30 April, 2013

On nature of mind by Longchenpa


(credit: beautiful image- unknown)

Since everything is but an apparition,
Perfect in being what it is,
Having nothing to do with good or bad,
Acceptance or rejection
You might as well burst out laughing!

LONGCHENPA

The Art of Listening: Inquiry vs. Argument by Jack Adam Weber

Found this wonderful article that I would like to share....visit Wake Up World for some great reads on the links provided and the author.


11th April 2013

By Jack Adam Weber

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

“If we want there to be peace in the world, we have to be brave enough to soften what is rigid in our hearts, to find the soft spot and stay with it. We have to have that kind of courage and take that kind of responsibility. That’s the true practice of peace.” - Pema Chödrön, Practicing Peace in Times of War

Self-inquiry and the assertion of argument represent two dialectical capacities of handling information. The Yin-Yang dialectics of Chinese medicine prove helpful to understand their contrasting energetics. Yang is an outward, projected, aggressive energy. Yin is an interior, expanding and embracing, introspective energy. As they relate to information, argument is the Yang dissemination of information. Inquiry, and particularly self-inquiry, is the Yin, internal processing of information.

Self-inquiry is a deep listening that mobilizes many of our uniquely human faculties. Listening is an art because when we listen from our deep bodies – as “embodied presence” – so many aspects of our brain and its extended nervous system are activated and work synchronically to produce not only understanding, but that whole-bodied experience of empathy and compassion which can be felt by another as more than the registering of logistical information. Indeed, it is also the registering of the other person’s emotions, their total experience, what their information means to them. This deep participation with others via our own caring capacity is also a physiological activity, an embodied spirituality of compassion.

Arguments, in a sense, are the opposite of deep listening. We argue during formal debate or informally with our partners, friends, coworkers, and family. We all know how lousy it feels to argue with those we love; it stresses us out and no one hears much of what the other has to say, and more damage is often done in the process. The aggressive stance of projecting an argument seems to shut down the parasympathetic processes that foster introspection, reflection, feeling safe, open-hearted, relaxed, and vulnerable – all the qualities that contribute to empathy, compassion and unconditional love.

Arguments are wisdom killers when they bar us from ourselves and others. Therefore, if our lives are truly about learning and helping others, we could be mindful of our tendency to assert ourselves at the expense of listening. Or at the very least, we could experiment with softer arguments that also allow us to consider and respect another side of truth. To do this, we might need to hold our own position more lightly. If this is uncomfortable for us, then we can look into what might be behind our need to be so assertive and argumentative. Maybe our own insecurities for which we need to convince others so as to convince ourselves? Or a hidden low self-esteem of not being “enough”? When I get aggressive or bull-headed, I like to ask myself, “What is preventing you from being compassionate in this moment?” Sometimes, too, I just get passionate about ideas and the sport of debate, which I happen to enjoy, to a point. When listening is obliterated and defensiveness takes control, it’s time to take a break. I continue to try to be more alert to when this impasse arrives, and to have the wisdom to politely stop. At the end of the day, each of us prefers to be heard and respected, and to hear and to respect. Remembering this can help us know when to engage and when to release, when to put down our need to be right.

When indulged, argument can become simply an aggressive habit, a platform for our entitled egos. We craft an argument, assert it and try to discredit or debunk our opponent. This is the nature of an “argument.” Arguments are not usually between two people curious to discover the deeper curves of truth. But we can try to make them more so. Information exchange via argument, along with its physiological tenor, can quickly and unwittingly become bad habits, an addiction and parasite to true caring. This is how Yang quickly gobbles up Yin. We easily forget the tender soft spots of our being, those that allow us to learn more and to see ourselves more clearly through the process of self-inquiry, including the underlying predispositions and insecurities that might be behind our need to argue. As in most self-growth, inner alignment and integrity informs and keeps our outer assertions and work in check. This is another way of saying, we change the world most efficiently and sustainably by first changing ourselves. When Yin inner work (inquiry) precedes Yang action (assertion) we create sustainable progress and more loving, kinder interactions.

The position we occupy during emotional inquiry is radically different than the aggressive, and often arrogant, asserting of our positions. During inquiry, we not only have to understand what we hear but we have to digest and sit with what is communicated, both verbally and non-verbally. This happens in relation to others and with ourselves. We have to listen, deeply, to others and to our own body’s subtle language and signs, the way we feel into the “spirit” of a forest, or a child whose meaning he cannot yet express in words.

Listening deeply to ourselves and being able to determine what is true for us are the cornerstones for emotional healing and spiritual integration. People who spend their time debating and arguing are likely not reaping the inner growth that occurs during quieter moments of humble and bare-bones honest introspection, a self-inquiry process that happens most robustly via the “felt-sense.” This requires that we let go of the energy of argument and assertion. It is a delicate and nuanced practice demanding tremendous vulnerability, true open-mindedness, sensitivity, and a refined awareness of the impulses, sensations, and images that occur in our interior milieu of body and mind. In the end, those who do not listen to or “hear” you likely spend little time genuinely connected to their own bodies and hearing themselves. Try to have compassion for them and find someone else who can hear you to get your need met for being heard.

I find that I don’t trust people who repeatedly argue their position. I don’t trust the integrity of people who talk at me without bothering to ask or notice if I am interested what they have to say. Thankfully, I am usually kind to tell them. The disinterest I refer to here is distinct from defensiveness; it is simply preference. For example, I am not very interested in hip-hop and spoken word, but I am in classical music and Romantic poetry. I like basketball and not baseball, so I am not being defensive when I’m not interested in following the World Series.

Generally, we tend to trust those who appear know what they are talking about, the ones who confidently disseminate their schtick, and even argue well. But when that confidence accompanies a lack of compassion, arrogance, and open-mindedness, it’s problematic. True, it takes confidence and organization to put forth a body of knowledge. This is normal erudition and conveyance of logistical information. But truly honest people are more apt to say I don’t know a lot more than we may be comfortable with hearing. When we give up the fantasy that one person, or a group of persons, has all the answers, we can tolerate more “I don’t knows.” When someone tells me they don’t know, and they genuinely mean it, I feel it and tend to trust them more.

Then there are the extremists who claim that we know nothing at all, which is less likely true than the possibility that we indeed know many things about the world, just not everything. And likely, many things we take dogmatically for granted, may not be true at all, or not as true as we believe them to be, or would like to believe them to be. We do not unreasonably have to assume the position of beginner’s mind all the time, but we can be well-served to regularly check ourselves not to assume “all-knowing” mind, especially when used as a justification for relentlessly asserting our argument. Curiosity and humility feel really good, have you noticed?


We all know people who make a lot of assertions, especially without the credentials or personal experience to do so, but don’t consider other points of view. We may do it ourselves. Granted, a denied point of view may be ludicrous, but some grow so used to arguing that other opinions or perspectives don’t see the light of day. These folks also fail to consider the reality that their own stance is also a matter of opinion. There are many opinions floating around in the world today, by relatively equally credentialed individuals with equally valid perspectives, and those who think they know “the truth” will usually argue so, to a fault. What is that fault? Dissention, disharmony, and at the end of the day, a failure to connect and to truly care for another.

People tend to assert their opinions when they are emotionally invested in those opinions. Their ideas substitute for their compassion, care, and love, such that kind connection goes missing altogether. If you threaten their opinion, they can go ballistic on you. And they will justify doing so. They might call you annoying, or ridiculous, or any other name which their ego conjures up to simply defend themselves against seeing another reasonable point of view. I recently had a run-in with an old friend who believes that science is non-dogmatic because it corrects its errors and is always refining itself. But, what if this certainty is at least partially myth, as the article I presented to this friend by a qualified scientist proposes? Indeed, many scientists report that it is a myth that science operates so accurately, honestly, seamlessly, and efficiently. But, tell this to the dogmatic science believers who hold a perfectionist fantasy of science – not so different than a religious person’s heaven – and you are liable to get a reaction similar to someone defending their god. Again, people have their biases, egos, and emotional agendas behind what they believe and what they assert. Dismantling our egos allows us, via the Yin inner work of inquiry, to be more honest and less defensively assertive, less deaf and blind to what might be the rest of the truth, that could save us, and those we interact with, some grief.

Dogmatic idea-pushers are so certain of their position, so emotionally attached to their position, that they often cannot and will not see another way, any more than a magical thinker will give up on their belief in unlikely fantasies. They value being right over kindness. The ones who have the most to lose by opening to the possibility that they only see the foot or tail of the elephant they are standing on or swinging from, are the least likely to investigate the possibility that the elephant has other body parts!

One antidote to all manner of fundamentalism, narrow-mindedness, excessive argument, and defensive, close-minded posturing, is to cultivate a rich inner life. A rich inner life grows out of deep listening, one welcoming and curious about all relevant emotions, logic, and other information (except baseball scores, metaphorically speaking!). It is one that can handle feelings of insecurity: not being “enough,” not knowing, knowing too much, or being dead wrong, and therefore, accepting of being humbled. A rich inner life embraces difficult emotions such as fear, grief, anger, helplessness, and shame. To make peace with these inner states requires a tremendous amount of humility, sensitivity, courage, and self-honesty – the humility to see and feel oneself as honestly as possible, the sensitivity to discover one’s personal truth in one’s body, the courage to allow one’s heart to break open, and the self-honesty and vulnerability to see and correct one’s ego defenses in order to experience heartache, as well as to hear and respect another.

To retreat into the cozy lair of our hearts, as I once wrote in a poem, requires the opposite energy of aggressive, outward assertion. I notice that when I get into debates and asserting a position that no matter how hard I try to listen, most often both the pace and the tone of the debate format do not foster inquiry, entry into any open-heartedness, much less broken-heartedness. It does not foster receiving a piece of information, such as some of the suggestions in this writing, and sitting with it to see if it is true. Yet for growth and wholeness both assertion and reception, Yin and Yang, are required. For this we can more gently and skillfully assert our intelligence to aid our body-centered inquiries (for example, discovering if something is factually true or not) and we must be receptive to what our inner wisdom of sensations, emotions, images, and impulses reveal to us. For example, we can use our reason to discover if our perceptions of another, or of an event, are true before reacting emotionally. We can also soften and employ reason and logical assertion by presenting information and ideas to the wisdom of our body-minds to discover the truth about a pattern of meaningful events (via the felt-sensementioned earlier) – for example, rather than rebel against a perceived hurtful comment we can breathe deeply, soften and ask ourselves if it is true, and what pattern of wounding or unfulfilled need it might have triggered in us.


In sum, assertion and argument are Yang endeavors; reception is Yin, or more feminine in nature. Since both men and women possess both Yin and Yang energies, we are all capable of both asserting and receiving information. It is yet another myth that women are unilaterally more emotionally aware than men and men are more reasonable and logical. The Yang capacity to appropriately assert ourselves, coupled with the Yin capacity to receive information of all kinds, contributes most robustly to our healing and wholeness—to our integration of mind and body, our peace and fulfillment, and our ability to meaningfully show up for others in a full-bodied presence attentive to both their non-verbal and literal communications.

The Yin-encouraging quote by Pema Chödrön that introduced this writing speaks to the yet undervalued aspect of our feminine natures (introspection, breaking open, deep feeling) so needed in our world today. It applies equally to the war between nations, the war between friends and lovers, and the war within ourselves. Notice how Pema locates compassion as a bodily sensation, a “soft spot.” This soft spot is the locus for deep listening and self-inquiry, an antidote to war, egoic argument, and intolerance. The courage and bravery to acknowledge and work through and from our soft spots is theYin power needed to curb and inform the pathological Yang path of bull-headed, excessive argument and unsustainable, technological progress. This Yin power grows scarcer with industrial progress, yet without it we are gonners. So, it is up to each of us to bolster the sacred feminine Yin in our inner and outer lives.

This somatic Yin orientation fosters a more genuine, integrated sort of compassion than the sugar-coated kindness we often call compassion (“empty Yin”), which has a distinctively superficial feeling to it. Indeed the soft spots in our own hearts are the paths into our wounding, the Earth’s injuries, our deep listening and compassion, our antidote to warring and arguing, and therefore into the powerful healers can be to reestablish the balance of nature in our Yang-obsessed world.

Previous articles by Jack Adam Weber:
In Love: Curse and Cure
Radical Forgiveness
Shadow Work: Becoming a Sustainable Light Worker (Part 1)
GMO Victory — Thank Kenya, There is a God!
Monsanto in Mexico: Stop GMO Corn Now
California’s Prop 37 Scandal: Resolution and Healing Amid the Corruption

About the Author

Jack Adam Weber is a licensed acupuncturist, master herbalist, author, organic farmer, celebrated poet, and activist for Earth-centered spirituality. He integrates poetry, ancient wisdom, holistic medicine, and depth psychology into passionate presentations for personal fulfillment as a path to planetary transformation. His books, artwork, and provocative poems can be found at his website PoeticHealing.com. Jack can be reached atJack@PoeticHealing.com or on Facebook.

29 April, 2013

Soul reflection: Rumi


Oh soul, 
you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength. 
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings. 
Of anything less, 
why do you worry?
You are in truth 
the soul, of the soul, of the soul.
You are the security, 
the shelter of the spirit of Lovers. 
Oh the sultan of sultans, 
of any other king, 
why do you worry?
Be silent, like a fish, 
and go into that pleasant sea.
You are in deep waters now,
of life’s blazing fire.
Why do you worry?
Rumi

28 April, 2013

Sutra Of Innumerable Meanings - The Wheel Of Emptiness by Julian Colgan

After praising the Buddha of buddhas
for his generosity towards all those who assembled
before him, the Bodhisattva of Great Adornment
asked the World Teacher how anyone could
become perfect in the highest level of Buddhahood
and in the shortest amount of time possible.

O Noteworthy Dharma Sons,
by carefully applying the teachings
of the sutra of innumerable meanings,
the precious jewel of a bodhisattva's realization is yours.

Every teaching that I have given,
including this one you are about to hear,
is empty of all good and bad qualities.
Like the mind, my teachings are neither
full nor destitute of quantity,
neither profound nor simple
and neither non dualistic nor dualistic.

Living beings, having the tendency to indiscriminately
discriminate against themselves and others,
always propound and extrapolate upon how
this is different from that and how enlightenment
is or is not natural to living beings everywhere.

As if bound by an ever turning wheel of perpetual sufferings,
living beings in reality are only pretending to be ignorant
of the whole truth as I innately and intimately know of it.

Observing the profundity and depth of compassion
and its comprehensive web of binding and liberating influences,
maintain the emptiness of the law instead of the apparent fullness of the law.

Even though I have skillfully delineated and pronounced
many severe and illuminating laws,
know that each law appears and disappears
as the mind appears and disappears.

Not mistaking a law for Buddhahood,
renounce the desire to be a strict
adherent of the law,
for a law is conditioned by time and circumstance
and you are more clearly not,
o follower of the Middle Way.

Just as thoughts appear to be real
when they are in the process of arising,
so too do laws appear to be real
as I speak of them and glorify their use.

As the desires of living beings multiply,
so too do the manners of teaching the laws multiply.
When the laws are seen to multiply as if by thin air,
so shall you see the innumerable meanings
of my fundamental doctrine be multiplied.

All laws being based on the one law of boundless emptiness,
realize how everything is void of form or an eternal nature.

The victory of indestructibility is for those
who can see through the form of my teachings
and into the hidden nature of Buddhahood.

This is what is known as the Great Vehicle of Deliverance.

Out of fear of having living beings
misunderstand this Law of laws,
please continue to explain to us the deeper essence
of this doctrine of boundless emptiness.

Meditating under the Bodhi tree for so long
and feeling the complexity of all of my teachings and laws,
the Truth of truths has not yet been openly revealed
for fear of it being quickly degraded
and stampeded upon by the many
who come to me to relieve them of their sufferings.

The Law being comparable to water that purifies,
no matter whether the quantity of water is large or small,
the law nonetheless washes away the inherent delusions of living beings.

Think of my teachings as being graded along different
lines of attainment. Some only need a little bit of water
to realize the Buddha nature, whereas other need a whole ocean's worth
before anything takes effect.

As the meanings that are found in my teachings varies,
so too does the type of enlightenment that is obtained
vary alongside the desires of the practitioner's mind.

Though of one enlightened seed,
I appear to sprout forth in every direction
and in every heart of every living being.

Though of one mind,
I appear to be of many minds
and of many formed and formless states.

Though of one enlightened stream of awareness,
I appear to be of many different streams,
each heading into its own particular destination.

This is the world of the Buddhas.
Incomprehensible except to the Comprehending Buddha,
the one life of nirvana is all that is and ever will be.

Seeking for enlightenment,
enlightenment evaporates before your eyes.
Looking into emptiness,
who is looking and who is seeing?
Realizing that there is nothing to realize,
a Buddha lies content at night.

Spinning The Dharma Wheel Once More,
every meaning that I have come to embody
is without an existence of its own.

The mind and the heart is empty of suffering.
Therefore, to think and to feel is to be liberated
from the processes of thinking and feeling.

Contradicting contradictions,
duality is unity when unity is without a form.
by Julian Colgan (Copyright)
http://emptinessofmind.blogspot.ca/2012/11/sutra-of-innumerable-meanings-wheel-of.html?view=flipcard

26 April, 2013

An Arhat's Dream

Climbing the ever winding
steps of Mt.Sumeru,
this arhat's dream
is to develop the vision
where everyone is my good master.

Climbing out of my lotus flower encasing,
this arhat's dream
is to conquer the world
of conditioned reactions.

Climbing out of my former
mind and livelihood,
this arhat's dream
is to arise to the occasion
whenever that occasion does arise.

Climbing out of my prior
engagements with others,
this arhat's dream
is to create a new mental space
where everyone can feel comfortable in.

Climbing out of the
world's anxieties and affairs,
this arhat's dream
is to chant and meditate with
the bodhisattvas of ancient antiquity.

Climbing the musical scale
of a compassionate heart,
this arhat's dream
is to sing the pure buddha dharma
to all who abide in the nothingness of space
and in the grounded qualities of the earth.

Arriving at this arhat's dream,
the lotus flower of this buddha's mind
sprinkles forth the essential extract
of a purified nature; which is
the state of bodhichitta.

Generating the stage of world enlightenment
for all sentient beings, may everyone
become a perfected buddha
who is a master of this arhat's dream.

By Julian Colgan (Copyright)
http://emptinessofmind.blogspot.ca/2013/01/an-arhats-dream_9.html?view=flipcard

22 April, 2013

On soul & wings: Rumi reflection


You were born with potential
You were born with goodness and trust
You were born with ideals and dreams
You were born with greatness
You were born with wings
You are not meant for crawling, so don't.
You have wings
Learn to use them, and FLY.
Rumi

Chuang Tzu - The Tao For A Teacher by Julian Colgan (Republished)


Equal in regards to the natural elements of being
and to the man made world,
the Tao of understanding is firmly rooted in the harmony of all.

Using the natural wisdom of the elements
leads a practitioner to the innermost core of the Tao,
whereas using the fault ridden wisdom of man
leads a practitioner to prematurely
die within the heart of the world.

You may be overly abundant in
the gains and losses of knowledge,
but that does not solve the problem of human existence.

Knowledge often being the product
of uncertainty and intellectual doubt,
human knowledge is as passing
as the flowering and wiltering of one season to the next.

Only a person who is imbued with the reality of reality
can harness knowledge that is really real.

The ancients who were as real as the Tao
were not against the will of minority groups
and they did not roar with the
confidence of a lion when they succeeded.

Not plagued by the hardships of success
and not pulled in all directions
by the easiness of failure,
the seemingly bright element of mind
did not scorch their sense of internalized dignity.

The ancients went directly to bed
and did not have to worry over
the dream of dreaming.
When breathing, their heels jumped for joy.

Craving after the propensity to crave,
the shallow realizations of the masses
keeps so many from more easily
finding their ultimate purpose in the Tao.

Unbiased towards the growing and diminuation
of any and all bodies, they rejoiced without rejoicing
and beamed with joy for no reason other than being alive.

The ancients thus decided to celebrate the Way of ways
by not directly trying to know the Tao in a linear fashion.

Focused on nothing but the quiet peace of a winter's day,
their hearts were as animated as the varying
phenomena of the four seasons.

When in charge of the world,
sages think of the necessities of ten thousand future generations.

Wishing to be ahead of the times,
stay focused and remain in the serenity of the Tao.

Acting for reputation,
become a silent gentleman.

Withdrawing from nothing,
withdraw into yourself.

Real sages in ancient times possessed nothing,
yet they had everything.
Alone while in the company of others
and while retiring at night,
their openness to change knew no conceivable limit.

Behaving in accordance with the social pressures of the nation,
the transcendence of their silence
amazed enough persons to no longer want to speak.

Acting only when the Tao demanded it of them,
they used their bodies as instruments of unutterable laws.

Not distracted by liking the process of disliking things and places,
Nature's Way was their long awaited friend
on the trail of Authentic Human Strivings.

Powerless in being powerful
and surrendered without having to outwardly surrender,
life and death flickers in the eyes of real sages
as the sun and moon flickers throughout
the passing of unending days and unending nights.

In love with filial devotion,
devote yourself to the transcendence of Reality.

Like fish out of water,
forget about the impediments of the Way
and become the Way out of suffering for others.

This universe weighs us down with a form
that is subject to growing tall like a candle's flame
only to evaporate into the thinest of airs.

What is truly good in life
is also supposed to be truly good when dying.

Hiding the real in the real,
the Tao is in the Tao.

The Way is the reality of the truth
of no form and of no constructed mind.

Rooted in Nothingness,
heaven and earth are its most minute byproducts.

Alchemizing ghosts and gods into sages,
the birthless birth of this universe
is a testimony to its subtle greatness.

Ancient beyond years and young beyond growing,
mountains, rivers, planets and emperors
are nothing in comparison to it.

Ascending to the stars and leaving the empire
and nation behind is he who has attained to the Way.

Approaching a master of ancient years,
the young man asked him how he still could look so young.

Having heard of the Way,
you begin to greatly resemble the Way.

Excited after hearing this initial statement,
the young man wanted to be his disciple.

Wanting to make him into not only a learned teacher
of the Way but into a master of the Way,
the ancient one told the young man to simply sit next to him.

Slowly detaching his mind from the burdensome
memories of peoples and past events,
the young man eventually reached the state
of renouncing the consciousness of the masses.
Once there, he then proceeded to see the clarity of being clear.

After even that stage of disciplined awareness,
he could see the uniqueness of transcending space and time.
Above the humdrum of an incessantly busy world
of traitors and exchangers, he went into
the emptiness of the immortal Tao.

Breaking everything down into its component parts
and re-building the universe one piece at a time,
the peace of a freed consciousness is all that is understood.

From the uncertainess of a writer
to the Void of voids,
the infinite Tao recognized its own luminosity.

Four sages, meeting on an evening walk,
began to speak in riddled tongues.

Having the Tao as my head
and Nature for a spine,
the unity of life and death
is the same for all four corners of this earth.

One day falling sick,
one of the sages lamented for the dire condition
of his body but remarked that he was in a good condition
since his mind was no longer disturbed by the ways of the world.

Looking into the waters as a mirror,
the sick sage saw all of the creative aspects
of the Tao as it was expressing itself
through his formed image of a self.

Gain being the result of the passing of time
and loss being the result of having to live in the Tao,
adapting to the balance of the moment is my way of being happy.

Why be concerned over our dilemmas when these
dilemmas are what fix the mind on negativity and impious situations.

Taking his last breath, the sick sage told his family
of the lasting power of the cosmic energies of yin and yang.

As the universe was forged like a piece of fine jewelry,
this human form will be re-made into
the peacefulness of a silent and majestic mountain.

Going to sleep in this world,
I calmly awaken in the next.

Gladly singing and dancing
over the death of the sick sage,
one sage in particular makes an observant remark
about this seemingly crazed behaviour.

Outside of the realm of social conventions,
sages can see the humor of the Tao in everything
and can make heaven and earth dance with them.

Considering life as a recurring extension of death
and death as a recurring extension of life,
the Tao is most important to abide in.

Mixing eternity with the finite,
the rituals of normality
and the customs of learned decency
do not interest them at all.

The happiness of heaven having the better of me,
we lose ourselves in the performance of the Way.

Out of the ordinary, the Tao of Nature
leads great men into being small men
and small men into being great men.

To such persons, the Way is the Way
no matter how it appears to appear.

Sitting in the forgetfulness of emptiness,
real sages are on an equal footing with the creations of the Tao.


by Julian Colgan (Copyright)
http://emptinessofmind.blogspot.ca/2012/11/chuang-tzu-tao-for-teacher.html?view=flipcard

19 April, 2013

Chuang Tzu - Equalizing Heaven And Earth by Julian Colgan

Openly staring into the emptiness of space, 
the sky is not all that big compared to 
the smallness of this mind. 
Making my body feel like a useless tree 
that is in the process of disintegrating, 
and making my mind as inactive 
as inanimate matter, 
what I am sitting on is sitting on me. 
Forgetting who I am or what I am exactly, 
the melodies of far off heavens 
are as perceptible as the buzzing of bees. 
Focusing on the inhalation and exhalation 
of trees, I hear a great rumbling 
coming from all of the layers of the earth. 
Just as some persons are quiet and some are loud, 
similarly, the entire earth sometimes belches 
and sometimes cries. 

On other occasions, you can hear 
infinite sounds through finite sounds 
and thus the concert of life is in full sway. 
The Tao plays through everyone's instrument 
of a voice, giving everyone the chance 
to mute the notes of the Tao 
or the chance to amplify what the Tao 
has entrusted them with since mere infancy. 
What is great to small men is 
barely noticed by the Tao 
and what is great to the Tao 
is often treated as less than worthy 
by the world at large. 
Sleeping, waking, or running, 
the soul of things is known and unknown 
by those who struggle and those who laugh. 
Laughing at being slow to run after fear, 
the arrow of judgement stills 
the practitioner's attachment to being right. 
Fading and fading away like the joyous 
beauties of the seasons, 
the age of unfulfillment is drawing near 
for those who cringe at the sight of possible death. 
All of the activities of the feeling nature 
issues forth from the emptiness of being. 
Where they go to once they are expressed 
is a mystery to the wise and to the pretentious. 
Stopping their flow of expressions 
is useless until the seasons are fully understood. 
The cause of being is likeable to no being. 

Though we sense there is a creator or a self, 
where is the self when it loses its form and disappears? 
From which body part does this self originate from? 
Is it the self which causes the body to act 
in conformity with the seasons and the Tao? 
Whether grasped at or not, 
the self ceases to exist while existing 
and exists while not existing. 
Working for nothing really, 
where does the self go to when it stops working? 
Holding onto a formed image of a formed image, 
what image is your image? 
Guided by being guideless, 
a fixed mentality is without perimeters 
and thus there is no necessity 
for calling others rigid or flexible. 
Sounding out soundless words, 
what is the use of making formed sentences and ideas? 
Lost in perpetual contemplation, the meaninglessness of life 
is filled with innate meaning. 

Seeing the Tao right in front of you, 
how can you not see the Tao? 
The Tao is an immortal word, 
yet it remains clouded over by meaning. 
Clear to the point of intellectual devastation, 
those who deny others end up denying nothing 
and those who agree with others end up agreeing with no one. 
Perceiver and perceived arising at the same moment, 
how can we distinguish between what is right 
and what is wrong? 
Clear and unclear in meaning, 
the relativity of this and that is no longer 
able to be a this or a that. 
Infinite in both directions of being 
right and being wrong, 
the Tao clears away intelligence and stupidity. 
Thinking and acting as the Tao thinks and acts 
in a unitarian fashion, the dualism of dualism 
is empty without having to be in any way empty. 
Unity being the Tao and the Tao being you, 
what is clear and unclear in no way affects 
the causal agent of nothingness. 

Like a monkey who is promised 
a different amount of nuts during various 
phases of the day, what difference does it make 
when you receive one type of dualism today 
and another type of dualism the next few corresponding days? 
Only a monkey is a monkey; 
therefore, leave nature to its own devices 
and surf the tides of gain and loss 
as you would climb to a solitary tree 
for a better perspective on love. 
Reaching somewhere, aim for nowhere. 
When nowhere, aim for some place 
other than somewhere. 
Nothing can be added onto or taken away from. 
Because of the balanced nature of the Tao, 
what is missing is actually found 
and what is found is nowhere to be seen. 
Brilliant because of being ignorant, 
ignore your way through being brilliant 
and toss aside the need to be needy of being needed. 

Beginning without beginning and without ending, 
the end is close to what is new 
and what is new is in no way new. 
Saying something as if I said something, 
say what is unsayable to be said. 
The hairline on my head 
being greater than the hairline of a mountain, 
what is one is two and what is two is one. 
From emptiness to fullness and 
from fullness to balance, 
the Tao is the way of ways. 
Outside of the universe of sages, 
what is discussed by the peoples 
is discussed by the Tao. 
No longer seeing left or right 
or up or down, 
the directions and distinctions 
that are given by the mind are confusing and enlightening. 
Taking endlessness from the limitless Tao, 
I am never full because I am never empty. 
Exhausted without tiring, 
the infinite speed of infinity 
is mine and mine alone. 
Explaining everything while remaining silent, 
Confucius and the like cannot for the life of them 
understand understanding itself. 
Holding the sun and the moon in each eye ball 
and being a unified unit in a moment's time, 
why frantically make yourself busy 
when there is nothing to do 
but to be yourself when you are yourself. 

Dreaming of dreaming a dream 
that is not a dream, 
what does dreaming mean to you 
who are a figment of a dreamless dream? 
Confusing sensory alertness for a perceiving consciousness, 
Confucius dreams that no one dreams. 
Dreaming about infinity, the finite is less 
than real for those who are awake. 
Once I was a butterfly 
and now I am a man. 
Maybe a man is a butterfly 
and a butterfly is a man. 
No longer distinguishing between 
self and other, I enjoy being a butterfly 
while being a man and I enjoy 
dreaming while being fully awake. 
Transforming into a changeless state, 
what state is there but no state 
and what man is there but no man? 
As a butterfly I am free. 
As a man I am free. 
Be happy with your freedom. 

by Julian Colgan (Copyright)
Chuang Tzu
 http://emptinessofmind.blogspot.ca/2012/11/chuang-tzu-equalizing-heaven-and-earth.html?view=flipcard

18 April, 2013

Reflection: Carl Sagan

Credit: Pexels

"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: if we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back".

Carl Sagan

Dhammapada - Vigilance by Julian Colgan

Observing the mind as the playground
of impermanence, look beyond the narrow field
of here and now and see to it
that one is vigilant enough to peer through
the luminous emptiness of death.

Those who lack this understanding of impermanence
do not succeed in being of the highest
standard of perfection, which is Nirvana.

Meditating earnestly on the freedom
of a disciplined life that is the harmony
which emanates from one's Dharma,
one will attain much spiritual strength
and become as untouchable and undisturbed
as the island of the Awakened Ones.

Those who have no experience
of the type of happiness that is of
a superior mode of being
let go of their vigilant pursuit
of meditative stability and again return to
the backwards and repressive ways of the world.

Climbing through the progressive
levels of Samadhi,
the dedication that is the result
of wisdom and temperance
permits the wise to look upon
the world's suffering as being as insignificant
as the turning of a leaf upon the ground.

Leaving the world and its customs
behind for the glories of Nirvana,
the wise race through this temporal existence,
burning away the slumbering condition of the world's dormant populations.

Nearing the peaks of Nirvana
through constant dedicated effort alone,
the vigilance of the Dharma is the vigilance of the Adept's mind.

Never looking back on what once was,
the backwards and repressive ways of the world
leave such Awakened Ones once and for all.
 
By Julian Colgan (Copyright)
Awake to Buddhahood
http://emptinessofmind.blogspot.ca/2012/11/dhammapada-vigilance.html?view=flipcard

17 April, 2013

Atoms & Creation: G Zukav


Every subatomic interaction consists of the annihilation of the original particles and the creation of new subatomic particles. The subatomic world is a continual dance of creation and annihilation, of mass changing into energy and energy changing into mass. Transient forms sparkle in and out of existence, creating a never-ending, forever newly created reality.

GARY ZUKAV

Great quote from "Get what you want" by Tony Burroughs

"Your joy walks with you every step of the way. You need look no further than that which is your own being. The world would have you think otherwise, and yet, what you do, how you think, and what you feel is entirely up to you. You are truly a magnificent entity with powers lying dormant and feelings, so sublime, ready to burst forth like a young flower which spreads its petals for the first time to greet the morning summer sun.

How long will you wait before you see yourself in your highest light and do what makes you truly happy? What will it take for you to open your heart and radiate outward the ocean of love which lies within you? You have been bound up too long, shackled to your fear, imprisoned by ghosts who are not real unless you make them so. The world needs you to be happy, to shine your light on all that you see, to laugh without limit, to touch the hearts and minds of every man, woman, and child who come your way. Take a chance now and live life like you've always wanted. Envision yourself throwing off the fetters of fear, and calling unto you the glory that is yours by right of birth. Let your joy blaze like a fire in the night. That's what the world needs from you.

And, more than that, that's what you need from you. "

Tony Burroughs


13 April, 2013

Scattered Seedlings Restoring the Earth by Zen Gardner



Sunday, April 7th, 2013. 



by Zen Gardner

Every day more people connect and learn they are not alone. While the manipulated matrix makes it difficult for the awake and aware to be physically together, the great world wide grid of love and consciously awakened individuals continues to spread like “weeds”.

As we sow and grow we’re coming closer together continually. In fact, we’re probably bumping into each other and don’t even realize it.

That’s why it’s important to keep communicating. We know the same central Truth, we know the heart of man is the same the world over, and we know it only awaits awakening to come to full fruition.

Look for it, expect it. What you already know in your heart to be true you’ll see manifest in wondrous and wonderful ways.

Wild Seeds Will Cover the Earth

We have to get radical, truly radical in our propagation of Truth. There no longer are movements to try to attach to. They’re all dead in the water. It’s a barren landscape compared to the rich culture it once was of vocal, active groups. No doubt real folks are fighting in their carefully sectored quadrants of various wonderful efforts, but it’s all being thwarted from being allowed into public awareness, and what does appear is systematically marginalized in everyone’s eyes.

Remember the full on protests? Remember the indignant opposition to a false government and its horrific wars? It’s non existent now, being squelched even before it can hit the conscious awareness of the individual that there’s something wrong. You have no avenue to speak of. As a result, many give up thinking that it’s no use.

College students are stupefied. Interest groups are bought off. The rest sit back in frustration.

But not all.

One encouraging arrival on the scene are Indigo children and Crystal kids that rise up. While it appears the younger generation is virtually shot, take a look at the potential of awakened kids when activated:



We Are Coming Together

In spirit the awakened collective is always pulling together. It’s spiritually natural. We may be separated in physical space and time but in reality we are together. Nothing stops us. We are united. We communicate naturally and often, as in the case of the internet and personal interactions. But even these connections are under attack. We are up against serious opposition.

Fact is, we communicate in the language of the heart, and it tells us many things, including the fact that time is short.

Knowing underground communication avenues is key to our survival for as long as we need to be here. Technology wise, network wise and consciousness wise.

The Language of the Heart

Here’s a proposition that may resonate with some. I can’t fully endorse the source, but the concepts appear sound enough for consideration:

The belief that people are naturally compassionate is a central awareness of Nonviolent Communication, otherwise known as NVC, or “the language of the heart.” NVC provides a toolbox of insights and communication tools that reveal and nurture this state of natural compassion.

For over 35 years, Dr. Marshall Rosenberg has traveled the world sharing NVC, contributing to a shift in consciousness from violence, alienation and oppression to a new paradigm of interconnectedness. From helping people improve the quality of personal and professional relationships to being on the front line mediating in some of the hottest conflict areas around the world, Rosenberg’s radical work subverts our whole status quo system of power by identifying the type of awareness and corresponding language that disconnects us from each other.

The NVC process is distinctly different from many models of communication and conflict resolution in that the objective is never to get our way, but to “create the quality of connection that will allow for everybody’s needs to be fulfilled.” The process guides us in fully and honestly expressing ourselves, while empathetically receiving the communication and actions of others; without using or hearing blame, criticism, or judgement. By focusing on the quality of the connection rather than on the strategies and outcomes, solutions can be obtained that satisfy everybody’s needs more completely, without compromising their values. As Dr. Rosenberg asserts, “we each have an incredible, awesome power to make life wonderful, and that there is nothing that is more joyful than exercising that power by enriching our own and other’s lives.” Source


Take a Lesson from our Elders….

Native American Prayer

Honor the sacred.
Honor the Earth, our Mother.
Honor the Elders.
Honor all with whom we
share the Earth:-
Four-leggeds, two-leggeds,
winged ones,
Swimmers, crawlers,
plant and rock people.
Walk in balance and beauty.

-Native American Elder

Unite in spirit and in deed.

Much love,

Zen

ZenGardner.com

08 April, 2013

Soap Bubbles

Soap bubbles are joyously formed through a breath,

sphere like shapes leave and drift in the air

Rainbows reflected in each dwell a while till their death

In an instant their delicate skin pierced by a hair

Returning to emptiness, no trace in the sky

An illusion quickly dissolved: whether we laugh or we cry.

Somwang

06 April, 2013

Heart by Somwang

Speak from your heart

Sing with your heart

Dance with your heart

Act from the heart 

Becoming One in 

perfect stillness. 

- Somwang

05 April, 2013

Rumi on Thoughts

Everyone is overridden by thoughts; 
that's why they have so much heartache and sorrow. 
At times I give myself up to thought purposefully; 
but when I choose, I spring up from those under its sway. 
I am like a high-flying bird, and thought is a gnat: 
how should a gnat overpower me? 
Rumi