30 November, 2013

An Arhat's Dream By Julian Colgan

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 Julain Colgan (Copyright)
Awake to Buddhahood
http://emptinessofmind.blogspot.ca/

29 November, 2013

Faithfulness...

“An intimate of any strength will never listen to faults said of friends; 
and on the day a friend offends, he is content to keep silent. 
The world cherishes faithful men who never forsake 
old friendships, worn by time but unbroken. ” 

Tirukkural 


28 November, 2013

On worrying...

'Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.'

Eckhart Tolle

27 November, 2013

On inner light!

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. 
We ask ourselves: Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? 
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so other 
people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other 
people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence 
automatically liberates others."

Marianne Williamson 

26 November, 2013

On trouble...

“Our freedom is not in being saved troubles, but is the freedom to take 
trouble for our own good, and make the trouble an element in our joy.” 

Rabindranath Tagore

25 November, 2013

Zen wisdom


“Many people are afraid to empty their minds lest they may plunge into the Void. 
They do not know that their own Mind is the Void. The ignorant eschew 
phenomena but not thought; the wise eschew thought but not phenomena.” 

Huang Po, Zen Teaching of Huang Po

22 November, 2013

Meditation..

“Meditation is running into reality. It does not insulate you from
the pain of life.
It allows you to delve so deeply into life and all its aspects 
that you pierce the pain barrier and go beyond suffering.” 

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana 
"Mindfulness in Plain English"

21 November, 2013

On art and beauty...

“To me art in order to be truly great must, like the beauty of Nature,
 be universal in its appeal. It must be simple in its presentation 
and direct in its expression, like the language of Nature.” 

Mahatma Gandhi, 1931

20 November, 2013

Bhagavad Gita...

“It is not those who lack energy or refrain from action, 
but those who work without expectation of reward who 
attain the goal of meditation. Theirs is true renunciation.” 

Bhagavad Gita 

19 November, 2013

Generation Of Bhodichitta

Ho! Mesmerized by the sheer variety of perceptions, which
are like the illusory reflections of the moon in water,
Beings wander endlessly astray in samsara’s vicious cycle.
In order that they may find comfort and ease in the luminosity
and all-pervading space of the true nature of their minds,
I generate the immeasurable love, compassion, joy and equanimity
of the awakened mind, the heart of Bodhicitta.

JIKMÉ LINGPA

18 November, 2013

On pleasure...

'Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, 

whereas joy arises from within.'



Eckhart Tolle



17 November, 2013

Tolle quote: A new Earth


Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful
for the evolution of your consciousness. 
How do you know this is the experience you need?
Because this is the experience you are having
 at this moment.

Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth





15 November, 2013

On Self Knowledge

“Among purifying forces I am the wind; among warriors, Rama. Of water creatures I am the crocodile, and of rivers I am the Ganges. I am the beginning, middle, and end of creation. Of all the sciences I am the science of Self-knowledge, and I am logic in those who debate.” 

Bhagavad Gita 10:31-32

14 November, 2013

The Rainbow In My Life by Julian Colgan

The rainbow in my life is anyone who
takes great joy in liberating
sluggish mentalities from the great selfishness
of a severely watered down conception of being.

The rainbow in my life is anyone who
commits to their vow to be
a healing herb for the sick and wounded
and to be a tree of compassion for
those who have been burned by
the scorching rays of overly heated individuals.

The rainbow in my life is anyone who
deflects the impurity that is samsaric sorrow
from reaching more and more defenseless 
and innocent new born children;
knowing that the future depends upon
the health and sanity of mature growing adults.

The rainbow in my life is anyone who
cannot stand the treasonous actions
of corporations who are too lustfully stupid
to know the difference between harmony and deliberate disharmony.

The rainbow in my life is anyone who
shows goods deeds and motivations
to be better than the opposite route of
criminal behavior as it morphs into pledging allegiance
to a number of flags and badges which are soaked in the blood
of past generations, present generations and future generations of bodhisattvas.

The rainbow in my life is anyone who
recognizes mara as their own unbridled and reckless minds.
Habituated to slide between the pros and cons of mindfulness,
there is only virtue and merit in learning how to
comfortably sit on the mind's disruptiveness
as a sage glides on the winds as if it were second nature.

The rainbow in my life is anyone who
loves the dharma as an ultimate guide to
navigating the ocean of suffering
which stems from unregulated desires
and uncertainty in being able to overcome
the influences of one's own deep seated desire to desire.

The rainbow in my life is anyone who
prepares for their own enlightenment
as the sun takes on its own effulgence
or as the sky looks so pure just by being so open and wide.

The rainbow in my life
is our own mind transformed
from a rock like immovable state
to a gushing and free flowing state of awakening. 

Julian Colgan (Copyright)
Emptinessofmind.blogspot/ca
Awake to Buddhahood

13 November, 2013

The importance of compassion...

“Without good motivation, science and technology, 
instead of helping, bring more fear and threaten global destruction. 
Compassionate thought is very important for humankind.” 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

12 November, 2013

On phenomena...

"According to Dzogchen, the entire range of all possible appearances, and all possible phenomena in all the different realities, whether samsara or nirvana, all of these without exception have always been and will always be perfect and complete, within the vast and boundless expanse of the nature of mind. Yet, even though the essence of everything is empty and “pure from the very beginning,” its nature is rich in noble qualities, pregnant with every possibility, a limitless, incessantly and dynamically creative field that is always spontaneously perfect."

Sogyal Rinpoche The Tibetan Book of the Living and Dying

10 November, 2013

Do Not Just Memorize Sayings Chien-ju

 Photo credit: tonysamara.org

Do not just memorize sayings, recite words, and discuss Zen and the way based on books. The Zen way is not in books.

Even if you can recite the teachings of the whole canon and all the masters and philosophers, they are just useless words of no avail when you are facing death.

Chien-ju

09 November, 2013

Realization and Enlightenment

“Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things. The Buddha meditated for six years, Bodhidharma for nine. The practice of meditation is not a method for the attainment of realization—it is enlightenment itself.” 

Zen Master Dogen, "The Practice of Meditation"

08 November, 2013

Muslim wisdom...

“I praise you for your success in being you; 
you praise me for my success in being me. 
In your purity you make me pure.
In your wholeness you make me whole. 
In my service you serve me. 
I bow to all, because I bow to you.” 

Hallaj, "Tawasin"

07 November, 2013

Awareness...

“Do you want to know what my body is? 
My body is the same as the whole earth. 
Do you want to know what my mind is? 
My mind is the same as space itself. 
Do you want to know what my vision is? 
I see there is nothing to see. 
Do you want to know what I hear? 
I hear the unheard. Since I have been seeing 
and hearing, why then do I speak of the unheard? 
"If you listen with your ears, after all you cannot understand; 
when you hear through your eyes, only then will you know."” 

Ssu-hsin 


06 November, 2013

Purity of vision...

Photocredit: www.myniceprofile.com

“The wicked see this universe as a hell, and the partially good see it as heaven, while the perfect beings realize it as God Himself. Only when a man sees this universe as God does the veil fall from his eyes; then that man, purified and cleansed, finds his whole vision changed.” 

Vivekananda

05 November, 2013

On becoming...

No mirror ever became iron again; No bread ever became wheat;
No ripened grape ever became sour fruit.
Mature yourself and be secure from a change for the worse.
Become the light.
RUMI

04 November, 2013

Flower of mind...

“Keep on pondering, and suddenly the flower of mind will bloom with enlightenment, illuminating the whole universe. This can be called getting it in the mind, responding to it in action. Thereupon you can turn the earth into gold and churn the rivers into cream. Wouldn't that make life exhilarating?”

Chien-ju

03 November, 2013

Lama Zopa

“By renouncing samsara, we renounce our habitual grasping, 
unhappy minds. And by renouncing samsara, we embrace 
our potential for enlightenment.” 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche
 "Transforming Problems Into Happiness"





02 November, 2013

Freedom

“Freedom is that triumphant state of consciousness that is beyond the influence of desire. The mind ceases to thirst for anything it has seen or heard of; even what is promised in the scriptures. And supreme freedom is that complete liberation from the world of change that comes of knowing the unbound Self.”

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1:15-16


01 November, 2013

Warriors of the Rainbow

A truthful, inspiring and timely video...Thank you to the
producers who remind us of who we are and can be!

Warriors of the Rainbow: It Is Time!