Hildegard of Bingen - What a miracle

Art: The Cycle of Seasons by Hildegard of Bingen

O Beloved, your way of knowing is amazing!
The way you recognize every creature even before it appears.
The way you gaze into the face of every human being
and see all your works gazing back at you.
O what a miracle to be awake inside your breathing.

Wu Hsin - Ponder this...

"When the viewpoint shifts
from being an object to being the very Subject,
how can anything take on importance?
That which is truly spiritual is neither physical nor mental.
It is that which cannot be confined
to any particularized state,any location or any time.
We come to see that there is only one illusion
from which all the other illusions come.
It is this: what we appear to be is a phenomenon……….
bound by time, finite and perceivable;
whereas what we have been, are, and shall always be,
is the noumenon — timeless, spaceless, nameless, formless.
Noumenon manifests itself through endless numbers of forms
which are created and destroyed every moment,
and in this spontaneous functioning
there is no place at all for the notion of any entity.
In this regard, the world is not populated
with countless entities.
The world is One Entity; Its name is I.
Ponder this"

St. John of the Cross - The Living Flame Of Love

1. O living flame of love
that tenderly wounds my soul
in its deepest center! Since
now you are not oppressive,
now consummate! if it be your will:
tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

2. O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life
and pays every debt!
In killing you changed death to life.

3. O lamps of fire!
in whose splendors
the deep caverns of feeling,
once obscure and blind,
now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their Beloved.

4. How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.
The Works of St. John of the Cross

 

Lao Tzu - Ancient Masters

“The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.
Their wisdom was unfathomable.
There is no way to describe it;
all we can describe is their appearance.

They were careful
as someone crossing an iced-over stream.
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.
Courteous as a guest.
Fluid as melting ice.
Shapable as a block of wood.
Receptive as a valley.
Clear as a glass of water.

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?

The Master doesn’t seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present, and can welcome all things.

Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.

If you don’t realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.”

 

Maitripa's Essential Mahamudra Verses

To innermost bliss, I pay homage!

Were I to explain Mahamudra, I would say—
All phenomena? Your own mind!
If you look outside for meaning, you'll get confused.
Phenomena are like a dream, empty of true nature,

And mind is merely the flux of awareness,
No self nature: just energy flow.
No true nature: just like the sky.
All phenomena are alike, sky-like.

That's Mahamudra, as we call it.
It doesn't have an identity to show;
For that reason, the nature of mind
Is itself the very state of Mahamudra
(Which is not made up, and does not change).
If you realize this basic reality
You recognize all that comes up, all that goes on,
as Mahamudra,
The all-pervading dharma-body.

Rest in the true nature, free of fabrication.
Meditate without searching for dharma-body—
It is devoid of thought.
If your mind searches, your meditation will be confused.

Because it's like space, or like a magical show,
There is neither meditation or non-meditation,
How could you be separate or inseparable?
That's how a yogi sees it!

Then, aware of all good and bad stuff as the basic reality,
You become liberated.
Neurotic emotions are great awareness,
They're to a yogi as trees are to a fire—FUEL!

What are notions of going or staying?
Or, for that matter, "meditating" in solitude?
If you don't get this,
You free yourself only on the surface.

But if you do get it, what can ever fetter you?
Abide in an undistracted state.
Trying to adjust body and mind won't produce meditation.
Trying to apply techniques won't produce meditation either.

See, nothing is ultimately established.
Know what appears to have no intrinsic nature.
Appearances perceived: reality's realm, self-liberated.
Thought that perceives: spacious awareness, self-liberated.
Non-duality, sameness [of perceiver and perceived]: the dharma-body.

Like a wide stream flowing non-stop,
Whatever the phase, it has meaning
And is forever the awakened state—
Great bliss without samsaric reference.

All phenomena are empty of intrinsic nature
And the mind that clings to emptiness dissolves in its own ground.
Freedom from conceptual activity
Is the path of all the Buddhas.

I've put together these lines
That they may last for aeons to come.
By this virtue, may all beings without exception
Abide in the great state of Mahamudra.

Translated into English by Nicole Riggs

 ~~~~~~

 
 This was Maitripa's Essential Mahamudra Instruction (in Tibetan: Phyag rgya chen po tshig bsdus pa), received from Maitripa himself and translated by the Tibetan translator Marpa Chökyi Lodrö.

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source text 

Nisargadatta Maharaj - Truth

If you expect any benefits from your search, material, mental, or spiritual, 

you have missed the point. 

Truth gives no advantage. It gives no higher status, no power over others. 

All you get is truth and the freedom from the false.

Where is the dwelling place of truth where you could go in search of it? 

And how will you know that you have found it?

What touchstone do you bring with you to test it? 

You imagine that truth is a thing which carries the name ‘truth’, 

and that it is advantageous to have it, provided it is genuine. 

You are shopping for truth but you do not trust the merchants. 

You are afraid of forgeries and imitations. 

You are asking for truth, but in fact you merely seek comfort, 

which you want to last forever. 

Now, nothing, no state of mind, can last forever. 

In time and space there is always a limit, 

because time and space themselves are limited. 

And in the timeless the words ‘for ever’ have no meaning. 

The same with the proof of truth. 

In the realm of non-duality everything is complete, 

its own proof, meaning and purpose. 

Where all is one, no supports are needed. 

You imagine that permanence is the proof of truth, 

that what lasts longer is somehow more true. 

Time becomes the measure of truth. 

And since time is in the mind, the mind becomes the arbiter 

and searches within itself the proof of truth.....

a task altogether impossible and hopeless!

Rumi - The master illusionist

Didn't I tell you not to enter to that palace of carelessness 
It is me, who is your intimate friend 
It is me, who is your self confess 
Didn't I tell you not to be satisfied with the veil of this world?  
it is me, the master illusionist,  
It is me,who is the spring of eternal life.  
Didn't I tell you not to fall in this trap like a blind bird?  
I am your wings, I am the strength of your wings,  
I am the wind keeping you in flight.  
It is me,who is the life in your breath.

Rainer Maria Rilke - Buddha in Glory

pic David Keochkerian

 

Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet--
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.

Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,

a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.

traduction by Stephen Mitchell