' To Become a Buddha '...
What is Truth ?...
Who are You ?...
It is that easy..
Not many sentences are needed..
Mind is important..
Questions are answered..
A Mind so long ago..
A Mind that remains Us..
Our Thoughts are shortsighted..
Truth is within our grasp..
Grab It...
-thomas
' Realization of Mind '...
If you would free yourself of the sufferings of the Six Realms, you must learn the direct way to become a Buddha.
This way is no other than the realization of your own Mind.
Now what is this Mind?
It is the true nature of all sentient beings, that which existed before our parents were born and hence before our own birth, and which presently exists, unchangeable and eternal.
So it is called one's Face before one's parents were born.
This Mind is intrinsically pure.
When we are born it is not newly created, and when we die it does not perish.
It has no distinction of male or female, nor has it any coloration of good or bad.
It cannot be compared with anything, so it is called Buddha-nature.
Yet countless thoughts issue from this Self-nature as waves arise in the ocean or as images are reflected in a mirror.
The above Bassui Tokusho quote is
from the book Contemplating Who Am I?.
' The Best Loss of All '...
There is a silence which swallows your mind.
You have
the feeling you know nothing at all but you are without
confusion.
It is like your body becomes completely empty
and a deep silence is looking out.
You may say Awareness
looks out as Silence.
Few know the profundity of this
state.
They may even think you have lost your mind,
and maybe you did.
But it would be the best loss of all.
- Mooji
' Unvaryingly One '...
If anyone could imagine a consciousness which does not objectify anything but remains in its own native purity,
a happiness beyond which it is impossible to go,
and a self which is unvaryingly one and the same,
he would have the correct idea of the Overself.
-- Notebooks Category 12: Reflections > Chapter 1:
Two Essays > # 2 Paul Brunton
' Longing of Heart '...
"He who is called Krishna is also called Shiva and Shakti, and that is He again who is called Jesus and Allah.
There is only one Rama and he has a thousand names.
"Truth is one; It is only called by different names.
All people are seeking the same Truth; the disagreement is due to differences in climate, temperament and names.
Everyone is going toward God.
They will all realize Him/Her if they have sincerity and longing of heart."
-Sri Ramakrishna
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Abridged Edition)
by Swami Nikhilananda
New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1958, p.300
' Totality Functions '...
When there is really a conviction that I am only an instrument,
like the billions of human beings through which God or Totality
functions,
how can there not be a tremendous sense of
freedom?
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Our Fatal Destination '...
The sadness of a withered flower, its head wilted, its stem shrivelled, its leaves dry corpses, is a sober reminder of beauty's fragility and our own fatal destination.
-- Notebooks Category 9: From Birth to Rebirth > Chapter 1: Death, Dying, and Immortality > # 28 Paul Brunton
This is the way a man may best die--while resting on a chair or couch or sleeping in a bed, a peaceful expression on his face as if seeing or hearing something of unusual beauty, a pleased expression around the mouth.
-- Notebooks Category 9: From Birth to Rebirth > Chapter 1: Death, Dying, and Immortality > # 90 Paul Brunton
' Regard as a King '...
Regard as a king someone unconcerned with
kingship.
Only he who is an enemy to his own
existence possesses real existence.
- Rumi
Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
' The Changeless '...
The changeful keeps on changing, while the changeless is waiting.
Do not expect the changeful to take you to the changeless - it can never happen.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Transcendental Reality '...
The Self abides motionless because of its all-pervasive fullness.
Because the apparent connection between the Self and the mind-limitation seems to exist on account of ignorance – which is the jiva-perspective, the reflected consciousness that rises 'I' – the Self too appears to have experienced movement through the motion of the mind.
But the movement of samsara that comprises birth and death, bondage and liberation, and so on,
is I only for the jiva and never for the Self, the transcendental reality.
-Guru Vachaka Kovai
Muruganar
' Abidance in the Self '...
The practice of abidance in the Self
is to firmly hold the mind in abeyance within the heart.
It is not an act of thinking.
– Muruganar.
' Be living, yet dead '...
If you want a kingdom and get it,
you'll have no peace.
If you give it away,
still you won't be content.
Only a soul free of desire
can taste eternity.
Be living, yet dead!
Then knowing comes
to live in you.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' Only an illusion '...
The source of wisdom and power, of love and beauty, is within ourselves, but not within our egos.
It is within our consciousness.
Indeed, its presence provides us with a conscious contrast which enables us to speak of the ego as if it were something different and apart:
it is the true Self whereas the ego is only an illusion of the mind.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1:
What Am I? > # 2 Paul Brunton
" We did it ! "...
The very highest is barely known.
Then comes that which people know and love,
Then that which is feared,
Then that which is despised.
Who does not trust enough will not be trusted.
When actions are performed
Without unnecessary speech,
People say, "We did it!"
- Lao-tzu
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1989
' One Great Delusion '...
There’s one great delusion that lies at the core
of all of our suffering:
the false belief in the reality
of the separation of life and in the subsequent
true existence of an individual ego.
All fervent attempts to control or to mortify this
illusory ego through penance, rituals and sacrifice,
however, will only serve to intensify the delusion
that this ego is actually very real and that it only
needs to be, somehow, subdued, conquered or
destroyed.
- Chuck Hillig
Seeds for the Soul
Chuck Hillig
Black Dot Publications, 2003
' The Beloved '...
The idea that he has to attain mastery over the desires of the flesh is a correct one.
But that this mastery will lead to reunion with a "soul-mate" is not the teaching of the best mystics or philosophers.
What really happens is a reunion with the true "Beloved," who is none other than the Soul of the individual, his higher Self.
This is a real living entity, whose presence is felt, whose words are heard, and whose beauty arouses all one's love.
-- Notebooks Category 6: Emotions and Ethics > Chapter 4:
Purify Passions > # 92 Paul Brunton
' Personality Dissolves '...
You live, you feel, you think.
By giving attention
to your living, feeling and thinking, you free
yourself from them and go beyond them.
Your
personality dissolves and only the witness
remains.
Then you go beyond the witness.
Do
not ask how it happens.
Just search within yourself.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The Beauty of Self '...
The beauty of Self is that it's not a matter of acquiring anything, being held in high regard, or being seen or noticed. It's a matter of being the intrinsic beauty of what you are, that inner blessedness. To experience that deeply, just let it sink in, not as an answer but as a question.
"Could it be that this blessedness is what I am? Could I have been mistaken all along by defining myself as worthy or unworthy or as the social roles that are played in my life? Have I been mistaken and overlooked the hidden blessedness that is in the nature of each and every being?"
This blessedness seems hidden because it cannot be touched, but it is not hidden in essence. It is overlooked because we are looking only at the mind structure, and we are missing what makes the structure possible. Our structures of belief, disbelief, emotions— all of our inner and outer structures come and go.
Only the space that is awake remains. And there is a lot more space in you than there is structure.
- Adyashanti, Emptiness Dancing 75
' The Belief of Plotinus '...
Plotinus' belief that in all his lesser loves, man is seeking the divine,
that it is the object he really permanently wants much more than these temporary ones,
is the truth to which he must come one day.
And he will come by a double movement:
the first, away from them by successive disenchantments,
the second by progressive glimpses of the divine beauty.
-- Notebooks Category 6: Emotions and Ethics > Chapter 2:
Re-Educate Feelings > # 104 Paul Brunton
' The Begging Bowl '...
The mind is a beggar because the concept of want
makes you a beggar!
Be only "I AM" and try to lift
the begging bowl.
Throw away the begging bowl of
ego for the throne.
- Papaji
This quotation is from:
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' This is the only Doctrine '...
Enlightenment absorbs this universe of qualities.
When that merging occurs, there is nothing
but God. This is the only doctrine.
There is no word for it, no mind
to understand it with, no categories
of transcendence or non-transcendence,
no vow of silence, no mystical attitude.
There is no Shiva and no Shakti
in enlightenment, and if there is something
that remains, that whatever-it-is
is the only teaching.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' Only in the Soul '...
Only after long experience and severe reflection will a man awaken to the truth that the beauty which attracts him and the
ecstasy which he seeks can be found free of defects and transiency only in the Soul within.
-- Notebooks Category 6: Emotions and Ethics > Chapter 2:
Re-Educate Feelings > # 21 Paul Brunton
' Silent Amid Agitation '...
"It is true that the voice of God, having once fully penetrated the heart, becomes strong as the tempest and loud as the thunder.
But before reaching the heart, it is as weak as a light breath which scarcely agitates the air.
It shrinks from noise, and is silent amid agitation."
-St. Ignatius of Loyola
in Carol Kelly-Gangi
The Essential Wisdom of the Saints
NY: Fall River Press, 2008, p. 3
' Going up and down '...
Somewhere
in you,
you know (the Truth).
and when you
stubbornly
insist that
you don't know,
then you
go up
and down.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
' The Whole Picture '...
Buddha ascetically turned in disgust from the human body.
He could see it only as an assemblage of loathsome elements.
Plato artistically turned towards it in joy.
He received inspiration through its beauty.
Neither Indian nor Greek was quite right nor quite wrong.
Each deliberately unveiled only a part of the picture.
Whoever wishes to see the whole picture must put together both the bright top part and the dark lower part.
He must comprehend that the body is doomed to decay and die but that its informing life is destined to grow into grandeur.
Thus the finite form becomes a portal to the infinite reality.
-- Notebooks Category 5: The Body > Chapter 2:
The Body > # 1 Paul Brunton
' Truth is Forgotten '...
I do not exist..
But, you see me..
This object of consciousness..
I will continue to walk within those that knew me but cannot remember 'me'...
I will remain Consciousness even though, they around me, Dream..
I will live as the 'ego', but remain Consciousness..
I will not fall into fiction..
I will remain without 'ego'..
I will remain as 'One'..
Catch Me, if You can...
-thomas
' Where was Jesus ? '...
Salaams to all:
i am not sure where Jesus Christ (Peace and Love and Blessings be upon him), Isa (Assalato wassalamo alaika ya RasoolAllah) was for eighteen years...
Allahu a'lam. (God Knows Best.)
and didn't even want to conjecture about it...
however something Hafizullah said makes me feel like posting...
i tend to agree with him...
Where Jesus was is not a real question. Neither, for that matter, is what he
was told, because what he was told was what /he/ needed for his unfoldment.
Trying to retrace his steps by gathering shards of Tibetan and (what
vanishingly-little we know) of Egyptian teaching is not going to make us
into the kind of being Jesus was.
it reminds me of John 13:35...
"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
i am certain that Jesus Christ was/is practicing what he preached with the Help of our LORD inshallah.
Thank you to all. Where ever Christ is... that is where i too want to be inshallah. (dua).
love,
sean [x].(1 Peter 5:14).[5:47-48 Holy Qur'an].(Psalm 133)
p.s. it is easy to find our Lord in the Church of our Heart inshallah. [7:55]
Alhamdulillah.
(Job 36:22).[6:18 Qur'an]
Subhan-Allahi wa biHamdihi. Gloria in excelsis Deo.
(i hope there is something helpful here inshallah.)
Praise be to God. [10:10]
-Sean Thurston
' Hearing Certitude '...
"The head has two ears,
Love has just one —
This hears certitude
Whilst those hear doubt."
-Hakim Sanai
The Walled Garden of Truth
Translated and abridged by D. L. Pendlebury
London: Octagon, 1974, p. 32
' Creative Emptiness '...
Can you not just listen to this as the soil receives the seed and see if the mind is capable of being free, empty?
It can be empty only by understanding all its own projections, its own activities, not off and on, but from day to day, from moment to moment.
Then you will find the answer, then you will see that the change comes without your asking, that the state of creative emptiness is not a thing to be cultivated - it is there, it comes darkly, without any invitation, and only in that state is there a possibility of renewal, newness, revolution.
- J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life
' Silly Mountain '...
-Han Shan
(of the Ming Dynasty)
(Han-Shan Te'-Ch'-ing, Shrama.na Han-shan De-ching, Sramana Te Ch'ing,
Silly Mountain)
( 1546 - 1623 )
Look upon the body as unreal,
an image in a mirror,
the reflection of the moon in water.
Contemplate the mind as formless,
yet bright and pure.
Not a single thought arising,
empty, yet perceptive;
still, yet illuminating;
complete like the great emptiness,
containing all that is wonderful.
' The "I Am" is you '...
"When we examine the mind
of the average person,
we find that he usually identifies himself
with mind or body.
He either thinks that he is body
or that he is mind,
and therefore he can control
neither mind nor body.
The "I Am" in his nature is submerged
in a bundle of ideas,
some of which are true
and some of which are not,
and his thought is usually controlled
by those ideas
without receiving any direction whatever
from that principle within him
that alone was intended to give direction.
Such a man lives in the lower story
of human existence,
but as we can control life only
when we give directions from the upper story,
we discover just why the average person
neither understands his forces
nor has the power to use them.
He must first elevate himself
to the upper story of the human structure,
and the first and most important step
to be taken in this direction
is to recognize the "I Am" as the ruling principle,
and that the "I Am" is you."
- Christian D. Larson
from the book A Course In Materialization
' Earthly and Divine '...
"Earthly things must be known to be loved,
Divine things must be loved to be known"
-Blaise Pascal
' Pretending Again '...
"When someones asks me who they are
or what God is,
I smile and whisper to the Light;
'There you go again pretending.'"
-Adyashanti
' Acaranga Sutra '...
"Nothing which breathes, which exists, which lives, or which has essence or potential of life, should be destroyed or ruled over, or subjugated, or harmed, or denied of its essence or potential.
In support of this Truth, I ask you a question - "Is sorrow or pain desirable to you?"
If you say, "Yes it is", it would be a lie.
If you say, "No, It is not," you will be expressing the truth.
Just as sorrow or pain is not desirable to you, so it is to all which breathe, exist, live or have any essence of life.
To you and all, it is undesirable, and painful, and repugnant."
_Ācāranga Sūtra_, Sutra 155-6
_Jain Sutras Part I, Sacred Books of the East_, 1894, Vol. 22
Translated by Hermann Jacobi
' Reason and Intuition '...
I am an Advaitin on the fundamental point of nonduality of the Real, but I am unable to limit myself to most Advaitin's practical view of samadhi and sahaja. Here I stand with Chinese Zen (Ch'an), especially as I was taught and as explained by the Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng. He warns against turning meditation into a narcotic, resulting in a pleasant passivity. He went so far as to declare: "It is quite unnecessary to stay in monasteries. Only let your mind . . . function in freedom . . . let it abide nowhere." And in this connection he later explains: "To be free from attachment to all outer objects is true meditation. To meditate means to realize thus tranquillity of Essence of Mind."
On samadhi, he defines it as a mind self-trained to be unattached amid objects, resting in tranquillity and peace. On sahaja, it is thorough understanding of the truth about reality and a penetration into and through delusion, to one's Essence of Mind. The Indian notion of sahaja makes it the extension of nirvikalpa samadhi into the active everyday state. But the Ch'an conception of nirvikalpa samadhi differs from this; it does not seek deliberately to eliminate thoughts, although that may often happen of its own accord through identification with the true Mind, but to eliminate the personal feelings usually attached to them, that is, to remain unaffected by them because of this identification.
Ch'an does not consider sahaja to be the fruit of yoga meditation alone, nor of understanding alone, but of a combination seemingly of both. It is a union of reason and intuition. It is an awakening once and for all. It is not attained in nirvikalpa and then to be held as long as possible. It is not something, a state alternately gained and lost on numerous occasions, but gradually expanded as it is clung to. It is a single awakening that enlightens the man so that he never returns to ignorance again. He has awakened to his divine essence, his source in Mind, as an all day and every day self-identification. It has come by itself, effortlessly.
— Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 2:
Enlightenment Which Stays > # 141 Paul Brunton
' Just Stay Quiet '...
Stay as simple natural Being without thought or doership.
Out of nothing you can do anything and not leave footprints.
No intention is no limitation,
just stay quiet,
simply do not stir a thought.
-Papaji
' Tasawwuf '...
"Tasawwuf (Sufism) means that Allah causes you to die to your self and gives you life in Him."
-Al Junayd
in GF Haddad and Dr. Alan Godlas
Imam Junayd ibn Muhammad Abu al-Qasim al-Khazzaz al-Baghdadi (d. 297 AH/ 909-910 CE)
' The Circle Game '...
Life sinks down.
We leave.
We keep walking day and night,
and come back where we began.
There is some mysterious meaning
in this, but what is it?
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' The "I" was going '...
It was one of those lovely summer evenings when I sat far into the night: first, enjoying the sunset, then, the darkening landscape, lastly, the lights alone.
The curtains remained undrawn: I could not bring myself to attend to waiting work, and shut out this fascinating scene.
For it drew me away, held me, melted me.
The "I" was going.
I love these long lingering summer sunfalls.
Then I can put duties aside, turn from the activities which life amongst men imposes, and go with all this beauty into Mystery Itself.
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 7:
Sunset Contemplation > # 20 Paul Brunton
' Detachment '...
Because it never changes, Consciousness itself
is never angry, sad, hurt, lonely or scared.
It's only the historical ego-self that seeks to validate
its separate existence by maintaining a close association
with, and attachment for...those thoughts and feelings.
When you create a heart-centered detachment to the
world, however, these passing phenomena can then be
experienced with compassionate indifference and a kind
of "holy apathy."
Detachment is the realm of unconditional love.
- Chuck Hillig
' A Friend '...
A friend is one who does not disturb your mind.
Maintain no friendship with ones who disturb your
mind, no matter how close they are, be it a person,
a place, or idea.
Do not accept the invitations of
foolish persons because when you live in their
society, Truth will not kiss you.
- Papaji
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
'Looking for Soul '...
In looking for the beauty in Nature, a man is looking for his soul.
In adoring this Beauty when he finds it,
he is recognizing that he not only owns an animal body,
but is himself owned by a higher Power.
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat >
Chapter 6: Nature Appreciation > # 72
Paul Brunton
' Till self is forgotten '...
"Keep God in remembrance till self is forgotten,
That you may be lost in the Called without distraction of caller and called."
-Rumi
Divani Shamsi Tabriz, 4
in F. Hadland Davis
The Persian Mystics: Jalaluddin Rumi
London: John Murray, 1912, p. 45
' Personal Identity '...
Personal identity and enlightenment cannot
go together.
Indeed, there is actually no such
thing as either personal identity or enlightenment,
and the apperception of this fact is itself
enlightenment.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' The Beauty of Physical Life '...
Even if we take the Buddhistic view that all is transient,
all is subject to change, and all is doomed to decay,
we need not deny that the beauty and the pleasure to be found in physical life,
however momentarily, still have their value.
Is a field of flowers utterly worthless?
Is the loveliness of a sunset to be utterly rejected?
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 6:
Nature Appreciation > # 3 Paul Brunton
' Tragedy '...
There is a saying in Tibetan,
'Tragedy should be utilized as
a source of strength.'
No matter what sort of difficulties,
how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our
real disaster.
- Dalai Lama
' The Within and Without '...
"There is a point where in the mystery of
existence contradictions meet;
where movement is not all movement
and stillness is not all stillness;
where the idea and the form,
....the within and the without, are united;
where infinite becomes finite,
yet not losing its infinity."
~ Tagore
' Nature and Art '...
The beauty we see in a single flower points to a MIND capable of thinking such beauty.
In the end Nature and Art point to God.
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 6:
Nature Appreciation > # 1 Paul Brunton
' Thoughts on a Monday Night '...
I have been a Buddhist monk for most of my life..
Therefore, the desire to lie is not within my DNA..
To lie, is to deny Reality which is foolish..
The Politics of America is trapped within mind-control..
How many lies have been spoken ?..
You are Intelligent and can see beyond the mind-controlled..
Read the book called '1984', if you want answers to modern society..
Look closer into the voices that scream of hitler connection..
It is so strange to hear the television heads speak words that do not meet Reality..
But, You are Awake and can decide on Truth for your own Consciousness...
-thomas
' Ram Tzu's Venom
If you are happy
Run away from Ram Tzu.
Ram Tzu’s venom is only safe
If you’re already snake-bit.
- Ram Tzu
No Way for the Spiritually "Advanced"
Ram Tzu
Advaita Press, 1990
' Seeing and Perceiving '...
Come to the place where the seeing,
the perceiving, is impersonal.
This is the only treasure a human being can find and be.
- Mooji
' Enlightenment '...
If he brings only a part of his ego into the Quest,
then only a part of it will become enlightened and
only a part of his activities will show the effects of enlightenment.
-- Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? > Chapter 3:
Its Requirements > # 249 Paul Brunton
' Thou Art He '...
"And for this [realization of God's unity], the Prophet (upon whom be peace) said: 'Whoso knoweth himself knoweth his Lord.'
and he said (upon whom be peace), "I know my Lord by my Lord.'
The Prophet (upon whom be peace) points out that, that thou are not thou: thou art He, without thou; not He entering into thee, nor thou entering into Him, nor He proceeding forth from thee, not thou proceeding forth from Him.
And it is not meant by that, that thou art aught that exists or thine atributes aught that exists, but it is meant by it that thou [as limited self or ego, Arabic nafs] never wast nor wilt be, whether by thyself or through Him or in Him or along with Him.
Thou art neither ceasing to be nor still existing.
Thou art He, without one of these limitations.
Then if thou knowest thine existence thus, then thou knowest God; and if not, then not."
-Ibn 'Arabi
"Who Knoweth Himself...": From the Treatise on Being
Tr. by T. H. Weir
UK: Beshara Publications, 1976, pp. 4-5
' What is Virtue ?'...
"Virtue is nothing but well-directed love."
-St. Augustine of Hippo
in Jill Haak Adels
The Wisdom of the Saints: An Anthology
NY: Oxford U. Pr., 1987, p. 121
' True Religion '...
"This is true religion;
to cleanse oneself with pure thoughts,
pure words and pure deeds."
Zoroaster
Zend Avesta
in God's Big Instruction Book
Rockport, MA: Oneworld, 1996, p. 41
' Selfishness '...
"Basically, there is only one precept — not being selfish.
If people are selfish, they will violate the precepts.
If people are not selfish, they will not violate the
precepts."
-Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
Spring Sun, Lotus Flower: Quotes form the teachings of Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
Burlingame, CA: Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2004, p. 10
' The Purest Doctrines '...
The purest doctrines, such as those of Ramana Maharshi,
Padma Sambhava, Huang Po and Shen Hui, just teach that
it is sufficient by analysis to comprehend that there is no
entity which could have effective volition, that an apparent
act of volition when in accord with the inevitable can only
be a vain gesture and, when in discord, the fluttering of a
caged bird against the bars of his cage.
When he knows that,
then at last he has peace and is glad.
- Wei Wu Wei
' Becoming Self-Conscious '...
To surrender the ego is to surrender the thought of it, and this is done by stilling the mind whenever, in daily life, one becomes self-conscious.
This silenced, ego vanishes.
It is deep, mental effacement of the thought of being "XY," this quick stilling of the idea of being a particular person, this serene rejection of the intellectual movement and emotional agitation of the ego, that constitutes the "giving up of the self" which Jesus and all great mystics have insistently enjoined.
This art of effacing the ego by stilling the mind, by suddenly stopping its whirling flood of thoughts, could not be practised at will and at any time if one had not practised it previously and frequently in deliberate exercises at set times.
It is not an art into which the man in the street can straightway plunge.
He is not ready for it.
He must first get a disciplined mental nature through daily work in meditation as well as a subjugated emotional nature through hardened will.
These endeavours must be brought to perfection first before the feat of giving up the ego can itself be brought to perfection.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 4:
Detaching from The Ego > # 151
Paul Brunton
' More Beautiful than Death '...
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
There is no God any more divine than Yourself.
Nothing can happen more beautiful than death.
~ Walt Whitman
' This body is not Me '...
This body is not me.
I am not limited by this body.
I am life without boundaries.
I have never been born,
and I have never died.
Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,
manifestations from my wondrous true mind.
Since before time, I have been free.
Birth and death are only doors through which we pass,
sacred thresholds on our journey.
Birth and death are a game of hide- and seek.
So laugh with me,
hold my hand,
let us say good-bye,
say good-bye, to meet again soon.
We meet today.
We will meet again tomorrow.
We will meet at the source every moment.
We meet each other in all forms of life.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
' The Orthodox View of the Bible '...
The orthodox view of the Bible is untenable, according to philosophic tradition.
It is really a collection of books written in different centuries by men on different levels of inspiration.
It mixes half-history with myth, and legend with allegory and poetry.
The tribal memories of the Hebrews are put on the same level--which is a mistake--as the inspired revelations of their seers and the Mystery teachings they learned in Egypt and Chaldea.
The orthodox view of Jesus is equally dispelled by philosophic insight.
The man Jehoshua, who was the real figure behind the legendary one, lived a hundred years before the supposed date.
Although much of the teaching associated with his name in the New Testament is actually his own, not much of the life there given is actually historical.
The narrative in its pages is partly an allegory depicting a disciple's mystical journey ending in the crucifixion of his ego and partly an excerpt from Jehoshua's biography.
There was no violent death, no physical crucifixion in this biography.
-- Notebooks Category 17: The Religious Urge > Chapter 5:
Comments On Specific Religions > # 77 Paul Brunton
' A Separate Personality '...
All thoughts and emotions are not real.
They are
like the waves that dance on the surface of the ocean
for a few seconds or minutes and then they return to
where they have arisen from.
Then they are no more
wave, but they are ocean.
How long can a wave keep
its form as a separate personality?
- Papaji
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' Know Emptiness '...
Nirvana is the actual antidote or "active ingredient" in the medicine of the Dharma.
A single, direct, nondualistic realization of emptiness eradicates permanently some portion of the desire, hatred, and ignorance that have bound one in misery for infinite cycles of time up until that moment.
Repeated realizations over many lifetimes are still needed before all of the ancient roots of ignorance can be eradicated.
During this training, the bodhisattva alternates between periods of meditation on emptiness and periods of compassionate action in the world.
Even after the bodhisattva escapes samsara altogether, she must still practice for a long time to overcome the "hangover" of dualistic appearances, the aftereffects of having been ignorant for so long.
Finally, these last limitations are cleared away and the bodhisattva becomes a buddha.
A buddha continuously knows emptiness directly while also simultaneously acting compassionately in the world of persons and forms.
- Guy Newland, from Introduction to Emptiness:
As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path
' The Knowledge of Consciousness '...
The moment we attempt to understand what reality is, we get out of our depth because our own thinking must move in a serial sequence which itself prevents us from escaping the particular space-time form which confines us to a particular world of appearance.
Just as, because it has entered our space-time experience, we can take hold of an artist's production but not the mind behind it, so and for the same reason we can take hold of the screen which cuts us off.
This is because we can think of existence only in a particular shape or relative to a particular thing, not of existence that is formless, bodiless, and infinite.
We have to localize it somewhere in space.
Because space and time are forms taken by rational knowledge, because they are only conditions existing within personal consciousness, they do not enter into the knowledge of consciousness of that which is beyond both rational thinking and personal selfhood.
- Paul Brunton
' Defining yourself '...
Give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others.
You won't die.
You will come to life.
And don't be concerned with how others define you.
When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it's their problem.
Whenever you interact with people, don't be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence.
You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.
- Eckhart Tolle, from A New Earth:
Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
' The Overcoming of Egoism '...
Meditation on the void has, as one of its chief aims, the overcoming of egoism.
It not only destroys the narrow view of self but sublimates the very thought of self into the thought of pure unbounded existence.
Employed at the proper time and not prematurely, it burns up the delusion of separateness.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 8:
The Void As Contemplative Experience > # 158 Paul Brunton
' No Liberation is needed '...
Once it is understood that ‘I am’ is purely ‘I am’, formless and not
that shackled body form – then no liberation is called for.
To be
stabilized in that beingness,
which has no name and form, that
itself is liberation.
-Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Thoughts on a Tuesday Night '...
The 'Tax Man' is standing with hand ready to hold money..
We pay others to exist..
It has always been a scam..
We 'Watch' the illusion and laugh at the Discoveries..
" To give to Caesar, what is Caesars ",
cries, the Man of Knowledge..
To gain the World, but lose your Soul is often mentioned..
We fear, because we do not Know..
We Grieve,
because we lose..
It is always the ego that feels pain..
-thomas
' Decisions '...
You can't make a decision.
You can only experience a story about how you made it.
Decisions make themselves; they are happenings; they come when the time is right.
Who would you be without the story that you need to make a decision?
~ Byron Katie
' Ideas are Ideas '...
From the perspective of the infinite it is obvious that the individual self absolutely does not exist.
The idea that we have a self that controls.
arbitrates, or is the doer behind our actions, is absurd.
The individual self is nothing but an idea of who we are.
Ideas are ideas - and nothing more.
~ Suzanne Segal
' The rains have stopped '...
The rains have stopped, the clouds have drifted away and the
weather is clear again.
If your heart is pure then all things in your world are pure.
Then the moon and the flowers will guide you along the way.
- Ryokan
' Imaginary life '...
"Imaginary life
has great power
to control and wreck people
because it insists
it is not imaginary life."
- Vernon Howard
' Undisturbed '...
"Thus,
those who really seek
the path to Enlightenment
dictate terms to their mind.
Then they proceed
with strong determination.
Even though they are abused by some
and scorned by others,
they go forward
undisturbed."
- Gautama the Buddha
' What is patience ?'...
And what is patience?
It is all the treasure
there is.
Nothing is more valuable,
nothing
a greater bliss than patience.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978
' Thoughts on a Sunday Night '...
Why are enemies needed ?..
You and your offspring might die for this belief..
I was a combat veteran and therefore speak with knowledge..
The Elite bring you into Wars..
So much money to be made..
When was the last time that you voted for War ?..
You need an enemy for them to exist..
The World of Loving is not their cup of tea..
Watch the Elite Warriors that never fight..
Watch the Politicians that send you to death...
-thomas
' Mundaka Upanishad '...
"Brahman is supreme; He is self-luminous,
He is beyond all thought.
Subtler than the subtlest is He,
farther than the farthest,
nearer than the nearest.
He resides in the lotus of the heart of every being."
_Mundaka Upanishad_ 3.1.7
' The Final Union '...
"You must be intensely active for God if you would attain that actionless state of final union with Him."
-Paramahansa Yogananda
_The Essence of Self-Realization:
The Wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda_
Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity Publishers, 1990, p. 87
' Modern Life '...
The simple life advocated quite understandably by saints and mystics as a means of detaching people from too much worldliness is to be welcomed.
But two points should be made and then kept clear.
It should not be confused with the monastic life, with vows of poverty imposed on laymen.
It should not be opposed to the cultural life and deprive us of the gifts of art, beauty, colour, and replace them by utter bareness or drabness.
It should not be fanatical and push its dislike for the products of man's invention to the extreme.
The cave is the simplest habitation.
Are we to stop only there?
And scratch on the walls instead of printing on paper?
-- Notebooks Category 2: Overview of Practices Involved >
Chapter 7: Discipline Desires > # 101 Paul Brunton
' True Religion '...
"What we now call the Christian religion existed amongst the ancients,
and was from the beginning of the human race,
until Christ Himself came in the flesh;
from which time the already existing true religion began to be styled Christian"
-Retract., I, xiii, 3
St. Augustine of Hippo
' To Surrender '...
"To surrender is not as difficult as people think. It must not be external, but internal.
You must do your duty toward your dear ones — your wife, children and others who depend on you.
You must not shirk or avoid your responsibilities.
But while doing these duties, one must not be attached to maya.
"One must remain detached, whatever the result may be.
Even if one of your dear ones dies, you should not think about it, much less worry about it, but dedicate all to the guru.
You should dedicate every thought and every act, both good and bad, at his feet.
It is very easy, but because it is so easy, it is difficult.
Once dedicated, you should forget everything, and if you cannot forget them, how can you say that you have surrendered them?
-Meher Baba
Bhau Kalchuri
Lord Meher: The Biography of Avatar of the Age Meher Baba
Revised Online Edition, p. 1972
' The Teacher '...
The teacher can only help one to help himself.
Ultimately it will be by his own efforts alone that the student uncovers the wisdom and beauty he is seeking--and which are even now within him.
Such efforts, in order to be successful, must be courageous and continuous:
repeated failures should serve only to stimulate deeper determination.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 6: Student-Teacher > # 714 Paul Brunton
' The State of Witness '...
Develop the witness attitude and you will
find in your own experience that detachment
brings control.
The state of witnessing is
full of power, there is nothing passive about it.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The intrusion of the mind '...
Knowing that the intrusion of the mind is a natural
process, that it has to happen, that understanding
itself will return one to the witnessing.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Usual Life '...
The last phase of the Short Path has no special procedure,
no specialized method.
Life is its Way,
or, as the Chinese sage said,
"Usual life is very Tao."
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 5:
Balancing the Paths > # 226 Paul Brunton
' All things within Me '...
"The one who sees Me everywhere,
And who sees all things within Me;
I am never lost unto him,
Nor is he ever lost to Me."
Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 6:30
Translated by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
Atma Jyoti Ashram, 2004
' Beyond the Observer '...
Between the banks of pain and pleasure the river of life
flows.
It is only when the mind refuses to flow with life,
and gets stuck at the banks, that it becomes a problem.
By flowing with life, I mean acceptance - letting come
what comes and go what goes.
Desire not, fear not,
observe the actual, as and when it happens, for you are
not what happens, you are to whom it happens.
Ultimately
even the observer you are not.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The Universal Flow '...
"If the universal flow directs the unfolding of a great happening through your form, then you will rise to it.
If the order of things creates a burning urge within you to make local or global change happen, then you will flow with that urge.
If you are not stirred into activity while remaining in the stillness of no mind, then no activity takes place.
There is no feeling that you are either participating or not participating in any action.
Nothing is named and all movement comes out of pure emptiness.
Without mind, without being the one involved in doing, there is no personal agenda attaching to activity."
~Jac O'Keeffe
' Thoughts on a wednesday night '...
Let us Think..
We are in-dividuals..
That, which is not divided..
That, which is not divided is called God..
In my experience, I have met God..
In this Light of Consciousness,
I have spoken to God..
What is God ?...
A Voice..
Wisdom..
Some form of Wisdom that describes Reality..
It is so strange, to leave and then return..
I try not to speak beyond paragraphs,
therefore, I leave...
-thomas
' Fear and Desire '...
Since they’re both focused on the future,
fear and desire are simultaneously in your
heart.
Contained within every desire, however, is a
hidden fear that “It won’t happen.”
Paradoxically, though, contained within every
fear is also a hidden desire that “It won’t happen.”
Your fears will begin to diminish whenever you
stop feeding your desires.
And, of course, vice versa.
Fears and desires always eat from the same trough.
- Chuck Hillig
Seeds for the Soul
Chuck Hillig
Black Dot Publications, 2003
' Perspective Shift '...
And then there's the experience of no separate self and that's something different.
The experience of no separate self often quite suddenly it's as if the bottom falls away and that sense of being the center, you know that center that's behind your eyes, there's a feel of being the center of your experience as if there's some sort of little entity that's in there having all the experiences.
If you've never had this happen, just imagine that that sense of center like the bottom just fell out, the ground just fell away from it and all of a sudden your experience was no longer of being a kind of center, that the center just opens up.
So of course there's a realization with that, the realization of this is that the separate self isn't really have any entityhood to it, any center to it. also the experience of the whole thing just, just falling away.
And that's a kind of, in spiritual teachings, often its overstated I think, its overstated in a way that's necessarily frightening.
They'll talk about the annihilation of the ego, sometimes use this very dramatic sort of language. Annihilation conjures up all sorts of frightening images. It's almost more like annihilation in the way like your dream that you had last night, in the middle of the night, that dream has been annihilated.
You are not having it now. But to use the word annihilation would be a little strong I think and we don't have to think of it on such dramatic terms.
It just falls away and now you're in a different perspective..
What seems so real in the middle of the night last night in your dream where your dreams seemed as real as this moment all of a sudden from this perspective you can look back at last night and go, 'Oh.. well.
I had such and such a dream, you now it was just a dream. It wasn't as real as it seemed like it was.
The reason you can say that, the reason you can talk like that is because when we wake up from a dream we go from one reality to another reality, from a pseudo reality to a deeper reality.
That's what I mean by a view, by a change of view, a change of perspective.
Its not that the entity in your dream needs to understand something.
It's a change of view you being whoever you played in last night's dream, you are no longer playing it at this moment.
And that's fundamentally a change of view.
It's not a deductive understanding, it's just a perspective shift that you have when you wake up in the morning or you wake up in the middle of the night from your dream.
- Adyashanti
' The Enlightenment Experience '...
Repose in this condition of vast emptiness is accompanied by intense and vivid happiness.
He knows that he is with the living God.
He understands that he has come as close to God as it is possible for a human being on earth to do and yet remain human and alive.
But he knows and understands all this not by the movement of ideas--for there are none here--but by a feeling which captures his whole being.
But it is during this final experience of the Void, when he passes beyond all relativity, that he experiences Mind to be the only reality, the only enduring existence, and that all else is but a shadow.
Entry into this stage is therefore a critical point for every aspirant.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 8:
The Void As Contemplative Experience > # 32 Paul Brunton
' My Identity '...
I do not know myself,
nor you, my Lord.
I mistook the body
for my identity.
I didn't know
that you are
me, and I you,
yet still I keep wondering
who you and I are.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' The Trance of ego-identification '...
Awake awareness might seem like a new experience; however, it's not an altered state, a transcendent state, or even a meditative state.
It's our innate, true nature that is always here.
When we have shifted into awake awareness, we realize that ego-identification is actually the altered state.
By recognizing awake awareness, we are dehypnotizing ourselves from the trance of ego-identification."
~ Loch Kelly
' The Unchanging Real '...
In a world of constantly changing scenes, fortunes, health, and relationships,
a precious possession is the knowledge that there is the unseen Unchanging Real.
Still more precious is awareness within oneself of ITS ever-presence.
-- Notebooks Category 28: The Alone > Chapter 2:
Our Relation To the Absolute > # 105
Paul Brunton
' Tao Te Ching '...
Fame or self: Which matters more?
Self or wealth: Which is more precious?
Gain or loss: Which is more painful?
He who is attached to things will suffer much.
He who saves will suffer heavy loss.
A contented man is never disappointed.
He who knows when to stop does not find himself in trouble.
He will stay forever safe.
- Lao-tzu
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1972
' Ishwara '...
What is Ishwara?
My Guru told me that the one who is listening is
Ishwara itself.
The ‘I am’ is Ishwara, there are various names given
to that ‘I am’ but that ‘I am’ is not your body.
Your knowledge ‘I
am’ contains the whole universe, presently it is difficult for you to
believe, so for the moment worship it.
Beingness contains
everything, worship that and all your requirements will be met.
Ultimately the knowledge is yours.
- Nisargardatta Maharaj
' Just an Illusion '...
The source of wisdom and power, of love and beauty, is within ourselves, but not within our egos.
It is within our consciousness.
Indeed, its presence provides us with a conscious contrast which enables us to speak of the ego as if it were something
different and apart: it is the true Self whereas the ego is only an illusion of the mind.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1:
What Am I? > # 2 Paul Brunton
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