😉

 

The Natural State

art Kinuko.Y.Craft

The Natural State
Perfectly stay in the natural flow,
There is no other concentration.
Perfectly realize the natural state,
There is no other wisdom.
~ Patrul Rinpoche 

When shall I come to dwell in forests amongst the deer, the birds, the trees?
~ Shantideva

When both body and mind are at peace, all things appear as they are - perfect, complete, lacking nothing. 
~ Dogen Zenji

 
“Mountains and rivers, the great earth itself—these are the true masters, offering teachings without words.”
~ Chan Saying

“In the silence of the forest, where the winds chant their songs, one discovers the dharma more clearly than in a thousand sermons.”
~ Ajahn Chah

“Living among the pines and the cedars, I let the stream and rocks teach me how to practice.”
~ Ryokan

“To see the essence of things, walk in the wilderness; there, the mind and nature are one.”
~ Milarepa

“There are no greater temples than mountains, no more profound scriptures than rivers, no truer teachers than the rustling of leaves.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

“On retreat in nature, I see that the sound of the wind in the trees and the cry of the cuckoo are no different than the Buddha’s voice.”
~ Zen Master Bankei

“When the body sits at rest under a tree, the heart can truly take refuge in the forest’s stillness.”
~ Ajahn Sucitto

“A mind that is quiet and at ease, like a mirror reflecting the sky, finds its reflection in the unspoiled beauty of the natural world.”
~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

“The forests and mountains invite us to abide in a state of simplicity, to rediscover the ground of being.”
~ The Buddha, paraphrased from the Pali Canon

The great 13th century master Longchen Rabjam said that nature provides a perfect support for resting in “the mind of uncontrived naturalness” which lies at the heart of the Buddhist Great Perfection tradition.
One’s own present awareness, left as it is, in natural ease,
Beyond qualities and flaws to be added or removed, accepted or rejected,
Is the unaltered, unchanging wisdom of pure awareness;
And to rest in this experience is to unite view and meditation.
~ Patrul Rinpoche 

May you find your way home today - to your true nature, the natural state.
With Palms Together 

Lama Michael

Thanks to Michael Gregory

 

Swami Abhishiktananda - Return within

 

Return within,

to the place where there is nothing,

and take care that nothing comes in.

Penetrate to the depths of yourself,

to the place where thought no longer exists,

and take care that no thought arises there!

There where nothing exists,

Fullness!

There where nothing is seen,

the Vision of Being!

There where nothing appears any longer,

the sudden appearing of the Self!

Dhyana is this!

Swami Abhishiktananda 

(Henri Le Saux)

Swami Abhishiktananda was a French Benedictine monk and priest who felt called to live in india in order to set up contemplative monasteries there. He ended up staying the rest of his life and discovering more than he had bargained for in the general life of india and particularly in advaita vedanta. He never renounced his vocation as a monk or priest

Joan Tollifson - Undeniable and unavoidable

 

Naming this undivided wholeness (calling it wholeness, unicity, Consciousness, awareness, the Self, the True Self, the One Mind, presence, Buddha Nature, emptiness, or any other name) is always potentially misleading because names create the mirage-like appearance of something in particular (this but not that). And what we’re talking about is not something. It is everything and no-thing. Emptiness is what remains when all our ideas, words and beliefs about life drop away. It is not nothing in a nihilistic sense. It is everything, just as it is. 

This wholeness or emptiness is not some abstract idea or mystical state of consciousness, but simply the undeniable actuality of this moment – the sounds of traffic, the hum of machinery, the song of a bird, the knowingness that this is and that you are here. This bare being, this aware presence, this present experiencing requires no belief and cannot be doubted. It is undeniable and unavoidable. What can be doubted are all the ideas, interpretations, and stories about this. All our confusion and suffering is in this conceptual overlay, never in Reality itself. This book is about seeing through the imaginary problem.

---Joan Tollifson, from her book, “Painting the Sidewalk with Water”

https://www.joantollifson.com/joan.html

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Ed Crowley - In Rumi’s field

 People often 
ask me where
I live and what’s 
the name of my 
hometown road
I smile 
as I tell them 
it’s nowhere 
Yet 
it’s everywhere 
and it’s simply 
my humble abode 
I’m the 
Unknown Wanderer 
and hence 
I simply wander 
then I pivot 
Awareness around 
Into the stillness 
of the Silence 
as I lay my soul 
down in Rumi’s field 
Where the 
Beloved Ones 
teachings are revealed 
If you want to know 
where I call home at 
the end of the day 
look up at the stars 
It’s beyond your vision 
but if you look 
long enough you’ll 
sense me there
spinning like a Sufi 
in the boundless 
galaxy 
of the Milky Way 
But you can find me 
if you simply look 
within your heart 
That’s where I’ve 
always been right 
from the start 

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Knock,

And He'll

open the door

Vanish,

And He'll

make you shine

like the sun

Fall,

And He'll

raise you to

the heavens

Become nothing,

And He'll turn you

into Everything.

Jalal Ad-Din Rumi

 

The silence of intuited unicity is always on

It cannot and need not be contrived 

or arrived at or made anew

It is either recognized or not

Nancy Neithercut

Christian Bobin - Silence is the highest form of thought

 

For a long time I let this slow movement towards the unknown, 
this highest form of knowledge, be fulfilled in me: 
the dream, the worship of silence. 
It is never in vain that we give way 
to this elementary beauty which seizes the soul 
in the spiral of a star or anything in the world:
such certainty soothes the hours when I do not write, as those when I write. 

It illuminates the night and its angelic sister, solitude. 
Silence is the highest form of thought 
and it is by developing in us this silent attention 
mute to the day, that we will find our place 
in the absolute that surrounds us.
It is ours when all is lacking and all is far from being _ 
to give our life the patience of a work of art, 
the flexibility of reeds that the hand of 
the wind wrinkles, In homage to winter. 
A little silence is enough. 
A little of this immaterial food that the mother dispensed 
by reading a story that dug the night and burned it to infinity...

Christian Bobin -The simple enchantment

Shams-e Tabrîzî said to Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī

Happy Birthday Beloved Rumi ♡

"A hundred more years from now,

My Poems will be your evening-talks,

Just like Joseph's beauty!"

-Rumi

Today (September 30, 2024) is Mv Rumi's 817th Birthday,

and just as he had said, Rumi's Wisdom is still enlightening our Globe.

                                                                      “Shams said to Rumi:

—You are a scholar, a leader, 

a guide, and an authority!

Rumi answered:

—I am no longer the scholar, leader, 

and guide of the external world… 

I am one of the poor on a journey 

in the world beyond reason, 

lit by the torch you sparked.

Shams said again:

—You still maintain rational thinking! 

Since you could not go beyond reason, 

you are not a native of this region!

Rumi responded:

—From now on, 

I will veil my mind with my heart… 

I became crazy… 

With your spiritual guidance, 

I became a native of this land.

Shams said:

—You still make calculations! 

You are not intoxicated with love! 

You are out of this world! 

This world is lit not by mind but by love. 

You cannot even see what is before you!

Rumi said to Shams:

—Since that moment, 

with your spiritual guidance, 

I became a fire from top to bottom 

entirely covered by love and ecstasy.

This time Shams said:

—You are the torch of this community! 

Your place is high.

Rumi said:

—From now on, my torch is extinguished. 

In my eye, it is no different 

from the May beetle. 

I am now walking under the light 

of other torches.

Shams said:

—You are not dead. 

You still maintain your external life. 

You cannot cross through this door 

like that to the other side. 

You have to completely abandon 

your mundane existence.

Rumi answered:

—It was in the past. 

After I met you, I am no longer alive 

in the conventional sense. 

I have died as I have come across 

a new type of existence.

Shams said to him:

—You still rely on your ego at some points. 

You still maintain your position and titles. 

Free yourself from them.

Rumi replied:

—From now on, I will be seeking position 

in the divine presence 

to which you are drawing me. 

I have abandoned my earlier existence 

and whatever belongs to it. 

I have surpassed it all.

Shams said:

—You still have arms and wings! 

Therefore, I cannot give you 

new arms and wings!

Rumi answered:

—From now on, I will break my arms and wings, 

so that I can become your arms and wings!”

At that moment, Shams was convinced 

that his mission was over 

as he had given him wings to travel 

to the horizons full of divine manifestations… 

And he left him alone in the world 

of blissful separation from the world of union.

From The Garden Of Mathnawi

TEARS OF THE HEART

Tranlators Sencer Ecer & Abdullah Penman

PDF

HERE

The Melody of Silence - from the Qur'an

 

**The Melody of Silence**

In the depths of the soul, where words dissolve,

Sounds a secret melody,

A music that no ear can hear,

For it is woven from the very silence,

This sacred silence, where the world ceases to whisper,

And where the eternal song of the Divine begins.

_"And when the heavens are split in two,

Obedient to their Lord,

They will accomplish their mission._

-Qur'an, 84:1-2

This melody has neither beginning nor end,

She is the echo of an ancient Love,

A Love that exists before time,

Before the stars are lit,

Before the universe was woven.

She is the first breath,

He who gave life to clay,

And which continues to resonate in the hearts of those who listen,

With the ears of the soul.

_"By the Breath of the Most Merciful,

He taught the Qur'an,

He created man,

He taught her how to express herself._

-Qur'an, 55:1-4

In the melody of silence,

Each note is a prayer,

Each break, a return to the Source.

Those who have passed through the tempests of ego,

And the torments of the spirit,

Know that this music is not found in the noise of the world,

But in inner quietude,

Where heaven and earth meet,

In the sacred union of being and non-being.

_"And whoever trusts in God,

God suffices._

- Quran, 65:3

The melody of silence is the voice of Love,

Who speaks without words,

Who touches without touching,

Who kisses without hugging.

It is the melody that the prophets heard in their hearts,

When they were alone with the Beloved,

When the night enveloped the world,

And the whole cosmos seemed to hold its breath,

Waiting for the Light to reveal itself.

Shabistari - The Secret of the Universe

 

Non-being is the mirror of Absolute Being. 

There, the radiance of Reality is reflected 

And grasps its reflection in a second. 

Unity is manifest in plurality

Just as, when you count one, it becomes many. 

All numbers begin by one,

Yet you can never find their end.

Since Non-being is pure in itself

It is in it that the "bidden treasure" is reflected. 

Read the Hadith "I was a hidden treasure'

So you can enter this boundless mystery. 

Non-being is the mirror, the world is the reflection, 

Man the reflected eye of the Invisible Person. 

You are this reflected eye; 

He is the light of the eye. 

And in this eye, His eye sees His own eye.

The world is a man and a man is a world.

When dive into the abyss of this mystery

You are at once the seer, the eye that sees, and what is seen. 

The sacred tradition has affirmed it

And demonstrated it "without eyes or ears' 

Know, then, the entire universe is a mirror. 

In each atom nest a hundred flaming suns: 

Cleave the heart of single drop of water- 

A hundred pure oceans will gush out. 

Examine a single grain of dust-

A thousand Adams will arise.

In its limbs, a fly is like an elephant;

In its qualities, a drop of rain is like the Nile.

The entire universe is hidden

In the heart of a millet grain;

The heart of a barleycorn

Is richer than a hundred harvests.

In the wing of a fly streams the ocean of Life;

In the pupil of the eye an endless heaven opens.

However tiny the grain of the heart may be,

The Lord of all the world has made his dwelling there.

There the two worlds have been made one:

The Tempter manifests God's terrible majesty, 

And Adam His divine beauty.

Contemplate the world as it is,

Angels interweave with devils, Satan with Gabriel. 

Everything is assembled like a seed and its fruit- 

The unbeliever with the believer, the loyal with the disloyal. 

Everything is united on the diamond-point of the present- 

The cycles and seasons, the day, the month, the year, 

The world without beginning and the world without end. 

The mission of Jesus coincides with the creation of Adam: 

From each point of this always-revolving circle 

Thousands of forms are born.

In its turning, every point is sometimes a center, sometimes a circumference. If you were to remove one atom from its place, 

The entire universe would crumble in ruin. 

The All is a vertiginous whirlwind, 

Yet no part of it finds itself beyond the limits of contingency,

For Emanation keeps everything in dependence.

Everything is desperate from being separated from the All;

Everything travels ceaselessly and yet stays in its place;

Everything is always in movement and yet always at peace-

Never beginning, and never ending. 

Everything knows its essence and this is why 

Everything is always racing toward the Throne. 

Under the veil of every atom is hidden

The ravishing beauty of the face of the Beloved!

Nisargadatta Maharaj - Choice and destiny

 

"Questioner:

Surely, I am not the master of what happens.

... Its slave rather.

Nisargadatta Maharaj:

𝐁𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞.

... 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐟!

Questioner:

Does it imply avoidance of action?

Nisargadatta Majaraj:

You cannot avoid action.

... It happens, like everything else.

Q: My actions, surely, I can control.

NM: Try!

... You will soon see that you do what you must.

Q: I can act, according to my will.

NM: You know your will,

... Only 'after' you have acted.

Q: I remember my desires, the choices made, the decisions taken, and act accordingly.

NM: Then your memory decides - not you!

Q: Where do 'I' come in?

NM: You make it possible by giving it Attention.

Q: Is there no such thing as Free-Will?

... Am I not Free to desire?

NM: Oh No!

... You are compelled to desire!

In Hinduism the very idea of 'free-will' is non-existent.., so there is no word for it.

... Will is commitment - fixation, bondage!

Q: I am Free to choose my limitations.

NM: You must be Free first!

To be Free 'in' the world,

... You must be Free 'of' the world.

Otherwise, your past decides for you, And your future: Between what had happened, and what must happen - you are caught!

Call it Destiny or Karma, but never Freedom.

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠,

... 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 '𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞'."

I am that

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Ginny Lonsdale - Stillness speaks ...

A field, transparent expanse
no inside, no outside
no boundary
through all things
underneath all things
before all things
from which all things arise -
just movement rising and falling 

no agitation
no naming
no reference - one thing to another
nothing is object
and no attributes
thus nothing strikes - 
one thing against the other
no agitation 

It is peace, utter peace
'the peace that passeth understanding'
the words 'peace' and 'calm'
are limp slivers of linguistic conceit
they cannot transmit this knowing 

HOME of pure freedom
all-embracing
no me - no past, no identity - completely unbound
immersed
merged
dissolved
no-longer
only awareness
deep unfathomable peace 

just the gift that always is
Reality's Self 

emerging through the door of this transcendent HOME
one last kiss and wave off:
"this is The Stillness. people live in this Stillness"
a respectful, gentle invitation ...
with a dash of humour,
like ... 'you might like to give this a try ... there's nothing stopping you' (nudge, nudge) 

a white liquid light
poured
through the head into the crevices of the brain
down into the body
filling every vibrating molecule with 
exquisite sweetness
scintillating divine light nectar
of which I had never known before
nourishing this material form.
A loving embrace - divine LIGHT pouring itself into 'me'
Every part of this body responded with delight
and fell asleep.

               

                    HERE

 

 

Donna Ashworth - 'This Rock'

 

art :Julia Arnt

We exist on a 4.5 billion year old rock

floating in an unfathomable expanse 

of nothing-ness

you and I

we are magnetically held in place

by an invisible force

along with 8 billion other people. 

every single thing that exists on this rock

is without doubt a work of art

so intricately crafted 

we will never truly discover the scope of wonder within

we are made of the same elements 

as everything that naturally surrounds us

just shaken up differently

and oh so magnificently

look at us, my friends. 

we are breathtaking

our breath alone

the power in that act 

is breathtaking

everything you are doing right now 

reading, feeling, understanding 

is fascinatingly complex

and yet we spend our days worrying about things

that are of no significance at all 

big-picture

walk around your world today 

with awe in your eyes 

and really see what you are living.

every aspect of this life

is nothing short of astonishing

and this rock we are clinging to with ease

is astounding.

eyes open, reach out, breathe deep

take it all in

this rock, our home, 

will know each of us

for only a heartbeat in its timeline. 

leave only love

live with only gratitude

look with only wonder.

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https://donnaashworth.com/

Nancy Neithercut - An all encompassing love

 

How long did we wait for our lives to begin? Believing that everything had to be 'just right', so we could finally relax

When you least expect it, when all hope is gone, when you realize that tale will never get pinned on the donkey, when you realize that all the ladders in the world will never reach the moon, when you're tired of trying to catch the wind, kiss your reflection in the moonlit pond, that it was simply a misconception that you were in charge of the stage door, and had to turn the crank on the merry-go- round,

you find infinite permutations of a butterfly kiss, and a beautiful intimacy of life slipping through your fingers as you slip through the lines, losing yourself and finding yourself awash in iridescent awe.

and in the end there is no doubt nor place for it to arise..........

all the secret corners of your being have been undone

there is nothing left to hide nor anywhere to hide it

nor anyone to hide...

there is nothing in the bottom of the cup

not even emptiness

or nothingness

or thinglessness

the suck as the tide goes out

water shimmering in the afternoon sun as it percolates into the sands of this shoreless sea

just an empty sublime vastness

suspended as awe

in the dance of love

What is going on is magnificently wondrously unknowable

It has no qualities or characteristics whatsoever

It is shared learned words which create a conceptual mentally fabricated world of separate things and events and time...

And this imaginary “known” world is not separate from the unknown because the ideas of “known” and “unknown” are also made up.

I could say that what is going on is fluid and ungraspable but actually it is neither moving nor nonmoving. As it has no dimension and it is not dimension less.

Has no time nor non time...

It has no things nor non-things...

It is not one big thing like wholeness or emptiness...

It has no space nor emptiness...

And it is not even an it.

This is it

And not even that....

When the story is no longer believed, that is also the story...

And the story takes on a somewhat surreal feeling... yet simultaneously real-er than real more vibrant more alive....

it’s as if the most delicious dream of unknowing has subsumed the dream of knowing...

It’s like an all encompassing love.

https://substack.com/@nancyneithercut

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Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī - Inner Sunrise

 

If I were the plaything of every thought

I’d be a fool, not a wise man.

If the Sun of Love was not my own

I’d be mournful like Saturn,

rising and falling in the night sky.

If I were not guided by the fragrance of Love’s City

I’d have followed dark spirits

into the endless desert of greed.

If the soul’s light had to stay inside its house

I’d open every door and window!

If the garden of the soul

did not comfort those in pain

I could not carry Love’s message

on the east wind.

If lovers were not addicted to music and dancing

why would I sing all day and night

like a wailing flute?

If the Saaqi’s weight-giving wine

had been kept from my mouth

I’d be like the thin lip of a cup!

If the Garden had no leaves or shade

I’d be rootless

like the fortune-trees of deceitful men.

If God’s servants were not upon the earth

I’d have fallen into the sin

and folly of this world.

If there was no way from the grave to paradise

I could not behold the joyful heavens

in this body.

If there was no road from East to West

I would not be dancing through the garden

with the North and South winds!

If the Abundant Garden did not grow

my soul would never blossom.

If God’s grace were not with me

I’d be a babbling fool!

Go within.

Hear the story of sunrise from the Sun itself.

If there were no sunrise within

I would have set long ago!