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Post by withinsilence on Aug 23, 2012 10:42:26 GMT
When Hui-hai was a young monk and first came to Master Ma-tsu, the Master asked him, "What have you come here for?"
Hui-hai said, "I have come seeking the Buddha's teaching."
"What a fool you are!" Ma-tsu said. "You have the greatest treasure in the world inside you, and yet you go around asking other people for help. What good is this? I have nothing to give you."
Huai-hai bowed and said, "Please, Master, tell me what this treasure is."
Ma-tsu said, "Where is your question coming from? This is your treasure. It is precisely what is asking the question at this very moment. Everything is stored in this precious treasure-house of yours. It is there at your disposal, you can use it as you wish, nothing is lacking. You are the master of everything. Why are you running away from yourself and seeking for things outside?"
Upon hearing these words, Hui-hai realized his own mind. Beside himself with joy, he bowed deeply to the Master.
Excerpt taken from: The Gospel According To Jesus by Stephen Mitchell
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Post by gurthbruins on Aug 24, 2012 16:36:17 GMT
Yes, Good.
To me, the prime error is thinking someone else knows more than oneself. The "truth", the only truth For You, being inside You, it follows, as Krishnamurti said, that you must reject all spiritual authorities.
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Post by popee on Aug 25, 2012 11:23:18 GMT
Yes, Good. To me, the prime error is thinking someone else knows more than oneself. The "truth", the only truth For You, being inside You, it follows, as Krishnamurti said, that you must reject all spiritual authorities. Yes, but that is also a double edged sword. For most people, the ego calls the shots, and it would never push the self-destruct button on its self. The ego offers the illusion of being King, and most people will gladly accept. |
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Post by withinsilence on Aug 25, 2012 12:41:06 GMT
it is usually not until one is ready to surrender, when they are in complete disarray, that they would even let go of themselves (notice the plural) and seek out a guide to help them out of their misery. this is a beautiful time, one is ripe, ready for harvest.
sadly, most look outside thyself (singular), go to a shrink, a psychologist, a counselor, a doctor, a priest and get drugs, lies, new beliefs or told to "go into your past and deal with what is troubling you" when that's exactly whats troubling them, they are living in the past...IN THEIR MIND and WON'T LET GO! hence Buddha's teaching of nonattachment. Its all about your inner self!
at this point the ego is about done, about to be dissolved into the nothing that it is as the soul has had enough suffering that living in this illusion has caused it.
LISTEN: when it is time, it happens, all of its own accord, no guru, saint, sage, priest, master is responsible for your liberation, they are guides walking you across the bridge.
each beings "way" to liberation is perfect for itself, beyond a concept that the ego could conjure up, so when "it" happens, there is no doubt, none!
ones new non-identity may take a little time to accept it, to let the dust settle so to speak, but that one single instant of knowing (u don't know), of awakening to the illusion, that brilliant flash of insight into your whole previous life which was completely false and only within your thoughts, that flash, that insight is the final arbiter.
nothing drops a man to his knees but God, nothing rips you out of your falsity so perfectly, so gently, yet radically, so extraordinarily profound, it is beyond explainable, you sit in silent wonder, in awe, as if it wasn't possible, yet you know it, have become it, it is you and you are it, not even fear or death can remove it because you know these are now illusions.
ones identity is destroyed forever with the sword of truth, in one instant you are dropped to your knees in sincere repentance, in uncontrolled weeping and gnashing of teeth ready to face the hell you so deserve and in the same instant you are miraculously, inwardly lifted back up in unconditional love and acceptance by something so far beyond the tiny ego, the whole time knowing you don't deserve it, even if you try to refuse it, to not accept, it is to no avail, when the Loving Father calls his children home with open arms in complete acceptance, they come running with open arms in complete acceptance.
the treasure HAS FOUND YOU, it was within you the whole time you were looking outside for it.
so , after all that, IN MY OPINION the best and only way to truly know, to move beyond ego is...................................................................let it happen! there are no mistakes.
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Post by popee on Aug 25, 2012 15:18:39 GMT
M: I know nothing about it all and see no difference between you and me. My life is a succession of events, just like yours. Only I am detached and see the passing show as a passing show, while you stick to things and move along with them.
Q: What made you so dispassionate?
M: Nothing in particular. It so happened that I trusted my Guru. He told me I am nothing but my self and I believed him. Trusting him, I behaved accordingly and ceased caring for what was not me, nor mine.
Q: Why were you lucky to trust your teacher fully, while our trust is nominal and verbal?
M: Who can say? It happened so. Things happen without cause and reason and, after all, what does it matter, who is who? Your high opinion of me is your opinion only. Any moment you may change it. Why attach importance to opinions, even your own?
Nisargadatta
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Post by withinsilence on Aug 25, 2012 17:10:59 GMT
The Wise Fisherman
An investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.
Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The investment banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.
The man replied; “Only a little while.”
Banker asked; “Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”
Man replied; “With this I have more than enough to support my family’s needs.”
Banker; “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The wise fisherman said; “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a nap with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where we sip wine and dance to live music, I have a very full and busy life.”
The investment banker scoffed; “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat and then with those proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you could have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this tiny coastal village and move to a major city, then work your way up to New York where you will run your ever expanding business.
The wise fisherman asked; “How long would all this take?”
The banker replied; “Only 15-20 years.”
“Then what?” asked the fisherman.
The banker laughed and said; “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would be worth millions.”
“Wow, millions….then what?”
The banker said; “Then you would retire, move to a small coastal village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take naps with the little lady, stroll into town in the evenings where you would dance and sip wine with your friends.”
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Post by popee on Aug 25, 2012 19:26:48 GMT
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Post by withinsilence on Aug 31, 2012 19:25:09 GMT
From the Buddha’s Dhammapada
(freely translated by Stephen Mitchell)
Mind creates the world;
what you see arises with your thoughts.
If you speak and act with a confused mind,
trouble will follow you as certainly
as a cart follows the ox that pulls it.
Mind creates the world;
what you see arises with your thoughts.
If you speak and act with a clear mind,
happiness will follow you as certainly
as your own shadow in sunlight.
“It’s his fault.” “She shouldn’t have done that.”
Believe such thoughts, and you live in resentment.
“It’s his fault.” “She shouldn’t have done that.”
Question such thoughts, and you live in freedom.
Anger teaches anger.
Fear results in more fear.
Only understanding can lead to peace.
This is the ancient law.
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Post by popee on Aug 31, 2012 20:01:29 GMT
Question such thoughts ... Yes. == what about the answers that follow? I say question those too. And on and on ... |
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Post by withinsilence on Aug 31, 2012 21:54:35 GMT
Question such thoughts ... Yes. == what about the answers that follow? I say question those too. And on and on ... Questioning the answers is to not accept things as they are thus continuing in suffering, Thinking you know what should or shouldn't is to not be present, to be lost in thoughts of ones identity, to be attached to ego identity, trying to control others or not accept the will of life, it also is judgment, condemnation and unforgiveness, thinking you know instead of knowing you don't know and lastly it is not knowing thyself. believing one should or shouldn't do this or that arises from thinking of the self, believing you are separate from another, to question is to let go of beliefs and admit you don't know, it creates trust, in trust one lets go and thus truth is revealed in understanding, understanding that your standing under The ALL which is also within the very being your condemning and not accepting.. |
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Post by gurthbruins on Sept 1, 2012 7:28:41 GMT
Question what is questionable.
When you hear the music of Bach, what is there to question? What is the point? Analysis?
If you have joy, what point in questioning it? Seems futile to me.
Dostoevsky says somewhere: "They think that the knowledge of the laws of happiness is greater than happiness itself".
Browning says: "Where the apple reddens, never pry"
and Chesterton says
"Hath a man three eyes, Barbara
A bird three wings
That you have riven roof and wall
To look upon vain things?"
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Post by withinsilence on Apr 6, 2013 13:44:37 GMT
How was it that the ancient sages gained a knowledge of the conditions of Heaven and Earth? It was because they had the authority of the Tao that they traversed the illimitable world. The affairs of empire should not be regulated in detail by legal interference, in as much as they operate in a natural way, i.e. Wu Wei. The fluxes of creation need not be examined into: get the vital Tao and the fluxes will be understood. Take an illustration from a mirror or from water. When these receive the form of an object, they mirror it faithfully without any accretions; so the lineaments are exactly reflected. The echo is only partly true to the sound: the shadow is not different from the substance. The sound mysteriously reaches its own sound-like form.
Man is quiescent by nature; but desire moves in response to outward influences which are the outward expression of things. The spirit responds to the impact of matter, giving rise to mental perception. The response of inward perception to the impact of outward things begets love and hate. When love and hate have taken form, perception is seduced from the right way by outward expression: it is unable to go back from itself; and reason or right is destroyed. Therefore those who are permeated or possessed of the Tao do not barter away the Divine for the human. Subject as they are to outward changes, they do not lose the inward purity of nature; i.e. the impact of the world does not create concupiscence. This nature is purely spiritual and ready to respond to every demand of nature. The Seasons run their course; the ever changing times circulate, yet without confusing the basal unity. The small and great, the long and short, are each in their appointed realms. Creation, in all its mighty leaps and restless movements, proceeds without any dislocation: everything is in its proper place.
Therefore those who are placed in power are not regarded as a burden by the people: that is to say, they are looked up to and loved! The whole empire is drawn to them: the lawless and unruly fear them. Because they have no strife with creation, therefore no one dares to strive with them.
an excerpt on true governance form: Tao, The Great Luminant by Evan S Morgan
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Post by withinsilence on Apr 7, 2013 13:26:05 GMT
Spiritual Joy Lasts
The sage will not allow his person to be the instrument of matter, nor permit his peace to be disturbed by desire. Thus, when he rejoices, it is not with boisterous hilarity. When he sorrows, he will not suffer his nature to be wounded. Circumstances ever change and vary; there is nothing stable about life's conditions. The Tao-man, alone, lives triumphantly (cherishes the magnanimous point), abandoning worthless things. He keeps step with the Tao. Therefore he has the wherewith to find his true nature. Whether his pilgrimage be under a stately tree, or his dwelling be in a secluded cave, he finds enough to satisfy his nature. But the man who has not found his true self, though he possess the empire for home and the myriad people for ministers and concubines, he will not, on that account, find the satisfaction of life.(1) He who reaches the state of spiritual joy(2) will find everything minister joy to his person. He who enjoys this joy has tasted the supremest joy.
(1) The satisfaction of life does not come from without but from within
(2) Freedom from desires and passions
an excerpt form: Tao, The Great Luminant by Evan S Morgan
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Post by withinsilence on Feb 7, 2015 14:25:34 GMT
I have chosen to put this book review under this thread "Teaching of Non-Teaching" as that's really what It Is teaching, how to not know. The book I am referring to is called "The Book of Not Knowing" by Peter Ralston. Simply; buy it! This book, although not short by any means (581 pages) is the most condensed, precise, helpful, and well explained guide on "Exploring The True Nature of Self, Mind, and Consciousness" which is the subtitle of this book, that I have encountered, and I enjoy searching out the best of the best of these types of books, as this has been my obsession for the past 7 years and I have studied hundreds of them.
The author is not telling you anything that he wants you to blindly accept as true, there are no dogmas or doctrines, nothing to believe or disbelieve, but rather he guides the reader through its own journey into itself. He encourages the reader to embark on a belief-less journey into the unknown, by letting go of beliefs, assumptions and expectations, by asking oneself what is the root of "belief" itself? He reveals through examples how we condition ourselves, how we let the fear of "not knowing" cause us to act as if we know, thus holding fast to beliefs, assumptions and dogmas that "society" accepts as true so as to not look "stupid" or more politely "ignorant" in the face of others. But ignorance is bliss, and to not know is the source of understanding.
"On bended knee we see form the highest vantage point, from the exalted self we see from the lowest." WS
Peter Ralston is able to perform surgery with words, removing the illusory impediments to expanded consciousness, ones true nature and the mind, and does so gently, without the reader feeling that any surgery has taken place. He knows that what he's describing is beyond words, that he cannot cause your understanding of it or do it for you. Yet, as all compassionate masters he must do what he can to help the whole of humanity realize one is its own master, and in this book his efforts are far from wasted. It is self evident in his writing that he has pent countless hours in contemplation/meditation, self evident to those who have also done this, or will be to those who are willing to do it, which is really all that is required if one is sincere in their desire to "know thyself" so to speak. This is why no one can do it for you and you can never grasp what he's saying from mere words, but rather "It" must be experiential, you must enter into the unknown for it to be known, and you enter from the state of not knowing. This state of not knowing, of be-ing, is not something temporal or fleeting, you leave it -as- it always is, in fact it is just as it is, it is neither this or that but rather that which resides between them, is-ness, open, receptive, innocent (without foregone conclusion, not cunning, not deceptive, not driving towards a preconceived agenda or assumption), observing, listening and present here now.
Just as one could read every book ever written on ice cream, how its made, what its made with, all the different flavors, types, its history, origin etc. until one tastes it, only then will it know what this thing described as "ice cream" truly "Is." The author recommends reading the book again once finished and I do not disagree, yet I also find it extremely beneficial to read it very slowly, in silence, reading a section and then putting the book down to let that section sink in, allowing its essence to come to light. I think that the amount of times a work is read or studied depends largely on the honesty of the reader. Do you really "get it" or not? One does not read a book on trigonometry from cover to cover and then "knows" trigonometry, but one must go at it slowly, studying it, working through the problems gradually, gently, with sincerity and determination, practicing them until one truly "gets" it. This is such a book, not the book so much , but what he's pointing too in the book. Just as one taste of ice cream brings the full understanding of what ice cream truly is, so will one taste of truth, and this book can act as a guide to such an experience.
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Post by withinsilence on Feb 10, 2015 11:56:19 GMT
The Mind is Buddha; Buddha is the Mind. All sentient beings and all Buddhas have the same Mind, which is without boundaries and void, without name and form and is immeasurable.
Originally there is nothing. If you make something, you have something. If you don’t make anything, then already, you are complete.
A Story which describes the state of the world:
The Blind Men and the Elephant
Several citizens ran into a hot argument about God and different religions, and each one could not agree to a common answer.
So they came to the Lord Buddha to find out what exactly God was and looked like.
The Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men.
He then brought the four blind men to the elephant and told them to find out what the elephant would "look" like.
The first blind men touched the elephant leg : “It ‘looked’ like a pillar.”
The second blind man touched the elephant tummy : “It was a wall.”
The third blind man touched the elephant ear : “It was a piece of cloth.”
The fourth blind man held on to the tail : “It was a piece of rope.”
Thus, each man had an idea about what the elephant looked like and was and began to explain his opinion about it.
When each man heard the others opinions he disagreed with them, then they began to fight amongst themselves, as each man believed fervently that his view was correct.
The Buddha: "Each blind man had touched the elephant but each of them gives a different description of the animal. Which answer is right?”
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