Spiritual Teachers
Noticing that his father was growing old, the son of a burglar asked his father to teach him the trade so that he could carry on the family business after his father had retired.
The father agreed, and that night they broke into a house together.
Opening a large chest the father told his son to go in and pick out the clothing. As soon as the boy was inside, the father locked the chest and then made a lot of noise so that the whole house was aroused. Then he slipped quietly away.
Locked inside the chest the boy was angry, terrified, and puzzled as to how he was going to get out. Then an idea flashed to him- he made a noise like a cat. The family told a maid to take a candle and examine the chest. When the lid was unlocked the boy jumped out, blew the candle, pushed his way past the astonished maid, and ran out. The people ran after him. Noticing a well by the side of the road the boy threw in a large stone, then hid in the darkness. The pursuers gathered around the well trying to see the burglar drowning himself.
When the boy got home he was very angry at his father and he tried to tell him the story; but the father said: 'Don't bother to tell me the details, you are here- you have learned the art.'
zen2
During the civil wars in feudal Japan, an invading army would quickly sweep into a town and take control. In one particular village, everyone fled just before the army arrived - everyone except the Zen master.
Curious about this old fellow, the general went to the temple to see for himself what kind of man this master was. When he wasn't treated with the deference and submissiveness to which he was accustomed, the general burst into anger.
"You fool," he shouted as he reached for his sword, "don't you realize you are standing before a man who could run you through without blinking an eye!"
But despite the threat, the master seemed unmoved.
"And do you realize," the master replied calmly, "that you are standing before a man who can be run through without blinking an eye?"
Love-me!
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Friday, October 21, 2005
Spiritual Teachers
Meditation and Compassion
Once it happened that a young man belonging to a very rich and aristocratic family, came to a Zen master. He had known everything, indulged in every desire; he had enough money, so there was no problem. But then he got fed up -- fed up with sex, fed up with women, fed up with wine. He came to the Zen master and said, "Now I am fed up with the world. Is there some way that I can know myself, who I am?"
The young man said, "But before you say anything, let me tell you something about myself. I am indecisive and cannot continue anything for long, so if you give me some technique or if you tell me to meditate, I may do it for a few days and then I will escape, knowing well that there is nothing in the world, knowing well that only misery awaits there, death. But this is my type of mind. I cannot continue, I cannot persist in anything, so before you choose something, remember this."
The master said, "Then it will be very difficult if you cannot persist, because long effort will be needed to undo all that you have done in the past. You will have to travel back. It will have to be a regression. You will have to reach back to the moment when you were born, when fresh, young. That freshness will have to be achieved again. It is not ahead, but back that you will have to go -- to become a child again. But if you say you cannot persist and that within days you will escape, it will be difficult. But let me ask you one question: Have you ever been interested in something so deeply that you were absorbed completely?"
The young man thought and he said, "Yes, only in chess, the game of chess, I have been very much interested. I love it, and that's the only thing that is saving me. Everything else has fallen away; only chess is still with me, and with it I can somehow pass my time."
The master said, "Then something can be done. You wait." He called the attendant and told him to bring one monk who had been meditating for twelve years in the monastery, and to tell the monk to bring a chessboard.
The chessboard was brought; the monk came. He was acquainted a little with chess, but for twelve years he had been meditating in a cell. He had forgotten the world and chess and everything.
The master said to him, "Listen, monk! -- this is going to be a dangerous game. If you are defeated by this young man, the sword is here and I will cut off your head, because I wouldn't like a meditative monk -- who has been meditating for twelve years -- to be defeated by an ordinary young man. But I promise you, if you die by my hand then you will reach the highest heaven. So don't be disturbed."
The young man became also a little uneasy, and then the master turned to him and said, "Look, you say that you get absorbed in chess, so now get totally absorbed -- because this is a question of life and death. If you are defeated I will cut off your head, and remember, I cannot promise heaven for you. This man is okay, he will go anyhow, but I cannot promise any heaven for you. If you die hell is the place -- immediately you will go to the seventh hell."
For a moment the young man thought to escape. This was going to be a dangerous game, and he had not come here for this. But then it looked dishonorable; he was a samurai, a son of a warrior, and just because of death, imminent death, to escape was not in his blood. So he said, "Okay."
The game started. The young man started trembling like a leaf in a strong wind, the whole body trembling. He started perspiring, and cold perspiration came to his body; he started sweating from his head to the soles of his feet. It was a question of life and death, and thinking stopped, because whenever there is such an emergency you cannot afford thought. Thought is for leisure. When there is no problem you can think; when there is really a problem thinking stops, because the mind needs time, and when there is an emergency there is no time. You have to do something immediately.
Every moment, death was coming nearer. The monk started, and he looked so serene and calm that the young man thought, "Well, death is certain!" But when the thoughts disappeared, he became totally absorbed in the moment. When thoughts disappeared, he also forgot that death was awaiting -- because death too is a thought. He forgot about death, he forgot about life, he became just a part of the game, absorbed, totally immersed in it.
By and by, as the mind disappeared completely, he started playing beautifully. He had never played that way. In the beginning the monk was winning, but within minutes the young man got absorbed, started beautiful movements, and the monk started losing. Only the moment existed, only the present. There was no problem then; the body became okay, trembling stopped, perspiration evaporated. He was light like a feather, weightless. The perspiration even helped -- he became weightless, his whole body felt as if it could fly. His mind was no more there. Perception became clear, absolutely clear, and he could see ahead, five moves ahead. He had never played so beautifully. The other's game started crumbling; within minutes the other would be defeated, and his victory was certain.
Then suddenly, when his eyes were clear, mirrorlike, when perception was profound, deep, he looked at the monk. He was so innocent. Twelve years of meditation -- he had become like a flower; twelve years of austerity -- he had become absolutely pure. No desire, no thought, no goal, no purpose existed for him. He was as innocent as possible... not even a child is so innocent. His beautiful face, his clear, skyblue eyes.... This young man started feeling compassion for him -- sooner or later his head would be cut off. The moment he felt this compassion, unknown doors opened, and something absolutely unknown started filling his heart. He felt so blissful. All over his inner being flowers started falling. He felt so blissful... he had never known this bliss, this beautitude, this benediction.
Then he started making wrong moves knowingly, because the thought came to his mind, "If I am killed nothing is disturbed; I have nothing of worth. But if this monk is killed something beautiful will be destroyed; but for me, just a useless existence...." He started making wrong movements consciously, to make the monk win. At that moment the master upturned the table, started laughing and said, "Nobody is going to be defeated here. You both have won."
This monk was already in heaven, he was rich; no need to cut off his head. He was not troubled at all when the master said, "Your head is to be cut off." Not a single thought arose in his mind. There was no question of choice -- if the master says it is going to be so, it is okay. He said yes with his whole heart. That was why there was no perspiration, no trembling. He was playing chess; death was not a problem.
And the master said, "You have won, and your victory has been greater than this monk's. Now I will initiate you. You can be here, and soon you will be enlightened."
Both basic things had happened: meditation and compassion. Buddha has called these two the basic: pragya and karuna, meditation and compassion.
The young man said, "Explain it to me. Something has happened I don't know about. I am already transformed; I am not the same young man who came to you a few hours ago. That man is already dead. Something has happened -- you have done a miracle."
drawing by DeepaThe master said, "Because death was so imminent, you couldn't think, thoughts stopped. Death was so close by, thinking was impossible. Death was so near, there was no gap between you and death, and thoughts need space to move. There was no space, so thinking stopped. Meditation happened spontaneously. But that was not enough, because that type of meditation which happens because of emergency will be lost; when the emergency is gone that meditation will be lost. So I couldn't throw the board at that moment, I had to wait."
If meditation really happens, whatsoever the cause, compassion has to follow. Compassion is the flowering of meditation. If compassion is not coming, your meditation is, somewhere, wrong.
Then I looked at your face. You were filled with bliss and your eyes became buddhalike. You looked at the monk, and you felt and you thought, "It is better to sacrifice myself than this monk. This monk is more valuable than me."
This is compassion -- when the other becomes more valuable than you. This is love -- when you can sacrifice yourself for the other. When you become the means and the other becomes the end, this is love. When you are the end and the other is used as a means, this is lust. Lust is always cunning and love is always compassionate.
"Then I saw in your eyes the compassion arising, and then you started to make wrong movements just to be defeated, so that you would be killed and this monk saved. At that moment I had to throw the board. You had won. Now you can be here. I have taught you both meditation and compassion. Now follow this track, and let them become spontaneous in you -- not situational, not depending on any emergency, but just a quality of your being."
Once it happened that a young man belonging to a very rich and aristocratic family, came to a Zen master. He had known everything, indulged in every desire; he had enough money, so there was no problem. But then he got fed up -- fed up with sex, fed up with women, fed up with wine. He came to the Zen master and said, "Now I am fed up with the world. Is there some way that I can know myself, who I am?"
The young man said, "But before you say anything, let me tell you something about myself. I am indecisive and cannot continue anything for long, so if you give me some technique or if you tell me to meditate, I may do it for a few days and then I will escape, knowing well that there is nothing in the world, knowing well that only misery awaits there, death. But this is my type of mind. I cannot continue, I cannot persist in anything, so before you choose something, remember this."
The master said, "Then it will be very difficult if you cannot persist, because long effort will be needed to undo all that you have done in the past. You will have to travel back. It will have to be a regression. You will have to reach back to the moment when you were born, when fresh, young. That freshness will have to be achieved again. It is not ahead, but back that you will have to go -- to become a child again. But if you say you cannot persist and that within days you will escape, it will be difficult. But let me ask you one question: Have you ever been interested in something so deeply that you were absorbed completely?"
The young man thought and he said, "Yes, only in chess, the game of chess, I have been very much interested. I love it, and that's the only thing that is saving me. Everything else has fallen away; only chess is still with me, and with it I can somehow pass my time."
The master said, "Then something can be done. You wait." He called the attendant and told him to bring one monk who had been meditating for twelve years in the monastery, and to tell the monk to bring a chessboard.
The chessboard was brought; the monk came. He was acquainted a little with chess, but for twelve years he had been meditating in a cell. He had forgotten the world and chess and everything.
The master said to him, "Listen, monk! -- this is going to be a dangerous game. If you are defeated by this young man, the sword is here and I will cut off your head, because I wouldn't like a meditative monk -- who has been meditating for twelve years -- to be defeated by an ordinary young man. But I promise you, if you die by my hand then you will reach the highest heaven. So don't be disturbed."
The young man became also a little uneasy, and then the master turned to him and said, "Look, you say that you get absorbed in chess, so now get totally absorbed -- because this is a question of life and death. If you are defeated I will cut off your head, and remember, I cannot promise heaven for you. This man is okay, he will go anyhow, but I cannot promise any heaven for you. If you die hell is the place -- immediately you will go to the seventh hell."
For a moment the young man thought to escape. This was going to be a dangerous game, and he had not come here for this. But then it looked dishonorable; he was a samurai, a son of a warrior, and just because of death, imminent death, to escape was not in his blood. So he said, "Okay."
The game started. The young man started trembling like a leaf in a strong wind, the whole body trembling. He started perspiring, and cold perspiration came to his body; he started sweating from his head to the soles of his feet. It was a question of life and death, and thinking stopped, because whenever there is such an emergency you cannot afford thought. Thought is for leisure. When there is no problem you can think; when there is really a problem thinking stops, because the mind needs time, and when there is an emergency there is no time. You have to do something immediately.
Every moment, death was coming nearer. The monk started, and he looked so serene and calm that the young man thought, "Well, death is certain!" But when the thoughts disappeared, he became totally absorbed in the moment. When thoughts disappeared, he also forgot that death was awaiting -- because death too is a thought. He forgot about death, he forgot about life, he became just a part of the game, absorbed, totally immersed in it.
By and by, as the mind disappeared completely, he started playing beautifully. He had never played that way. In the beginning the monk was winning, but within minutes the young man got absorbed, started beautiful movements, and the monk started losing. Only the moment existed, only the present. There was no problem then; the body became okay, trembling stopped, perspiration evaporated. He was light like a feather, weightless. The perspiration even helped -- he became weightless, his whole body felt as if it could fly. His mind was no more there. Perception became clear, absolutely clear, and he could see ahead, five moves ahead. He had never played so beautifully. The other's game started crumbling; within minutes the other would be defeated, and his victory was certain.
Then suddenly, when his eyes were clear, mirrorlike, when perception was profound, deep, he looked at the monk. He was so innocent. Twelve years of meditation -- he had become like a flower; twelve years of austerity -- he had become absolutely pure. No desire, no thought, no goal, no purpose existed for him. He was as innocent as possible... not even a child is so innocent. His beautiful face, his clear, skyblue eyes.... This young man started feeling compassion for him -- sooner or later his head would be cut off. The moment he felt this compassion, unknown doors opened, and something absolutely unknown started filling his heart. He felt so blissful. All over his inner being flowers started falling. He felt so blissful... he had never known this bliss, this beautitude, this benediction.
Then he started making wrong moves knowingly, because the thought came to his mind, "If I am killed nothing is disturbed; I have nothing of worth. But if this monk is killed something beautiful will be destroyed; but for me, just a useless existence...." He started making wrong movements consciously, to make the monk win. At that moment the master upturned the table, started laughing and said, "Nobody is going to be defeated here. You both have won."
This monk was already in heaven, he was rich; no need to cut off his head. He was not troubled at all when the master said, "Your head is to be cut off." Not a single thought arose in his mind. There was no question of choice -- if the master says it is going to be so, it is okay. He said yes with his whole heart. That was why there was no perspiration, no trembling. He was playing chess; death was not a problem.
And the master said, "You have won, and your victory has been greater than this monk's. Now I will initiate you. You can be here, and soon you will be enlightened."
Both basic things had happened: meditation and compassion. Buddha has called these two the basic: pragya and karuna, meditation and compassion.
The young man said, "Explain it to me. Something has happened I don't know about. I am already transformed; I am not the same young man who came to you a few hours ago. That man is already dead. Something has happened -- you have done a miracle."
drawing by DeepaThe master said, "Because death was so imminent, you couldn't think, thoughts stopped. Death was so close by, thinking was impossible. Death was so near, there was no gap between you and death, and thoughts need space to move. There was no space, so thinking stopped. Meditation happened spontaneously. But that was not enough, because that type of meditation which happens because of emergency will be lost; when the emergency is gone that meditation will be lost. So I couldn't throw the board at that moment, I had to wait."
If meditation really happens, whatsoever the cause, compassion has to follow. Compassion is the flowering of meditation. If compassion is not coming, your meditation is, somewhere, wrong.
Then I looked at your face. You were filled with bliss and your eyes became buddhalike. You looked at the monk, and you felt and you thought, "It is better to sacrifice myself than this monk. This monk is more valuable than me."
This is compassion -- when the other becomes more valuable than you. This is love -- when you can sacrifice yourself for the other. When you become the means and the other becomes the end, this is love. When you are the end and the other is used as a means, this is lust. Lust is always cunning and love is always compassionate.
"Then I saw in your eyes the compassion arising, and then you started to make wrong movements just to be defeated, so that you would be killed and this monk saved. At that moment I had to throw the board. You had won. Now you can be here. I have taught you both meditation and compassion. Now follow this track, and let them become spontaneous in you -- not situational, not depending on any emergency, but just a quality of your being."
The Dividing Mind-"Every last one of us thinks we are right"
"Every last one of us thinks we are right" -
The Dividing Mind
Our mind has an amazing ability to split itself. The effect of this on the seeker of self-knowledge is to lead him about in endless circles of egos, never getting a true look at himself. "The world is divided into people who think they are right" also applies to the world inside our heads. The ego has to maintain this position of being right, or the center of the universe, in order to keep its position as the unquestioned 'I'. It accomplishes this by splitting into different roles. This is the Ego1-Ego 2 game, in which the main ego, or Ego 1, creates a scapegoat, Ego 2, on which to place all negative aspects about itself. It cannot be wrong and maintain its absolute rule, so when the facts speak otherwise, Ego 2 becomes the culprit. The variations of this are legion. Thus, a ceaseless internal conflict is perpetuated and any attempt to go within is effectively blocked. And we wonder why the unexamined life is misery.
This process is started long before memory, when the parents use this same escape mechanism on their children. The parent keeps its attention away from its own negative aspects by using the child as Ego 2. The child is then taught the trick, growing up using this mind-splitting to remain 'right' regardless of the facts of its own behavior or thoughts. The voice of the parent will remain in them, goading them to create their own endless versions of Ego 2 as facets of their personality, to be planted eventually in children of their own.
This process can be seen most clearly in extreme cases where either trauma or frustration reached such a level as to cause the mind to escape by creating another 'person' complete with its own world. In cases of trauma so intense as to be completely unacceptable, the mind may create a new, safe personality and forget the former one which was subject to the traumatic event. All conscious connection with the traumatic event is thus lost. In cases of frustration or extreme boredom, the mind may compensate by creating a grandiose paradigm in which to reside, where it lives in inner fantasy to escape the 'average' existence of the fact state. The ego cannot tolerate 'average'. "Always remember your unique, just like everyone else." In either case, the mind has succeeded in creating a refuge where it can remain 'right'. This is all simply a mechanism of nature to insure that the individuals of the species do not self-terminate prematurely. The sad part is our ignorance of it all, and our continuing identification with the mind's creations. We are not very good at observing ourselves, but most excellent at creating new 'selves' and their worlds.
If we come to the point where no fantasy will do the trick, however grandiose or safe, and where we begin to see we are not 'right' or 'wrong' but simply ignorant, we may begin to yearn for something more than the ego can provide. The Inner Self is continually trying to draw our attention to how we fool ourselves, and relentlessly showing us how to get back in touch with the facts. This is an inner process to which we have a right and need, and with which we can reconnect. It lies beyond the ego-centric position, and comes about when we start to observe ourselves rather than create or visualize 'selves' we then identify with, in either a positive or negative manner. The adage "know thyself" now has new meaning. It does not say "if you don't like what's happening, but wish to stay identified with the manifest, create a new 'you' ". Learning to observe, or listen, takes courage and patience but leads to an amazing situation. You become everything when you are not anything. There are many techniques that can help us learn to listen. In the quiet of a mind at peace, the tools of dream interpretation, intense self-analysis, group confrontation, time alone in contemplation, and even life itself can teach the earnest seeker what he is not, and how to re-establish contact with the Inner Self. Listen with attentiveness; the Inner Self may be heard above and beyond the mind-splitting clamor and dis-ease of the ego and its creations.
Bob Fergeson
Lead me from dreaming to waking.
Lead me from opacity to clarity.
Lead me from the complicated to the simple.
Lead me from the obscure to the obvious.
Lead me from intention to attention.
Lead me from what I'm told I am to what I see I am.
Lead me from confrontation to wide openness.
Lead me to the place I never left,
Where there is peace, and peace
- The Upanishads
The Dividing Mind
Our mind has an amazing ability to split itself. The effect of this on the seeker of self-knowledge is to lead him about in endless circles of egos, never getting a true look at himself. "The world is divided into people who think they are right" also applies to the world inside our heads. The ego has to maintain this position of being right, or the center of the universe, in order to keep its position as the unquestioned 'I'. It accomplishes this by splitting into different roles. This is the Ego1-Ego 2 game, in which the main ego, or Ego 1, creates a scapegoat, Ego 2, on which to place all negative aspects about itself. It cannot be wrong and maintain its absolute rule, so when the facts speak otherwise, Ego 2 becomes the culprit. The variations of this are legion. Thus, a ceaseless internal conflict is perpetuated and any attempt to go within is effectively blocked. And we wonder why the unexamined life is misery.
This process is started long before memory, when the parents use this same escape mechanism on their children. The parent keeps its attention away from its own negative aspects by using the child as Ego 2. The child is then taught the trick, growing up using this mind-splitting to remain 'right' regardless of the facts of its own behavior or thoughts. The voice of the parent will remain in them, goading them to create their own endless versions of Ego 2 as facets of their personality, to be planted eventually in children of their own.
This process can be seen most clearly in extreme cases where either trauma or frustration reached such a level as to cause the mind to escape by creating another 'person' complete with its own world. In cases of trauma so intense as to be completely unacceptable, the mind may create a new, safe personality and forget the former one which was subject to the traumatic event. All conscious connection with the traumatic event is thus lost. In cases of frustration or extreme boredom, the mind may compensate by creating a grandiose paradigm in which to reside, where it lives in inner fantasy to escape the 'average' existence of the fact state. The ego cannot tolerate 'average'. "Always remember your unique, just like everyone else." In either case, the mind has succeeded in creating a refuge where it can remain 'right'. This is all simply a mechanism of nature to insure that the individuals of the species do not self-terminate prematurely. The sad part is our ignorance of it all, and our continuing identification with the mind's creations. We are not very good at observing ourselves, but most excellent at creating new 'selves' and their worlds.
If we come to the point where no fantasy will do the trick, however grandiose or safe, and where we begin to see we are not 'right' or 'wrong' but simply ignorant, we may begin to yearn for something more than the ego can provide. The Inner Self is continually trying to draw our attention to how we fool ourselves, and relentlessly showing us how to get back in touch with the facts. This is an inner process to which we have a right and need, and with which we can reconnect. It lies beyond the ego-centric position, and comes about when we start to observe ourselves rather than create or visualize 'selves' we then identify with, in either a positive or negative manner. The adage "know thyself" now has new meaning. It does not say "if you don't like what's happening, but wish to stay identified with the manifest, create a new 'you' ". Learning to observe, or listen, takes courage and patience but leads to an amazing situation. You become everything when you are not anything. There are many techniques that can help us learn to listen. In the quiet of a mind at peace, the tools of dream interpretation, intense self-analysis, group confrontation, time alone in contemplation, and even life itself can teach the earnest seeker what he is not, and how to re-establish contact with the Inner Self. Listen with attentiveness; the Inner Self may be heard above and beyond the mind-splitting clamor and dis-ease of the ego and its creations.
Bob Fergeson
Lead me from dreaming to waking.
Lead me from opacity to clarity.
Lead me from the complicated to the simple.
Lead me from the obscure to the obvious.
Lead me from intention to attention.
Lead me from what I'm told I am to what I see I am.
Lead me from confrontation to wide openness.
Lead me to the place I never left,
Where there is peace, and peace
- The Upanishads
Friday, October 14, 2005
Interview with Ma Tsu
Interview with Ma Tsu
Hui Hai as a young man traveled to the monastery of the renowned Ch'an Master Ma Tsu (d. 788) and had the following first interview:
Ma Tsu: What do you hope to gain by coming here?
Hui Hai: I have come seeking the Buddha-Dharma [the way to Truth].
Ma Tsu: Instead of looking to the treasure house which is your very own, you have left home and gone wandering far away. What for?....
Hui Hai: Please tell me to what you alluded when you spoke of a treasure house of my own.
Ma Tsu: That which asked the question is your treasure house. It contains absolutely everything you need and lacks nothing at all. It is there for you to use freely, so why this vain search for something outside yourself?
From Blofeld's commentary on the Hui Hai Treatise:
"An important technique aimed at that perfect mind-control by which the achievementless achievement is achieved is that of dhyana (here meaning ch'an-ting or sazen [sitting meditation]), whereby the mind is turned inward upon itself and the innermost recesses of our being are so well explored that we at last come face to face with that unsullied Mind which is neither yours nor mine, nor anybody else's, and yet discoverable in all of us."
The Hound of Heaven
The Buddha does not flee from men, it is men who flee the Buddha.
The Diamond Sutra
The Diamond Sutra says: "If their minds grasp the Dharma, they will still cling to the notion of an ego (a being and a life); if their minds grasp the Non-Dharma, they will still cling to the notion of an ego. Therefore we should not grasp at and hold onto the notions either of Dharma or Non-Dharma." This is holding the true Dharma. If you understand this doctrine, that is true deliverance. That, indeed, is reaching the gate of nonduality. [Hui Hai's treatise is packed with quotes. In addition to being named the Great Pearl, he could be called the Great Quoter - another similarity to Yours Truly!]
What is Awakening to the Way?
The nature of the Absolute is void and yet not void.... A sutra says: "Understand that one point and a thousand others will accordingly grow clear; misunderstand that one and ten thousand delusions will encompass you. He who holds to that one has no more problems to solve." This is the great marvelous awakening to the Way (Truth).
Can a Despised Man Find Enlightenment?
Bodhi is attainable at the very moment we make up our minds to achieve it....
Q: Do Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism really amount to one doctrine or to three?
A: Employed by men of great capacity, they are the same.... all of them spring forth from the functioning of the one self-nature.... Whether a man remains deluded or gains Illumination depends upon himself, not upon differences or similarity of doctrine.
Once a commentator on the Vimalakirti Sutra said, It is written in our sutra: "You should regard the six heretics as your teachers. After you have joined the Order, you should be misled by them and take part in their fall.... You should vilify the Buddha and destroy the Dharma. You should not belong to the Sangha and you should not attain deliverance. If you can behave like this, you may take my food."
When Subhuti, one of Buddha's disciples, knocked at Vimalakirti's door and asked for food, the Upasaka [meditator] spoke the above words. The development of a universal mind, which alone can enable them to reach their goal, is above such dualities as avoiding heretics, revering the Buddha, protecting the Dharma, joining the Order, and so forth. The six heretics are the six senses; though they constantly mislead us, we cannot get away from them to find the Absolute elsewhere. In other words, we should realize the Absolute from the very midst of relativities and contraries.
Q: Please tell us how to achieve deliverance.
A: Never having been bound, you have no need to seek deliverance. Straightforward functioning and straightforward conduct cannot be surpassed.
Q: Does this apply even to those who have yet to perceive their own nature?
A: Your not having perceived your own nature does not imply that you lack that nature. Why so? Because perception itself IS that nature....
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
TAT Forum
All the True Vows
by David Whyte
All the true vows
are secret vows
the ones we speak out loud
are the ones we break.
There is only one life
you can call your own
and a thousand others
you can call by any name you want.
Hold to the truth you make
every day with your own body,
don't turn your face away.
Hold to your own truth
at the center of the image
you were born with.
Those who do not understand
their destiny will never understand
the friends they have made
nor the work they have chosen
nor the one life that waits
beyond all the others.
By the lake in the wood
in the shadows
you can
whisper that truth
to the quiet reflection
you see in the water.
Whatever you hear from
the water, remember,
it wants you to carry
the sound of its truth on your lips.
Remember, in this place
no one can hear you
and out of the silence
you can make a promise
it will kill you to break,
that way you'll find
what is real and what is not.
I know what I am saying.
Time almost forsook me
and I looked again.
Seeing my reflection
I broke a promise
and spoke for the first time
after all these years
in my own voice,
before it was too late
to turn my face again.">TAT Forum: "All the True Vows
by David Whyte
All the true vows
are secret vows
the ones we speak out loud
are the ones we break.
There is only one life
you can call your own
and a thousand others
you can call by any name you want.
Hold to the truth you make
every day with your own body,
don't turn your face away.
Hold to your own truth
at the center of the image
you were born with.
Those who do not understand
their destiny will never understand
the friends they have made
nor the work they have chosen
nor the one life that waits
beyond all the others.
By the lake in the wood
in the shadows
you can
whisper that truth
to the quiet reflection
you see in the water.
Whatever you hear from
the water, remember,
it wants you to carry
the sound of its truth on your lips.
Remember, in this place
no one can hear you
and out of the silence
you can make a promise
it will kill you to break,
that way you'll find
what is real and what is not.
I know what I am saying.
Time almost forsook me
and I looked again.
Seeing my reflection
I broke a promise
and spoke for the first time
after all these years
in my own voice,
before it was too late
to turn my face again."
by David Whyte
All the true vows
are secret vows
the ones we speak out loud
are the ones we break.
There is only one life
you can call your own
and a thousand others
you can call by any name you want.
Hold to the truth you make
every day with your own body,
don't turn your face away.
Hold to your own truth
at the center of the image
you were born with.
Those who do not understand
their destiny will never understand
the friends they have made
nor the work they have chosen
nor the one life that waits
beyond all the others.
By the lake in the wood
in the shadows
you can
whisper that truth
to the quiet reflection
you see in the water.
Whatever you hear from
the water, remember,
it wants you to carry
the sound of its truth on your lips.
Remember, in this place
no one can hear you
and out of the silence
you can make a promise
it will kill you to break,
that way you'll find
what is real and what is not.
I know what I am saying.
Time almost forsook me
and I looked again.
Seeing my reflection
I broke a promise
and spoke for the first time
after all these years
in my own voice,
before it was too late
to turn my face again.">TAT Forum: "All the True Vows
by David Whyte
All the true vows
are secret vows
the ones we speak out loud
are the ones we break.
There is only one life
you can call your own
and a thousand others
you can call by any name you want.
Hold to the truth you make
every day with your own body,
don't turn your face away.
Hold to your own truth
at the center of the image
you were born with.
Those who do not understand
their destiny will never understand
the friends they have made
nor the work they have chosen
nor the one life that waits
beyond all the others.
By the lake in the wood
in the shadows
you can
whisper that truth
to the quiet reflection
you see in the water.
Whatever you hear from
the water, remember,
it wants you to carry
the sound of its truth on your lips.
Remember, in this place
no one can hear you
and out of the silence
you can make a promise
it will kill you to break,
that way you'll find
what is real and what is not.
I know what I am saying.
Time almost forsook me
and I looked again.
Seeing my reflection
I broke a promise
and spoke for the first time
after all these years
in my own voice,
before it was too late
to turn my face again."
Sunday, October 09, 2005
After the Absolute -- Chapter 7
"First, You need to want the Truth more than anything else. Not at first maybe--you might start with just a mild curiosity. But eventually, if anything is going to crack for you, you'll need a tremendous hunger for the Truth.
"There's a story of the student who asked a Zen master what it took to reach Enlightenment. The master led him into a nearby lake until they were chest deep in water, then he grabbed the student and held his head under water. At first the student didn't resist because it was the master and he figured there must be a good reason for it. But as he started to run out of air he began to struggle more and more until eventually he was fighting with everything he had to get free. Finally the master let him up and the student gasped and coughed and almost collapsed. When he got control of himself again he asked the master why he had held him under. The master said, "When you want the Truth as much as you wanted air just now, there’s no way you can miss it."
There was scattered laughter in the audience, but Rose did not smile or pause.
"Second," he continued, "you need energy. You need to become dynamic enough to do the digging and work it takes--finding the books, the teachers, the methods, and acting on the things you discover along the way. This requires a lot of energy, so you'll need to conserve what you have and use it for this purpose.
"And third, it takes commitment--a simple pledge to yourself and any God who might be listening. These are the three things. Without these, all philosophies are empty words."
Rose had yet to look at his notes. He seemed to be taking his cues from the mood of the room.
"There are no guarantees in this line of work, this business of becoming," he said. "Anyone who tells you otherwise has something he's trying to sell. The only thing I, or anyone else who's been down this road, can do is give you the benefit of his own experiences."
So Rose proceeded to do just that, recounting for the audience the stages of his life's search--the time of faith in the seminary, the pursuit of logic and science in college, the years of meditation and ascetic disciplines.
"Then," he said, "at thirty years of age I had an experience that came about as a result of none of these factors."
"Would you say, then, that you found God in your Experience?"
"You become God, yes," Rose said matter-of-factly. "Although I hesitate to use that word because it comes with a long history of childish connotations. We're not talking about a big guy with white whiskers keeping tabs on how many rules we break."
"I think of God as more of a 'Universal Mind,'" the man continued quietly.
"Well, perhaps," Rose said. "But the Absolute is beyond Universal Mind. Mind is still a dimension. You discover this by losing your own individual mind. Then you realize--because Mind is still there--that what you had all your life was not the individual mind you thought you had, but merely contact with an undifferentiated Mind dimension.
"So, yes, it’s accurate to say I found God, or became God, in the experience. But it’s also accurate to say I found nothing. There was no one there but me. You command creation, and yet you’re not operating under the illusion that you can change anything."
A tall man who had been taking notes throughout the talk raised his hand.
"Then you encountered no other intelligences during your Experience?"
"I didn't see anybody there but me. And yet, I sensed that something was helping me, maybe even guiding me--something that was just outside the picture. In fact, I sometimes think the whole experience was orchestrated for the purpose of showing me that Richard Rose the body doesn't exist."
"So you had help?" another man asked.
"Yes. I believe the whole experience was engineered. I just never got a good look at who or what was helping me. It was benevolent help, of course, but not protective. If you’re going to visit the Totality and the Void, your Holy Guardian Angel can't tell you beforehand that everything will be all right, that he'll be right there with you. No. You have to die like a dog. Die without hope. Only then can you make the personal discovery that through it all you are still observing--'I'm still here!' It wasn't until I returned that I realized something had created the Experience, even the physical conditions preceding it."
"But aren't there other systems that can bring you to the Truth without all this disaster?"
"To know death properly, a person must die."
"Then why would anyone want to pursue something like that, I mean, if they knew it meant they had to die to get there?"
"Who dies? What dies?" Rose asked, not altogether rhetorically. "Sometimes you have to plow under a city to build something more beautiful."
The room stayed silent.
"I know. Nobody looks for death," Rose continued. "I wasn't looking for death. I didn't want to find Nothingness. In fact, I always wanted to assert my individuality to the greatest degree of it's intensity."
I could hear a young woman's voice from the front row. "The whole experience doesn't sound very pleasant."
"Who said it would be?"
"I mean, its not the type of spiritual experiences I've been reading about."
"Then you're reading about lesser experiences. Enlightenment is the death of the mind. Death. You think you are dying--completely and forever. And it's good to think that because it kills the ego. When a person feels himself dying he immediately drops all his egos.
"It has to be this way. You must go through death with no hope of survival. Because you have to be truthful with yourself--all those tales about life after death could be fiction. But when you die honestly, you die with absolute despair. And that absolute despair removes the last ego you've got left--the spiritual ego that believes the individual mind is immortal.
"But then something amazing happens. After you die, you find yourself still here, observing this mess. And that observing is the secret of immortality. In fact, the only thing I think is valuable to know is that when you die, the Observer still lives.
"What I found in the Experience is that the soul of man is God. Every human being has the potential to discover this. To discover his essence, his soul. And in the act of discovery one becomes what he has discovered. If we were nothing more than the projected illusion we call 'me,' at death we would go out like a candle.
A student sitting on the steps in the aisle raised his hand.
"Where did the soul of man come from?" he asked.
"Does it have to come from something? Couldn't it just be? It is."
"If the soul of man can just be, why can't we just be? Why all this effort?"
"Because we are not the soul of man," Rose said, suddenly animated. "We are not the soul of man! We are shadows on the wall of Plato's cave. Each individual on this planet has the potential to find his soul, to become a soul. But you are not a soul until you discover yourself, your True Self. And yet it is also accurate to say that what you are is a soul. You don't have a soul, you are a soul. What you have is a projected body-mind unit that operates in the vicinity of the soul that is observing your fictional life.
"But you will not gain immortality by listening to me or anyone else try to explain this, or by believing me or anyone else. The only immortality possible is to become fully identified with the soul--the Observer, your True Self--before your body dies. Then you will not die with the body. In traditional Zen this is expressed with the saying, 'If you die before you die, then when you die you will not die.'"
"But you said you found Nothingness."
"Yes, but a person can't conceive of Nothingness. In the Experience, you don't think of Nothingness. Nothingness descends upon you."
"Isn't that oblivion?"
"Nothingness is not oblivion. I don't think anyone really finds oblivion at death. Certain people--purely instinctive people who are living a basic animal existence--might descend into blackness for a period. But for how long, I don't know.
"Death is different for each person, then?"
"Absolutely. If everyone found the same thing at death--if your actions on earth had no effect on your situation after death--then there wouldn't be much point in me talking."
"So what will it be like for you?"
Rose smiled. "My life is no longer tied to this planet. This place is a stage, and when you leave, you turn out the lights."
There was a long pause before the next question.
"Don't you believe in reincarnation, Mister Rose?" The speaker was an attractive middle-aged woman.
"I don't believe it or disbelieve it. I've got no proof either way. I may have been here before, but I have no memory of it. What I've noticed, though, is that the people who push reincarnation the hardest are generally using it as an excuse to keep from putting out any spiritual effort in this lifetime.
"I will say that as an explanation for human suffering and the inequities you see in society, reincarnation is a more easily digestible system to the human intellect than the concept of 'one chance then heaven or hell forever.' But just because it's more digestible doesn't mean it's true. In fact, the more palatable an explanation for things is, the more likely it is that it's been created out of the wishful mind of man.
"Besides," he added, turning back to the woman who asked the question, "if people do come back, it's only because they don't realize they could just stay dead and be a lot better off. In their ignorance they feel somehow compelled to continue to play the game, to go back on stage."
A young man directly in front of me raised his hand and Rose nodded in his direction.
"What is it like to come back, Mister Rose?" he asked. "Is the world different, or do you leave the Experience behind?"
"The world is never the same again. For me now, it's like I'm an insane man watching all this. Of course that's a very liberating state to be in," he said with a grin. "An insane man is free to do all sorts of insane things."
The laughter provided a welcome break from the seriousness. The whole room seemed to loosen up, including Rose.
"It was pretty rough at first, though. The night I came back I couldn't stop weeping. I just wandered the streets crying uncontrollably, looking for a bridge high enough to jump off of. Seriously. I didn't want to live. I couldn't stand the thought of being back here in the nightmare. The only reason I didn't jump is the rivers are shallow out there and I was afraid I'd just get stuck in the mud.
"Then I passed a church and that gave me hope. I figured that priests spend their lives looking, maybe one of them has read something about what just happened to me. So I knocked on the door. This blob of a priest with an enormous gut answers and he looks at me like I'm some kind of worm. I knew he wasn't going to be any help, so I asked him, 'Are there any older priests around?' There I am, standing on the church steps with tears streaming down my cheeks and he doesn’t even invite me in. He just scowls at me and says, 'How long has it been since you've been to confession.'
"And I thought, 'Where's my gun?'" Rose continued talking through the laughter. "Really. I wanted to shoot the bastard. But the anger was good. It helped bring me out of it. It helped me stop weeping.
"Gradually, the worst of the trauma passed and I started drifting back into life again. But I still felt terribly out of place in a world that I knew without a shadow of a doubt was an illusion--having just visited the real place. For several weeks people were transparent to me. I mean literally transparent--I could see right through their bodies.
"So I figured I'd better head back home, because I still wasn't too stable. I had an old friend living in Alliance, Ohio, and he got me a job at the place he was working. That's when everything became beautiful to me. Hills were once more hills, valleys once more valleys. Children looked like baby dolls. The starkness of the Absolute I had visited now made life and motion appear as beauty to me. Those months following my Experience were the happiest of my life, except maybe for the years of peace and bliss I had in my twenties when I was living a very ascetic lifestyle.
"Every day I'd come back to my room after work and sit down in front of the typewriter. I'd given up on trying to talk about the Experience--you just can't describe an Absolute condition using relative terms--but I had hoped to write a book of poetry and at least try to capture the beauty of the illusion I'd been forced to come back to. Most of it I tore up as soon as I wrote it. But then one day something came over me and I was able to write about my Experience. That’s when I wrote ‘The Three Books of the Absolute.’
"It was like automatic writing," Rose continued. "The words just appeared on the page."
A hand was raised near the front of the room. "Do you think your years of asceticism brought about your Experience?"
"Not really. It was like a period of adolescence on the way to adulthood. Necessary, but not directly causal. However, I do think that all that experimentation, investigation, and especially conservation of my energy, was definitely part of the preparation for my Experience."
"What's the other part?"
"The main preparation for Enlightenment is trauma. But you don't need to engage in any special disciplines to induce it. Your life will give you plenty of trauma whether you're on a spiritual path or not. Indulge in it while you can. You'll have plenty of peace in the marble orchard--maybe." Rose laughed in a way that made me uneasy.
"What I mean is," he continued, "you have to go through these traumas in life--now, while you're on Earth--in order to improve your situation after death. Everyone may be immortal, but we don't all go to the same place when we die. Awareness may not terminate for anyone, but you can't expect to advance into a dimension that you haven't mentally vaccinated yourself to beforehand. If the average mind--with its convictions and limitations--landed in an Absolute dimension, it would think it was either in oblivion or hell."
"Will a person who’s been doing spiritual practices, like meditating regularly, get a foreshadowing of what you finally experienced?"
"No. This does not accrue gradually. It happens suddenly and is never anything like you might imagine beforehand. I always thought a spiritual experience would be sheer beauty. I had visions of reaching some beautiful fields of flowers or God knows what. And the fact that I found something so utterly devastating and contrary to my desires convinced me that the experience was genuine, and not the product of wishful thinking.
"It's the effort you put forth--the vector you create--that propels you into this, not an accumulation of knowledge. You're engaged in a relentless pursuit of Truth, yes, but even in the midst of it you suspect that you are incapable of perceiving the Truth. So you engage in the obsessive pursuit of a goal while simultaneously believing you will never be successful. You live this! A person on the spiritual path lives this every moment of every day of his life. You push and push and push without hope. And then, no words or logic can explain what finally happens. It's an explosion. Your being changes."
"But doesn't the wisdom you acquire on your search coalesce in Enlightenment?"
"No," Rose said flatly. "That is not the path. You can't acquire wisdom because you don't know what it is. The path is subtractive. You keep sorting through the garbage pile to see if something real lies underneath it. And after you get done subtracting everything, what's left is an Absolute condition. That's what's real, not the little bits and pieces you set aside because you thought they were true along the way. You don't know anything until you know Everything."
"Do you think other people have had the same type of experience you did?"
"Oh yes, I know that now. But after my Experience I felt completely isolated. It wasn't until years later that I found out about other spiritual incidents. I was in Steubenville, Ohio--we had a little group that met there--and after one of the meetings a woman handed me a copy of Richard Bucke's Cosmic Consciousness." When I read it I knew I wasn’t alone.
"But cosmic consciousness isn't the final experience," Rose continued. "The people in Bucke's book describe an experience where they understand the harmonious interworkings of everything in the universe. They see lights and experience bliss, and so on. This is wonderful. But experiencing the Absolute goes beyond all that. In the Absolute there is no bliss or sorrow."
"There's a story of the student who asked a Zen master what it took to reach Enlightenment. The master led him into a nearby lake until they were chest deep in water, then he grabbed the student and held his head under water. At first the student didn't resist because it was the master and he figured there must be a good reason for it. But as he started to run out of air he began to struggle more and more until eventually he was fighting with everything he had to get free. Finally the master let him up and the student gasped and coughed and almost collapsed. When he got control of himself again he asked the master why he had held him under. The master said, "When you want the Truth as much as you wanted air just now, there’s no way you can miss it."
There was scattered laughter in the audience, but Rose did not smile or pause.
"Second," he continued, "you need energy. You need to become dynamic enough to do the digging and work it takes--finding the books, the teachers, the methods, and acting on the things you discover along the way. This requires a lot of energy, so you'll need to conserve what you have and use it for this purpose.
"And third, it takes commitment--a simple pledge to yourself and any God who might be listening. These are the three things. Without these, all philosophies are empty words."
Rose had yet to look at his notes. He seemed to be taking his cues from the mood of the room.
"There are no guarantees in this line of work, this business of becoming," he said. "Anyone who tells you otherwise has something he's trying to sell. The only thing I, or anyone else who's been down this road, can do is give you the benefit of his own experiences."
So Rose proceeded to do just that, recounting for the audience the stages of his life's search--the time of faith in the seminary, the pursuit of logic and science in college, the years of meditation and ascetic disciplines.
"Then," he said, "at thirty years of age I had an experience that came about as a result of none of these factors."
"Would you say, then, that you found God in your Experience?"
"You become God, yes," Rose said matter-of-factly. "Although I hesitate to use that word because it comes with a long history of childish connotations. We're not talking about a big guy with white whiskers keeping tabs on how many rules we break."
"I think of God as more of a 'Universal Mind,'" the man continued quietly.
"Well, perhaps," Rose said. "But the Absolute is beyond Universal Mind. Mind is still a dimension. You discover this by losing your own individual mind. Then you realize--because Mind is still there--that what you had all your life was not the individual mind you thought you had, but merely contact with an undifferentiated Mind dimension.
"So, yes, it’s accurate to say I found God, or became God, in the experience. But it’s also accurate to say I found nothing. There was no one there but me. You command creation, and yet you’re not operating under the illusion that you can change anything."
A tall man who had been taking notes throughout the talk raised his hand.
"Then you encountered no other intelligences during your Experience?"
"I didn't see anybody there but me. And yet, I sensed that something was helping me, maybe even guiding me--something that was just outside the picture. In fact, I sometimes think the whole experience was orchestrated for the purpose of showing me that Richard Rose the body doesn't exist."
"So you had help?" another man asked.
"Yes. I believe the whole experience was engineered. I just never got a good look at who or what was helping me. It was benevolent help, of course, but not protective. If you’re going to visit the Totality and the Void, your Holy Guardian Angel can't tell you beforehand that everything will be all right, that he'll be right there with you. No. You have to die like a dog. Die without hope. Only then can you make the personal discovery that through it all you are still observing--'I'm still here!' It wasn't until I returned that I realized something had created the Experience, even the physical conditions preceding it."
"But aren't there other systems that can bring you to the Truth without all this disaster?"
"To know death properly, a person must die."
"Then why would anyone want to pursue something like that, I mean, if they knew it meant they had to die to get there?"
"Who dies? What dies?" Rose asked, not altogether rhetorically. "Sometimes you have to plow under a city to build something more beautiful."
The room stayed silent.
"I know. Nobody looks for death," Rose continued. "I wasn't looking for death. I didn't want to find Nothingness. In fact, I always wanted to assert my individuality to the greatest degree of it's intensity."
I could hear a young woman's voice from the front row. "The whole experience doesn't sound very pleasant."
"Who said it would be?"
"I mean, its not the type of spiritual experiences I've been reading about."
"Then you're reading about lesser experiences. Enlightenment is the death of the mind. Death. You think you are dying--completely and forever. And it's good to think that because it kills the ego. When a person feels himself dying he immediately drops all his egos.
"It has to be this way. You must go through death with no hope of survival. Because you have to be truthful with yourself--all those tales about life after death could be fiction. But when you die honestly, you die with absolute despair. And that absolute despair removes the last ego you've got left--the spiritual ego that believes the individual mind is immortal.
"But then something amazing happens. After you die, you find yourself still here, observing this mess. And that observing is the secret of immortality. In fact, the only thing I think is valuable to know is that when you die, the Observer still lives.
"What I found in the Experience is that the soul of man is God. Every human being has the potential to discover this. To discover his essence, his soul. And in the act of discovery one becomes what he has discovered. If we were nothing more than the projected illusion we call 'me,' at death we would go out like a candle.
A student sitting on the steps in the aisle raised his hand.
"Where did the soul of man come from?" he asked.
"Does it have to come from something? Couldn't it just be? It is."
"If the soul of man can just be, why can't we just be? Why all this effort?"
"Because we are not the soul of man," Rose said, suddenly animated. "We are not the soul of man! We are shadows on the wall of Plato's cave. Each individual on this planet has the potential to find his soul, to become a soul. But you are not a soul until you discover yourself, your True Self. And yet it is also accurate to say that what you are is a soul. You don't have a soul, you are a soul. What you have is a projected body-mind unit that operates in the vicinity of the soul that is observing your fictional life.
"But you will not gain immortality by listening to me or anyone else try to explain this, or by believing me or anyone else. The only immortality possible is to become fully identified with the soul--the Observer, your True Self--before your body dies. Then you will not die with the body. In traditional Zen this is expressed with the saying, 'If you die before you die, then when you die you will not die.'"
"But you said you found Nothingness."
"Yes, but a person can't conceive of Nothingness. In the Experience, you don't think of Nothingness. Nothingness descends upon you."
"Isn't that oblivion?"
"Nothingness is not oblivion. I don't think anyone really finds oblivion at death. Certain people--purely instinctive people who are living a basic animal existence--might descend into blackness for a period. But for how long, I don't know.
"Death is different for each person, then?"
"Absolutely. If everyone found the same thing at death--if your actions on earth had no effect on your situation after death--then there wouldn't be much point in me talking."
"So what will it be like for you?"
Rose smiled. "My life is no longer tied to this planet. This place is a stage, and when you leave, you turn out the lights."
There was a long pause before the next question.
"Don't you believe in reincarnation, Mister Rose?" The speaker was an attractive middle-aged woman.
"I don't believe it or disbelieve it. I've got no proof either way. I may have been here before, but I have no memory of it. What I've noticed, though, is that the people who push reincarnation the hardest are generally using it as an excuse to keep from putting out any spiritual effort in this lifetime.
"I will say that as an explanation for human suffering and the inequities you see in society, reincarnation is a more easily digestible system to the human intellect than the concept of 'one chance then heaven or hell forever.' But just because it's more digestible doesn't mean it's true. In fact, the more palatable an explanation for things is, the more likely it is that it's been created out of the wishful mind of man.
"Besides," he added, turning back to the woman who asked the question, "if people do come back, it's only because they don't realize they could just stay dead and be a lot better off. In their ignorance they feel somehow compelled to continue to play the game, to go back on stage."
A young man directly in front of me raised his hand and Rose nodded in his direction.
"What is it like to come back, Mister Rose?" he asked. "Is the world different, or do you leave the Experience behind?"
"The world is never the same again. For me now, it's like I'm an insane man watching all this. Of course that's a very liberating state to be in," he said with a grin. "An insane man is free to do all sorts of insane things."
The laughter provided a welcome break from the seriousness. The whole room seemed to loosen up, including Rose.
"It was pretty rough at first, though. The night I came back I couldn't stop weeping. I just wandered the streets crying uncontrollably, looking for a bridge high enough to jump off of. Seriously. I didn't want to live. I couldn't stand the thought of being back here in the nightmare. The only reason I didn't jump is the rivers are shallow out there and I was afraid I'd just get stuck in the mud.
"Then I passed a church and that gave me hope. I figured that priests spend their lives looking, maybe one of them has read something about what just happened to me. So I knocked on the door. This blob of a priest with an enormous gut answers and he looks at me like I'm some kind of worm. I knew he wasn't going to be any help, so I asked him, 'Are there any older priests around?' There I am, standing on the church steps with tears streaming down my cheeks and he doesn’t even invite me in. He just scowls at me and says, 'How long has it been since you've been to confession.'
"And I thought, 'Where's my gun?'" Rose continued talking through the laughter. "Really. I wanted to shoot the bastard. But the anger was good. It helped bring me out of it. It helped me stop weeping.
"Gradually, the worst of the trauma passed and I started drifting back into life again. But I still felt terribly out of place in a world that I knew without a shadow of a doubt was an illusion--having just visited the real place. For several weeks people were transparent to me. I mean literally transparent--I could see right through their bodies.
"So I figured I'd better head back home, because I still wasn't too stable. I had an old friend living in Alliance, Ohio, and he got me a job at the place he was working. That's when everything became beautiful to me. Hills were once more hills, valleys once more valleys. Children looked like baby dolls. The starkness of the Absolute I had visited now made life and motion appear as beauty to me. Those months following my Experience were the happiest of my life, except maybe for the years of peace and bliss I had in my twenties when I was living a very ascetic lifestyle.
"Every day I'd come back to my room after work and sit down in front of the typewriter. I'd given up on trying to talk about the Experience--you just can't describe an Absolute condition using relative terms--but I had hoped to write a book of poetry and at least try to capture the beauty of the illusion I'd been forced to come back to. Most of it I tore up as soon as I wrote it. But then one day something came over me and I was able to write about my Experience. That’s when I wrote ‘The Three Books of the Absolute.’
"It was like automatic writing," Rose continued. "The words just appeared on the page."
A hand was raised near the front of the room. "Do you think your years of asceticism brought about your Experience?"
"Not really. It was like a period of adolescence on the way to adulthood. Necessary, but not directly causal. However, I do think that all that experimentation, investigation, and especially conservation of my energy, was definitely part of the preparation for my Experience."
"What's the other part?"
"The main preparation for Enlightenment is trauma. But you don't need to engage in any special disciplines to induce it. Your life will give you plenty of trauma whether you're on a spiritual path or not. Indulge in it while you can. You'll have plenty of peace in the marble orchard--maybe." Rose laughed in a way that made me uneasy.
"What I mean is," he continued, "you have to go through these traumas in life--now, while you're on Earth--in order to improve your situation after death. Everyone may be immortal, but we don't all go to the same place when we die. Awareness may not terminate for anyone, but you can't expect to advance into a dimension that you haven't mentally vaccinated yourself to beforehand. If the average mind--with its convictions and limitations--landed in an Absolute dimension, it would think it was either in oblivion or hell."
"Will a person who’s been doing spiritual practices, like meditating regularly, get a foreshadowing of what you finally experienced?"
"No. This does not accrue gradually. It happens suddenly and is never anything like you might imagine beforehand. I always thought a spiritual experience would be sheer beauty. I had visions of reaching some beautiful fields of flowers or God knows what. And the fact that I found something so utterly devastating and contrary to my desires convinced me that the experience was genuine, and not the product of wishful thinking.
"It's the effort you put forth--the vector you create--that propels you into this, not an accumulation of knowledge. You're engaged in a relentless pursuit of Truth, yes, but even in the midst of it you suspect that you are incapable of perceiving the Truth. So you engage in the obsessive pursuit of a goal while simultaneously believing you will never be successful. You live this! A person on the spiritual path lives this every moment of every day of his life. You push and push and push without hope. And then, no words or logic can explain what finally happens. It's an explosion. Your being changes."
"But doesn't the wisdom you acquire on your search coalesce in Enlightenment?"
"No," Rose said flatly. "That is not the path. You can't acquire wisdom because you don't know what it is. The path is subtractive. You keep sorting through the garbage pile to see if something real lies underneath it. And after you get done subtracting everything, what's left is an Absolute condition. That's what's real, not the little bits and pieces you set aside because you thought they were true along the way. You don't know anything until you know Everything."
"Do you think other people have had the same type of experience you did?"
"Oh yes, I know that now. But after my Experience I felt completely isolated. It wasn't until years later that I found out about other spiritual incidents. I was in Steubenville, Ohio--we had a little group that met there--and after one of the meetings a woman handed me a copy of Richard Bucke's Cosmic Consciousness." When I read it I knew I wasn’t alone.
"But cosmic consciousness isn't the final experience," Rose continued. "The people in Bucke's book describe an experience where they understand the harmonious interworkings of everything in the universe. They see lights and experience bliss, and so on. This is wonderful. But experiencing the Absolute goes beyond all that. In the Absolute there is no bliss or sorrow."
What Have We Lost?
What Have We Lost?
by Bob Fergeson
"When Freud coined the phrase that the ego was 'the true seat
of anxiety,' he was giving voice to a very true and profound intuition."
~ C.G. Jung, Psychological Commentary, Tibetan Book of the Dead
We come into this life complete unto Ourselves. Helpless in body and mind, and a bit forgetful perhaps, but still possessing faith in our Self-sufficiency. As we begin to look around us at the fascinating play of form and feeling, we slowly begin to lose our innocent Self-absorption and begin to be seduced into the present dimension. We can't help it, being terribly naive and still somewhat innocent (though carrying an unconscious package deep inside, the basis for our arrival here in the bardo of life). This regretfully changes, as we are soon permeated with an unseen fog-like state of mind we inherit from our newly chosen home environment. Constantly battered by moods and emotions we do not understand and cannot question, we find ourselves facing a daily onslaught of conflict and stress, followed by relief and pleasure, all designed to hook our attention in the outer world. The unconscious tendencies we have waiting patiently inside soon enough find their counterparts in the willing environment. Our mind is eventually set in concrete by the pattern of action-reaction with the world as we have encountered it, leaving little freedom of movement. We become hopelessly outer-oriented. With every passing year, the pattern becomes more fixed, and we ourselves become more convinced that the solution lies in more of the same. More control, more action-reaction, more identification, until we finally conquer and become master of the very environment that made us, or so we think. As someone once pointed out, this a good working definition of insanity. But here we are.
We have become hypnotized by the world. Our mind, and the minds of those who taught us from birth, have convinced us that we are an individual, a separate "thing" in a world of separated things. This sooner or later creates the unquestioned, complete identification with this illusory "thing," this knot between the sentient Self and the world. This knot is called ego, nebulous at best, though it calls itself "I." Because we have transferred our very sense of being into something unreal, which must be continually created and enforced, we feel an underlying anxiety, a longing for something, something stable and inherently self-sufficient. We, as ego, mistakenly transform this anxiety into a hope and belief in fear and desire, and we turn again and again to the world for the solution to our own mind-made problem. The Tibetan Book of the Dead gives us a hint at how serious this transference of meaning from the real to the unreal can be. Death of the body may not break the spell. Even in our dreams and fantasies, we are continually wandering, looking for safety and fulfillment in ego-building and unquestioned belief in our desires and fears. We have lost our Selves, and can only react to the creations of our own now desperate minds.
As we continue through life, becoming more and more engrossed, our thoughts and actions reinforce themselves and the driving forces behind them, leaving less and less chance for any meaningful change. Just as in the world of the after-death Bardos, where at every step of the way the mind becomes more and more sensually oriented, more and more emotionally strident and confused, where in desperation, the wanderer eventually returns to life and the world of bodies and things in order to manifest its unconscious fears and desires, so is it also in this life. We wander from one game of desire to another, encouraged by success and pleasure, and driven by fear and our growing anxiety: the carrot and the stick that deny us any rest. We become obsessed with our health and possessions, and when faced with death, will do anything for even one more week of existence. We continue to turn towards life, bodies, and emotional highs and lows, making the same mistakes over and over, never guessing that the solution lies within, not in the manic, repetitious attempt to control the outer environment.
The world is change. Any hiding place or fortification we crawl into, or pleasure palace we build, will fail us, someday. All form is subject to this never-ceasing change. Only in the Formless can we find the road Home. This wandering from bardo to bardo, dream to dream, gives no peace or true understanding. The true cure for our anxiety and longing is the death of the ego, not the body. We have lost our connection to our Inner Self, not some thing, or some needed control over things. Instead, with non-attachment and great attention, look at the world, at the little life you think you love and hate so much, and at your anxious fear of it, at your coming death. Question everything, especially your self. Then, hopefully this dream of existence will be seen for what it is: a never-ending play of form upon emotion, a wandering through desire and fear that never ceases. Turn your attention back to your Source, to the Love within, and find peace for the wanderer, the lost traveler in the endless bardos of life, death, and dreams
Monday, August 22, 2005
Sacred Places: Tree Of Knowledge Can Liberate You
Sacred Places: Tree Of Knowledge Can Liberate You
Siddhartha Gautam roamed in search of the secret of sorrow and suffering. At Gaya, a village on the banks of the river Niranjana in Bihar, he sat in silent contemplation under a banyan tree.
He attained enlightenment there, and became known as the Buddha. The spot began to be referred to as the Throne of Wisdom, and the banyan tree is now known as the Eternal Wisdom Tree, the Akshaya Bodhibriksha .
The tree stands for inexhaustible life, and is therefore a symbol of immortality. With its roots underground and branches rising to the sky it symbolises heavenward ascension.
The branches that hang down to take root in the ground symbolise the continuing support of merit through earnest devotion.
In ancient India the acharya and his disciples would sit together under a tree, mostly a banyan tree, and endlessly discuss the mysteries of the universe.
The Upanishads emerged from such disputations. In Shankaracharya's Hymn to Dakshinamurti , the following verse describes this tradition: "I bow down to Dakshinamurti, the Teacher of the three worlds, who, seated on the ground under the banyan tree, grants knowledge to all the learned sages who have assembled around him. How strange! The assembled disciples were all aged, and the guru was young. The Guru's sermon was conveyed through his silence, and all doubts of the disciples were cleared up."
Ultimate wisdom is be-yond the reach of mind and speech. Yamaraj explains to Nachiketa in the Kathopanishad: "This atma is not realised through long lectures nor through intellectual effort nor through listening to many sermons."
The Buddha experienced the truth of this saying in his own experiments. The Truth dawned upon him in silent contemplation on the Throne of Wisdom under the eternal Tree of Wisdom.
To western travellers, however, the banyan appeared as a tree shrouded in dark mystery. Pliny, Raleigh and others have commented on the evil nature of the tree. Thus, for them, "the proliferating tree is a tree of error... As this tree, so did man grow straight and upright towards God until such time as he had transgressed and broken the Commandment of his Creator. And like unto the boughs of this tree, he began to bend downwards, and toward the earth, which all the rest of Adam's posterity have done, rooting themselves and fastening themselves to this corrupt world." After the Fall, as Milton described in Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve tried to hide their guilt and shame "under a pillared shade, high overarched, and echoing walks between".
The tree is still echoing the warning: You grow straight and upright until such time as you transgress the limits prescribed for you. As soon as you transgress, you begin to bend downwards rooting yourself in corruption. Like the banyan, the peepal tree ashwattha (that which does not last till tomorrow), also represents a great truth in the Indian tradition.
The Gita (XV.1-4) says: "They speak of a Cosmic Tree. It is the ever-changing tree of the phenomenal world. Its roots go up, and its branches go down. He who knows it is a man of knowledge. Its form is not visible here, neither its end, nor origin, nor its basis. After cutting down the firmly fixed tree by the mighty sword of non-attachment, one attains the goal from which there is no return."
This idea of the cosmic tree is found in several other traditions also. For the Hebrew tradition states that the Tree of Life spreads downwards from above, and is entirely bathed in the light of the sun. Dante too portrays the pattern of the celestial spheres as the foliage of a tree whose roots (origin) spread upwards.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Monkey stuff..are you a monkey?
MONDAY, Aug. 15 (HealthDay News) -- In recent studies, scientists tracked the behaviors of shoppers and investors as they spent money snapping up things on sale or investing in low-risk transactions.
And when these same consumers noticed that one shopper was getting a special deal, they reacted in a very human way: by flinging their money back in the seller's face in a righteous show of anger.
But these study subjects weren't human -- they were a troop of capuchin monkeys, native to the jungles of South America.
Scientists say the capuchins' "animal behavioral economics" are bringing new insights to everything from the stock market to the tit-for-tat reciprocity of daily human life.
"You can't explain everything that happens in economics by market forces -- you have to look at the human animal. And as soon as you look at the human animal, you notice that we have a lot in common with other animals, too," said Frans de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University and director of the Living Links Center at Emory's Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
Until fairly recently, economists believed the marketplace worked on a simple principle: everyone was out to maximize their own personal gain. But that theory doesn't quite fit with reality, according to Yale University primate researcher and professor of psychology Laurie Santos.
"For example, there's the curious problem of why humans don't put as much money into stocks as they do into bonds," she said. Over the long-term, stocks always outperform bonds, even though short-term dips in an individual stock's value are common. With stocks "you're more likely to look in your portfolio and say 'Oh, I lost $1,000 this month' -- even though you still make more money over the course of a year than you would with bonds," Santos said.
So why don't humans make the rational choice and play the stock market more?
The answer lies in the "reference point" -- an irrational habit that humans have of gauging economic performance against what happened yesterday or last month, or by the type of success or failure a neighbor might be having. Many economists have suggested that this illogical tendency is simply a product of human society, easily changed.
"Is this really the case?" Santos wondered. "Or is it something that's much more deeply ingrained?"
She turned to our primate cousins for help.
Working with a group of capuchins in her Yale lab, Santos and her colleagues first spent a few weeks training them to the concept of "money" -- in this case aluminum tokens that were exchangeable for food. "Even though we trained them, the monkeys spontaneously understood on their own that the market was 'fungible' -- that they could buy anything with the token -- grapes, apples, whatever was offered," she noted.
What's more, they also spontaneously latched on to the simple rules that drive the human marketplace. For example, if the researchers started swapping a token for one piece of apple but two grapes (essentially a "50 Percent Off All Grapes!" sale) the monkeys immediately chose to spend their money where it bought the most -- grapes. "It's what an economist calls a 'shift in consumption,'" Santos said.
The capuchins were also in tune with the "reference point." In one experiment, monkeys were given two options in spending their token: one researcher who offered just one piece of apple but sometimes rewarded the monkey with a "bonus" second piece; or a second researcher who initially showed the monkey two pieces but sometimes delivered just one apple slice in exchange for the token.
Either way, it was a gamble: the monkey was guaranteed at least one slice -- but might get two.
However, the capuchins overwhelmingly rejected transacting with the researcher who presented them with the two apple slices. The reason? "If they think they are going to get two pieces of apple, one piece just doesn't seem that great," Santos said. "But if they think they are going to get one piece, then getting two pieces seems really awesome."
This behavior -- a disproportionate fear of loss versus gain -- is exactly the reason humans prefer bonds to more lucrative stocks, she said. Her team plans to publish the study results soon.
Experiments conducted at the Yerkes lab and published in 2003 in Nature were even more intriguing.
A team led by Dr. Sarah Brosnan found that capuchins quickly understood that humans would accept pebbles (money) in exchange for cucumber slices. Monkeys swapped pebbles for cucumbers happily. Then, one day, a researcher suddenly rewarded just one of the monkeys with grapes -- a much more desirable commodity.
The result was pandemonium, de Waal explained. All of the monkeys who had not received the grape "suddenly got very agitated, they got obviously mad at us, the experimenter, the situation." The capuchins essentially went on strike, hurling both pebbles and cucumber slices -- which they had been greedily munching just a minute before -- out of the test chamber.
According to de Waal, this type of "outrage" against apparent inequalities in the marketplace influences human financial dealings every day. "It's irrational, and the monkeys were showing a similar irrationality -- of course a piece of cucumber is better than no piece of cucumber. But when a neighbor gets grapes, the cucumber is rejected," he said.
The capuchins are highly social animals, but it's pretty clear they're not acting from a sense of social injustice. "They don't understand the long-range implications for themselves, their society or their position. But in the same way, we probably don't either, most of the time," de Waal said.
Among capuchins and humans alike, the resentment primates feel when they think they are getting less than their neighbor is, "does, in the long run, have an effect on the level of cooperation you get from others," he said. "You're making sure that you get the right amount of reward for the right effort."
In the end, then, the capuchin studies suggest that "irrational" human economic behaviors may have logical roots in our evolution as highly social animals.
According to Santos, "It suggests that to really convince people to overcome these biases, we may have to dig a little deeper before we can get them to behave a little more rationally on their own."
And when these same consumers noticed that one shopper was getting a special deal, they reacted in a very human way: by flinging their money back in the seller's face in a righteous show of anger.
But these study subjects weren't human -- they were a troop of capuchin monkeys, native to the jungles of South America.
Scientists say the capuchins' "animal behavioral economics" are bringing new insights to everything from the stock market to the tit-for-tat reciprocity of daily human life.
"You can't explain everything that happens in economics by market forces -- you have to look at the human animal. And as soon as you look at the human animal, you notice that we have a lot in common with other animals, too," said Frans de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University and director of the Living Links Center at Emory's Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
Until fairly recently, economists believed the marketplace worked on a simple principle: everyone was out to maximize their own personal gain. But that theory doesn't quite fit with reality, according to Yale University primate researcher and professor of psychology Laurie Santos.
"For example, there's the curious problem of why humans don't put as much money into stocks as they do into bonds," she said. Over the long-term, stocks always outperform bonds, even though short-term dips in an individual stock's value are common. With stocks "you're more likely to look in your portfolio and say 'Oh, I lost $1,000 this month' -- even though you still make more money over the course of a year than you would with bonds," Santos said.
So why don't humans make the rational choice and play the stock market more?
The answer lies in the "reference point" -- an irrational habit that humans have of gauging economic performance against what happened yesterday or last month, or by the type of success or failure a neighbor might be having. Many economists have suggested that this illogical tendency is simply a product of human society, easily changed.
"Is this really the case?" Santos wondered. "Or is it something that's much more deeply ingrained?"
She turned to our primate cousins for help.
Working with a group of capuchins in her Yale lab, Santos and her colleagues first spent a few weeks training them to the concept of "money" -- in this case aluminum tokens that were exchangeable for food. "Even though we trained them, the monkeys spontaneously understood on their own that the market was 'fungible' -- that they could buy anything with the token -- grapes, apples, whatever was offered," she noted.
What's more, they also spontaneously latched on to the simple rules that drive the human marketplace. For example, if the researchers started swapping a token for one piece of apple but two grapes (essentially a "50 Percent Off All Grapes!" sale) the monkeys immediately chose to spend their money where it bought the most -- grapes. "It's what an economist calls a 'shift in consumption,'" Santos said.
The capuchins were also in tune with the "reference point." In one experiment, monkeys were given two options in spending their token: one researcher who offered just one piece of apple but sometimes rewarded the monkey with a "bonus" second piece; or a second researcher who initially showed the monkey two pieces but sometimes delivered just one apple slice in exchange for the token.
Either way, it was a gamble: the monkey was guaranteed at least one slice -- but might get two.
However, the capuchins overwhelmingly rejected transacting with the researcher who presented them with the two apple slices. The reason? "If they think they are going to get two pieces of apple, one piece just doesn't seem that great," Santos said. "But if they think they are going to get one piece, then getting two pieces seems really awesome."
This behavior -- a disproportionate fear of loss versus gain -- is exactly the reason humans prefer bonds to more lucrative stocks, she said. Her team plans to publish the study results soon.
Experiments conducted at the Yerkes lab and published in 2003 in Nature were even more intriguing.
A team led by Dr. Sarah Brosnan found that capuchins quickly understood that humans would accept pebbles (money) in exchange for cucumber slices. Monkeys swapped pebbles for cucumbers happily. Then, one day, a researcher suddenly rewarded just one of the monkeys with grapes -- a much more desirable commodity.
The result was pandemonium, de Waal explained. All of the monkeys who had not received the grape "suddenly got very agitated, they got obviously mad at us, the experimenter, the situation." The capuchins essentially went on strike, hurling both pebbles and cucumber slices -- which they had been greedily munching just a minute before -- out of the test chamber.
According to de Waal, this type of "outrage" against apparent inequalities in the marketplace influences human financial dealings every day. "It's irrational, and the monkeys were showing a similar irrationality -- of course a piece of cucumber is better than no piece of cucumber. But when a neighbor gets grapes, the cucumber is rejected," he said.
The capuchins are highly social animals, but it's pretty clear they're not acting from a sense of social injustice. "They don't understand the long-range implications for themselves, their society or their position. But in the same way, we probably don't either, most of the time," de Waal said.
Among capuchins and humans alike, the resentment primates feel when they think they are getting less than their neighbor is, "does, in the long run, have an effect on the level of cooperation you get from others," he said. "You're making sure that you get the right amount of reward for the right effort."
In the end, then, the capuchin studies suggest that "irrational" human economic behaviors may have logical roots in our evolution as highly social animals.
According to Santos, "It suggests that to really convince people to overcome these biases, we may have to dig a little deeper before we can get them to behave a little more rationally on their own."
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Juanita will unchain your heart
Shania Twain Lyrics Juanita on Allspirit
Juanita
Shania Twain - Album 'Up'
She is the restless river
running through my veins
She rides without the reins--
her name's Juanita
She lives in the heart of every
woman in the world
Within the reach of every girl
who wants to meet her
(She's gonna be ridin' through)
Her name's Juanita
(She's gonna be ridiin' free) She's ridin' free
(She's gonna be inside of you, gonna be
inside of me) She's inside of you
and inside of me, yeah
Oh, go with her--flow with her
Dream with her--scream with her
Let her take over, or just get to know her
Be everything you can be
If you can find her and free her
Juanita will unchain your heart
When someone tries to take
away the freedom of your choice
To take away your voice--
that's when you need her
She's there if you dare to give
your broken wings a try
C'mon and take a leap and fly,
and you can be her
(She's gonna be ridin' through) Oh, Juanita
(She's gonna be ridin' free) Ridin' free
(She's gonna be a part of you, gonna be a
part of me) She's a part of you and a part
of me, yeah
Oh, go with her--flow with her
Dream with her--scream with her
Let her take over, or just get to know her
Be everything you can be
If you can find her and free her
Juanita will unchain your heart
[Instrumental Solo]
Oh, go with her--flow with her
Dream with her--scream with her
Let her take over, or just get to know her
Be everything you can be
Oh, go with her--flow with her
Dream with her--scream with her
Let her take over, or just get to know her
Be everything you can be
If you can find her and free her
Juanita will unchain your heart
Juanita
Shania Twain - Album 'Up'
She is the restless river
running through my veins
She rides without the reins--
her name's Juanita
She lives in the heart of every
woman in the world
Within the reach of every girl
who wants to meet her
(She's gonna be ridin' through)
Her name's Juanita
(She's gonna be ridiin' free) She's ridin' free
(She's gonna be inside of you, gonna be
inside of me) She's inside of you
and inside of me, yeah
Oh, go with her--flow with her
Dream with her--scream with her
Let her take over, or just get to know her
Be everything you can be
If you can find her and free her
Juanita will unchain your heart
When someone tries to take
away the freedom of your choice
To take away your voice--
that's when you need her
She's there if you dare to give
your broken wings a try
C'mon and take a leap and fly,
and you can be her
(She's gonna be ridin' through) Oh, Juanita
(She's gonna be ridin' free) Ridin' free
(She's gonna be a part of you, gonna be a
part of me) She's a part of you and a part
of me, yeah
Oh, go with her--flow with her
Dream with her--scream with her
Let her take over, or just get to know her
Be everything you can be
If you can find her and free her
Juanita will unchain your heart
[Instrumental Solo]
Oh, go with her--flow with her
Dream with her--scream with her
Let her take over, or just get to know her
Be everything you can be
Oh, go with her--flow with her
Dream with her--scream with her
Let her take over, or just get to know her
Be everything you can be
If you can find her and free her
Juanita will unchain your heart
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Edgar Cayce On The Christ Consciousness
Edgar Cayce On The Christ Consciousness
Edgar Cayce On The Christ Consciousness
Part of the A.R.E. art collection - donated in 1975 - artist unknown
Oftentimes, when individuals hear the terms "Christ" or "Jesus," right away they may fall into preconceived notions based upon their upbringing or particular religious background. Throughout history, the perspectives people have had on the life and teachings of Jesus have been varied, oftentimes even at odds. Sometimes individuals involved in so called "new age" philosophies or comparative religious studies have decided that Jesus was "just a teacher." Was he only a prophet? Others have decided to disregard him altogether. Members of non-Christian faiths may have ignored his life and ministry. Was he a man who committed blasphemy by thinking himself a God? Others may have said, "Well, Christians have been cruel to me and therefore I'm not interested in Jesus." Even among those who call themselves Christian there is not complete agreement about the meaning of Jesus' life and work. These disagreements have resulted in dozens of denominational factions, charges of heresy or breaking away from the faith, and countless wars. The Edgar Cayce material, however, offers an approach that suggests there is a way of looking at Jesus' life in a manner that unifies all of humankind rather than dividing it.
Because of our focus on the material things in life, much of humankind has forgotten its true birthright as a child of a loving God. From Cayce's perspective, we are not simply physical bodies, instead we are spiritual beings who are having a physical experience entailing personal growth and development. Many individuals have incorrectly assumed that the goal of being in the earth is to simply reach heaven, find enlightenment, or somehow "get out of the earth." And yet, this is a perspective quite different from that contained in the Cayce material. Instead, Cayce believed that as children of God, our mission was to somehow bring spirit into the earth.
The dynamics of our deep and literal connection to God can be found throughout scripture, beginning with Genesis when we are told that God made humankind in the Creator's image. But our relationship with God as our Parent is perhaps no more clearly illustrated than in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24). This parable describes the journey of the soul: we were with God in the beginning, through the power of our free will we were able to make choices that were not necessarily in perfect accord with the Creator. And, at some point, we will "arise" and decide to return to God, regaining our inheritance and experiencing our true relationship with Him. One of the readings beautifully describes the spiritual nature of humankind in this way:
"For ye are a corpuscle in the body of God; thus a co-creator with Him, in what ye think, in what ye do."
Edgar Cayce reading #2794-3
The readings state that God desires to be expressed in the world through us. The example set by Jesus is apparently a "pattern" of wholeness for each and every soul.
Regardless of an individual's religious or personal beliefs, this Christ pattern exists in potential upon the very fiber of their being. It is that part of each of us that is in perfect accord with the Creator and is simply waiting to find expression in our lives. This Christ pattern was further described as "the awareness within each soul, imprinted in pattern on the mind and waiting to be awakened by the will, of the soul's oneness with God" (5749-14), and its manifestation is the eventual destiny of each and every soul. With this in mind, the readings present Jesus as our "Elder brother," a soul who came to show each one of us the way back to our spiritual Source by perfectly manifesting the laws of the Creator in the earth.
Just as an older sibling can sometimes provide insight and counsel into some of life's difficulties ( because he or she went through them first ) Jesus as Elder brother can assist us in facing life's challenges. What may surprise individuals is that this fact has nothing to do with religion, it has to do with spirituality and discovering our true relationship with God - a relationship we share with Jesus. The readings not only affirm that Jesus was the Son of God, but they also state the same thing about each and everyone of us. In other words: Jesus was like each one of us and, ultimately, each one of us is destined to be like Him.
I and my Father are one. Then they took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of these do you stone me? They answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, "I said, Ye are gods."
John 10:30-34
Although many of us may be repelled at first by such a suggestion, evidence for this premise is found in both the Bible and the Edgar Cayce material. When speaking of humankind, Jesus, himself, states, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," (John 17:16). Surprisingly, perhaps, a Jewish businessman came to this very conclusion in questions that he posed in a Cayce reading:
Q. Jesus was made perfect, God came into His Own. We are men not yet perfect, god not yet equal to God. He represents our so-called future, the path to the Throne?
A. Correct. He is the path to the throne, in that we, man, must become as the One as directs the way.
Q. ...Like us, Jesus was both God and Man until He became God alone?
A. Correct.
Reading 900-100
Before becoming offended by this incredible possibility, shouting out charges of heresy, or believing the idea to be the work of the devil, we need to look closely at the life of Jesus. Not only will we find that He was charged with blasphemy for this very claim, but we will find that He stated this truth for each and every one of us:
For indeed in Him, the Father-God, ye move and have thy being. Act like it! Don't act like ye think ye are a god! Ye may become such, but when ye do ye think not of thyself. For what is the pattern? He thought it not robbery to make Himself equal with God, but He acted like it in the earth. He made Himself of no estate that you, through His grace, through His mercy, through His sacrifice might have an advocate with that First Cause, God; that first principle, spirit...
Reading 4083-1
The law Jesus is referring to is the Old Testament, specifically the 82nd Psalm which asserts that not only are we God's children, but we are also "gods" (to be sure in-the-making), as well. Although some individuals may be offended with the statement that everyone is a part of God, in recent years more and more people working with esoteric spiritual traditions have come to that very conclusion. Unfortunately, oftentimes those individuals who accept this premise have forgotten the appropriate attitudinal stance that should accompany it. In reality, this claim is not so much true as a verbal statement made about oneself. Instead, it is only true as we become god-like toward one another:
For the Master, Jesus, even the Christ, is the pattern for every man in the earth, whether he be Gentile or Jew, Parthenian or Greek. For all have the pattern, whether they call on that name or not; but there is no other name given under heaven whereby men may be saved from themselves.
Reading 3528-1
When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life,"(John 14:6) it was not a call to religious conversion; but rather an opportunity for us to realize that His life could serve as an example for each one of us. Regardless of our religious background, in Jesus' life we can find a pattern of how to live, enabling each of us to overcome our personal weaknesses, our shortcomings, even our problems. In the language of the Cayce readings:
Q-5. What is the main purpose of this incarnation?
A-5. To glorify the Christ Consciousness in the earth . in the lives of those with whom ye come in contact, and to live the same thyself.
Reading 2441-4
On one occasion, a thirty-eight-year-old male who primarily desired additional information on how he might better manifest his life's purpose, asked Edgar Cayce for clarification on these words "Jesus" and "Christ":
Q. What is the meaning and significance of the words Jesus and Christ...?
A. Just as indicated. Jesus is the man . the activity, the mind, the relationships that He bore to others. Yea, He was mindful of friends, He was sociable, He was loving, He was kind, He was gentle. He grew faint, He grew weak . and yet gained that strength that He has promised, in becoming the Christ, by fulfilling and overcoming the world! Ye are made strong . in body, in mind, in soul and purpose . by that power in Christ. The power, then, is in the Christ. The pattern is in Jesus.
Reading 2533-7
This transformative power of the Christ Consciousness is awakened as individuals act in accord with the pattern set by the example of Jesus' life. In fact, this awakening is the essential purpose for which each soul enters into life:
In terms of how this Christ Consciousness could unfold in an individual's life, one person was told:
What [then] will ye do with this man thy elder brother, thy Christ, who . that thy Destiny might be sure in Him . has shown thee the more excellent way. Not in mighty deeds of valor, not in the exaltation of thy knowledge or thy power; but in the gentleness of the things of the spirit: Love, kindness, longsuffering, patience; these thy brother hath shown thee that thou, applying them in thy associations with thy fellow man day by day, here a little, there a little, may become one with Him as He has destined that thou shouldst be! Wilt thou separate thyself? For there be nothing...that may separate thee from the love of thy God, of thy brother, save thine own self!
Reading 849-11
From Cayce's perspective, Jesus is the Elder brother for all of humankind, deeply committed to assisting all souls in reawakening to the awareness of their oneness with God. This Jesus is not interested in religious conversion, denominationalism, or even mighty personal accomplishments. Instead, He is simply interested in how we treat one another. With this in mind, even in the midst of our diversity as a human family, we share a common spiritual heritage. We are all Children of the same God. We are all part of the one spiritual Source. And, we are all destined to return to our Creator, our Mother/Father, our God.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
F.E.A.R- False Evidence Appearing Real
: Life does not work through indecision. Indecision promotes blocks, confusion and stress. Make a decision and allow life to find movement through you. Trust yourself.
2: The 3 C's of life are Courage, Capacity and Commitment. It takes Courage and a commitment to make many of life's decisions, and capacity to follow them through. The 3 C's of a successful relationship are Caring, Consideration and Communication. Communication opens the door between us, consideration allows us to pass through it and our ability to care for each other unites us.
3: Truth is not truth out of timing- yet it remains truth. We are the timing to recognize truth.
4: The mind recoils from the unknown, so we seek to make everything known, and, thus sage. Imagination is the key to the unknown- positive, uplifting imagination.
5: For as long as we search for Our God Self, we deny that we are it. Loving your self reveals your truth.
6: Becoming free is not changing yourself into someone you think you should be. Becoming free is falling in love with who you are- right now.
7: Imagine a room of pitch dark and a room of bright light connected by a door. When you open the door what happens? Light floods into the dark room, illuminating it. Live accordingly, think thoughts of light.
8: F.E.A.R- False Evidence Appearing Real
9: Anything of the past that is unresolved is unresolved now. Living NOW resolves the past.
10: Life flows from the inside out, never the reverse. Understand this and you cease to be a victim.
11: Love responds- fear reacts. Love connects- fear separates. Love uplifts- fear deflates. Love creates- fear destroys.
12: There is no such thing as a mistake- only experience. There is no such thing as failure- only people's condemnation. There is no such thing as success- only people's approval. Let life live through you.
13: Do not get caught up in modifying your life, allow life to change YOU. Modification is a superficial exterior veneer, change is an inner shift in consciousness.
14: Pain is a measure of your resistance to change.
15: Decide whether you want to be an onlooker of life or a participant. This is the birthplace of choice.
16: You hear with your ears- but you listen with your mind. You look with your eyes- but you see from the heart.
17: Consciousness is not contained in your body- you are the consciousness that contains the body. Consciousness draws to itself form through which to express
18: Your mind cannot exist in the moment. You cannot think your way into the moment, you can only think your way out of it. This indicates that your mind/intellect cannot set you free. Only your consciousness is aware of NOW. True freedom is a state of consciousness.
19: We each live in our own universe, a universe of our making. It is designed to support our beliefs and our focus. Our thoughts are our focus, so observe your thoughts, focus on your blessings, and trust. This is how you become a participant.
20: Practise seeing all life around you as an aspect of yourself. In this way you shatter the illusion of separation.
21: Your mind does now know the difference between what you do want or what you don't want, it only knows what you focus on. Many people focus on what they don't have, what they are incapable of doing and their sicknesses.
22: If you focus on what you do have, it increases. If you focus on what you don't have, you will have even less. If you focus on your capabilities, they grow, if you focus on your health, it improves.
23: Your mind does not know the difference between a powerfully imagined reality and a physical happening reality. Why? Because there is no difference.
24: You only have a problem if you believe you have a problem.
25: Live these principles and you will be practising reality. Practise reality until you overcome the illusion.
2: The 3 C's of life are Courage, Capacity and Commitment. It takes Courage and a commitment to make many of life's decisions, and capacity to follow them through. The 3 C's of a successful relationship are Caring, Consideration and Communication. Communication opens the door between us, consideration allows us to pass through it and our ability to care for each other unites us.
3: Truth is not truth out of timing- yet it remains truth. We are the timing to recognize truth.
4: The mind recoils from the unknown, so we seek to make everything known, and, thus sage. Imagination is the key to the unknown- positive, uplifting imagination.
5: For as long as we search for Our God Self, we deny that we are it. Loving your self reveals your truth.
6: Becoming free is not changing yourself into someone you think you should be. Becoming free is falling in love with who you are- right now.
7: Imagine a room of pitch dark and a room of bright light connected by a door. When you open the door what happens? Light floods into the dark room, illuminating it. Live accordingly, think thoughts of light.
8: F.E.A.R- False Evidence Appearing Real
9: Anything of the past that is unresolved is unresolved now. Living NOW resolves the past.
10: Life flows from the inside out, never the reverse. Understand this and you cease to be a victim.
11: Love responds- fear reacts. Love connects- fear separates. Love uplifts- fear deflates. Love creates- fear destroys.
12: There is no such thing as a mistake- only experience. There is no such thing as failure- only people's condemnation. There is no such thing as success- only people's approval. Let life live through you.
13: Do not get caught up in modifying your life, allow life to change YOU. Modification is a superficial exterior veneer, change is an inner shift in consciousness.
14: Pain is a measure of your resistance to change.
15: Decide whether you want to be an onlooker of life or a participant. This is the birthplace of choice.
16: You hear with your ears- but you listen with your mind. You look with your eyes- but you see from the heart.
17: Consciousness is not contained in your body- you are the consciousness that contains the body. Consciousness draws to itself form through which to express
18: Your mind cannot exist in the moment. You cannot think your way into the moment, you can only think your way out of it. This indicates that your mind/intellect cannot set you free. Only your consciousness is aware of NOW. True freedom is a state of consciousness.
19: We each live in our own universe, a universe of our making. It is designed to support our beliefs and our focus. Our thoughts are our focus, so observe your thoughts, focus on your blessings, and trust. This is how you become a participant.
20: Practise seeing all life around you as an aspect of yourself. In this way you shatter the illusion of separation.
21: Your mind does now know the difference between what you do want or what you don't want, it only knows what you focus on. Many people focus on what they don't have, what they are incapable of doing and their sicknesses.
22: If you focus on what you do have, it increases. If you focus on what you don't have, you will have even less. If you focus on your capabilities, they grow, if you focus on your health, it improves.
23: Your mind does not know the difference between a powerfully imagined reality and a physical happening reality. Why? Because there is no difference.
24: You only have a problem if you believe you have a problem.
25: Live these principles and you will be practising reality. Practise reality until you overcome the illusion.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Let it Be
The Beatles Lyrics Let it Be
Let it Be
The Beatles (Lennon/McCartney)
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be,let it be,let it be...
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be. Yeah
There will be an answer, let it be.
And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light that shines on me,
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
* You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you.
* A star is shining within us and that is our spirit..
* Either you lead a life which is luxurious on the material level or you lead a luxurious life of god's blessings - one of the two you have to choose, the time has come.
* The enjoyment of life is only possible if the world could get connected to the spirit... You become the spirit as Christ has said in simple words that you have to be born again.
* You are not this body, you are not this mind, - you are the spirit... This is the greatest truth.
* Self realization is the first encounter with reality.
* Divinity is not a fashion. It is the way of life. It is the need of your being. You have to become that.
* Blossom time has come and many ancient seekers are today getting their self realization.
* You have to know your spirit... For without knowing your spirit you cannot know the truth.
* Now the stage today is to know that self realization gives you experiences and then your faith is established. Not blind but open enlightened faith.
* Self realization makes us humble... Replace temper with compassion... The more innocent you are, the more blissful you will be.
* Freedom is when you really get your own powers which are within you. In your central nervous system and in your conscious mind, you must feel the existence of the spirit.
* Innately, within us resides the spirit which wants to enlighten you, to give you the peace, the bliss and the joy of our being.
* Kundalini cures you, she improves you, she bestows all the blissful things upon you. She takes you away from the worries of grosser level.
* Meditation is the only way you can grow... Because when you meditate, you are in silence. You are in thoughtless awareness. Then the growth of awareness takes place.
"UK - December 2, 1979 "But today it is the day I declare I am the One who have to save the humanity. I declare I am the One who is Adi Shakti (Holy Spirit) - who is the Mother of all Mothers, who is the Primordial Mother, the Shakti (i.e. power) of the Desire of God - who has incarnated on this Earth to give meaning to itself, to this creation, to human beings, and I am sure that through My Love and Patience and My Powers I am going to achieve it. I was the One who was born again and again. But now I have come in My complete Form and with complete Powers. I have come on this Earth not only for salvation of human beings, not only for their emancipation, but for granting them the Kingdom of Heaven - the Joy, the Bliss - that your Father wants to bestow upon you."
"Sydney, Australia - March 21, 1983 "I am the Holy Ghost. I am the Adi Shakti. I am the One who has come on this Earth for the first time in this Form to do this tremendous task. The more you understand this the better it would be. You will change tremendously. I knew I'll have to say that openly one day and we have said it. But now it is you people who have to prove it that I'm that."
-Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi-
...........................................................................
Let it Be
The Beatles (Lennon/McCartney)
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be,let it be,let it be...
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be. Yeah
There will be an answer, let it be.
And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light that shines on me,
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
* You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you.
* A star is shining within us and that is our spirit..
* Either you lead a life which is luxurious on the material level or you lead a luxurious life of god's blessings - one of the two you have to choose, the time has come.
* The enjoyment of life is only possible if the world could get connected to the spirit... You become the spirit as Christ has said in simple words that you have to be born again.
* You are not this body, you are not this mind, - you are the spirit... This is the greatest truth.
* Self realization is the first encounter with reality.
* Divinity is not a fashion. It is the way of life. It is the need of your being. You have to become that.
* Blossom time has come and many ancient seekers are today getting their self realization.
* You have to know your spirit... For without knowing your spirit you cannot know the truth.
* Now the stage today is to know that self realization gives you experiences and then your faith is established. Not blind but open enlightened faith.
* Self realization makes us humble... Replace temper with compassion... The more innocent you are, the more blissful you will be.
* Freedom is when you really get your own powers which are within you. In your central nervous system and in your conscious mind, you must feel the existence of the spirit.
* Innately, within us resides the spirit which wants to enlighten you, to give you the peace, the bliss and the joy of our being.
* Kundalini cures you, she improves you, she bestows all the blissful things upon you. She takes you away from the worries of grosser level.
* Meditation is the only way you can grow... Because when you meditate, you are in silence. You are in thoughtless awareness. Then the growth of awareness takes place.
"UK - December 2, 1979 "But today it is the day I declare I am the One who have to save the humanity. I declare I am the One who is Adi Shakti (Holy Spirit) - who is the Mother of all Mothers, who is the Primordial Mother, the Shakti (i.e. power) of the Desire of God - who has incarnated on this Earth to give meaning to itself, to this creation, to human beings, and I am sure that through My Love and Patience and My Powers I am going to achieve it. I was the One who was born again and again. But now I have come in My complete Form and with complete Powers. I have come on this Earth not only for salvation of human beings, not only for their emancipation, but for granting them the Kingdom of Heaven - the Joy, the Bliss - that your Father wants to bestow upon you."
"Sydney, Australia - March 21, 1983 "I am the Holy Ghost. I am the Adi Shakti. I am the One who has come on this Earth for the first time in this Form to do this tremendous task. The more you understand this the better it would be. You will change tremendously. I knew I'll have to say that openly one day and we have said it. But now it is you people who have to prove it that I'm that."
-Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi-
...........................................................................
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Martin explains Shakti(interesting stuff)
9 Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996
From: hyperATNOSPAMhmt.com (HyperMedia Technologies)
Subject: Kundalini / Shaktipat, etc.
Hey there.
The Shakti compels me to share the information below with you. The intent
of it is to dispel confusion. The information is not empirically verifiable
at this time but is 100% verifiable through personal experience.
1. Kundalini Shakti = Pure Conciousness = Chi = Ki = Prana = Holy Spirit
= etc.
2. Kundalini is not only energy, it is highly intelligent. It is the
dynamic aspect of Pure Conciousness. Your Kundalini is identical with the
Universal Kundalini, only in most people it's in a 'contracted',
conditioned state.
3. Pure Conciousness has two aspects; Static and Dynamic. Kundalini Shakti
is the dynamic aspect of pure conciousness.
4. Kundalini has a worldly aspect, active in everyone. Kundalini's
spiritual aspect is dormant in most people.
-
5. Spontaneous Kundalini awakenings are extremely rare. usually only as a
result of Kundalini having been awakened in the previous life, and the
unfoldment process not reaching completion.
6. It is extremely difficult to awaken the Kundalini through self effort
alone, using yogic techniques such as bandas (locks) prananyama
(breathing), or any other unusual practices.
7. Forcible attempts through self effort to awaken the Kundalini usually
end with bad results. If the Kundalini is irritated beyond a certain point
or fails to rise properly, it could prove to be harmful to both mind or
body.
8. Yogic techniques are for strengthening and purifying the body to make it
a worthy vessel for Shaktipat. After Shaktipat, the techniques are used to
'fan the flame', through self effort.
9. Kundalini can and does cause profound kriyas (cleansings), but they
won't happen in public. (except during group Shaktipat, and only because
the environment accepts it and it is expected to happen) Kundalini Shakti
is intelligent, gentle, and kind. It knows you, how much you can take. It
can cause emotions and other impressions in your subconcious to rise to the
surface of your being, where they are experienced, then burned off. Gone
for good.
10. If you are wondering if Kundalini is awake in you, then it's not. When
it is awake in you, you have no doubts.
11. Kundalini will always allow you to do whatever you do in life and give
you the ability to do it even better. Whatever your profession or niche is.
Doesn't matter. You will do it better. You're supposed to take your
understanding out into the world and play your part.
12. Receiving Shaktipat from a Shakti master is the safest, easiest way to
awaken the dormant aspects of Kundalini. Not only is the Kundalini awakened
naturally and spontaneously, all blocks to it's rising through the Sushumna
(central channel) are removed, allowing the unfolding to be a safe, natural
process.
13. Shaktipat is literally the 'descent of Grace'. All spiritual traditions
have some form of it, although it may be called by different names. In
Tibetian Buddhism it is called Abisheka. Enlightment is transferred to the
'empty vessel'. One flame lights another without the first flame being
diminished in any way.
14. Shaktipat = God's Grace = Amazing Grace = etc.
-
How to distinguish a Shakti Master
a. must be able to awaken Kundalini permanently in others
b. must be able to give you a direct experience of at least one of
the following:
1. God living in you as you
- 2. God living in you as the witness
3. The unity of all things
4. yourself as THE SELF, pervading all things and existences
There are 4 ways to receive Shaktipat
1. Sparsa Diksha By the touch. Usually in the Ajna (forehead) Anahat
- (heart) or Muladhara (base of spine) chakras
2. Drik Diksha by look (eyes of the Shakti Master appear to look
outward, but gaze is directed inward, toward the SELF.
3. Mantra Diksha by word. The Mantra is charged with Shakti and is
Chaitanya (alive). It resonates within the seeker
on gross, then subtle levels with time. If not
charged with Shakti, a mantras are mere syllables.
-
4. Manasa Diksha by thought and will. Time and distance no object.
The Shakti Master DOES NOT have to be in the presence of the seeker.
Most Shaktipat is given by living masters, directly, but Shakti masters who
have left the body have appeared to seekers in visions during meditation
and given Shaktipat.
-
Although Shaktipat is given at one radiant intensity, (just as the sun
radiates the same energy to all) there are 27 different intensity levels of
receiving, depending on the temperament and capacity of the seeker. Each
receives according to his nature. The larger the container you bring, the
more you will take away. Shakti is actually taken during Shaktipat, not
given.
The most intense receiving is called Shambhavi diksha, or the great
initiation. Very few people can bear the force of the impact of this
initiation. Immediate and permanent self realization is obtained.
Some teachers are able to effect a partial awakening of the Kundalini, but
the Kundalini soon goes dormant again. A true Shakti Master's initiation is
the start of a self sustaining process which can be fanned like a flame by
the seeker.
The first direct experience of the self is almost always of transient
nature due to personal karmic tendencies (mental momentum). You will always
'come down'. But, you will be more evolved as a result of your experience
and your priorities will completely re-orient, with Sadhana taking the
forefront in priority of importance. It will not interfer with your daily
duties, family, or work.
One lady who experienced the true nature of the Self during Shakitpat later
proclaimed excitedly, "I really hadn't expected to be here so soon!" She
sold all her possessions, moved to Hawaii, and was going to spend the rest
of her life living on the beach. Six months later she was once again her
small, contracted, finite perspective, little self. Oops!
After the first experience, at least there is an idea of where you're
heading, and it then becomes your duty, through daily practices and self
effort, to eventually become seated permanently in the understanding of
THAT, which you have just experienced. It's a perspective. A mental
posture.
Shaktipat and the unfolding of the Kundalini affect each person
individually, due to differences in each seeker's temperament, background,
predispostions, prior beliefs, etc. People are as individual as snowflakes.
There are, however, many commonalities in both the experiences and the
kriyas.
Sorry folks, but sex is just sex and nothing more. Really has nothing to do
with any of this, good or bad. Sex energy is just part of the Kundalini's
worldly functions. The first 3 chakras are open and active and full of
worldly contracted Shakti in everyone. That's why we're up and about,
active, and procreating.
The dormant spiritual aspects of the Kundalini Shakti, which is awakened
through Shaktipat, and rises from the first chakra to the crown chakra,
doesn't involve sex. Sex is just part of the outer world activities. It is
neither good nor bad. It just is.
Celebacy is advised by teachers to conserve one's energy during intense
yogic practices and austerities. It is not manditory unless the seeker is a
disicple and is chosen by the Master to be given the great gift and
treasure of the ability to give Shaktipat to others. In this case, energy
usually used for reproductive processes and reproductive cycles is
diverted into the Sushumna and mixed with the Kundalini Shakti. The
focusing of all energies, mental, physical and spiritual, 100%, appears to
be required to be able to give permanent awakening in others.
THE PROCESS OF UNFOLDMENT:
After Shakitpat, Kundalini unfoldment proceeds naturally, and at a pace
that is perfect for that particular individual. The Kundalini proceeds
slowly up the Sushumna Canal (Main nadi {spiritual nerve} in the subtle
body) piercing the 6 chakras one by one. Different rates for different
folks. After Shaktipat, it can be completed within this lifetime, with
enough self effort.
Once Shaktipat is given, and the awakening takes place, the process
proceeds on its own, spontaneously, to completion. The individual is able
to slide effortlessly into meditation at will. Spontaneous Yoga asanas,
mudras (hand gestures), and visions during meditation, etc. occur
frequently, but always in private and usually during personal spiritual
practices.
During meditation, lights, visions, subtle and strong physical sensations
are common. Pressures on the chakras are most common, especially the heart,
forehead, and crown.
At some point, usually after the Ajna (heart) chakra is pierced, the 4th
body (supra-causal) is seen during meditation (and sometimes out of) as a
radiant blue pearl the size of a sesame seed. This is the prize. The jewel,
you might say. It's the seat of the Self and resides in the crown chakra at
the center of the thousand petaled lotus. It's your vehicle to all the
other planes of existence in the multiverse. You never have to leave your
living room chair.
(that's how many it's said there are) are cleansed by the Shakti. As the
Kundalini rises in the Sushumna canal, Samskaras (impressions left from
previous lifetimes, which are the seeds of future karmas) are burned away.
During the process, the 720,000,000 nadis, or spiritual nerves of the
subtle body are cleansed.
As the Kundalini pierces the higher chakras, the siddhi's (8 powers) appear
and lower levels of Samadhi is achieved. Many seekers are side tracked here
and get stuck. But the powers are not the point. They are merely Yogic
phenomena. Lelas. Miracles for the non-spiritually oriented, used to
re-orient them.
At the final conclusion of its journey, the Kundalini merges into the
center of the Sahasrara chakra and the seeker experiences Nirvikalpa
Samadhi occurs. Body conciousness is usually not possible. (except for
great souls such as Aurobindo, Nityananda, Ramakrishna and a few others).
When the seeker becomes firmly seated in the final understanding he/she can
either leave the body willingly and merge with the absolute completely
(mahasamadhi), or he/she can walk about the world appearing perfectly
normal to others, except that he/she is now a 'Jivamukta'. (awake in the
body)
These Jivamuktas can seem and act very strange as far as regular folks are
concerned, or they may appear perfectly normal and be your neighbor. They
are not bound by any conventions or rules of behavior. Just being in their
presence, one can receive Shaktipat. From their few possessions, even the
dust under their beds, one can receive Shaktipat.
Nothing changes in the world as a result of your transformation. What
changes is your perspective on the world and how it affects you.
With Shaktipat, it is possible to accomplish this task within this lifetime
and become liberated while still in the body. Once started, the process
goes to completion on its own.
Being shown that understanding by a Shakti Master and maintaining that
understanding yourself are two different things, as the woman who moved to
Hawaii found out.
Sitting and standing with straight posture all the time takes some
time,effort, and practice, but eventually it becomes comfortable and you do
it naturally. It's the same with mental postures. Maintaining a balanced
mental relationship with the outer world and the inner worlds also takes
time, patience and a lot of effort. (for most of us, anyway.)
Other tools:
-
As you think, so you become
The human being is a minature cosmos. Just as you can know the ocean from
a spoonful of it, you can know the cosmos by looking inside yourself.
(fractal)
You have almost no control over what happens to you or what is done to you
by others. You do have 100% control over how it affects you and for how
long. Exercise your power!
-
Everything you need is already contained within you. Like an acorn
containing a mighty oak tree.
A Cosmic Analogy:
hydrogen gas and oxygen gas is to Pure Conciousness
as
water vapor is to mind
as
water is to energy
as
ice is to matter
Pure conciousness, mind, energy, and matter are the phases of spirit. It is
a vibrational continuum.
The two wings of the 'Hamsa' bird are Grace and self effort. Without the
Grace, even 24 years of self effort can yield only marginal results.
(personally proved)
When you say, "my body" the body is a field and YOU are the knower of the field.
When you say, "my mind" the mind is a field and YOU are the knower of the field.
Both fields are extensions of the SELF. Used for creative expression. But
neither are YOU.
-
You have very little control over what happens to you or what people do to
you, but you have 100% control over how it effects you. Both in intensity
and duration.
************
I would be interested in hearing of your Shaktipat experiences as it is my
current area of interest and study. Although the experiences would be
individual to each person, it would be interesting to cross compare
Shaktipat experiences and Shakti masters.
I would share my personal experiences with the two Shakti masters I have
encountererd if any of you were interested. One was male and the other
female.
Perhaps we might learn something interesting in the process.
One last thing....
-
Shaktipat initiation is a one way ticket. There is no going back. So keep
that in mind before you do it.
Best to all of you.
Martin
From: hyperATNOSPAMhmt.com (HyperMedia Technologies)
Subject: Kundalini / Shaktipat, etc.
Hey there.
The Shakti compels me to share the information below with you. The intent
of it is to dispel confusion. The information is not empirically verifiable
at this time but is 100% verifiable through personal experience.
1. Kundalini Shakti = Pure Conciousness = Chi = Ki = Prana = Holy Spirit
= etc.
2. Kundalini is not only energy, it is highly intelligent. It is the
dynamic aspect of Pure Conciousness. Your Kundalini is identical with the
Universal Kundalini, only in most people it's in a 'contracted',
conditioned state.
3. Pure Conciousness has two aspects; Static and Dynamic. Kundalini Shakti
is the dynamic aspect of pure conciousness.
4. Kundalini has a worldly aspect, active in everyone. Kundalini's
spiritual aspect is dormant in most people.
-
5. Spontaneous Kundalini awakenings are extremely rare. usually only as a
result of Kundalini having been awakened in the previous life, and the
unfoldment process not reaching completion.
6. It is extremely difficult to awaken the Kundalini through self effort
alone, using yogic techniques such as bandas (locks) prananyama
(breathing), or any other unusual practices.
7. Forcible attempts through self effort to awaken the Kundalini usually
end with bad results. If the Kundalini is irritated beyond a certain point
or fails to rise properly, it could prove to be harmful to both mind or
body.
8. Yogic techniques are for strengthening and purifying the body to make it
a worthy vessel for Shaktipat. After Shaktipat, the techniques are used to
'fan the flame', through self effort.
9. Kundalini can and does cause profound kriyas (cleansings), but they
won't happen in public. (except during group Shaktipat, and only because
the environment accepts it and it is expected to happen) Kundalini Shakti
is intelligent, gentle, and kind. It knows you, how much you can take. It
can cause emotions and other impressions in your subconcious to rise to the
surface of your being, where they are experienced, then burned off. Gone
for good.
10. If you are wondering if Kundalini is awake in you, then it's not. When
it is awake in you, you have no doubts.
11. Kundalini will always allow you to do whatever you do in life and give
you the ability to do it even better. Whatever your profession or niche is.
Doesn't matter. You will do it better. You're supposed to take your
understanding out into the world and play your part.
12. Receiving Shaktipat from a Shakti master is the safest, easiest way to
awaken the dormant aspects of Kundalini. Not only is the Kundalini awakened
naturally and spontaneously, all blocks to it's rising through the Sushumna
(central channel) are removed, allowing the unfolding to be a safe, natural
process.
13. Shaktipat is literally the 'descent of Grace'. All spiritual traditions
have some form of it, although it may be called by different names. In
Tibetian Buddhism it is called Abisheka. Enlightment is transferred to the
'empty vessel'. One flame lights another without the first flame being
diminished in any way.
14. Shaktipat = God's Grace = Amazing Grace = etc.
-
How to distinguish a Shakti Master
a. must be able to awaken Kundalini permanently in others
b. must be able to give you a direct experience of at least one of
the following:
1. God living in you as you
- 2. God living in you as the witness
3. The unity of all things
4. yourself as THE SELF, pervading all things and existences
There are 4 ways to receive Shaktipat
1. Sparsa Diksha By the touch. Usually in the Ajna (forehead) Anahat
- (heart) or Muladhara (base of spine) chakras
2. Drik Diksha by look (eyes of the Shakti Master appear to look
outward, but gaze is directed inward, toward the SELF.
3. Mantra Diksha by word. The Mantra is charged with Shakti and is
Chaitanya (alive). It resonates within the seeker
on gross, then subtle levels with time. If not
charged with Shakti, a mantras are mere syllables.
-
4. Manasa Diksha by thought and will. Time and distance no object.
The Shakti Master DOES NOT have to be in the presence of the seeker.
Most Shaktipat is given by living masters, directly, but Shakti masters who
have left the body have appeared to seekers in visions during meditation
and given Shaktipat.
-
Although Shaktipat is given at one radiant intensity, (just as the sun
radiates the same energy to all) there are 27 different intensity levels of
receiving, depending on the temperament and capacity of the seeker. Each
receives according to his nature. The larger the container you bring, the
more you will take away. Shakti is actually taken during Shaktipat, not
given.
The most intense receiving is called Shambhavi diksha, or the great
initiation. Very few people can bear the force of the impact of this
initiation. Immediate and permanent self realization is obtained.
Some teachers are able to effect a partial awakening of the Kundalini, but
the Kundalini soon goes dormant again. A true Shakti Master's initiation is
the start of a self sustaining process which can be fanned like a flame by
the seeker.
The first direct experience of the self is almost always of transient
nature due to personal karmic tendencies (mental momentum). You will always
'come down'. But, you will be more evolved as a result of your experience
and your priorities will completely re-orient, with Sadhana taking the
forefront in priority of importance. It will not interfer with your daily
duties, family, or work.
One lady who experienced the true nature of the Self during Shakitpat later
proclaimed excitedly, "I really hadn't expected to be here so soon!" She
sold all her possessions, moved to Hawaii, and was going to spend the rest
of her life living on the beach. Six months later she was once again her
small, contracted, finite perspective, little self. Oops!
After the first experience, at least there is an idea of where you're
heading, and it then becomes your duty, through daily practices and self
effort, to eventually become seated permanently in the understanding of
THAT, which you have just experienced. It's a perspective. A mental
posture.
Shaktipat and the unfolding of the Kundalini affect each person
individually, due to differences in each seeker's temperament, background,
predispostions, prior beliefs, etc. People are as individual as snowflakes.
There are, however, many commonalities in both the experiences and the
kriyas.
Sorry folks, but sex is just sex and nothing more. Really has nothing to do
with any of this, good or bad. Sex energy is just part of the Kundalini's
worldly functions. The first 3 chakras are open and active and full of
worldly contracted Shakti in everyone. That's why we're up and about,
active, and procreating.
The dormant spiritual aspects of the Kundalini Shakti, which is awakened
through Shaktipat, and rises from the first chakra to the crown chakra,
doesn't involve sex. Sex is just part of the outer world activities. It is
neither good nor bad. It just is.
Celebacy is advised by teachers to conserve one's energy during intense
yogic practices and austerities. It is not manditory unless the seeker is a
disicple and is chosen by the Master to be given the great gift and
treasure of the ability to give Shaktipat to others. In this case, energy
usually used for reproductive processes and reproductive cycles is
diverted into the Sushumna and mixed with the Kundalini Shakti. The
focusing of all energies, mental, physical and spiritual, 100%, appears to
be required to be able to give permanent awakening in others.
THE PROCESS OF UNFOLDMENT:
After Shakitpat, Kundalini unfoldment proceeds naturally, and at a pace
that is perfect for that particular individual. The Kundalini proceeds
slowly up the Sushumna Canal (Main nadi {spiritual nerve} in the subtle
body) piercing the 6 chakras one by one. Different rates for different
folks. After Shaktipat, it can be completed within this lifetime, with
enough self effort.
Once Shaktipat is given, and the awakening takes place, the process
proceeds on its own, spontaneously, to completion. The individual is able
to slide effortlessly into meditation at will. Spontaneous Yoga asanas,
mudras (hand gestures), and visions during meditation, etc. occur
frequently, but always in private and usually during personal spiritual
practices.
During meditation, lights, visions, subtle and strong physical sensations
are common. Pressures on the chakras are most common, especially the heart,
forehead, and crown.
At some point, usually after the Ajna (heart) chakra is pierced, the 4th
body (supra-causal) is seen during meditation (and sometimes out of) as a
radiant blue pearl the size of a sesame seed. This is the prize. The jewel,
you might say. It's the seat of the Self and resides in the crown chakra at
the center of the thousand petaled lotus. It's your vehicle to all the
other planes of existence in the multiverse. You never have to leave your
living room chair.
(that's how many it's said there are) are cleansed by the Shakti. As the
Kundalini rises in the Sushumna canal, Samskaras (impressions left from
previous lifetimes, which are the seeds of future karmas) are burned away.
During the process, the 720,000,000 nadis, or spiritual nerves of the
subtle body are cleansed.
As the Kundalini pierces the higher chakras, the siddhi's (8 powers) appear
and lower levels of Samadhi is achieved. Many seekers are side tracked here
and get stuck. But the powers are not the point. They are merely Yogic
phenomena. Lelas. Miracles for the non-spiritually oriented, used to
re-orient them.
At the final conclusion of its journey, the Kundalini merges into the
center of the Sahasrara chakra and the seeker experiences Nirvikalpa
Samadhi occurs. Body conciousness is usually not possible. (except for
great souls such as Aurobindo, Nityananda, Ramakrishna and a few others).
When the seeker becomes firmly seated in the final understanding he/she can
either leave the body willingly and merge with the absolute completely
(mahasamadhi), or he/she can walk about the world appearing perfectly
normal to others, except that he/she is now a 'Jivamukta'. (awake in the
body)
These Jivamuktas can seem and act very strange as far as regular folks are
concerned, or they may appear perfectly normal and be your neighbor. They
are not bound by any conventions or rules of behavior. Just being in their
presence, one can receive Shaktipat. From their few possessions, even the
dust under their beds, one can receive Shaktipat.
Nothing changes in the world as a result of your transformation. What
changes is your perspective on the world and how it affects you.
With Shaktipat, it is possible to accomplish this task within this lifetime
and become liberated while still in the body. Once started, the process
goes to completion on its own.
Being shown that understanding by a Shakti Master and maintaining that
understanding yourself are two different things, as the woman who moved to
Hawaii found out.
Sitting and standing with straight posture all the time takes some
time,effort, and practice, but eventually it becomes comfortable and you do
it naturally. It's the same with mental postures. Maintaining a balanced
mental relationship with the outer world and the inner worlds also takes
time, patience and a lot of effort. (for most of us, anyway.)
Other tools:
-
As you think, so you become
The human being is a minature cosmos. Just as you can know the ocean from
a spoonful of it, you can know the cosmos by looking inside yourself.
(fractal)
You have almost no control over what happens to you or what is done to you
by others. You do have 100% control over how it affects you and for how
long. Exercise your power!
-
Everything you need is already contained within you. Like an acorn
containing a mighty oak tree.
A Cosmic Analogy:
hydrogen gas and oxygen gas is to Pure Conciousness
as
water vapor is to mind
as
water is to energy
as
ice is to matter
Pure conciousness, mind, energy, and matter are the phases of spirit. It is
a vibrational continuum.
The two wings of the 'Hamsa' bird are Grace and self effort. Without the
Grace, even 24 years of self effort can yield only marginal results.
(personally proved)
When you say, "my body" the body is a field and YOU are the knower of the field.
When you say, "my mind" the mind is a field and YOU are the knower of the field.
Both fields are extensions of the SELF. Used for creative expression. But
neither are YOU.
-
You have very little control over what happens to you or what people do to
you, but you have 100% control over how it effects you. Both in intensity
and duration.
************
I would be interested in hearing of your Shaktipat experiences as it is my
current area of interest and study. Although the experiences would be
individual to each person, it would be interesting to cross compare
Shaktipat experiences and Shakti masters.
I would share my personal experiences with the two Shakti masters I have
encountererd if any of you were interested. One was male and the other
female.
Perhaps we might learn something interesting in the process.
One last thing....
-
Shaktipat initiation is a one way ticket. There is no going back. So keep
that in mind before you do it.
Best to all of you.
Martin
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Let Your Light Shine
Let Your Light Shine
May the season be a time for inner awakening of the living spirit, rather than simply practicing the outward form of our faith.
Years ago, I attended an A.R.E. conference about Jesus, where one of the speakers made a statement that frequently comes to mind. Herbert Puryear, then director of research for A.R.E., told the audience: “For 2,000 years we’ve been trying to make a man out of Jesus when His whole purpose was to make gods out of us.” Although some might take offense at this seemingly sacrilegious remark, a little personal inquiry demonstrates the biblical and Cayce readings’ basis for such a claim. This idea also underscores much of the conflict in today’s world – conflict that exists because too many individuals may be focused on attempting to make themselves and others) live their religion rather than attempting to come more into alignment with the living spirit contained within their personal faith.
An often-overlooked statement in the Bible occurred when a group in Jerusalem threatened to stone Jesus. The group declared that in spite of His good works, He was committing blasphemy by making himself a god. Jesus answered them, saying, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (John 10:34) The law Jesus is referring to comes from Psalms in the Old Testament, and states: “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” (Psalms 82:6) This suggests that all of us potentially share the same relationship with God as Jesus.
From the perspective of the Edgar Cayce readings, “salvation” does not come from belonging to a specific religion, from meditation, or from any such activity; rather it is only ours as we manifest the spirituality of the Creator in the earth. This process of growth and unfoldment is clearly described in the New Testament (Matthew 13:31-33) when Jesus discusses the nature of Heaven in parables: “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.’ Another parable spake he unto them; ‘the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.’”
Too often, it seems, we may try to impose our personal religious beliefs outwardly onto others and our society, rather than trying to direct them inwardly as a means of awakening ourselves to the same living spirit that inspired individuals like Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses, and others.
While giving the sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained to the multitudes that His mission was not to change a religion, or even to start a new religion, but rather to demonstrate the fulfillment of God’s plan in the earth: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” (Matthew 5:17) During the same sermon, He encouraged His listeners (and perhaps us, as well) to begin living the light that was within them:
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)
ayce once described this internal awakening process to a 34-year-old physicist: “In giving does a soul grow, even as a tree, even as a rock, even as a sunset, even as a world grows in its influence upon that about it. So has that force grown that we find manifested in the earth that we worship as constructive influence of God, as to the All-Wise purpose, or as to the Holy Spirit, or as to those influences that make alive in giving, in making itself manifest. So are ye gods in the making, saith He that walked among men as the greater teacher of all experiences and ages.” (699-1) And a 46-year-old lawyer was told: “For we all – and ye are as others – are gods in the making; not the God, but gods in the making! For He would have thee be one with Him.” (877-21)
Regardless of our religious heritage, let us use the season as a time to encourage our own inner awakening of the living spirit rather than simply practicing the outward form that our personal faith takes. After all, the Cayce readings remind us: “For you grow to heaven, you don’t go to heaven. It is within thine own conscience that ye grow there.” (3409-1)
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