Master Seung Sahn - Empty names

Good and evil have no self nature;

Holy and unholy are empty names;

In front of the door is the land of stillness and quiet;

Spring comes, grass grows by itself.”

Kwan Um - School of Zen

Thomas Merton - The Fall

There is no where in you a paradise that is no place and there

You do not enter except without a story.

To enter there is to become unnameable.

Whoever is nowhere is nobody, and therefore cannot exist except as unborn:

No disguise will avail him anything

Such a one is neither lost nor found.

But he who has an address is lost.

They fall, they fall into apartments and are securely established!

They find themselves in streets. They are licensed

To proceed from place to place

They now know their own names

They can name several friends and know

Their own telephones must some time ring.

If all telephones ring at once, if all names are shouted at once and all cars crash at one crossing:

If all cities explode and fly away in dust

Yet identities refuse to be lost. There is a name and a number for everyone.

There is a definite place for bodies, there are pigeon holes for ashes:

Such security can business buy!

Who would dare to go nameless in so secure a universe?

Yet, to tell the truth, only the nameless are at home in it.

They bear with them in the center of nowhere the unborn flower of nothing:

This is the paradise tree. It must remain unseen until words end and arguments are silent.

The legacy of Thomas Merton

Alan Watts about Nothingness

“Nothing is what brings something into focus.”

“We know what we mean by white in comparison with black. We know life in comparison with death. We know pleasure in comparison with pain, up in comparison with down. But all these things must come into being together. You don’t have first something and then nothing or first nothing and then something. Something and nothing are two sides of the same coin. If you file away the tails side of a coin completely, the heads side of it will disappear as well. So in this sense, the positive and negative, the something and the nothing, are inseparable—they go together. The nothing is the force whereby the something can be manifested.”

“…And so it’s all made up of off and on, and conscious and unconscious. But the unconscious is the part of experience which is doing consciousness, just as the trough manifests the wave, the space manifests the solid, the background manifests the figure. And so all that side of life which you call unconscious, unknown, impenetrable, is unconscious, unknown, impenetrable because it’s really you. In other words, the deepest you is the nothing side, is the side which you don’t know.”

Sri Ramana Maharshi (playlist)

Christ - thy whole body shall be full of light.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 

where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal:

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,

and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single,

thy whole body shall be full of light.

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.

If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

-St. Mathew 6 

Richard Miller - Advaita

Advaita means, "not-two" and reveals the truth that all objects are expressions of unqualified Consciousness and always point back to Awareness, our true nature, the unfathomable Vast-ness-that-we-are. Consciousness and its objects are One, not two. This can never be conceptualized, only intuitively realized. Yana is the pathless "path" we traverse as our misperceptions of separation are healed. This path is not developmental. Separateness is not a case of something that exists becoming non-existent. Our 'self' never exists in the first place except conceptually. The path reveals the non-existence of the 'self' that always was nonexistent. Yoga is the means we utilize in realizing our non-separateness. We investigate all that we take ourself to be (body, senses and mind), and understand That, which we always are Be-ing-unqualified Presence. The body/mind is an expression of Consciousness, and we are That unqualified Consciousness. There is only Consciousness. Our yearning to understand comes from Consciousness. The path we traverse unfolds in Consciousness. The means that we utilize are the tools provided by Consciousness. And That, which we realize is Consciousness. Therefore, the emphasis of Advaitayana Yoga from the beginning, in the middle, and at the end is not on transformation but upon seeing, listening, understanding and welcoming all that is. From the non-dual perspective nothing needs to be changed in order for freedom to be ex-perienced. It takes effort to live our separateness. It takes no effort to be free. This is the final understanding of Advaitayana Yoga.

Richard Miller site

Jiddu Krishnamurti - Miracle of Understanding...

Listening is an action in which the miracle of understanding takes place.

If I may turn aside for a moment, I think it is important to understand what it means to listen, for then, perhaps, what is being said will have a meaning beyond the words. It seems to me that very few of us ever do listen. We do not know how to listen. I wonder if you have ever really listened to your child, to your wife or husband, or to a bird? I wonder if you have ever listened to the mind as it watches a sunset, or if you have read a poem with an attitude of listening? If we know how to listen, that very listening is an action in which the miracle of understanding takes place. If we know how to listen to what is being said, we shall discover whether it is true or false. And what is true, one does not have to accept: it is so. It is only when there is contention between the false and the false that there is acceptance and rejection, agreement and disagreement.

from Wisdom from the Zen Classic "Xin Ming"

The nature of the mind is non-arising,

What need is there of knowledge and views?

Originally there is not a single dharma;

Why discuss inspiration and training?

Coming and going without beginning;

Sought for, it is not seen.

No need to do anything;

It is bright, still, self-apparent.

The past is like empty space;

Know anything and the

Basic principle is lost,

Casting a clear light on the world,

Illuminating, yet obscured.

If one-mindedness is impeded,

All dharmas are misunderstood.

Coming and going thus,

Is there need for thorough investigation?

Arising without the mark of arising,

Arising and illumination are the same.

Desiring to purify the mind,

There is no mind for effort.

Spontaneous wisdom

Throughout time and space

Nothing is illuminated;

This is most profound.

Knowing dharmas is non-knowing;

Non-knowing is knowing the essential.

Using the mind to maintain quietude,

Birth and death forgotten;

This is original nature.

The highest principle cannot be explained;

It is neither free nor bound.

Lively and attuned to everything,

It is always right before you.

There is nothing in front of you;

Nothing, yet everything is as usual.

Do not belabor wisdom to examine it;

Substance itself is empty and obscure.

Thoughts arise and pass away,

The preceding no different from the succeeding.

If the succeeding thought does not arise,

The preceding thought cuts itself off.

In past, present, and future,

There is nothing;

No mind, no buddha.

Sentient beings are without mind;

Out of no-mind they manifest.

Distinguishing between profane and sacred,

Their vexations flourish.

Splitting hairs deviates from the eternal.

Seeking the real, you give up the true.

Discarding both is the cure,

Transparent, bright, pure.

No need for hard work or skill;

Keep to the actions of an infant.

Clearly knowing,

The net of views increases

Stillness without seeing,

Not moving in a dark room.

Wakeful without wandering,

The mind is tranquil yet bright.

All phenomena are real and eternal,

Profuse, yet of a single form.

Going, coming, sitting, standing,

Don't attach to anything.

Affirming no direction,

Can there be leaving or entering?

There is neither unifying nor dispersing,

Neither slow nor quick.

Brightness and tranquility are

Just as they are.

They cannot be explained in words.

Mind is without alienation;

No need to terminate lust.

Nature being empty, lust will

Depart by itself.

Allow the mind to float and sink.

Neither clear nor clouded,

Neither shallow nor deep.

Originally it was not ancient;

At present it is not modern.

Now it is non-abiding;

Now it is original mind.

Originally it did not exist;

"Origin" is the present moment.

Bodhi has always existed;

No need to preserve it.

Vexation has never existed,

No need to eliminate it.

Natural wisdom is self-illuminating;

All dharmas return to thusness.

There is no returning, no receiving;

Stop contemplating, forget keeping.

Wisdom from the Zen Classic "Xin Ming"

Translated by Master Sheng Yen

Kabir - Abode of the Beloved

Abode of the Beloved

Oh Companion That Abode Is Unmatched,

Where My Complete Beloved Is.

In that Place There Is No Happiness or Unhappiness, 

No Truth or Untruth

Neither Sin Nor Virtue.

There Is No Day or Night, No Moon or Sun,

There Is Radiance Without Light.

There Is No Knowledge or Meditation

No Repetition of Mantra or Austerities,

Neither Speech Coming From Vedas or Books.

Doing, Not-Doing, Holding, Leaving

All These Are All Lost Too In This Place.

No Home, No Homeless, Neither Outside or Inside,

Micro and Macrocosm Are Non-Existent.

Five Elemental Constituents and the Trinity Are Both Not There 

Witnessing 

Un-struck Shabad Sound is Also Not There.

No Root or Flower, Neither Branch or Seed,

Without a Tree Fruits are Adorning,

Primordial Om Sound, Breath-Synchronized Soham, 

This and That – All Are Absent, The Breath Too Unknown

Where the Beloved Is There is Utterly Nothing

Says Kabir I Have Come To Realize.

Whoever Sees My Indicative Sign

Will Accomplish the Goal of Liberation.

Sri Ramana Maharshi on Self-Enquiry

    Self-Enquiry - What is it?

    To all deep-thinking minds, the enquiry about the “I” and its nature has an irresistible fascination. (Ramana Maharshi, MG, 72.)Self-enquiry is the one, infallible means, the only direct one, to realize the unconditioned, absolute Being that you really are. (Ramana Maharshi, MG, 50-1.)
    Disciple: Is it not funny that the “I” should be searching for the I”? Does not the enquiry, “Who am I?” turn out in the end [to be] an empty formula? Or, am I to put the question to myself endlessly, repeating it like [a] mantra? Master: Self-enquiry is certainly not an empty formula; it is more than repetition of any mantra. If the enquiry, "Who am I?”' were a mere mental questioning, it would not be of much value. The very purpose of Self-enquiry is to focus the entire mind at its Source. It is not, therefore, a case of one “I” searching for another “I.” …
    Where the “I” merges, another entity emerges as “I” - “I” of its own accord. That is the perfect Self. (Ramana Mahrashi, GFB.)
    Inquiring into the nature of one's self that is in bondage and realising one's true nature is release. (Ramana Maharshi, WHO, 21.)
    Though the “I” is always experienced, yet one's attention has to be drawn to it. Then only knowledge dawns. (Ramana Maharshi, TWSRM, Question 92.)
    If the ego is, everything else also is. If the ego is not, nothing else is. Indeed, the ego is all. Therefore the enquiry as to what this ego is is the only way of giving up everything. (Ramana Maharshi, FVR, verse 25.)
    Experiences such as "I went; I came; I was; I did" come naturally to everyone. From these experiences, does it not appear that the consciousness "I" is the subject of those various acts? Enquiry into the true nature of that consciousness, and remaining as oneself is the way to understand … one's true nature. (Ramana Maharshi, SE, answer to question 2.)

See the complete post Here 

Lama Gendun Rinpoche - "Nothing to do or undo"

Nothing to do or undo

“Happiness can not be found

through great effort and willpower,

but is already present,

in open relaxation and letting go.

Don’t strain yourself,

there is nothing to do or undo.

Whatever momentarily arises

in the body-mind

has no real importance at all,

has little reality whatsoever.

Why identify with,

and become attached to it,

passing judgement upon it and ourselves?

Far better to simply

let the entire game happen on its own,

springing up and falling back like waves

without changing or manipulating anything

and notice how everything vanishes and reappears, magically,

again and again, time without end.

Only our searching for happiness

prevents us from seeing it.

It’s like a vivid rainbow which you pursue

without ever chatching,

or a dog chasing its own tail.

Although peace and happiness

do not exist as an actual thing or place,

it is always available

and accompanies you every instant.

Don’t believe in the reality of good and bad experiences;

they are like today ephemeral weather,

like rainbows in the sky.

Wanting to grasp the ungraspable,

you exhaust yourself in vain.

As soon as you open and relax

this tight fist of grasping,

infinite space is there -

open, inviting and comfortable.

Make use of this spaciousness, this

freedom and natural ease.

Don’t search any further

looking for the great awakened elephant,

who is already resting quietly at home

in front of your own hearth.

Nothing to do or undo,

nothing to force,

nothing to want,

and nothing missing -

Emaho! Marvelous!

Everything happens by itself.”

About Venerable Lama Gendun Rinpoche