffled by events. You let them come and go.

who are you?

Discard all you are not and go ever deeper. Just as a man digging a well discards what is not water, until he reaches the water-bearing strata, so must you discard what is not your own, till nothing is left which you can disown. You will find that what is left is nothing which the mind can hook on to. You are not even a human being. You just are - a point of awareness, co-extensive with time and space and beyond both, the ultimate cause, itself uncaused. If you ask me "Who are you?", my answer would be: "Nothing in particular. Yet, I am."

the immensity and infinity of consciousness

You are not the body. You are the immensity and infinity of consciousness

only one self

The self you want to know, is it some second self? Are you made of several selves? Surely, there is only one self and you are that self. The self you are is the only self there is. Remove and abandon your wrong ideas about yourself and there it is, in all its glory

i was never born

As it is my presence, which is always here and now, that gives the quality of actual to any event, I must be beyond time and space. I was never born, nor will ever die. - I am that

empty room

The body-mind is like a room. It is there, but I need not live in it all the time.

seperate the observed from the observer

Realize that whatever you think yourself to be is just a stream of events; that while all happens, comes and goes, you alone are, the changeless among the changeful, the self-evident among the inferred. Separate the observed from the observer and abandon false identifications

this i am not

To myself, I am neither perceivable nor conceivable; there is nothing I can point out to and say: "this I am". You identify yourself with everything so easily; I find it impossible. The feeling "I am not this or that, nor is anything mine" is so strong in me that as soon as a thing or a thought appears, there comes at once the sense "this I am not". - I am That

each moment

Each moment contains the whole of the past and creates the whole of the future.

the law of cause and effect

Scientifically interpreted, the Dhamma may be called the law of cause and effect. These two embrace the entire body of the Buddha's Teachings.

no persecution

"Alone of all the great world religions Buddhism made its way without persecution, censorship or inquisition." Aldous Huxley

pessimism

"Pessimism denotes an attitude of hopelessness towards life, a vague general opinion that pain and evil predominate in human affairs. The original doctrine of the Buddha is in fact as optimistic as any optimism of the West. To call it pessimism is merely to apply to it a characteristically Western principle to which happiness is impossible without personality. The true Buddhist looks forward with enthusiasm to absorption into eternal bliss." - Encyclopaedia Britannica

prayers

"Prayers take the character of private communications, selfish bargaining with God. It seeks for objects of earthly ambitions and inflames the sense of self. Meditation on the other hand is self-change." — Sri Radhakrishnan.

the middle way

The buddha developed "the middle way" and thereby explained that neither self denial nor self indulgence are inherently righteous because detachment is more achievable through moderation. Both self indulgence and self denial are too bound up with the "self" to be succesful.

upstream

The buddha describes the person that doesn't succumb to the usual flow of attachment as one "who goes upstream"

well trained in the ways that lead to light

"For he whose mind is well trained in the ways that lead to light, who surrenders the bondage of attachments and finds joy in his freedom from bondage, who free from the darkness of passions shines pure in radiance of light, even this mortal life he enjoys the mortal nirvana" Dhammapada, 89

bundles of perception

we are all just bundles of perception

within the prison of your world

Within the prison of your world appears a man who tells you that the world of painful contradictions, which you have created, is neither continuous nor permanent and is based on a misapprehension. He pleads with you to get out ot it, by the same way by which you got into it. You got into it by forgetting what you are and you will get out of it by knowing yourself as you are. - I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

there comes a time

There comes a time when an individual becomes irresistible and his action becomes all-pervasive in its effects. This comes when he reduces himself to zero. - Gandhi

the ego is like an iceberg

The ego is like an iceberg.
Ninety percent of it is under water.
As we observe it, the submerged
begins to move into the light of observation,
and melts into the light of awareness.
~Meher Baba

remove the obstacles by which you can't see it

Self is always Present, Bliss is always Present.
You are not to work at attaining it,
just remove the obstacles by which you can't see it.
The hindrance is only one: Attachment to the past.
- Papaji

the eternal present

We look backward too much and we look forward too much; thus we miss the only eternity of which
we can be absolutely sure - the eternal present, for it is always now. - William Phelps

longing fir the ending of the dream

Once you have seen that you are dreaming, you shall wake up. But you do not see, because you want the dream to continue. A day will come when you will long for the ending of the dream, with all your heart and mind, and be willing to pay any price; the price will be dispassion and detachment, the loss of interest in the dream itself. - I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

spiritual maturity

Spiritual maturity lies in the readiness to let go everything. The giving up is the first step. But the real giving up is in realising that there is nothing to give up..... To be, you must be nobody. To think yourself to be something, or somebody, is death and hell...... When you are no longer attached to anything, you have done your share. The rest will be done for you.
- I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

first our individual self must learn peace

If we ourselves remain angry and then sing world peace, it has little meaning. So, you see, first our individual self
must learn peace. This we can practice. Then we can teach the rest of the world . - The Dalai Lama

person is a shadow of reality

Once you realise that the person is merely a shadow of the reality, but not the reality itself, you cease to fret and worry. You agree to be guided from within and life becomes a journey into the unknown..... If you just try to keep quiet, all will come - the work, the strength for work, the right motive. Must you know everything beforehand? Don't be anxious about your future - be quiet now and all will fall into place. - I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

try to be

Try to be, only to be. The all-important word is 'try'. Allot enough time daily for sitting quietly and trying, just trying, to go beyond the personality, with its addictions and obsessions. Don't ask how, it cannot be explained. You just keep on trying until you succeed. If you persevere, there can be no failure. What matters supremely is sincerity, earnestness; you must really have had surfeit of being the person you are, now see the urgent need of being free of this unnecessary self-identification with a bundle of memories and habits. This steady resistance against the unnecessary is the secret of success. - I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj

we do not see things as they are

We do not see things as they are.
We see them as we are. - The Talmud

there is no illness of the body

There is no illness of the body apart from the mind. - Socrates 500 BC

free of the thirst of becoming

He who has realized the Truth, Nirvana, is the happiest being in the world. He is free from all "complexes" and obsessions, the worries and troubles that torment others. His mental health is perfect. He does not repent the past, nor does he brood over the future. He lives fully in the present. Therefore he appreciates and enjoys things in the purest sense without self-projections. He is joyful, exultant, enjoying the pure life, his faculties pleased, free from anxiety, serene and peaceful. As he is free from selfish desire, hatred, ignorance, conceit, pride, and all such "defilements", he is pure and gentle, full of universal love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding and tolerance. His service to others is of the purest, for he has no thought of self. He gains nothing, accumulates nothing, not even anything spiritual, because he is free from the illusion of self, and the "thirst" for becoming. - taken from What the buddha taught by Walpola Sri Rahula

let nature takes its course

"While day by day the overzealous student stores up facts for future use, He who has learned to trust nature finds need for ever fewer external directions. He will discard formula after formula, until he reaches the conclusion: Let nature take its course. By letting each thing act in accordance with its own nature, everything that needs to be done gets done." - Lao Tzu

don't wait for the rain

When clouds form in the skies we know that rain will follow but we must not wait for it. Nothing will be achieved by attempting to interfere with the future before the time is ripe. Patience is needed." - I Ching

believe nothing

Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide. - The Buddha

a spoon of salt in a lake

"Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed." - The Buddha

your body is precious

"Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care." - The Buddha

peace comes from within

"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without." - The Buddha

truly dancing

"Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And
when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And
when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance." - Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

as you think, so you become

"One who focuses on Freedom is free indeed, As one is bound who focuses on bondage;
Truly it has been said: As you think, so you become." - Astavakra Gita 1.11

i am that

Before the world was, consciousness was. In consciousness it comes into
being, in consciousness it lasts and into pure consciousness it dissolves.
At the root of everything is the pure feeling of I Am. The state of mind,
'there is a world' is secondary, for to 'be,' I do not need a world, the
world needs me." - from I Am That

the most precious gift

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers. - Thich Nhat Hanh

keeping your body healthy

Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos - the trees, the clouds, everything.

words are boats...

words are boats to the other shore

living inside my head

I'm tired of living inside my head....there's not enough room in there!

purification of our minds

The happiness we seek, a genuine lasting peace and happiness, can be attained only through the purification of our minds. This is possible if we cut the root cause of all suffering and misery—our fundamental ignorance. - The Dalai Lama

My religion is kindness

“My religion is kindness. A good mind, a good heart, warm feelings - these are the most important things.” –The DALI LAMA

nothing missing now

If we tune in right now to this moment, there is nothing, absolutely nothing missing ..... It simply can't be enhanced any further because there is nothing to enhance. If we are going to use the term "awakening", this is what I am referring to. - Peter Fenner

one God, one world, one race and one moral code

For too many of us religion is a vicarious experience, we get our God second hand, we worship ideas as idols, and let labels determine the worth of people. We need to get beyond all of this. We need that direct experience that will free us from the garbage that surrounds so much that passes for religion today. We need to hear the original message of one God, one world, one race and one moral code. We need to meditate and see for ourselves what is true. - Rabbi Rami Shapiro

The ego's loyalty to "me"

When you gat to a point in meditation practice when the ego is screaming "Stop! Don't do this to me!" .... many people quit in order to maintain their loyalty to the label of their birth, or even the more primal loyalty to the label "me". This is something that ultimately has to be surrendered. - Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Real peace is the greatest treasure

Great wealth will not bring you peace. The minute you get it you start worrying you will lose it. Real peace is the greatest treasure.

Desire nothing

Desire nothing. Be content with everything.

It is good not to suffer

It is good not to suffer. But suffering can also be seen to be good because it makes you humble and compassionate. Stop suffering from thinking suffering is only something that makes you suffer.

Cosmic consciousness is our birthright.

Cosmic consciousness is our birthright. The means of attaining this are humility, compassion, and meditation.

Nothing is seperate

There are no separate bodies - there is only one body with many parts.
There are no separate emotions - there is only infinite love and bliss.
There are no separate actions - there is only the experience of eternal love.
There are no separate minds - there is only one consciousness.

The astral body is the body you will take with you when you die.

The astral body is the body you will take with you when you die. The greater the quantity of astral energy, the higher stage of evolution you will be reborn into. You can't have any faith in your body, mind, or emotions surviving death. Only your consciousness, your awareness, has this potential. The astral body is the vehicle that carries it until liberation, and the re-union with everything, everywhere, takes place. This is when you experience the Divine Body and live happily ever after.

Picture your astral body as a balloon

Picture your astral body as a balloon. Your kindness, acts of charity, compassion, prayers, meditations, good intentions, and so on, produce astral energy that fills the balloon. When it is full enough, you will rise out of the confines of your physical body. When it is even fuller, you will escape the pull of Mother Earth's gravity and be able to roam the solar system. This goes on until your astral body fills totally, and the balloon bursts. Your pre-preatomic energy is free to join the infinite divine creative consciousness that permeates the universe, and you are free of all limitations, be they physical or astral.

Freedom is ..

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose,
And nothing don ’t mean nothing, honey, if it ain ’t free. - Janis Joplin

no immortal soul

if you believe that you have (or are) an enduring (immortal) soul then that is duality. If this belief is not held, that is nondual. When I look for my soul, all I can finally see is the whole of existence, the totality of the perceivable. I have no way of knowing where to draw a line so as to say "This side is me, that side is not me". So nonduality is not a belief, rather it is the absence of belief. Andrew Macnab

We are life itself

No, nonduality is not becoming *like* or the same as anyone else. Nonduality is the dropping of the notion of there being any *one* there in the first place. That's the deal. There is only *being* itself. It's not like at the end of some chain of events and experiences that you *merge* or become the same as someone else or even with God. NO! There is no *one* here in the first place. That is what there is to realize. It has nothing whatsoever to do with experience, no matter how blissful. It's the death of the separate one. But yet I LIVE! We discover that we are LIFE itself. Judi Rhodes

different flowers standing in one vase and sipping the same water

Nonduality as the common platform is the state where self is no more. This is what unites all methods, paths and the "self-styled". It is the idea of a bouquet of different flowers standing in one vase and sipping the same water. Jan Barendrecht

Non-duality

nonduality could be called the journey to resolve the relation between you, the other sentient beings and the objects, for once and forever. Jan Barendrecht

The word enlightenment

The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form. The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation, from yourself and from the surrounding world. You then perceive yourself, consciously or unconsciously, as an isolated fragment. Fear arises, and conflict within and without becomes the norm. - Eckhart Tolle

Observing your mind

Whenever you are able to observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it. Another factor has come in, something that is not of the mind: the witnessing presence. - Eckhart Tolle

The present moment holds the key to liberation

The present moment holds the key to liberation. But you cannot find the present moment as long as you are your mind. Enlightenment means rising above thought. In the enlightened state, you still use your thinking mind when needed, but in a much more focused and effective way than before. You use it mostly for practical purposes, but you are free of the involuntary internal dialogue, and there is inner stillness. - Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle one liner

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.

Eckhart Tolle quote from his website

"To meet everything and everyone through stillness instead of mental noise is the greatest gift you can offer to the universe. I call it stillness, but it is a jewel with many facets: that stillness is also joy, and it is love.

In case you really think you are an awakened one...

In case you really think you are an awakened one, test yourself with these questions:

Master Yueh of Toushuai set up three barriers to question students:

Crossing rivers and passing through mountains to learn and search out the hidden, is only for seeing into the own-nature. Right now, where is your own nature?

Only when you know your own-nature then you can be freed from birth and death. When you are dying,, how will you be free?

When you are freed from birth and death, then you will know where you are from and going to. When the four elements [which composed your body] disintegrate, where do you go? ¹

Why must I meditate in order to achieve enlightenment?

In his "Zen Fables for Today", Richards McLean retells the following story:

"Why must I meditate in order to achieve enlightenment?" demanded the prince of the teacher. "I can study, I can pray. I can think on issues clearly. Why this silly emptying of mind?"

"I will show you," said the teacher, taking a bucket of water into the garden under the full moon. "Now I stir the surface and what do you see?" "Ribbons of light," answered the prince. "Now wait," said the teacher setting the bucket down.

Both teacher and boy watched the calming surface of the water in the bamboo bucket for many minutes. "Now what do you see?" asked the teacher. "The moon," replied the prince.

"So, too, young master, the only way to grasp enlightenment is through a calm and settled mind."

being is ....

• the eternal ominipresent one life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death
• deep within every form as its innermost invisible and indestructable essence
• accessible to you now as your deepest self, your true nature
• only knowable when the mind is still
• not understandable mentally
  

enlightenment is....

• your natural state of felt oneness with being
• finding the true nature beyond name and form
• the end of suffering
  

watching the thinker

the moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of conciousness becomes activated.

i want what you have

you have it already. you just can't feel it because your mind is making too much noise.

identifcation with your mind

identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgements and definitions that block all true relationships. you are not your mind.

Incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness. have you found the off button yet?

exercise for deepened stillness and peace

Listen to the voice in your head. Feel a concious presence - your deeper self - behind the thoughts. The thought then loses power over you.

When thoughts subside, you experience a gap of no mind. At first these gaps will be short, but they will gradually grow longer. When the gaps occur, you feel a certain stillness and peace within you.

With practice, this stillness and peace will deepen and you will experience the joy of being.

the joy of being

The joy of being is not trancelike - there is no loss of conciousness. You are much more awake and fully present. It raises the vibrational frequency of the energy field that gives life to the physical body. You can feel your own presence with such intensity that everything else becomes insignificant.

adding to what you have doesn't help

nothing you can ever do will add to what you already have

all the things that truly matter

all the things that truly matter - beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace - arise from beyond the mind.

mind management

mind management is the essence of life management

repetitive thoughts

on an average day, the average person runs 60,000 thoughts through their mind. 95% of these thoughts are repeated from yesterday.

who looks inside awakens

who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakens

every child has a god within them

every child has a god within them; our attempts to mold the child will turn the god into a devil

to see at last

to see at last with a vision that is unclouded by fear or desire

drums and tentacles of society

don't march to the drum of society, dance to the music that springs up from within. Tear away the tentacles of society that have enveloped and suffocated your being.

slave

you cannot make a slave of a free man, for a free man is free, even in prison

demons

you always empower the demons that you fight

God does not die

God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity. But we die on the day our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance of wonder, renewed daily, the source of which is beyond all reason. - Dag Hammarskjold

see life through the eyes of a child

see life through the eyes of a child. return to the state of the child without being a child. see things with wonder again.

imprisoned by your concepts

if you are imprisoned by your concepts, break out of your prison by looking and observing yourself and the world around you.

words

words cannot give you reality, they only point or indicate. To know reality you have to know beyond knowing. Words are concepts, reality is concrete.

the name of the bird

the day you teach the child the name of the bird, the child will never see that bird again - Krishnamurti

you can't see if you're prejudiced

in order to get awareness, you've got to see but you can't see if you're prejudiced.

you are not your labels

you are not the labels that you and other people have put on you

external events

external events do not have the power to hurt you

natural urge

we have a natural urge to be free and love, but not to be loved

the nature of rain

the nature of rain is the same, yet it produces thorns in the marsh and flowers in the garden - old Arab saying

change

the one who would be constant in happiness must frequently change - Confucious

preferences not desires

when you go through life with preferences not desires, and don't let your happiness depend on them, then you are awake

those who know

those who know, do not say
those who say, do not know

a process of subtraction

God is not attained by a process of addition to anything in the sould but by a process of subtraction - Meister Eckhard

useful negative feelings

Every negative feeling is useful for awareness. They give you the opportunity to watch it from the outside.

When you change, everything changes

1. Get in touch with negative feelings that you're not even aware of.
2. Understand that the feeling is in you, not in reality.
3. Never identify with that feeling.
4. Understand that you are the one that needs to change, not reality.

When you change, everything changes

happiness is our natural state

Happiness is our natural state. It is the natural state of little children before they become conditioned. Drop your conditioning and become happy.

don't seek the truth

don't seek the truth - just drop your opinions

be aware

be aware of what you're saying
be aware of what you're doing
be aware of what you're thinking
be aware of how you're acting
be aware of what your motives are
be aware of your reactions

self made up of I and me

the self is made up of I and me.

I is the observer and doesn't identify with me. It is detached, never threatened and sensitive to people and the things around you. It is objective and has no illusions.

me is constantly changing and contains your thoughts, your body, your name, your religion. It is reactive and is your conditioned self.

the aim is to increase the I and to decrease the me