Saturday, November 10, 2012

Constantinos Catsoulis - Eye thrill


To a mind that is still, 
the whole universe surrenders.

Chuang-tzu

Picture 
ConstantinosCatsoulis


Chuck Surface - Where We Began



Though we are often driven by sorrow,
To seek the end of sorrows,
It is the desire for Love, and Love Itself,
That in the end brings us to Freedom.

For when all Hope is lost,
And only Despair remains.
When all paths have failed,
And all efforts proven vain.

Then we sit alone, defeated, with nothing left.
Nothing, that is…
Except what moved us at the onset.
Our Own Shining Heart, our Own Inherent Love.

We wander for countless ages.
In the heartbreak of giving and receiving,
Until, when grasping is exhausted,
We simply rest as the Love we Are.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Within.
Not in perfection or attainment,
Not in doing thusly, or understanding profoundly.
Simply Here, where we began.

As we are.
Here.
Now.
Right where we began.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Seng-Ts'an - The Mind of Absolute Trust






The Great Way isn't difficult
for those who are unattached to their preferences.
Let go of longing and aversion,
and everything will be perfectly clear.
When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction, heaven and earth are set apart.
If you want to realize the truth,
don't be for or against.
The struggle between good and evil
is the primal disease of the mind.
Not grasping the deeper meaning,
you just trouble your mind's serenity.
As vast as infinite space,
it is perfect and lacks nothing.
But because you select and reject,
you can't perceive its true nature.
Don't get entangled in the world;
don't lose yourself in emptiness.
Be at peace in the oneness of things,
and all errors will disappear by themselves.
If you don't live the Tao,
you fall into assertion or denial.
Asserting that the world is real,
you are blind to its deeper reality;
denying that the world is real,
you are blind to the selflessness of all things.
The more you think about these matters,
the farther you are from the truth.
Step aside from all thinking,
and there is nowhere you can't go.
Returning to the root, you find the meaning; chasing appearances, you lose their source.
At the moment of profound insight,
you transcend both appearance and emptiness.
Don't keep searching for the truth;
just let go of your opinions.
For the mind in harmony with the Tao,
all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt,
you can trust the universe completely.
All at once you are free,
with nothing left to hold on to.
All is empty, brilliant,
perfect in its own being.
In the world of things as they are,
there is no self, no non-self.
If you want to describe its essence,
the best you can say is "Not-two."
For the mind in harmony with the Tao,
all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt,
you can trust the universe completely.
In this "Not-two" nothing is separate,
and nothing in the world is excluded.
The enlightened of all times and places
have entered into this truth.
In it there is no gain or loss;
one instant is ten thousand years.
There is no here, no there;
infinity is right before your eyes.
The tiny is as large as the vast when objective boundaries have vanished;
the vast is as small as the tiny,
when you don't have external limits.
Being is an aspect of non-being;
non-being is no different from being.
Until you understand this truth,
you won't see anything clearly.
One is all; all are one. When
you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom?
The mind of absolute trust
is beyond all thought, all striving,
is perfectly at peace; for in it
there is no yesterday,
no tomorrow,
no today.


Mind and Heart!

                     

There is no difference between mind and heart,
Unless by concept they are taken apart.

Some point a finger to mind thinkers as having no feelings,
Some point a finger to heart thinkers as incapable of rational dealings.

Some value heart over mind, as being a more honorable find,
Some value mind over heart, as being a more idealistic start.

Both are ideas born from judging and comparing,
Believing one of them more loving or caring.

Both are illusions caused by thoughts delusions.

They are both the same origin sharing,
The ONE source that is all rearing.

To be daring is to recognizing the ONE Absolute Bearing,
And there is no more need for judging and comparing.

P.S.

The ONE heart that is sought does not come from thought!




Adyashanti - Immeasurable Reality





In its true sense spirituality is not a plaything or a pastime. It has nothing to do with enhancing you or your status in the dream state. Nor is it about gurus in long flowing robes, secret oral teachings, ancient traditions, or holy books that people claim were written by God. It’s about here and now and you, and whether you are asleep within the dream state or awake within the awakened state.

It is the nature of all dreams that the characters therein are so busy being—well, dream characters—that the bigger reality of what lies outside the dream state eludes them. But then again, dream characters don’t wake up from the dreams they are a part of; the dreamer does. If spirituality is to be meaningful it must address what lies beyond the dream state that most of us create in our minds and humanity lives in day-to-day, for unless we awaken from our personal and collective dreams we will continue to live in a state of unconsciousness on the surface of a life of infinite potential.

Only that which is real and true has the power to liberate us from the mechanical and magnetic draw of the dream state. For ultimately it is ignorance (the belief in things that are untrue) that imprisons us within a trance state, which is induced by taking the conditioned stream of thinking within one’s mind to be true. If we are to awaken from the mind’s hypnotic embrace, we must question all of our beliefs and assumptions down to the very source of our being until that which is true, real, and everlasting reveals itself.

Truth is that which lies beyond the grasp of the dreaming mind. It is not something that can be captured and stated like a fact can. Truth is a timeless reality and therefore sacred in the true sense of the word. Please do not think of truth in mystical terms or even in spiritual terms. Truth refers to the whole of existence and beyond. Truth exists as much in your teacup as it does in your temples and churches. Truth is as present in shopping for your groceries as it is in chanting to God. To think of truth only in spiritual or religious terms is to miss the whole of it, for in doing so you create the boundaries and divisions that are the very antithesis of truth.

Truth is an immeasurable reality not at all separate from your own being. For in the revelation of truth, all beings rest within your being. Put more simply, if you cannot find it now underfoot, I’m afraid that you have missed it entirely. 


Anonymous - Endless Enlightening




Is one "enlightened" with the cessation of identification with manifest form?
Is one "enlightened" when one feels one's self expanded as all that is?
Is one "enlightened" when one feels one's Self to be only "That" within which all arises?
Is one "enlightened" with the cessation of identification even as "That"?
Is one "enlightened" when one feels one's self to be neither all that arises, nor "That" within which all arises?
Is one "enlightened" with the advent of ever-present, effortlessly arising Bliss?
Is one "enlightened" with the cessation of all grasping?

Liberation is liberation from Liberation.
There is no "enlightenment"; only Endless Enlightening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What now?

What now?
The "knowing" mind is crippled by Wonder.
Like the vanished shadow of suffering, no seeking remains.

No seeking?! But... what now, then?
No movement here or there,
To this, from that.

Here in the Fullness and Completion,
Of the Beloved’s embrace,
I Rest.

What now for the jobless mind?
Take heart, old friend,
 Curiosity and Wonder are your new delights.

What now?
Not a clue!

Laughter bursts forth, never before heard.
Huge, unbridled, Free.

How rude!
Who is this boisterous barbarian of Joy?!

Outrageous!
Not a clue!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Chuck Surface: Shhh!



Shhh!

“I” was never Free.
“Bondage” was the simple fact,
Of “my” existence.

But… how can there ever have been an “I”,
If there existed no object,
To which that name applied?

What, then, was this “I”
That could not be found,
And now has vanished?

An experience.

A cloud appearing,
Roiling for a time,
And then vanishing,
Leaving the Sky revealed.

An experience,
Of being an experiencer.

But… if there was no object-experiencer,
Then what was having the experience,
Of being an experiencer?

Shhh!
Stop now.

Stop.

Don’t name it.
Don’t make an “objectless object” of it,
A “formless form”.

Not Consciousness,
Not Brahman,
Not Self,
Not God.

Shhh!

                     http://www.chucksurface.com/                         

Lapis - James Whitney (1966)

Jiddu Krishnamurti - Lay the Foundation Instantly


Jiddu Krishnamurti

A still mind is not seeking experience of any kind. And if it is not seeking and therefore is completely still, without any movement from the past and therefore free from the known, then you will find, if you have gone that far, that there is a movement of the unknown that is not recognized, that is not translatable, that cannot be put into words;then you will find that there is a movement which is of the immense. That movement is of the timeless because in that there is no time, nor is there space, nor something in which to experience, nor something to gain, to achieve. Such a mind knows what is creation -not the creation of the painter, the poet, the verbalizer; but that creation which has no motive, which has no expression. That creation is love and death.
This whole thing from the beginning to the end is the way of meditation. A man who would meditate must understand himself. Without knowing yourself, you cannot go far. However much you may attempt to go far, you can go only so far as your own projection; and your own projection is very near, is very close, and does not lead you anywhere. Meditation is that process of laying the foundation instantly, immediately, and bringing about naturally, without any effort, that state of stillness. And only then is there a mind which is beyond time, beyond experience, and beyond knowing.

 
 

NOT BECOMING by Robert Wolfe


                                                             

The most basic teaching of nonduality, it could be summarized, is the transcendence of dualistic conceptions (such as good or bad, right and wrong).
The fundamental dualistic conception which is deconstructed in the initial phase of Self-realization, particularly, is that of I and not-I, self as apart from other—to even the extent that the Infinite could be perceived as other.
A duality which is more subtle, and which needs to be pointedly contemplated, is that of what is as contrasted to what could be (or, more tenacious, what should be).
Whatever the condition is which is actual, it is presently a fact. You cannot change a fact: you can only deny it; wish it were otherwise; or react in relation to it. Such a response is grounded in an idea, a concept, of what could (or should) be instead.
It is our idea of what could be, as opposed to what is, which becomes then an ideal: a standard—which is not actual, not present in reality—to which we aspire to change, or realign, the truth of fact.
Where this ideal-ization plays out most prominently, in our psyche, is in our disposition toward becoming, rather than being. To desire to become something other than what we actually are, in the moment, is to retain an image of the self which can be enhanced.
Where there is attachment to idealistic standards of what could be (or how I ought to be other than I am) there will not be the choiceless awareness which is the hallmark of the dissolution of dualistic conception. There are not “lapses” of idealized behavior or conditions, where there is the emptiness of choiceless awareness to begin with. For the Self-realized, whatever is present (good, bad or otherwise) is Being itself; one can then only acknowledge, “That too is It!” Or, as has been said, “The ‘what is’ is what it is!” The dualistic distinction is absent, of “This is it” (whatever it is, material or immaterial) versus “This is not it.”
The consequence of choiceless awareness is a quiet mind. And there being no attachment to an ideal of what a quiet mind ought to be, there is an absence of agitation in whatever state the mind is observed to be.
The net result is to be content with ‘what is’, rather than in conflict. It is a matter of effortlessly being present with what is present. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what is present. Even discontent could be present, and one can be content with that. That too is it.
This uncontrived equanimity is the peace and freedom of which the nondual sages have spoken. It is the transcendence of “suffering.”

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji) - Be a Lion and walk your own path...


H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji)



           Virtually everyone in this world lives like a sheep. 
The whole population of this world consists of flocks of sheep 
                   who are herded by different shepherds. 
                          I am not joking when I say this. 
         The founder of Christianity is called 'the good shepherd' 
                            by the sheep he is controlling.

                      What is the function of a shepherd? 
            It is to make sure that the sheep in his charge 
                         do not stray away from the flock. 
                       There are five or six big shepherds 
            in the world [Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.], 
       and each one has a flock that numbers in the millions. 
These shepherds are the founders of the world's main religions. 
  All the sheep are branded or painted with identification marks 
  so that the shepherds know which flock each one belongs to. 
                                   What are these marks? 
      They are the ideas and beliefs that the shepherds impose 
                    on all the members of their own flock. 
                             Sheep are very docile animals. 
    They have a group mentality and don't think for themselves. 
                 Instead, they just follow the sheep in front 
                           and do whatever they are doing.
                 Looking after millions of sheep is a big job, 
     so the shepherds need lots of dogs to keep their flocks 
                   under control. And who are these dogs? 
             They are the priests who run around barking, 
                  making all the sheep of their own group 
                         move in the approved direction.

                       Once in a while a sheep will rebel. 
He will look at the dogs and the other sheep and think to himself, 
           'I don't want to live like this. I want to be free. 
                            I want to walk my own way.'
   These rare sheep sneak off when the shepherd is not looking 
[sometimes they must do this secretly in order to escape persecution] 
                               and follow their own path. 
             They have an inner sense that enables them to follow 
                               the scent of true freedom. 
            Some perish, some get afraid and return to their flock, 
            but a very few walk on undaunted and reach the goal,

                 I don't think the sheep who stay in the flocks 
                                  ever attain true liberation. 
                  They live and die following the instructions 
               and promptings of the shepherds and the dogs. 
The church masses, the rituals, the prayers and so on are specially 
                  designed to make you think how wonderful 
the founder of the flock is and how lucky you are to be in his group.

                          These big shepherds tell their sheep: '
You may be miserable now, but if you move in the way that the dogs 
   make you go, we promise you that you will be happy after you die.'
                                What a gigantic fraud all this is! 
                  Why should you wait till you die to be happy? 
     Unending happiness is available here and now to anyone who 
      rejects all the ideas that priests, parents and society impose. 
                   When you drop every idea you have ever had, 
  you find yourself sitting on the throne of the kingdom of heaven. 
      The ideas and practices that the shepherds impose on you 
                         don't help you to get nearer to heaven, 
                       they keep you permanently away from it. 
   Don't listen to the shepherds and don't be afraid of the dogs. 
                            Be a lion and walk on your own path. 
          Don't let anyone impose a belief or a practice on you 
                           by saying it will produce results later. 
If you want the kingdom of heaven, you can have it here and now 
              by dropping every idea and concept in your mind.

The Life Of Zen Master Dogen (Full Movie)

Jianzhi Sengcan - The Great Way



The Great Way is not difficult for those not attached to preferences.
 If you wish to know the truth, then hold to no opinions for or against anything. 
To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.

When the fundamental nature of things is not recognized, 
the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail. 
The Way is perfect as vast space is perfect, 
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.

Indeed, it is due to our grasping and rejecting 
that we do not know the true nature of things. 
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things, 
nor in ideas or feelings of emptiness. 
Be serene and at one with things 
and erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Jalaluddin Rumi - Quietness



Jalaluddin Rumi - Quietness


Rupert Spira - Mind (No Mind)

 

It has been suggested that mind must be destroyed for liberation to occur.Do you have a mind?
Sri Ramana used the term -manonasha-to describe the state of liberation, meaning destroyed mind.
How to destroy the mind?

Rupert Spira's comment

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Ramana Maharshi - Teachings (playlist) 41 videos (short)

'

'That inner Self, as the primeval Spirit, 
Eternal, ever effulgent, full and infinite Bliss, 
Single, indivisible, whole and living, 
Shines in everyone as the witnessing awareness. 
That self in its splendour, shining in the cavity of the heart 
This self is neither born nor dies, 
Neither grows nor decays, 
Nor does it suffer any change. 
When a pot is broken, the space within it is not, 
And similarly, when the body dies the Self in it remains eternal."

Tony Parsons - Who are you?

TONY PARSONS

“Doctrines, processes and progressive paths which seek enlightenment only exacerbate the problem they address by reinforcing the idea that the apparent self can find something it presumes it has lost. It is that very effort, that investment in self-identity, that continuously recreates the illusion of separation from oneness. This is the veil which we believe exists. It is the dream of individuality.”

Sri Ramana Maharshi-a few quotes.


Sri Bhagavan said to Lady Bateman: There is a fixed state; sleep , dream and waking states are mere movements in it. They are like pictures moving on the screen in a cinema show. Everyone sees the screen as well as the pictures but ignores the screen and takes in the pictures alone. The Jnani however considers only the screen and not the pictures. The pictures certainly move on the screen yet do not affect it. The screen itself does not move but remains stationary. Similarly, a person travels in a train and thinks that he moves. Really speaking he sits and reposes in his seat, and it is the train which is steaming fast. He however superimposes the motion of the train on himself because he has identified himself with the body. He says, "I have passed one station - now another - yet another - and so on". A little consideration will show that he sits unmoved and the stations run past him. But that does not prevent him from saying that he has travelled all the way as if he exerted himself to move every foot of the way. The Jnani is fully aware that the true state of Being remains fixed and stationary and that all actions go on around him. His nature does not change and his state is not affected in the least. He looks on everything with unconcern and remains blissful himself. His is the true state and also the primal and natural state of being. When once the man reaches it he gets fixed there. Fixed once, fixed ever he will be. 
17th January, 1939

Jiddu Krishnamurti - "truth is a pathless land"