One Sun - Sat Chit Ananda

Sat Chit Ananda is a beautiful pointer to our true nature.

It is usually translated as Sat meaning Truth, Existence or Pure Being, Chit meaning Consciousness and Ananda meaning Bliss.

Sat Chit Ananda can be a single word describing being awake. And we can also have a better understanding and confirmation of awakening as we look at the three aspects individually.

Truth, Existence or Pure Being is an absolute. Sat is what always remains regardless of time or situation. When we awaken, we constantly recognize Pure Being. We are consciously aware of Pure Being as our true nature, the core and foundation of all life.

Consciousness is the first manifestation of our true nature. It is streaming from all of creation. When consciousness becomes conscious of itself, it is like looking in the mirror at your own eyes or looking into the eyes of another. There is a simple and deep recognition of the absolute as your self and in everything else.

Amazingly, consciousness is often not aware of itself. It is usually the mind's distractions which keep consciousness from being "self-aware." However, when the mind is allowed to be still, consciousness can simply gaze upon itself, and Sat Chit Ananda is realized.

Pure being and consciousness are always present although they may not be recognized. And it is mostly the mind or ego which distracts us from the direct experience of this divine presence.

When the mind unwinds and becomes calmer, Bliss, Love and Happiness naturally arise.

They are not evoked. They are natural like light shining from the sun. The awakened one doesn't need to "think good thoughts" to feel good. Feeling good is our natural state when the mind is calm and open.

Ananda is so close. Letting go of the mind for a moment as we watch a sunset or a sunrise, Bliss arises naturally. So Ananda is as natural and inherent as Pure Being and Consciousness. Awakened ones simply have direct experience and knowledge of their absolute, untouched and eternal existence as Sat-Chit-Ananda, Pure Being-Consciousness-Bliss.

Letting go, and paying attention to what is always present naturally allows this divine life to overtake your existence.

Pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss are unavoidable.

http://silentawareness.org/index.html

Rupert Spira - Identification is for Thought not for Awareness

Franklin Merrell-Wolff - "Seek Me First"

 The joy is not the end-in-itself to be sought.
    Seek Me first, and then My Knowledge and My Joy will also be thine.
    Seek Me for My own sake and not for any ulterior motive.
    I and I alone am the worthy end of all endeavor.
    So lay down all for Me, and My Wealth will be thy wealth, My Power
thy power, My Joy thy joy, My Wisdom thy wisdom.
    This universe is but a part of My Treasure, and it, with vastly greater
Riches, shall be the portion of the Inheritance of all those who come to Me.
    Long have ye lingered in the desert of Ignorance.
    I desire not thy continued suffering.
    Come unto Me. The Way is not so hard.

… I have sought this Awakening for several years. I was finally convinced
that, at least in all probability, there was such a thing or event, while I was
in the midst of the discussions of a metaphysical seminary held at Harvard
[when he was a grad student in mathematics there]. I saw, at once, that if
such Knowledge were an actuality it was of far greater importance than even
the greatest intellectual achievement within the limits of the subject-object
field…. My final word on this particular subject is: I sought a Goal the
existence of which I had become convinced was highly probable. I
succeeded in finding this Goal, and now I KNOW, and can also say to all
others: "IT IS ABSOLUTELY WORTH ANYTHING THAT IT MAY
COST, AND IMMEASURABLY MORE."

 

 http://www.merrell-wolff.org/

http://www.angelfire.com/space2/light11/diction/wolff.html#11 

The Nameless

    Above, below, to right, to left, all-encompassing,
    Before and after and all between,
    Within and without, at once everywhere,
    Transforming and stable, ceaselessly;
    Uncaused, while fathering all causes,
    The Reason behind all reasoning,
    Needing nought, yet ever supplying,
    The One and Only, sustaining all variety,
    The Source of all qualities, possessing no attributes,
    Ever continuous, appearing discrete,
    Inexpressible, the base of all expression,
    Without number, making possible all number,
    Containing the lover and the beloved as one,
    Doing nought, remaining the Field of all action—
    The actor and the action not different—
    Indifferent in utter completion;
    Diffused through all space, yet in the Point concentrated,
    Beyond time, containing all time,
    Without bounds, making bounds possible,
    Knowing no change;
    Inconceivable, yet through It all conceiving becoming;
    Nameless ever and unmastered;
    THAT am I, and so art Thou.

Nisargadatta Maharaj - Mind creates

"The mind creates time and space, and takes its own creations for reality.
All is here and now, but we do not see it. Truly, all is in me and by me. There is
nothing else. The very idea of "else" is a disaster and a calamity."
"Learn to look without imagination, to listen without distortion: that is all.
Stop attributing names and shapes to the essentially nameless and formless,
realize that every mode of perception is subjective, that what is seen or heard,
touched or smelled, felt or thought, expected or imagined, is in the mind and not
in reality, and you will experience peace and freedom from fear."
"Time is in the mind, space is in the mind. The law of cause and effect is
also a way of thinking. In reality all is here and now, all is one. Multiplicity and
diversity are in the mind only."
"It is choices you make that are wrong. To imagine that some little thing--
food, sex, power, fame--will make you happy is to deceive yourself."
"Nothing profits the world as much as the abandoning of profits. A man
who no longer thinks in terms of loss and gain is the truly non-violent man, for
he is beyond all conflict."
"To divide and particularize is the mind's very nature. There is no harm in
dividing. But separation goes against fact. Things and people are different, but
they are not separate. Nature is one, reality is one. There are opposites, but no
opposition."
“You need not worry about your worries. Just be. Do not try to be quiet; do
not make 'being quiet' into a task to be performed. Don't be restless about
'being quiet', miserable about 'being happy'. Just be aware that you are and
remain aware -- don't say: 'yes, I am; what next?' There is not 'next' in 'I am'. It
is a timeless state.”
"All real progress is irreversible. Ups and downs merely show that the
teaching has not been taken to heart and translated into action fully."
" The memory of the past unfulfilled desires traps energy, which manifests
itself as a person. When its charge gets exhausted, the person dies. Unfulfilled
desires are carried over into the birth. Self identification with body creates ever
fresh desires and there is no end to them unless this mechanism of bondage is
clearly seen. It is clarity that is liberating, for you cannot abandon desire unless
its causes and effects are clearly seen. I do not say that the same person is
reborn.It dies, and dies for good. But its memories remain and their desires and
fears. They supply the energy for a new person."
"To nourish the ideas: ‘I am a sinner, I am not sinner’, is a sin. To identify
oneself with the particular is all the sin there is. The impersonal is real, the
personal appears and disappears."
"By all means be selfish; the right way. Wish yourself well, labor at what is
good for you. Destroy all that stands between you and happiness. Be all; love
all; be happy; make happy. No happiness is greater."

Hakuin Ekaku - Song of Zazen

(Dharma poem by Hakuin Ekaku [1685-1768]. Read as part of the ceremony at the end of the day during during sesshin.)

 All beings by nature are Buddha,
as ice by nature is water;
apart from water there is no ice,
apart from beings no Buddha.
How sad that people ignore the near
and search for truth afar,
like someone in the midst of water
crying out in thirst,
like a child of a wealthy home
wandering among the poor.
Lost on dark paths of ignorance
we wander through the six worlds,
from dark path to dark path we wander,
when shall we be freed from birth and death?
For this the zazen of the Mahayana
deserves the highest praise:
offerings, precepts, paramitas,
Nembutsu, atonement, training--
the many other virtues--
all rise within zazen.
Even those with proud attainments
wipe away immeasurable crimes--
where are all the dark paths then?
the Pure Land itself is not far.
Those who hear this truth even once
and listen with a grateful heart,
treasuring it, revering it,
gain blessings without end.
Much more, if you dedicate yourself
and confirm your own self-nature--
that self-nature is no nature--
you are far beyond mere argument.
The oneness of cause and effect is clear,
not two, not three, the path is put right;
with form that is no form
going and coming--never astray,
with thought that is no thought
singing and dancing are the voice of the Law.
Boundless and free is the sky of samadhi,
bright the full moon of wisdom,
truly is anything missing now?
Nirvana is here, before your eyes,
this very place is the Lotus Land,
this very body the Buddha.

An excellent site on Zen

http://www.thezensite.com/index.html

Hafiz - A drink of Love

  I know the way you can get
    When you have not had a drink of Love:
    Your face hardens,
    Your sweet muscles cramp.
    Children become concerned
    About a strange look that appears in your eyes
    Which even begins to worry your own mirror
    And nose.
    Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
    And call an important conference in a tall tree.
    They decide which secret code to chant
    To help your mind and soul.
    Even angels fear that brand of madness
    That arrays itself against the world
    And throws sharp stones and spears into
    The innocent
    And into one’s self.
    O I know the way you can get
    If you have not been drinking Love:
    You might rip apart
    Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
    Looking for hidden clauses.
    You might weigh every word on a scale
    Like a dead fish.
    You might pull out a ruler to measure
    From every angle in your darkness
    The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
    Trusted.
    I know the way you can get
    If you have not had a drink from Love’s
    Hands.
    That is why all the Great Ones speak of
    The vital need
    To keep remembering God,
    So you will come to know and see Him
    As being so Playful
    And Wanting,
    Just Wanting to help.
    That is why Hafiz says:
    Bring your cup near me.
    For all I care about
    Is quenching your thirst for freedom!
    All a Sane man can ever care about
    Is giving Love!

John O’Donohue - Not knowing

how would it be to allow for knowing
and not knowing:
allowing room
for the mystery
of creating
to be able to wonder
softly
without needing to understand everything
to trust in the process
to trust in love
to trust in the mystery and wonder
of the universe
that beats softly wildly
true
all round about us,
that is hidden
in the mists
in the clouds and the rain
in the wind blowing and the rain lashing down on your window,
reminding you
poetically
prosaically
that this is where you are,
on the island,
at the edge,
in a place of finding
and refinding,
and remembering
to remember
the feel of the mist, wind and rain.

http://www.johnodonohue.com/