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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Not Gonna Get Us...( QUIMBY'S RESTORATION TO HEALTH)

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
*note* fascinating account of the power of the truth..from PHINEAS PARKHURST QUIMBY

What impresses me mostly about this guy..after I've read his wisdom...is that he indeed had penetrated the consciousness factor(aka the MIND factor,which is still an illusion)
That is proof of his miracles he performed(as I did mine)
Be aware that he didn't study yoga,but the spirit MIND only,and he discovered something that was beyond the Mind(or the matrix of creation..that's why he could heal just by talking to the patients...HIS MIND contained theirs..see?..)
Fascinating guy..

Reminds me of this video clip where she sings..not gonna get us,,..because she knows all the mental formations(and sickness) are just MInd in action,reflected as manifestation,as you believe it..so it shall be..as Jesus explained,but nobody listened,of course)..but you are the pure spirit,and mind is just a manifestation,or form..and IF you are on that level..you Control the Creation...believe me...since the unity is one...you will help all living beings,by that simple knowing...let all beings in the 3 realms discover this truth inside them,and be happy,and let the all the sick be healthy..THUS spokenth the Mahayogi..in front of his bewildered grasshoppers from heaven..            

This is a clip from t.A.T.u. quote"t.A.T.u. (Russian: Тату́ pronounced [tɐˈtu] ( listen)) is a pop duo formed in Moscow, Russia in 1999 by Ivan Shapovalov. The group consists of Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova. Known worldwide, they are the most successful Russian band to date."

Lyrics are..
"Not Gonna Get Us"
Not gonna get us
They're not gonna get us
Not gonna get us
Not gonna get us
Not gonna get us
They're not gonna get us
They're not gonna get us
Not gonna get us
They're not gonna get us
Not gonna get us!

Starting from here, let's make a promise
You and me, let's just be honest
We're gonna run, nothing can stop us
Even the night that falls all around us

Soon there will be laughter and voices
Beyond the clouds over the mountains
We'll run away on roads that are empty
Lights from the airfield shining upon you

Nothing can stop us, not now, I love you
They're not gonna get us,
they're not gonna get us
Nothing can stop us, not now, I love you
They're not gonna get us,
they're not gonna get us
They're not gonna get us
(Not..)
They're not gonna get us, gonna get us, gonna get us..
(Not gonna get us)
They're not gonna get us (gonna get us, gonna get us!)
Not gonna get us
Not gonna get us, gonna get us.
Not gonna get us
NOT GONNA GET US, GONNA GET US!
(Not gonna get us)
Get Us, get us..
(Not gonna get us)

Not gonna get us
Not gonna get us

We'll run away, keep everything simple
Night will come down, our guardian angel
We rush ahead, the crossroads are empty
Our spirits rise, they're not gonna get us

My love for you, always forever
Just you and me, all else is nothing
Not going back, not going back there
They don't understand,
They don't understand us

Not gonna get us, gonna get us, gonna get us (gonna get.. get us.)
Not gonna get us (gonna get.. gonna get..)
Not gonna get us, gonna get us..
Not gonna get us

Nothing can stop us, not now, I love you
They're not gonna get us,
they're not gonna get us
Nothing can stop us, not now, I love you
They're not gonna get us,
they're not gonna get us
They're not gonna get us
(Not gonna get us)
They're not gonna get us, gonna get us
They're not gonna get us
(Not gonna get us)
Not gonna get us, get us
Not gonna get us, get us
Not gonna get us"
-added by danny-

........
Chapter 3

QUIMBY'S RESTORATION TO HEALTH

IDEALLY speaking it is of secondary consequence where an original mind begins to investigate human life. What signifies is the searching thought which discloses real conditions, laws, the causes of our misery and the way to freedom. Such thinking is likely to be productive in high degree if it be concrete, adapted to the actual state of the world, without too much theorizing, with a view to direct benefits.

In Mr. Quimby's preliminary researches we find a capital instance. He began with a purely conventional point of view, defending in thought and attitude the prevailing mcdical practice of the day, and so he took the world as he found it. Moreover, he had a personal need. This is the way he states the situation he was in in an article already published in part in "The True History of Mental Science." by Julius A. Dresser, 1887.

"Can a theory be found, capable of practice, which can separate truth from error? I undertake to say there is method of reasoning which, being understood, can seperate one from the other. Men never dispute about a fact that can be demonstrated by scientific reasoning. Controversies arise from some idea that has been turned into false direction, leading to a false position. The basis of my reasoning is this point: that whatever is true to a person if he cannot prove it, is not necessarily true to another. Therefore, because person says a thing is no reason that what he says true. The greatest evil that follows taking an opinion for a truth is disease. Let medical and religious opinions, which produce so vast an amount of misery, be tested by the rule I have laid down, and it will be seen how much they are founded in truth. For twenty years I have been testing them, and I have failed to find one single principle of truth in either. This is not from any prejudice against the medical faculty, for, when I began to investigate the mind, I was entirely on that side. I was prejudiced in favor of the medical faculty; for I never employed anyone outside of the regular faculty, nor took the least particle of quack medicine.

"Some thirty years ago I was very sick, and was considered fast wasting away with consumption.* At that time I became so low that it was with diffienlty I could walk about. I was all the while under the allopathic practice, and I had taken so much calomel that my system was said to be poisoned with it; and I lost many of my teeth from that effect. My symptoms were those of any consumptive; and I had been told that my liver was affected and my kidneys were diseased, and that my lungs were nearly consumed. I believed all this, from the fact that I had all the symptoms, and could not resist the opinions of the physician while having the proof with me. In this state I was compelled to abandon my business; and, losing all hope, I gave up to die, -- not that I thought the medical faculty had no wisdom, but that my case was one that could not be cured.

* This statement was written in 1803.

"Having an acquaintance who cured himself by riding horseback, I thought I would try riding in a carriage, a I was too weak to ride horseback. My horse was contrary and once, when about two miles from home, he stopped at the foot of a long hill, and would not start except as I went by his side. So I was obliged to run nearly the whole distance. Having reached the top of the hill I got into the carriage; and, as I was very much exhausted, I concluded to sit there the balance of the day, if the horse did not start. Like all sickly and nervous people, I could not remain easy in that place; and, seeing a man ploughing, waited till he had ploughed around a three-acre lot, and got within sound of my voice, when I asked him to start my horse. He did so, and at the time I was so weak I could scarcely lift my whip. But excitement took possession of my senses, and I drove the horse as fast as he could go, up hill and down, till I reached home; and, when I got into the stable, I felt as strong as I ever did."

Here, then, was a significant fact, this reaction produced by excitement, suggesting that medical diagnosis was wrong. No other experience seems to have followed this one, and when Quimby began to experiment with mesmerism he still accepted the prevailing medical theories. So, too, he began by taking devotees of mesmerism at their own word, since that appeared to be the best way to learn the truth concerning their phenomena.

There are two reasons for bearing these facts in mind, first that we may note how far he travelled to the point where he lost all faith in the medical faculty and proposed a theory of disease of his own; second, because we can hardly understand the interests of his intermediate period unless we realize that he was still in process and had not at first wholly rejected the physical theory of disease. Some other investigation might have been as profitable to him. The point is that he learned so much from his mesmeric experiments that he gave them up forever, and in giving them up came to himself and found a new truth of incalculable benefit to humanity.

There is no reason for apologizing as if it were discreditable that Quimby was once a mesmerist and was known through his ability to "magnetize" a patient or hypnotic subject. There was nothing to be ashamed of in this procedure. The only unpardonable thing that has been said about him is that he was "an ignorant mesmerist" and that he remained so. Ignorant he was not by any means, and he ceased to be a mesmerist because he was exceptionally skilful, so acute in exercising his powers that he learned the limitations of all such experiments.

We have his own statement to the effect that when he began to investigate mesmerism he was still an entire believer in the medical science and practice of the day. We also have his own exposition of the experiences which led to his change in point of view. We have contemporary testimony to his exceptional powers and the impression produced by his public experiments. Then too we have the testimony of his son, George, associated with his father as secretary when the mesmeric experiments were things of the past. Finally, we have the direct information coming to us from those who were most intimately acquainted with Quimby's practice in his later years, from 1859 to 1866 in Portland.

In the account of his father's life published in the New England Magazine, George Quimby says, "He had a very inventive mind, and was always interested in mechanics, philosophy and scientific subjccts. During his middle life, he invented several devices on which he obtained letters patent. He was very argumentative, and always wanted proof of anything, rather than an accepted opinion. Anything which could be demonstrated he was ready to accept; but he would combat what could not be proved with all his energy, rather than admit it as a truth.

"With a mind of this combination, it is not strange that, when a gentleman visited Belfast, about the year 1838; and gave lectures and experiments in mesmerism, Mr. Quimby should feel deeply interested in the subject. Here was a new, to him at least, phenomenon; and he at once began to investigate the subject; and on every occasion when he could find a person who would allow him to try, he would endeavor to put him into a mesmeric sleep. He met with many failures, but occasionally would find a person whom he could influence.

"At that time Mr. Quimby was of medium height, small in stature, his weight about one hundred and twenty-five pounds, quick motioned and nervous, with piercing black eyes, black hair and whiskers; a well-shaped, well-balanced head; high, broad forehead, and a rather prominent nose, and a mouth indicating strength and firmness of will; persistent in what he undertook, and yet not easily defeated or discouraged.

"In the course of his trials with subjects, he met with a young man named Lucius Burkmar, over whom he had the most wonderful influence; and it is not stating it too strongly to assert that with him he made some of the most astonishing exhibitions of mesmerism and clairvoyance that have been given in modern times.

"At the beginning of these experiments, Mr. Quimby firmly believed that the phenomenon was the result of animal magnetism, and that electricity had more or less to do with it. Holding to this, he was never able to perform his experiments with satisfactory results when the 'conditions' were not right, as he believed they should be.

"For instance, during a thunder-storm his trials would prove failures. If he pointed the sharp end of a steel instrument at Lucius, he would start as if pricked with a pin; but when the blunt end was pointed toward him, he would remain unmoved.

"One evening, after making same experiments with exceltent results, Mr. Quimby found that during the time of the tests there had been a severe thunder-storm, but, so interested was he in his experiments, he had not noticed it.

"This led him to further investigate the subject; and the results reached were that, instead of the subject being influenced by any atmospheric disturbance, the effects produced were brought about by the influence of one mind on another. From that time he could produce as good results during a storm as in pleasant weather, and could make his subject start by simply pointing a finger at him as well as by using a steel instrument.

Mr. Quimby's manner of operating with his subject was to sit opposite to him, holding both his hands in his, and looking him intently in the eye for a short time, when the subject would go into the state known as the mesmeric sleep, which was more properly a peculiar condition of mind and body, in which the natural senses would, or would not, operate at the will of Mr. Quimby. When conducting his experiments, all communications of Mr. Quimby with Lucius were mentally given, the subject replying as if spoken to aloud.

"For several years, Mr. Quimby traveled with young Burkmar through Maine and New Brunswick, giving exhibitions, which at that time attracted much attention and secured notices through the columns of the newspapers.

"It should be remembered that at the time Mr. Quimby was giving these exhibitions . . . the phenomenon was looked upon in a far different light from that of the present day. At that time it was a deception, a fraud, a humbug; and Mr. Quimby was vilified and frequently threatened with mob violence, as the exhibitions smacked too strongly of witchcraft to suit the people.

"As the subject gained more prominence, thoughtful men began to investigate the matter, and Mr. Quimby was ofter called upon to have his subject examine the sick. He would put Lucius into the mesmeric state, and prescribe remedies for its cure.*

* These descriptions and the remedies prescribed were in accord with the medical practice of the day, as Mr. Quimby was not yet enlightened in regard to the mental factors of disease. The discovery on Mr. Quimby's part that mind was the chief consideration marked a turning-point in his thought. Ed.

"After a time Mr. Quimby became convinced that whenever the subject examined a patient his diagnosis of the case would be identical with what either the patient himself or someone present believed, instead of Lucius really looking into the patient, and giving the true condition of the organs; in fact, that he was reading the opinion of someone, rather than stating truth acquired by himself.

"Becoming firmly satisfied that this was the case, and having seen how one mind could influence another, and how much there was that had always been considered as true, but was merely someone's opinion, Mr. Quimby gave up his subject, Lucius, and began the developing of what is now known as mental healing, or curing disease through the mind . . .

"While engaged in his mesmeric experiments, Mr. Quimby became more and more convinced that disease was an error of the mind, and not a real thing. As the truths of his discovery began to develop, and grow in him, just in the same proportion did he begin to lose faith in the efficacy of mesmerism as a remedial agent in the cure of the sick; and after a few years he discarded it altogether.

"Instead of putting the patient into a mesmeric sleep, Mr. Quimby would sit by him; and, having given him a detailed account of what his troubles were, he would simply converse with him and explain the causes of the tronbles and thus change the mind of the patient . . ."

Despite the fact, however, that Lucius when in the mesmeric sleep would often read what was in the mind of the patient and diagnose the case according to opinions expressed by physicans, Lucius also discerned at other times the actual state of the body. That he possessed remarkable clairvoyant power in such cases is shown by experiments in which Lucius described events and things at a distance when en rapport with the mind of someone in the andience who thought of some distant place which he wanted Lucius to visit. There is also documentary evidence to show that Lucius could accurately describe the condition of the body after death.

There was much to learn from these experiments, therefore, besides the significant fact that a patient would often feel in regard to his own body as medical diagnosis suggested that he feel. Lucius would sometimes prescribe a remedy so simple or so absurd that Mr. Quimby saw there could be no virture in the medicine. Plainly, both the disease and its cure must be explained on another basis. This we see clearly when we realize that Mr. Quimby himself experienced the benefits of the clairvoyant descriptions, thereby overcoming what had appeared to be threatening diseases, although the true explanation was not the one offered by Lucius.

In the article quoted from above, written when Mr. Quimby had developed and proved his theory of disease so that he could look back and understand the whole phenomenon, so new and at first so baffling in his mesmeric period, he says, "When I commenced to mesmerise, I was not well, according to the medical science; but in my researches I found a remedy for my disease. Here was where I first discovered that mind was capable of being changed.

"Also that, disease being a deranged state of mind, the cause I found to exist in our belief. The evidence of this theory I found in myself; for, like all others, I had believed in medicine. Disease and its power over life, and its curability, are all embraced in our belief. Some believe in various remedies, and others believe that the spirits of the dead prescribe. I have no confidence in the virtue of either. I know that cures have been made in these ways. I do not deny them. But the principle on which they are done is the question to solve; for disease can be cured, with or without medicine, on but one principle. I have said I believed in the old practice and its medicines, the effects of which I had within myself; for, knowing no other way to account for the phenomena, I took it for granted that they were the result of medicine.
"With this mass of evidence staring me in the face, how could I doubt the old practice? Yet, in spite of all my prejudices, I had to yield to a stronger evidence than man's opinion, and discard the whole theory of medicine, practised by a class of men, some honest, some ignorant, some selfish, and all thinking that the world must be ruled by their opinions.

"Now for my particular experience. I had pains in the back, which, they said, were caused by my kidneys, which were partially consumed. I aIso was told that I had ulcers on my lungs. Under this belief, I was miserable enough to be of no account in the world. This was the state I was in when I commenced to mesmerise. On one occasion, when I had my subject [Lucius] asleep, he described the pains I felt in my back (I had never dared to ask him to examine me, for I felt sure that my kidneys were nearly gone) and he placed his hand on the spot where I felt the pain. He then told me that my kidneys were in a very bad state, -- that one was half-consumed, and a piece three inches long had separated from it, and was only connected by a slender thread. This is what I believed to be true, for it agreed with what the doctors told me, and with what I had suffered; for I had not been free from pain for years. My common sense told me that no medicine would ever cure this trouble, and therefore I must suffer till death relieved me. But I asked him if there was any remedy. He replied, 'Yes, I can put the piece on so it will grow, and you will get well.' At this I was completely astonished, and knew not what to think. He immediately placed his hands upon me, and said he united the pieces so thcy would grow. The nest day he said they had grown together, and from that day I never have experienced the least pain from them.

"Now what is the secret of the cure? I had not the least doubt but that I was as he had described; and, if he had said, as I expcctea that he would, that nothing could be done, I should have died in a year or so. But, when he said he could cure me in the way he proposed, I began to think: and I discovered that I had been deceived into a belief that made me sick. The absurdity of his remedies made me doubt the fact that my bidneys were diseased, for he said in two days they were as well as ever. If he saw the first condition, he also saw the last; for in both cases he said he could see. I concluded in the first instance that he read my thoughts, and when he said he could cure me he drew on his own mind; and his ideas were so absurd that the disease vanished by the aburdity of the cure. This was the first stumbling-block I found in the medical science. I soon ventured to let him examine me furthur, and in every case he would describe my feelings, but would vary the amount of disease; and his explanation and remedies always convinced me that I had no such disease, and that my troubles were of my own make.

"At this time I frequently visited the sick with Lucius, by invitation of the attending physician; and the boy examined the patient and told facts that would astonish everybody, and yet every one of them was believed. For instance, he told a person affected as I had been, only worse, that his lungs looked like a honeycomb, and his liver was covered with ulcers. He then prescribed some simple herb tea, and the patient recovered; and the doctor believed the medicine cured him. But I believed that the doctor made the disease; and his faith in the boy made a change in the mind, and the cure followed. Instead of gaining confidence in the doctors, I was forced to the conclusion that their science is false. Man is made up of truth and belief; and, if he is deceived into a belief that he has, or is liable to have, a disease, the belief is catching, and the effect follows it. I have given the experience of my emancipation from this belief and from confidence in the doctors, so that it may open the eyes of those who stand where I was. I have risen from this belief; and I return to warn my brethren, lest, when they are disturbed, they shall get into this place of torment prepared by the medical faculty. Having suffered myself, I cannot take advantage of my fellow-men by introducing a new mode of curing disease and prescribing medicine. My theory exposes the hypocrisy of those who undertake to cure in that way. They make ten diseases to one cure, thus bringing a surplus of misery into the world, and shutting out a healthy state of society. They have a monopoly, and no theory that lessens disease can compete with them. When I cure, there is one disease the less; but not so when others cure, for the supply of sickness shows that there is more disease on hand than there ever was. Therefore, the labor for health is slow, and the manufacture of disease is greater. The newspapers teem with advertisements of remedies, showing that the supply of disease increases. My theory teaches man to manufacture health; and, when people go into this occupation, disease will diminish, and those who furnish disease and death will be few and scarce."

To nourish the vital energy, keep watch in silence;
In order to subdue the mind, act with non-action.
Of movement and stillness, be aware of their origin;
There is no work to do, much less someone to seek.
The true and constant must respond to phenomena;
Responding to phenomena, you must be unconfused.
When unconfused, the nature will stabilize by itself;
When the nature stabilizes, energy returns by itself.
When energy returns, the elixir crystallizes by itself;
Within the pot, the trigrams of heaven and earth are joined.
Yīn and yáng arise, alternating over and over again;
Every transformation comes like a clap of thunder.
White clouds form and come to assemble at the peak;
The sweet nectar sprinkles down Mount Sumeru.
Swallow for yourself this wine of immortality;
You wander so freely—who is able to know you?
Sit and listen to the tune played without strings;
Clearly understand the mechanism of creation.
It comes entirely from these twenty lines;
A true ladder going straight to Heaven.-Daoist text -
To us all towns are one, all men our kin. Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill. Man's pains and pains' relief are from within. Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !." - Tamil Poem-

Monday, February 28, 2011

God's Pharmacy video(This intriguing wisdom muscle)

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
*note*lovely list of intriguing list of fruits and vegetables which resemble the human organs...they are based on the synchronistic marvelous factor of interdependent creation factor...in other words,all the universe outside is a projection of you,grasshoppers...now go out and find the fruit or veggie whom resembles my wisdom muscle...since is the source of all,and empty...you won't find it so easy,unless you LOOK into yourself,and meditate...thus spokenth the mahayogi to the bewildered grasshoppers from heaven.
Kisses:)
-added by danny-
.......
It's been said that God first separated the salt water
from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden,
made animals and fish...
All before making a human.
He made and provided what we'd need before we were born.
These are best & more powerful when eaten raw.
We're such slow learners...God left us a great clue as to what foods help what
part of our body! God's Pharmacy! Amazing!


A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye.
The pupil, iris and radiating lines look
just like the human eye...
And YES, science now shows carrots greatly
enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.


A Tomato has four chambers and is red.
The heart has four chambers and is red.
All of the research shows
tomatoes are loaded with lycopine
and are indeed pure heart and blood food.


Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart.
Each grape looks like a blood cell and
all of the research today shows
grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.


A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right
hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums.
Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like
the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help
develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters
for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function
and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.


Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones.
These foods specifically target bone strength.
These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.


Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function
of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like
these organs. Today's research shows that
when a woman eats one avocado a week,
it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight,
and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this?
It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado
from blossom to ripened fruit There are over 14,000 photolytic
chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods
(modern science has only studied
and named about 141 of them).


Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow.
Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase
the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.


Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance
the glycemic index of diabetics.


Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.


Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like
the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health
of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts


Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body...
And there is one more fruit..the kripto wisdom muscle veggie whom cures all insanities..indeed.
This wisdom muscle is the best...halleluyah!! 
Find it inside yourselves,grasshoppers from heaven...
To nourish the vital energy, keep watch in silence;
In order to subdue the mind, act with non-action.
Of movement and stillness, be aware of their origin;
There is no work to do, much less someone to seek.
The true and constant must respond to phenomena;
Responding to phenomena, you must be unconfused.
When unconfused, the nature will stabilize by itself;
When the nature stabilizes, energy returns by itself.
When energy returns, the elixir crystallizes by itself;
Within the pot, the trigrams of heaven and earth are joined.
Yīn and yáng arise, alternating over and over again;
Every transformation comes like a clap of thunder.
White clouds form and come to assemble at the peak;
The sweet nectar sprinkles down Mount Sumeru.
Swallow for yourself this wine of immortality;
You wander so freely—who is able to know you?
Sit and listen to the tune played without strings;
Clearly understand the mechanism of creation.
It comes entirely from these twenty lines;
A true ladder going straight to Heaven.-Daoist text -
To us all towns are one, all men our kin. Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill. Man's pains and pains' relief are from within. Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !." - Tamil Poem-

Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Sun riddle

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
*note* lovely site I found,with huge amount of spiritual links..kisses to the creator.. Tormod Kinnes   :)
I picked this post (lovely)about ,,The Sun,, http://oaks.nvg.org/old-riddles.html#sun
_added by danny-
..........
A Few Old Riddles
-The Sun-
I view the world in little space,
Am always changing place;
No food I eat, but, by my power,
Procure what millions do devour.
Now let us focus on the riddle. A dictionary says that a riddle is a mystifying, misleading, or puzzling question that is put as a problem to be solved or guessed - so it is something that can be difficult to understand until you know the answer. Most of the things we know too little of, may seem difficult. But as soon as we know the best answers, or "know how to do it", much tends to become easy.

Historically, the riddle is a form of guessing plot that has been a part of the folklore of most cultures. There are two sorts of riddle: the descriptive one and the shrewd or witty question.
The descriptive riddle describes someone or something enigmatically. For example, "What is black as coal, round as the sun and with a black tail"? The Moering answer was "The frying-pan", because the heavy iron pans in use were black before new materials like teflon got into them.

If you know the answer or can figure it out, the riddle - based on figurative descriptions - is solved.
Descriptive riddles deal with how things or others look, not how they work or are put to use. Thus, an egg is "A little white house without door or window."
Shrewd questions and catch questions may call for divergent thinking first of all, and some for a measure of frivolous folly. Thus:
"Why is six afraid of seven?" — "Because seven ate nine". (Say it).
"What European capital used to lie in the middle of another country?" — "OSLO in the middle of CzechOSLOvakia."
"What is in the middle of Paris?" (Not Hilton) — "R".
"How can we know the elephant was in the refrigerator last night?" — "By the footprints in the paté."
Some puzzles are elaborate. Som examples follow. -(from Tormod Kinnes)

To nourish the vital energy, keep watch in silence;
In order to subdue the mind, act with non-action.
Of movement and stillness, be aware of their origin;
There is no work to do, much less someone to seek.
The true and constant must respond to phenomena;

Responding to phenomena, you must be unconfused.

When unconfused, the nature will stabilize by itself;

When the nature stabilizes, energy returns by itself.

When energy returns, the elixir crystallizes by itself;
Within the pot, the trigrams of heaven and earth are joined.

Yīn and yáng arise, alternating over and over again;
Every transformation comes like a clap of thunder.
White clouds form and come to assemble at the peak;
The sweet nectar sprinkles down Mount Sumeru.

Swallow for yourself this wine of immortality;


You wander so freely—who is able to know you?

Sit and listen to the tune played without strings;
Clearly understand the mechanism of creation.
It comes entirely from these twenty lines;
A true ladder going straight to Heaven.-Daoist text -




To us all towns are one, all men our kin. Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill. Man's pains and pains' relief are from within. Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !." - Tamil Poem-

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Nirmala Srivastava Shri Mataji(March 21, 1923 – February 23, 2011)

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
*note*...we all die..in the realm of silence...thank you,Mataji for your power,your love..and your dedication..
Thank you.
-added by danny-





Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence




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, .....

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine 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, .....


To nourish the vital energy, keep watch in silence;
In order to subdue the mind, act with non-action.
Of movement and stillness, be aware of their origin;
There is no work to do, much less someone to seek.
The true and constant must respond to phenomena;
Responding to phenomena, you must be unconfused.
When unconfused, the nature will stabilize by itself;
When the nature stabilizes, energy returns by itself.
When energy returns, the elixir crystallizes by itself;
Within the pot, the trigrams of heaven and earth are joined.
Yīn and yáng arise, alternating over and over again;
Every transformation comes like a clap of thunder.
White clouds form and come to assemble at the peak;
The sweet nectar sprinkles down Mount Sumeru.
Swallow for yourself this wine of immortality;
You wander so freely—who is able to know you?
Sit and listen to the tune played without strings;
Clearly understand the mechanism of creation.
It comes entirely from these twenty lines;
A true ladder going straight to Heaven.-Daoist text -
To us all towns are one, all men our kin. Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill. Man's pains and pains' relief are from within. Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !." - Tamil Poem-

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The 5 stages of the mahayogi

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
*note* lovely 5 faces of the mahayogi..the buddha,the pondering,the joker,the curious,and the cooked (crucified) beloved..:)

by the way...I love them all..kiss..this post was the very reason they banned me,by the way in some forum..after all  the fuss about it,I was still banned,and I should be..indeed..


no more comments..kisses:)
-added by danny-
ps..Thus spokenth the mahayogi..loved in the 3 worlds,worshiped in 10,and celebrated in the 18th also by himself...since only him is there,one with ALL grasshoppers... in his wisdom muscles bliss!!..Halleluyah!!


To nourish the vital energy, keep watch in silence;
In order to subdue the mind, act with non-action.
Of movement and stillness, be aware of their origin;
There is no work to do, much less someone to seek.
The true and constant must respond to phenomena;
Responding to phenomena, you must be unconfused.
When unconfused, the nature will stabilize by itself;
When the nature stabilizes, energy returns by itself.
When energy returns, the elixir crystallizes by itself;
Within the pot, the trigrams of heaven and earth are joined.
Yīn and yáng arise, alternating over and over again;
Every transformation comes like a clap of thunder.
White clouds form and come to assemble at the peak;
The sweet nectar sprinkles down Mount Sumeru.
Swallow for yourself this wine of immortality;
You wander so freely—who is able to know you?
Sit and listen to the tune played without strings;
Clearly understand the mechanism of creation.
It comes entirely from these twenty lines;
A true ladder going straight to Heaven.-Daoist text -
To us all towns are one, all men our kin. Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill. Man's pains and pains' relief are from within. Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !." - Tamil Poem-

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

R. E. Martin introduces basic Zen Magik

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
*note* every now and then,I find a giant in understanding..this guy,for example,(R.E.Martin)reminds me of this sunshine pic:)

Very few people explained so good the essence of Zen,like he did in the pdf file from his site.(http://www.zen-meditation.co.uk/zen.pdf)
I'll try to posts parts of it,and explain later.
...if I have time.
Kisses to him:)
-added by danny-
........
Questions and Answers


This is an extension to Chapter 13 of the book:(from http://www.zen-meditation.co.uk/)
A Personal Introduction(from R.E. Martin)


I repeat my thanks to those who have provided questions for the follow-up to my book on Zen Meditation. In attempting the answers I have drawn as much as possible on the writings of others, and due acknowledgement is given in such cases. I have not revealed anything not known about for centuries, even though the method of presentation is my own. It is this fresh approach, helped by the advancement in human knowledge over the past century, that I hope will stimulate the reader's interest, but once again it has to be stressed that the limitations of language restrict how far one can go in explaining the inner meaning of Zen. This inner meaning can come only from meditation.


Little can be said about how and why Zen meditation works, but it is worth bearing in mind that Zen is very much about the Here and Now as being the only reality. This has been emphasised by all the Zen masters, and their constant attempts to bring their pupils back to the reality of the moment is shown in all their works. This is precisely what happens when one concentrates on the ticking of a clock. Unlike random thoughts and memories, which are ephemeral and no more than just thoughts, this meditational experience is absolutely real and self-less. (i.e. One is not conscious of a self having an experience, it is just experience).


Apart from the quotation of Albert Einstein I gave in my book, I avoided writing about spirituality, even though it is at the heart of Zen and of Buddhism as a whole, and is what makes Buddhism a religion and not merely a philosophy. The question is, how can one define spirituality in a meaningful way? The only answer I can give is that it is that which refers to life and consciousness and so enables us to experience the ultimate unity of everything that exists. (I do not use the word ‘spirit' because this implies that there is an entity, independent of our selves. It also leads to belief in ‘good' and ‘evil' spirits, at which point we become hopelessly bogged down in dualism).


Clearly there is something special about a living organism, whether it be a plant or an animal, that sets it apart from inanimate matter. Computers are now at a stage of development where they can out-perform the best chess players in the world and the most brilliant of mathematicians, but they are no more conscious of what they do than any other inanimate object, so it is not a question of complexity — the tiny, single cell amoeba is far more amazing than any computer. If a living organism has consciousness this is an even greater attribute, and it is extended still further in the level of consciousness we have as human beings. To go beyond this by creating a new dualism (i.e. a God ‘out there') inevitably encounters insuperable contradictions, yet still leaves us with a mystery and possibly leading to erroneous claims of certainty and to fundamentalism which, in its extreme form, results in the suicide bomber.


Finally, I would like to state what, for me, is the most important revelation that came from meditating. It is to understand, at gut feeling level, the difference between reincarnation and Re-Birth. It was the Buddha's Enlightenment on this point that set him apart from the prevailing beliefs of his time. It was Anatman, as against Atman, that was and is the basis of Buddhism.
Questions and Answers


How did the illusion of time arise and how can we know it is an illusion?


Time, as we perceive it in our everyday lives, is totally dualistic (e.g. then and now; today and tomorrow, etc.) but when the Here and Now is experienced in meditation as the only reality there is no perception of time. It is, therefore, duality that gives rise to the illusion of time. This duality is concomitant with our perception that grass is green (see Chapter 2) whereas the colour is actually a creation of the mind and is not in the grass. It is due to our belief that there is a self that has an experience and an object that is experienced, without realising that the two are one and the same. As stated in Chapter 3, there is not a me having an experience, I am the experience.


Phiroz Mehta dealt with this in one of his lectures, when he related time to our perception of universal creation:


People regard the pulse of creation and the production of a new universe somewhat after the fashion of rearranging the furniture in a room, using the old stuff. No, primordial creative activity is totally new all the time. The word ‘pulse' also brings in the feeling of time, but time as we know it just does not exist . (My emphasis)


What is the relationship between the Here and Now and our personal impression of time, which seems just as real?


Once again we are considering the difference between the reality of appearances and the reality of the Absolute. (The former is that grass appears to be intrinsically green, whereas the latter clearly indicates that this is not so, as explained in Chapter 2). I have a photograph of myself when I was four years old, and there is no apparent link between what I was then and what I am now. Every part of my body has changed over the years and my mind has no apparent link either. I do, of course, have vague memories of childhood, but none of them have any link with this photograph. However, Karma does provide one link and this can be hinted at by using the analogy of a motor car. Supposing that, over many years, each part of a car is replaced by a new part, eventually nothing of the old car would remain. So, would we have a new car? If the procedure had been carried out to the full the Absolute Reality is that we would end up with a different car, but the impression we would have is that we still have the same car. Furthermore, the character of the car (equivalent to our genetic characteristics) would remain unaltered.


This analogy can also be used to illustrate the difference between Zen and other forms of Buddhism. The follower of Zen would say that even if we change only a single spark plug we have a different car and that this is just one moment in a continuous process of change, whereas the others would say that it is not until all parts of the car had changed that anything significant had altered. Both are experiencing the same events and both points of view are valid, but because they see things from a different perspective they appear (but only appear) to be a long way apart.


You state in your book that when we die the brain ceases to function and consciousness comes to an end. With the Buddhist doctrine of Anatta this must mean that the end is total. How, then, can the doctrine of Re-Birth function?


What ceases is the individual person as a self-conscious entity. In his book, The Oakroom Talks on Buddhism, Phiroz Mehta is quoted as saying:


The Buddha himself clearly indicated that this thing called personality, this existential being is a perishable thing, and it is totally perishable, nothing remains. That abstraction completely disappears when the brain disappears.


Perhaps this can best be illustrated by considering the brain in greater detail. The brain is, in fact, a lump of flesh, a special kind of flesh it's true, but not fundamentally different to that which makes up the rest of our bodies. How is it, then, that this lump of flesh can think and experience the world ‘out there'? Well, I submit that it doesn't. I put forward the view that the brain is like a telephone exchange. When you lift up the receiver the voice that you hear does not originate at the exchange, yet without the exchange there would be no voice. As with the brain, faults at the exchange can give rise to all sorts of malfunctions. An intermittent fault, or a bad line, could distort the message; a more serious fault could cut off the voice altogether. This is similar to what happens when a person is still alive but brain dead.


Re-Birth functions at the point where the process of living begins. Were it not for it being a continuous process, with no beginning and no end, it could be likened to a ‘spark' that starts the whole process off. It is the spiritual side of our being, but it is important to bear in mind that it is ‘choicelessly aware' (as Phiroz Mehta put it) and is neither ‘good' nor ‘bad' in the moral sense — it just is . It is not until the ego arises some time after birth — the belief that we are separate entities — that dualism comes about and we get the whole paraphernalia of desires and apparent choices, such as the choice between good and evil. If you think this is far-fetched then simply accept the challenge to choose between being perfect and being less than perfect and see what happens. (Oh, if only we could choose to be perfect!) On page 20 of my book I illustrate this with a comparison between a bitch suckling its pups and an Enlightened One helping a person in distress. As mentioned above, Re-Birth is happening all the time, and this is why the Here and Now is eternal and therefore timeless.


You write that you have not revealed anything new, but surely using the ticking of a clock as a source for meditation is new — I have not come across this before.


The sources of sound are virtually infinite, so each one of us is capable of using a source that has not been used before. But, using sound, as such, for meditation is not new. Vipassana meditation requires awareness of thoughts, sounds , smells and sensations as they happen. In other words, it is simply being aware of the Here and Now, of which sound is one manifestation. Because the ticking of a clock is continuous I find it particularly useful in this respect, though others may find a visual source better. In the chapters on Practical Meditation I give reasons why a sound source offers the best prospect of getting beneficial results.


In Chapter 5 you dealt with the question of desire in relation to the ego, but since,as you put it, desire is essential for the continuation of life on earth I cannot see how we can overcome desire without foregoing the continuation of life.


Desire functions in two forms and this was illustrated when I described the process of learning to ride a bicycle. On the one hand it can be said that desire plays a part, because without the wish to learn we would not even begin, so this form of desire has an essential role, but it is when we wish to learn to do something in order to achieve an unrelated goal that the other form of desire enters into it. For instance, if we want to learn to ride a bicycle in order to prove our superiority over someone else this kind of desire is not only unrelated to the former but actually reinforces the ego, instead of overcoming it. This latter form of desire also functions when we choose between something our ego does not like (that filthy dustbin and the noise of jet engines) and what we imagine to be an ideal world. Such an ideal world simply does not exist, nor can it exist as a product of the ego. It is in Zen meditation that we come round to accepting this, to such an extent that we see and hear something as if sight and hearing were given to us afresh. Phiroz Mehta put it thus:


“There will be incidental consequences, for instance, you never saw such a red before or such a golden yellow before or something like that, and yet it is the same red and same yellow and so on. That is an incidental result. But there is another result. When the brain is choicelessly aware, choicelessly active, then it does not offer any resistance to Pure Mind functioning through the brain.”


This Pure Mind he refers to is not our minds, it is transcendent to our individual selves, or egos; it is the Essence of Mind, as proclaimed by Hui Hai and Huang Po or, as we more commonly portray it in Buddhism, the Buddha Mind.
Zen Notes


In the process of compiling both the original book and this extension I acquired a number of quotes and extracts from other works. Some relate to questions that could have been asked but were not, but all are relevant to the subject of Zen meditation, and so I feel are worth recording under this separate heading.


1. In Chapter 2 I pointed out that matter does not exist independently of consciousness, since the ‘building blocks' of matter (e.g. electrons and protons) do not have a physical existence but are merely charges, which become manifest only through the operation of Mind. The Nobel Prize winning physicist, Erwin Schrodinger, supports this thesis by showing that an electron can be in two places and two states at the same time. This could not happen with something having a physical presence in space.
2. The Way of Zen (by Prof. Alan W. Watts) page 218 (paraphrased) states that the application of Zen does not absolutely require the specific ‘sitting technique' of za-zen proper. The late Dr. Kunihiko Hashida, a life-long student of Zen and editor of the works of Dogen, never used formal za-zen.
3. The Way of Zen (page 220). The Sixth Patriarch (Hui Neng) says in the T'an-ching when referring to the Here and Now:


In this moment there is nothing which ceases to be. Thus there is no birth-and-death to be brought to an end. Wherefore the absolute tranquillity (of Nirvana) is the present moment. Though it is at this moment there is no limit to this moment, and herein is eternal delight.


Alan Watts concludes:


Yet, when it comes to it, this moment can be called ‘present' only in relation to past and future, or to someone to whom it is present. But when there is neither past nor future, and no-one to whom this moment is present, what is it? When Fa-ch'ang was dying, a squirrel screeched on the roof. ‘It's just this', he said, ‘and nothing else'.
4. From The Voice of the Silence (by H.P. Blavatsky) we get, on page 31:


Desire nothing. Chafe not at Karma, nor at nature's changeless laws. But struggle only with the personal, the transitory, the evanescent and the perishable.


And on page 44:


Avert thy face from world deceptions; mistrust thy senses, they are false. But within thy body — the shrine of thy sensations — seek in the impersonal for the Eternal Man; and having sought him out, look inward; thou art Buddha.


This extract could so easily be misinterpreted, and Phiroz Mehta dealt with it on page 6 of The Oakroom Talks on Buddhism:


Unfortunately several religious philosophies decry the senses — ‘Beware the senses'! They say Buddha taught that, but he didn't. He said, ‘Beware of the pleasures of the senses' He very definitely taught to use the senses rightly; when you look, look and see what you are seeing, be aware of it actually and not imaginarily'.
5. On the matter of desire (dealt with in Chapter 5 of my book) Phiroz Mehta said (page 3 of The Oakroom Talks on Buddhism):


There is no discrimination, no picking and choosing in the realm of totality, in the realm of wholeness.


And on page 2 he says:


…if we live totally in the immediate present, then there has been living in eternity, in the unborn, the unbecome, the unmade.
6. The limitations of language are referred to in many works on Buddhism. John Blofeld, in his book on Hui Hai, quoted the Master as saying:


To comprehend (real) meanings we should go beyond unsteady words; to awaken to the fundamental law we should leap beyond writings; how can it be sought amid a plethora of sentences.


And on page 129 John Blofeld notes:


The Chinese omission of such words as ‘your', ‘its', and so on makes it easier for the reader to keep in mind that the self-nature of all sentient beings is one and the same.
7. From The Way of Zen we get on pages 69, 73, 74 and 81 some observations about Samsara/Karma and the nature of experience:


The active principle of the Round (Samsara) is known as Karma, or conditioned action, which arises from a motive seeking a result — the type of action which always requires the necessity for further action.


He then goes on to say that Zen takes Samsara as ‘the process of re-birth from one moment to moment, so that one is re-born so long as one identifies oneself with a continuing ego, which reincarnates itself afresh at each moment in time.' Going further into this we get:


Through awareness is seen that the separation of the thinker from the thought, the knower from the known, the subject from the object, is purely abstract. There is not the mind on the one hand and its experience on the other; there is just the process of experiencing in which there is nothing to be grasped as an object, and no-one, as a subject, to grasp it.


(In other words, as put in my book, there is no me having an experience, I am the experience).
8. Dealing with meditation Prof. Watts writes, on page 74:


Meditation, in the common sense of ‘thinking things over' or ‘musing' is a most misleading translation. But such alternatives as ‘trance' or ‘absorption' are even worse, since they suggest states of hypnotic fascination.


Phiroz Mehta, on pages 128/130 of The Oakroom Talks on Buddhism, is even more emphatic about meditation:


Now remember these states … are not trance states, you are not entranced. I know that some very great scholars have used the word ‘trance'. For my part I say quite categorically that it is a mistake. So is that other word, the raptures, or ecstasies, used by Rhys Davids in the early days and by some modern people too. Do not be misled by what anyone says, that they are merely trance states or deep states of consciousness that you enter into and get out of and there is not much in them related to true enlightenment.
9. Finally, it is interesting to discover what Shakespeare had to say about duality — his works are a mine of insights into the human condition — in the play, Hamlet , there is a point where Hamlet says:


There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
..........
Chapter 13
Questions and Answers
In addition to those readers who are new to Buddhist philosophy, and may now be
tempted to study it further, there may be some who already have some familiarity with
the subject, yet have difficulty resolving certain problems. This chapter, although limited
in the range of questions it deals with, has been compiled to help both kinds of reader
realise that no amount of study can provide all the answers. Having come from a mind
that is not fully Enlightened it is to be hoped that it will be seen as an attempt to point the
way ahead, rather than as a desire to assume the role of teacher.


There is a similarity between what follows and the Question and Answer technique
used by some Zen Masters. Here, again, it must be stressed that this in no way implies a
belief that it is on the same plane as their great works. Those Zen Masters, in their
wisdom, knew what the mental obstructions of their pupils were and that the best way of
breaking through to the Essence of Mind was to hammer at the same theme over and over
again, but with subtle variations, and that a formal question and answer session was a
good way of doing this. This has been attempted here in the hope that, at the very least, it
will encourage the reader to go further along the Path.


Q: Is there a limit to the type of object we should use for meditation? Would it not be
best to use only those which are beautiful, or give rise to pleasant associations?

A: There are only five objects suitable for meditation - our faculties of sight, hearing,
smell, taste and feeling.

Q: You have just said that our faculties of sight, hearing, smell, taste and feeling are the
only suitable objects for meditation, yet earlier you mentioned the ticking of a clock as
being a suitable object. Does this not indicate some confusion as to which is subject and
which is object?

A: The necessities of language compel us to speak of subject and object as if they were
separate entities, but in reality this is not so. When our Buddha Mind is perceived there
is no differentiation between subject and object and so there is no confusion.

Q: You mentioned five faculties as being the only suitable objects for meditation, but
we have a sixth faculty, that of thought. Why has this been excluded?

A: The faculties of sight, hearing, smell, taste and feeling are intrinsically pure and
cannot, of themselves, give rise to dualism. Thought is the source of the delusion of a
separate self and is therefore unsuitable as an object of meditation. However, we cannot
exclude thoughts from the mind by intention, since the very act of intending requires
thought, and so it would be attempting to use the mind to cleanse the mind. Meditation is
simply a device for pointing our minds in the right direction by bringing conceptual
thought to and end.

Q: What is self-deception?

A: Idealism is self-deception. The belief that we can make ourselves ‘good’ by trying to
be ‘good’ is self-deception. The belief that we can use the mind to cleanse the mind is
self-deception. However, it is because we have so little faith in the Buddha within that
we have to use the self in the process of destroying the self. Self-deception is an aid to
liberation from the self because it turns the mind inwards and only if we look within can
the Buddha Mind be found. But it is still only thinking about the Buddha Mind and so
continues the state of duality; the final barrier can be broken down only by experiencing
our Buddha nature in a condition of ‘no-thought’. That is what meditation is.
Q: Surely the examples you gave of contemplation in preparation for meditation -
listening to ‘religious’ music, reading poetry and looking at flowers in a garden - are
really forms of meditation, since we are not conscious of the self when we do these
things.

A: The Buddha Mind is not only self-less but is also timeless. When you listen to music
you may not be conscious of the self but you are conscious of time, otherwise you would
not be hearing music, only undifferentiated sound. All forms of contemplation omit at
least one of the characteristics of the Buddha Mind and are therefore not meditation.

Q: If I listen to the ticking of a clock during meditation will I not also be conscious of
the passage of time?

A: If you concentrate on the sequence of sounds, instead of on sound as a pure
experience, you will be conscious of the passage of time. In practice this presents less
difficulty than it does in theory but, if it does become a problem, then you should change
to something else, using one of the other senses.

Q: Would it not be better to use a continuous tone as an object of meditation?

A: If you do you will find extraneous sounds having a time sequence (coming and
going) more troublesome. Also, do not overlook the fact that the feeling of breathing in
and out has a time sequence, and since it is a pure experience it must not be excluded
from the mind by intention, so you cannot escape from time simply by changing the
object used in meditation. Extraneous experiences are a problem only if they worry the
meditator; as previously mentioned, an experienced meditator would have no difficulty
meditating in a tube train.

Q: How do I know if I am meditating?

A: If you are conscious of time passing you are not meditating; a pure experience is of
the Here and Now and is therefore timeless. If you are conscious of the ticking of a clock
(or whatever is the object of meditation) as coming from ‘over there’ then you are not
meditating; an object of meditation is not separate from the self but is the Self.

However,
you must not think that timelessness and selflessness will be experienced from the moment you start to the end of each session - you cannot defeat ‘original sin’ as easily as
that. If, after two or three sessions, you experience timelessness and selflessness for only
a few moments this will be progress. Your greatest problem after that will be the
tendency to wonder whether the period of timelessness and selflessness is increasing at
each subsequent session, but this matter of monitoring meditation has been dealt with
earlier.

Q: Why does sensory deprivation have strange effects on the mind?

A: Sensory deprivation has strange effects on the mind because the mind is virtually
denied access to pure experiences and is left only with thoughts; but since thought is the
source of all delusions the mind then has nothing to hold these in check. Sensory
deprivation is therefore the opposite of meditation, where the aim is to have pure
experiences without thoughts.

Q: In view of what you said earlier, what have you to say about The Noble Eightfold
Path - which is fundamental to Buddhist doctrine - is this not a form of self-deception,
because of its ‘programme’ for Enlightenment?

A: The Noble Eightfold Path is precisely what it is claimed to be - a Path - it is not the
Goal. So long as we are conscious of being on the Path then the separate self exists. It is
only when there is no differentiation between ourselves, the Path, and the Goal, that
duality comes to an end and there is only the ONE. This is why we cannot think our way
to Enlightenment.

Q: What is Truth?

A: Truth is Void, like the track of a bird in flight; it neither exists, nor does it not exist,
but when you know Truth, you KNOW. You KNOW that you have the senses of sight,
hearing, smell, taste and feeling; it is sufficient to start with these, because when you
know one aspect of the Truth you recognise the Truth in all its manifestations. Truth is
the Tao; it is formless and nameless and yet, as the Mother of Existence, it encompasses
all forms and all names.

Q: Can you explain a miracle in Buddhist terms?

A: Whenever you walk, that is a miracle; whenever you see a flower, that is a miracle;
whenever you hear a bird sing, that is a miracle. How many miracles do you want?
Q: You misunderstand me, I want to know what a real miracle is, defined in a dictionary
as a supernatural event..

A: When subjective knowledge and objective knowledge are not in alignment then we
call the happening a miracle; but when subjective knowledge and objective knowledge
are in alignment an event is not seen as being a miracle. Logically, you should either see
everything that happens as being a miracle, or nothing that happens as being a miracle.
Picking and choosing your evidence is no way to discover the Truth. You think that a
miracle is an event that cannot be explained, but can you explain how you walk, see a
flower, or hear a bird sing?

Q: It has been said that Wisdom and Compassion are the Twin Pillars of Buddhism.
What is the foundation of these Pillars?

A: The Buddha Mind is the foundation of Wisdom and Compassion.

Q: You said that we are intent on escaping from reality, but if reality is the Buddha
Mind why do we want to escape from it?

A: It is the self - the ego - that wants to escape from reality, because reality destroys the
self as a separate entity, but our Buddha Mind will not let us escape. It is the conflict
between the ego and the Buddha Mind that causes dissatisfaction, unhappiness and
despair (Dukkha).

Q: You have only briefly mentioned the Buddhist doctrine of Karma. Why is this?

A: Karma is a marvellous and comprehensive doctrine, but even if understood in its
entirety it would not bring you one step nearer to Enlightenment. However, some of its
effects have been mentioned, as in answer to your last question.

Q: I can understand why a Christian has such mental torment, trying to incorporate the
fact of suffering into his belief. Would it solve the problem if he no longer believed in
the duality between God and Man?

A: Merely to believe in non-duality is not enough; it must be experienced. Suffering is
a problem only if you distance yourself from it, which happens all the time you believe
that there is an external cause or, to put it another way, that there is a separate self to
which suffering occurs. So long as there is a delusion of a separate self pain will always
be seen as a problem, distinct from its actual experience. When the Abbot Kwaisen
allowed himself to be burned alive by the soldiers of Oda Nobunaga,(ps...if you want to see how he died in flames,watch  http://www.shinobinomono.oninohana.com/films.php ..I've seen all those old movies..added by danny)sitting calmly in the
posture of meditation, it showed that this is no idle speculation.

Similarly, unpleasant sights, unpleasant sounds and unpleasant smells and tastes all
arise from the same cause. It helps to alleviate the problem if you realise that the faculty
of feeling is an inevitable condition of existence. It helps even more if you relieve the
sufferings of others, since by doing so you bring their suffering into your life, and this
diminishes the condition of duality; but it must be non-selfconscious action, otherwise
you will merely be a ‘do-gooder’, and this will not lessen the problem. However, there
can be no final solution so long as you intellectualise about it and do not experience the
real answer which, like the Tao, is beyond explanation.

Q: If I lose my sight, or hearing, would my Essence of Mind be diminished as a result?
A: No, the faculties of sight, hearing, smell, taste and feeling may be likened to access
points, through which there is admittance to the Essence of Mind - which is the Buddha
Mind - the manifestation of which is the Buddha nature. If sight, or hearing, is lost then
this reduces the number of access points, but because the Essence of Mind stays
unimpaired the remaining access points become enhanced as a result. Remember, also,
as in answer to an earlier question, that when you know one aspect of the Truth you know
the Truth in all its manifestations. This is why, in meditation, it is quite sufficient to
concentrate on a single pure experience.

Q: If a person is born mentally impaired is that person’s Essence of Mind impaired as
well?

A: No - the Essence of Mind cannot be impaired. Such a person can still see, hear,
smell, taste and feel, and these faculties are no different from those of one who is normal.
It is only the ability to construct concepts about experiences that differ, but since all
concepts are illusions, anyway, the distinction between normality and mental impairment
is a matter of convention. Such a person can be more kind and loving than one who is
normal, but convention does not take this into account.

Q: I am still uneasy about the idea of a separate self being an illusion. Surely, my body
is separate from your body, and my mind is separate from your mind. How can I ever see
this otherwise?

A: Never, if you continue trying to think your way to Enlightenment! Your immediate
error is in supposing that, if a separate self is an illusion, then this is tantamount to saying
that it does not exist; but since it clearly does exist, then it cannot be an illusion. But this
is to confuse two forms of reality - the reality of appearances and the reality of the
Absolute. The reality of appearances is that grass is green, but you should know by now
that in Absolute terms this is not so. However, the Reality of the Absolute does not
exclude the reality of appearances, since you know that grass is green.  

If you could only
grasp the distinction between grass is green and grass is green you would understand, in a
flash, the cause of dualism. You cannot err if you accept only that which you know for
certain. You KNOW that you have the faculties of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and
feeling - the very moment you step beyond this you are back in the world of duality. You
must not even have the idea that there is nothing more to non-duality than having
experiences without concepts, since that idea is, itself, a concept, and misses the Goal
completely.

Q: I think I am now nearer to realising the distinction between grass is green and grass
is green. If I do gain this insight will I be Enlightened?

A: Presumably only if that realisation is permanent, but the ‘original sin’ of the mind is
so powerful that, to most of us, it does not last. The great Zen Masters called this flash of
insight “Kensho”, but it is only a stage on the way to Enlightenment (Satori).
One thing can be said for sure is that once you have had this experience your life will never be the
same again. Outwardly, you will appear ‘normal’, but you will be happy under
circumstances in which other people would be miserable, and calm in circumstances
where others would be flustered. Inwardly, you will have gained insights into all manner
of problems that most people find perplexing. Above all, you will have gained
confidence in the Buddha Mind within and know that the Unshakeable Deliverance of the
Mind is attainable, even if it is not attained in this life. If this answer ends with an
enigma it is because you still do not grasp the distinction between grass is green and grass
is green.

All profound religious truths are about integration, and the core of Buddhist integration
is the coalescence of the ‘in here’ and ‘out there’ to make the ONE, but this condition
will always elude you if all you do is to intellectualise about it. There is no answer other
than to “Look within, thou art Buddha”.

(N.B. Various interpretations have been given for the meanings of the terms ‘Kensho’
and ‘Satori’. In this book the former is treated as being a flash of insight and the latter as
a more permanent experience. In truth, of course, neither can be precisely defined,
because they are beyond the scope of language, as is the term ‘Nirvana’.)

To nourish the vital energy, keep watch in silence;
In order to subdue the mind, act with non-action.
Of movement and stillness, be aware of their source
There is no work to do, much less someone to seek.
The true and constant must respond to phenomena;
Responding to phenomena, you must be unconfused.
When unconfused, the nature will stabilize by itself
When the nature stabilizes, energy returns by itself
When energy returns, the elixir crystallizes by itself;
Within the pot, the trigrams of heaven and earth are joined.
Yīn and yáng arise, alternating over and over again;
Every transformation comes like a clap of thunder.
White clouds form and come to assemble at the peak;
The sweet nectar sprinkles down Mount Sumeru.
Swallow for yourself this wine of immortality;
You wander so freely—who is able to know you?
Sit and listen to the tune played without strings;
Clearly understand the mechanism of creation.
It comes entirely from these twenty lines;
A true ladder going straight to Heaven.-Daoist text -




To us all towns are one, all men our kin. Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill. Man's pains and pains' relief are from within. Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !." - Tamil Poem-

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Shine On Harvest Moon...

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
*note* I love how they dance..
-added by danny-
ps....lyrics are
So shine on
Shine on harvest moon
Up in the sky

I ain't had no loving' since January, February, June or July

Snow time ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon
So shine on
Shine on harvest moon for me and my gal

Snow time ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon
So shine on
Shine on harvest moon for me and my gal..

To nourish the vital energy, keep watch in silence;
In order to subdue the mind, act with non-action.
Of movement and stillness, be aware of their origin;
There is no work to do, much less someone to seek.
The true and constant must respond to phenomena;
Responding to phenomena, you must be unconfused.
When unconfused, the nature will stabilize by itself;
When the nature stabilizes, energy returns by itself.
When energy returns, the elixir crystallizes by itself;
Within the pot, the trigrams of heaven and earth are joined.
Yīn and yáng arise, alternating over and over again;
Every transformation comes like a clap of thunder.
White clouds form and come to assemble at the peak;
The sweet nectar sprinkles down Mount Sumeru.
Swallow for yourself this wine of immortality;
You wander so freely—who is able to know you?
Sit and listen to the tune played without strings;
Clearly understand the mechanism of creation.
It comes entirely from these twenty lines;
A true ladder going straight to Heaven.-Daoist text -
To us all towns are one, all men our kin. Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill. Man's pains and pains' relief are from within. Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !." - Tamil Poem-