Celebrating Pride Month

06/06/2023

You are the owner of memories,
you are not the memories,
the possessor of memories,
not the possessions.
Why let them own you?
Why let them possess you?
Why let society make you
a heap of conventions, habits,
a pile of defences, aggressions
that have conformed you
into an habitual ego?
See it for yourself.
Realize it and you are free!

Yesterday Krishnamurti was featured the division of thinking you are a separate, personal entity. Today Krishnamurti points out a “right question” that we need to look into…

“You know, if we understand one question rightly, all questions are answered. But we don’t know how to ask the right question. To ask the right question demands a great deal of intelligence and sensitivity. Here is a question, a fundamental question: is life a torture? It is, as it is; and man has lived in this torture centuries upon centuries, from ancient history to the present day, in agony, in despair, in sorrow; and he doesn’t find a way out of it. Therefore he invents gods, churches, all the rituals, and all that nonsense, or he escapes in different ways. What we are trying to do, during all these discussions and talks here, is to see if we cannot radically bring about a transformation of the mind, not accept things as they are, nor revolt against them. Revolt doesn’t answer a thing. You must understand it, go into it, examine it, give your heart and your mind, with everything that you have, to find out a way of living differently. That depends on you, and not on someone else, because in this there is no teacher, no pupil; there is no leader; there is no guru; there is no Master, no Saviour. You yourself are the teacher and the pupil; you are the Master; you are the guru; you are the leader; you are everything. And to understand is to transform what is.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti

In Today’s Video, Krishnamurti discuss a question we all need to ask ourselves…

Today’s Video: “Who are you? | J. Krishnamurti”
https://youtu.be/_uTZoQ6_h0Q

 

06/05/2023

Celebrating Pride Month

Being no one in particular
everything is possible,
a unique freedom,
the freedom of grace
that has always been
waiting to be welcomed,
truly living in the moment,
a timeless, causeless moment,
a moment of pure joy,
no longer being the someone
you always thought you were.

Last week we featured Billy Doyle in London, UK. This week we jump to Ojai, CA, which serves as the headquarters for the Krishnamurti Foundation and where this famous spiritual teacher spent a good portion of his time. I am certain Krishnamurti needs no introduction as seekers from around the world are quite familiar with him and his teachings through lectures, books and videos.

Today his quote is on a social plague that is far worse than the COVID virus and is dividing our nation and threatening our democracy.

““When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti

So what is the antidote to this violence, plaguing our nation? Watch the following video.

Today’s Video: “The quality of intelligence | J. Krishnamurti”
https://youtu.be/qLFo_0D8bfE

 

06/03/2023

“you know the world around you
you know your house
you know your body, your thoughts,
emotions, your personality
but who is this knower
you can never know the knower
it is not an object to be known
it is the eternal background
the silence…”
-Billy Doyle, “The Mirage of Separation”

This is the last day of Billy Doyle Week. Today Billy delves deeper into what points to awareness and the expressions of consciousness and closes appropriately with a body awareness meditation in Today’s Video.

“The body is thus a pointer to awareness. The purpose of all objects is to remind us of our real nature: awareness, consciousness. The
world is thus not a problem, but a continual reminder of who we are. We can also say that all so-called objects are consciousness celebrating itself.

“Ultimately, we come to realise that the body and all manifestation are nothing but awareness…

“What is listened to, is an important pedagogical device until we realise that the body and the whole of the manifest world are expressions of consciousness, and as such nothing other than consciousness.”
– Billy Doyle, “Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition

Today’s Video: “Billy Doyle Guided Body Awareness Meditation”
https://youtu.be/LC288_o5drc

 

06/02/2023

“…the winds of thought
puff up the sails of the ego
and blow you hither and thither
from crest to trough
from pleasure to pain
but if you just observe
these thoughts with disinterest
they will subside
and the sails of the ego
will go slack
and you will be
one with the ocean…”
– Billy Doyle, “The Mirage of Separation”

Today we continued with Billy Doyle Week. Yes, to be one with the ocean, the ocean of love, of beauty, of peace. Nothing to do just observe without emotion, without concern, and the turmoil will subside like mud dissolving to the bottom, leaving thewater above absolutely clear. Today another insightful quote from Billy Doyle’s “Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition.”

“When we don’t question the initial premise, ‘I am a personal entity’, all subsequent practices only reinforce our false sense of self…But what we are in our essential nature can never be an object, can never be known in terms of the senses or mind. All that can be obtained is an object; when we truly realise the full implication of this fact there is a stop, a giving up of all striving and a re-orchestration of our energy…let the object die in silence.”
– Billy Doyle, “Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition”

Today’s Video: “Who Am I? What Is My Real Nature? Billy Doyle”
https://youtu.be/2EiEj_uJUnw

 

06/01/2023

the ego is as sticky as glue
all the debris collects round it
producing karmic layering
burying you deep in your individuality
but to the Self nothing can cling
being nothing, insults pass unregistered
praise, adulation likewise
nothing invades sacred space
for there is nothing outside
and nothing to defend
– Billy Doyle,”The Mirage of Separation”

Today we continue to feature Billy Doyle Week with his poetry and spiritually-oriented, nondual yoga in the Kashmir Tradition.

“There is listening before we listen to the body, there is listening after. The body unfolds in listening and since we don’t emphasise what we listen to, once it has told its story it naturally dissolves back into awareness. The presence of the body in awareness is discontinuous, but awareness, the background, is continuous. In this process we carry back the object, in this case the body, to its generic form eliminating its changing nature.” – Billy Doyle, “Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition”

Today’s Video: “Verticality & Expansion in Space – Guided Meditation – Billy Doyle (Part 4)”
https://youtu.be/HMXk57ozi98

 

05/31/2023

fighting the ego is a great battle
that monster from the underworld
every minute you must be vigilant
and ready to take up sword
but does the creature really exist
have the sightings been verified
are they any more than your thoughts
are you not wrestling with a phantom
where is the ego
– Billy Doyle, “The Mirage of Separation”

Today we continue with Billy Doyle Week. As you can deduce from the excerpt above from his “Mirage of Separation,” we are constantly fighting a losing battle with an opponent that doesn’t exist. And, so does anyone know where the ego is? Has anyone ever found an actual ego?

Stay tuned for Part3 of Billy Doyle’s Yoga/Meditation, the all important breath awareness.

Today’s Video: “Breath Awarenesss – Guided Meditation – Billy Doyle (Part 3)”
https://youtu.be/Kb4UurmZvkI

 

05/30/2023

all volition ensnares you
deeper into the black pit of illusion
thinking you’ve achieved something
your compassion for the world is admirable
but where is the compassion for the Self
smothered beneath a mountain of concepts
it can barely breathe
see through the illusion
of being a separate entity
of being I am this, I am that
and let the Self breathe forth
– Billy Doyle, “The Mirage of Separation”

Today we continue with Billy Doyle Week with more quote from “Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition” and Part II of his guided meditation/yoga video

“Jean (Jean Klein) compared the body to a musical instrument; by listening we come to tune it, we come to harmonisation. This expanded body has the flavour of its source: light, and acts from this light.

‘In listening to the body in this way, a choiceless welcoming, we are no longer an accomplice to the patterns and contractions. We have, as it were, stood back and let the body be the body. We are no longer fueling the reactions. There is a feeling of space between awareness and what we’re aware of, a feeling of detachment—but without trying to be detached.”
– Billy Doyle, “Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition: the art of listening”

Comment: If I were to select the most important aspect of any bodywork especially within the internal arts, I would say that it is definitely choiceless listening.

Today’s Video: “Opening of the Senses – Guided Meditation – Billy Doyle (Part 2)”
https://youtu.be/goN57GeFc8Y

 

05/29/2023

“the scent of the rose
is not in the flower
it is in you
the sound of the Beethoven quartet
is not in the instruments
it is in you
the taste of the mango
is not in your mouth
it is in you
the poem
is not on the page
it is in you
the sunset
is not in the sky
it is in you”
– Billy Doyle, from “The Mirage of Separation”

The month is nearly ended on this Memorial Day, and today we are starting Billy Doyle Week. Who is Billy Doyle? Billy Doyle is an unique yoga instructor and spiritual teacher. Both of these facets are a result of being a disciple of Jean Klein who introduced Doyle to both Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition and Advaita Vedanta. Although Doyle studied with many teachers in a wide variety of approaches including Eutony, Feldencrais, Alexander Technique and Craniosacral Therapy, it was with Jean Klein that he worked closely for many years attending his seminars in England, Holland, France and the United States.

Billy has published a book which presents these teachings: “Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition: the art of listening.” He’s also the author of “The Mirage of Separation” and “Ocean of Silence,” collections of poems and prose written from a non-dualistic perspective, covering subjects that include identification, desire, time, the spiritual path and silence.

He holds regular weekly yoga classes online as well as a monthly Q&A Dialogue (Satsang).

“There may be certain parts of our body that we don’t feel, that are unconscious; we will need to return to these parts often until they begin to speak to us. We can use visualisation or simply touch these areas with our hands to bring more life. When we visualise part of the body, it involves a certain abstraction which involves memory. But to feel is a direct perception with no thinking involved. However, if we first visualise the body, or parts of it, it may help us to subsequently feel the body as sensation, as an energy field.” – Doyle, Billy. Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition:

Today’s Video: “Relaxation and the Energetic Body – Guided Meditation – Billy Doyle (Part 1)”
https://youtu.be/734NABjXAH4

 

05/27/2023

Circular in its straightness
straight in its circling,
moving in circles,
issuing in lines,
the mind leads,
the energy follows.

Today we closed out the week and our feature on Chen Tai Chi with one of Chen’s most respected and reputed master of all time, Chen Fake (Fa-Kay). Chen was born in Chenjiagou when his father was in his sixties, and both of his older brothers had already passed away. Thus, he lived a relatively privileged life. During his youth, Chen frequently fell ill and was occasionally confined to bed. Due to his health issues, he did not engage in the practice of his family’s martial art.

However, everything changed when Chen was fourteen and his father went to Shandong province to teach martial arts and entrusted the care of his family to relatives. One evening, Chen Fake overheard his relatives criticizing his weakness and suggesting that he had failed to live up to the expectations of his ancestors.This greatly disturbed Chen. He yearned to prove his relatives wrong but feared it might be too late. In comparison to others within Chen village, he considered himself lacking in martial arts ability. This question haunted him until he realized that by dedicating himself to the practice of his family’s art, he could enhance his skills. Over the next three years, while others rested or relaxed after their daily chores, Chen diligently practiced the various forms of Chen’s family tai chi chuan. Whenever he had questions, he sought help from everyone around him. His unwavering determination made him one of the most accomplished practitioners in Chen village. When his father returned for a visit, he was pleasantly surprised with Fake’s achievements.

Chen Fake not only gained an unparalleled martial arts reputation but earned the public’s respect for his morality and integrity. According to his student, Hong Junsheng, Chen Fake never criticized other martial artists either publicly or privately and would admonish his students for criticizing others as well. This quote shows the kind of person Chen Fake was.

“The pillar of socialization is loyalty and the method of dealing with people should be based on modesty and cooperation. Loyalty fosters trust; modesty encourages progress; and cooperation befriends people. Modesty and cooperation should be based on loyalty not on hypocrisy.” – Chen Fake

Today’s Video: “https://youtu.be/VKg9zRkJ_7k”
https://youtu.be/VKg9zRkJ_7k

 

05/26/2023

The body fully extended,
the energy cannot return;
the energy fully extended,
the body cannot return.
Neither is correct.
The body and energy balanced,
Heaven and Earth are in harmony.

Today we feature the last of the four Chen Dragons or Buddha’s Warrior Attendants, Grandmaster Zhu Tiancai. Grandmaster Zhu is the oldest among the Chen Style Tai Chi (Taiji) Four Warriors. Grandmaster Zhu is well respected worldwide. He has retired from regular teaching at home for a few years; however, he is still busy with visitors, media, and projects as well as traveling domestically and internationally to give lectures and workshops

“After practicing for two months, we (the five disciples) through our practice and the explanation of our master (Chen Zhaokui) had really understood how the New Form (83 Postures) took shape and was created…The key to flexibility of the hands is the wrist. The key to turning is the shoulder. Big turning depends on flexibility of the hands. The key is wrists. Wrists and shoulders must be flexible.”

You can see the flexibility, Grandmaster Zhu is speaking of in the second part of today’s video where he demonstrates the “Chan Si Gong” or Silk Reeling.

Today’s Video:Visible Qi – Master Zhu Tiancai
https://youtu.be/EIBmXHJhOLY

 

05/25/2023

Oh lovely flower
as I gaze upon you
though never seen before
you are but a memory
crossing before my mind.
If I could be present,
I would know you
as you truly are,
much more than a memory
of thousands of flowers
gazed upon
but never really seen.

Today we feature another of the four Buddha’s Warrior Attendants of Chen Tai Chi, Wang Xian. He is a 19th generation lineage holder of the Chen family style of Taijiquan and an outstanding qinna and tui shou practitioner. He is also a disciple of Chen Zhao Kui and a professor at Henan Teacher University and LuoYang Teacher University.

“The external arts, which was the first Chinese Kung Gu, start with hardness. The internal arts start with softness. The goal is to combine both for success. The goal of each is that softness and hardness will combine for success.” – Wang Xian

Today’s Video: “Grand Master Wang Xi’An Taijiquan applications in Wenxian (Chenjiagou).”
https://youtu.be/QZpk-TBUFfc

 

05/24/2023

Awareness
is not an object,
neither outside nor inside,
free from time and space,
the Great Vastness
in which all appears,
never perceived.
Perceiving cannot perceive itself.
The eye cannot see itself.
Only the Ultimate knows itself
by itself.

Today we feature another of the four Buddha’s Warrior Attendants a.k.a. the four Chen Dragons, Chen Xiaowang. Chen who is now teaching in Australia, was born and raised in Chen Family Village (Chenjiagou) and is the 19th generation lineage holder of Chen-style taijiquan. His grandfather was the famous taijiquan grandmaster Chen Fake.

Chen Xiaowang began his study of Chen-style taijiquan in 1952 at the age of seven under his father, Chen Zhaoxu, and later with his uncles Chen Zhaopi and Chen Zhaokui. He was awarded the Chinese National Wushu Tournament Taijiquan gold medal three consecutive years beginning in 1980. In 1985, he was crowned Taijiquan Champion at the First International Wushu Competition in Xi’an.

Chen created two condensed forms of the laojia and xinjia forms; a 38-posture form and a 19-posture form. He told inside Kung-Fu Magazine in 1991, “I have tried to do away with all the repetitions and simplify the exceedingly difficult moves without destroying the characteristics of Chen Style Taijiquan, with special emphasis to attack/defense and the chansi technique.”

“The core (of tai chi chuan) is the Dan Tian. How to form the core? It is formed through your whole body movement. Make all your body parts move accurately. Your chi will then move freely through your Dan Tian.” – Chen Xiaowang

Watch the video below to learn how to properly use the eight tai chi energies: peng, lu. jik an, cai, lie, zhou, kow.

Today’s Video:”Chen Xiaowang showing eight taijiquan energies”
https://youtu.be/hhAoXmZj0ko

 

05/23/2023

He who knows himself
as awareness, not the psyche,
is knowingly aware.
He is present, perceiving,
a living witness,
both audience and actor alike.
One who doesn’t know himself
is not aware, not present,
conceptualizing, not perceiving;
lost in the sensation,
he has forgotten himself.

Today we take a look at Chen Style Tai Chi, and no one is better suited to start us off than Chen Zhenglei, one of the four Buddha’s Warrior Attendants or sometimes known as the four Chen Dragons, the outstanding exponents of the 19th generation in Chenjiagou (Chen Village), Wen County, Henan Province.

Chen Zhenglei was born and raised in Chenjiagou. He began studying taijiquaj in 1957 at age of 8 with his uncle Chen Zhaopi, focusing not just in hands form and weapons but also Taiji theories. In 1972, after Chen Zhaopi death, Chen Zhenglei continued the studies from his uncles, Chen Zhaokui, another famous Taijiquan teacher who was the son of Chen Fake.

Chen Zhenglei specializes in the theories and skills of Taijiquan and push-hands, directly by his grandfather’s brother Chen Fake.

“If you practice for one day you get one day’s benefit, with daily practice you can steadily improve. If you don’t practice for one day you lose ten days of development. So practice everyday without stopping! Western students must understand this clearly. Practice everyday!”
– Chen Zhenglei, 19th generation of the Chen Family

Today’s Video: “Chen Zhenglei – The Belt and Road China Tai Chi Culture World Tour”
https://youtu.be/UQM1Dcrq73Q

 

05/22/2023

Perception,
always present, immediate.
Conceptualization is memory;
it’s mostly where we live,
conceptualizing through life,
functioning through memory,
not allowing perception
to fully unfold,
never welcoming our surroundings.
Cut off from the universe,
we live in isolation,
the root of all suffering.

We ended last week with the legendary foundary of Tai Chi, Zhang Sanfeng. However, he may not have been the actual founder for he had a teacher. Xu Xuanping was a Taoist hermit and poet of the Chinese Tang dynasty. He was said to have lived south of the Yangtze River in Huizhou. His legend relates that he left the city of Yangshan to become a recluse and build a home in Nan Mountain.

According to some schools of T’ai chi ch’uan, Xu is considered to be the Tao Yin teacher of Zhang Sanfeng, whom they say later created the martial art of T’ai chi ch’uan. Other schools hold that Xu himself was a T’ai chi ch’uan practitioner, and that the style Xu Xuanping passed down was simply called “37”, because it consisted of 37 named styles or techniques. During this time it was also known as Chang Quan or Long Boxing as a reference to the flowing power of the Yangtze River (which is also known as the Chang Jiang or Long River).

When Xu carried firewood down from his mountain home to sell in the town below, he would sing this verse.

“At dawn I carry the firewood to sell
To buy wine today, at dusk I will return
Please tell me the way to get home?
Just follow the mountain track up into the clouds”
– Xu Xuanping

For more than 30 years, he had sometimes saved people in distress, and sometimes helped them out of the misery of disease. Many people living in the city went to visit him, but never saw him. They only saw the verses he left on the wall of his thatched hut:

“I have lived in seclusion for thirty years,
on the top of the stone room south of the mountain.
Playing with the bright moon in the quiet night,
drinking the blue spring in the Ming Dynasty.
Forget the year of Jiazi.”
– Xu Xuanping

During the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (the seventh emperor of the Tang Dynasty), a wildfire burned Xu Xuanping’s thatched hut. Since then, there was no trace of Xu Xuanping.

Then more than a hundred years later, in the seventh year of Emperor Yizong of Tang Dynasty (the eighteenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty), an old woman in Xu Mingnu’s house from Xin’an County, who often accompanied others to chop wood in the mountains. Once she saw a man in Nanshan. Sitting on a big rock, he was eating peaches. The man asked the old lady, “Are you from Xu Mingnu’s family? I am Xu Xuanping, the ancestor of Xu Mingnu!” The old lady told Xu Xuanping that she had heard that Xu Xuanping had become a fairy. Xu Xuanping said: “When you go back, tell Xu Mingnu that I am in this mountain.”

While there are no videos about Xu Xuanping, there are a few on the mountain range where he dwelled.

Today’s Video: “NanLing, Guangdong, China”
https://youtu.be/QAi0F-VyNis

 

05/20/2023

Truth cannot be perceived;
it can only be lived;
free from agitation,
not by will or discipline,
without grasping to attain
or effort to become
or planning to achieve.
When energy settles peacefully,
the equilibrium returns.
Allow yourself to be taken
by that freedom, that rhythm
to where the Truth lives.

We close out the week with the Ultimate Tai Chi Master, the legendary character Zhang Sanfeng. Was he historic or purely legendary? No one knows for certain. Many believe Zhang invented T’ai chi ch’üan while others point to early versions of Tai Chi predating Zhang.

In any case Zhang is purported as having created the concept of neijia in Chinese martial arts, specifically taijiquan, a Neo-Confucian syncretism of Shaolin martial arts with his mastery of daoyin (or neigong) principles. Legrend has it, on one occasion, he observed a bird attacking a snake and was greatly inspired by the snake’s defensive tactics. It remained still and alert in the face of the bird’s onslaught until it made a lunge and fatally bit its attacker. This incident inspired him to create a set of 72 taijiquan movements. He is also associated with the Taoist monasteries in the Wudang Mountains, where he supposedly lived in his latter years.

Some legends have made Chang San Feng into a Xian (Hsien). A Xian is a Taoist term for an enlightened person, an immortal, an alchemist, a wizard, a spirit, an inspired sage, a person with super powers, a magician, or a transcendent being. A Xian is similar in function to a Rishi who is an inspired sage in the Indian Vedas.

“What is essential to practice the Tao is to get rid of cravings and vexations. If these afflictions are not removed, it is impossible to attain stability. This is like the case of the fertile field, which cannot produce good crops as long as the weeds are not cleared away. Cravings and ruminations are the weeds of the mind; if you do not clear them away, concentration and wisdom do not develop.” – Zhang Sanfeng

Today’s Video: “The history of kung fu zhang sanfeng legendary founder of tai chi chuan”
https://youtu.be/BdiSa1g-vYU

 

05/19/2023

I drive around in my car,
but I am not my car.
I walk around in my body,
but I am not my body.
I think thoughts in my mind,
but I’m not my mind.
All are very useful,
but I am not any of them.
I am that which uses them
to perceive and marvel
at the grandeur of all Creation.

Today we have another quote from Wee Kee Jin, director of the School of Central Equilbrium and disciple of Huang Shengxian. This is an important quote regarding the form and its relation to push hands.

“When you practice the Taijiquan form, don’t forget to feel and experience the changes in the form, the synchronisation of your movements and be aware of your relaxation and sinking. You must bring all this into your partner work. In free partner work (push hand exercises) it is best to practise slow. When you practice slow you are able to feel whether you are synchronising with your partner’s movements and relax force. With continuous practice it becomes natural and in relation to your partner’s changes the speed of your changes is natural. The speed is not initiated by you. There’s no need to be excited or agitated in the practice of free partner work, it’s only a practice session, not a competition. You must practise until you achieve the relaxation of your “heart”. When the heart is relaxed your spirit will be relaxed, when the spirit is relaxed then your mind will be relaxed and when your mind is relaxed then your body will be relaxed…

“In all push hands you must have relaxation and sinking. If you move forward with only relaxation and without sinking then your following will not have sticking jing (force). If you move backward with only relaxation and without sinking you would only have yielding but no neutralisation (Moving backwards needs to contain yielding and neutralisation. Yielding is to extend the incoming force to weaken it, neutralisation is totally nullifying the force through sinking)” – Wee Kee Jin

There’s a special triple split screen video today showing grandmaster, master and student doing the Tai Chi 37 Form with Cheng Man Ching, his disciple, Huang Shengxian, and Huang’s disciple Wee Kee Jin.

Today’s Video: Wee Kee Jin, Cheng Man-Ching and Huang Sheng-Shyan side by side Tai Chi 37 Step Form
https://youtu.be/o9dTQXBgsEw

 

05/18/2023

Incompleteness,
feeling not whole,
something is missing,
something is lacking.
Who feels one is lacking?
Uncover that person.
The false disappears
once seen as false
and what remains is wholeness.

One of Huang Shengxian’s 10,000 students who stood out from the others is Wee Kee Jin. Now the director of the School of Central Equilibrium in New Zealand, Jin has become a prominent teacher in his own right not only in New Zealand but having established branches throughout Europe and having many international students attending his workshops and summer camps.

“The commonly understood concepts in martial arts and generally in human thinking are that: the strong overcomes the weak, the fast overcomes the slow, the hard overcomes the soft, and we use brute force and resistance against an incoming force. In the practice of taijiquan, the emphasis is on the weak overcoming the strong, the slow overcoming the fast, the soft overcoming the hard, using the mind and not brute force when there is an incoming force, then yielding to it. Because in taijiquan the emphasis is totally the opposite of what one would normally (habitually) do, the practitioners and would-be practitioners of taijiquan must not use a conventional mind-set and methods to understand and train it.” – Wee Kee Jin, “Taijiquan – True Art”

Today’s Video: “Tai Chi Chuan Principles – Wee Kee Jin”
https://youtu.be/Z45APHIXQ9o

 

05/17/2023

Be alert, be ready,
the uninvolved witness,
watch them as they pass,
the succession of thoughts
across the mind,
no longer sticking,
no longer binding.
They burn away
under the watchful alertness
leaving only silence.

Continuing with more on Huang Shengxian from Singapore, Malaysia. Huang opened 40 schools and taught 10,000 students throughout Southeast Asia. Although he was well known for his push hands proficiency, Huang taught his students that the tai chi form was everything.

When teaching, Huang had three important pet phrases or principles: “the essence of Taiji is in the Form” and “Slow is fast and fast is slow.” and “Seek the quality not the quantity” He often reminded his students to take their time and pay attention to the principles in their form. They will progress much further then someone who rushes through the form hoping to get on with push hand practice.

“The way that you do the form will result in the way that you push hands. By understanding yourself and understanding your opponent, you will excel in pushing-hands.” – Huang Shengxian

“If you have a foundation deep enough for three stories, you can only build a three story building. For a twenty story building you need to have laid a foundation to support twenty stories.” – Huang Shengxian

Listening begins in the Form and allows you to cultivate a better understanding of yourself and how your body moves, balances and connects. Thus how you move your body and sychronise your yi (intent) in pushing hands must be the same as in the Taiji Form.

Today’s Video: “Huang Xing Xian — Sheng Shyan — Yang Short Form”
https://youtu.be/gBUijSUO2Y0

 

05/16/2023

The desire to Be,
the Self searching for Itself.
No need to accumulate,
grasp, accomplish or have.
This understanding
bring one home.
Grace draws one to Itself.

Today we move from China to Southeast Asia to look at prominent Tai Chi masters. One of the most notable masters in Singapore, Malaysia was Huang Sheng Shyan (Huang Xingxian). Originally, Master Huang was from Fujian, China, where he studied White Crane in his youth and became very proficient at it. But in 1947 he relocated to Taiwan, where he soon met Cheng Man Ching and became one of the Professor’s most famous students. Then in 1956, he emigrated to Singapore where he set up shop and remained there until his death in 1992.

During his time in Singapore, Master Huang integrated principles from his White Crane practice into Cheng Man Ching’s Yang 37 short form and became well known for his push hand abilities throughout Southeast Asia. One of his guiding principles centered around loosening and softness in order to capture an opponent’s center.

“‘If there is an object, then it should have a center of gravity. If there is a weight then it must have a center of gravity. No weight then no center of gravity. But if I don’t have the center of gravity, how can I control people’s center of gravity. You yourself (must be) Song. Then you realize it (the center of gravity). If our hand is soft, then we can feel the pulse. If my hand is hard, then my sensitivity is no more. Without perception, there is no sensitivity. Then I can’t feel when your hand is loose.” – Huang Xingxian

Besides his push hand abilities, Master Huang was also known for his five loosening or “songing” exercises.

Today’s Video: “Master Huang Xingxiang Five Loosening Exercises”
https://youtu.be/p1S78x0fOJo

 

05/15/2023

The Etheric Body
it’s not the physical body,
nor is it the Ultimate.
It’s not what I am
nor is it what I am not.
It’s in between.
A ladder is not the ground,
nor is it the rooftop.
It’s in between,
helping one to ascend.

More on the fascinating Southern Wu Style Tai Chi Grandmaster, Ma Yueliang, from last week. Not only did Master Ma become a great martial artist, but he Ma was also a medical doctor who graduated from the Beijing Medical College in 1929 and specialized in Hematology. Trained in Western science and medical practices He established the First Medical Examination and Experiment Office and ran the blood clinics at Zhong Shan Hospital in Shanghai.

Ma studied a number of martial arts in his youth including shaolinquan, bauguazhang and tongbeiquan. However, Wu Jianquan, the founder of the Wu style, insisted that Ma give up the other martial arts and concentrate on Wu Tai Chi. Not only did Ma agree but he eventually married Wu Jianquan’s daughter, Ying-hua, who was also an accomplished Tai Chi practitioner. Both went on to teach many students well up into their nineties.

“Five of my students are over 90 years old. The oldest one is 97. Many of the students are in their eighties. We have a saying: ‘Diligent practice of Tai chi will restore your youthful vigor.’ The old can recapture the vitality of youth.” – Ma Yueliang

Is it push hands or ballroom dancing???

Today’s Video: “Ma Yue Liang push hands”
https://youtu.be/pv1pFtIzfTU

 

05/13/2923

I AM the morning mist
that covers the mountain ridge.
I AM the dark, heavy clouds
that press against the horizon.
I AM the cold air that chills the flesh
and pierces the bones, which IAM NOT.
I AM the swirling wind
that whistles through the cavities,
which I AM NOT,
I AM thankful to all I AM
perceived through these senses,
which I AM NOT,
yet appreciated nonetheless.

Another famous Wu Tai Chi practitioner was Ma YueLiang, a Grandmaster of Southern style Wu Tai Chi from Shanghai, China. Grandmaster Ma was well-known throughout China as he was especially proficient at Tui Shou (Push Hands).

“There is no mystique to Tai Chi Chuan. What is difficult is the perseverance. It took me ten years to discover my chi, but thirty years to learn how to use it. Once you see the benefit, you won’t want to stop.” – Ma Yueliang

There you have it! No mystique just perseverance. Keep at it, folks, and have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother’s Day.

Today’s Video: “Ma Yueh Liang Push Hands (Rare Footage)”
https://youtu.be/T3NCBrCSBUU

 

05/12/2023

Encountering the guru
unlike meeting an acquaintance,
no aggressions or defenses,
no pursuit of goals,
accepting yourself,
surrendering, receptive.
deeply attentive,
free from preconceptions,
you find yourself on the threshold
of your true nature,
ready to be taken through.

Yang Tai Chi has a close cousin, Wu style Tai Chi, derived from the Yang form. Wu Quanyou learned his tai chi from Yang LuChan and his eldest son, Yang Ban-Huo, while in the military. Eventually Wu Quanyou’s son Wu Jianquan (吴鉴泉1870–1942) made the majority of the modifications and refinements in his father’s Yang style form and promoted this new form of tai chi as Wu style. And, it is Wu Jianquan who is credited as the founder of Wu style tai chi. Here is a poem he wrote about this new art.

“Two hands rise, separating into yīn and yáng
Left and right like a yīn and yáng fish
Movement springs from extreme stillness, opening then closing
Relax the shoulders and sit on the leg as if embracing the moon

Two hands form into yīn and yáng palms
Two palms crossed over for locking joints

Wait for opportunity before moving, watch for changes
Create opportunity by following the opponent’s force”

– Wu Jianquan – from a didactic poem quoted by his son Wu Gongzao in Wu Family T’ai Chi Ch’uan (吳家太極拳), Hong Kong, 1980 (originally published in Changsha, 1935)

Today’s Video: “History of Wu Style – Ma Hai Long Interview 1 of 6”
https://youtu.be/auZsP8C9upY

 

05/11/2023

Letting go,
actively passive,
totally present, clear-sighted,
uninvolved, alert.
The ego reabsorbed
into pure awareness
that shines forth
like a flash of lightning
taking root
in an unencumbered mind.

Another one of Yang Chengfu’s famous students was Fu Zhongwen, who, like his grandmaster, Chengfu’s father, Yang LuChan, had a two word motto to describe how he one must practiceTai Chi: “Hard Work.” How hard is it? Here’s his quote…

“Practicing Tai Chi until you sit down and don’t want to get up, you don’t want to sit down when you get up. The whole body is as uncomfortable as torture. You must practice to this level”.

Today’s Video: “Fu Zhong Wen 16min FORM”
https://youtu.be/1sI5hza9xzM

 

05/10/2023

Sensations,
warm-cold, heavy-light, tense-relaxed,
habits to which we are accustomed,
memories embedded in our tissues,
superimpositions
on the primal natural body.
The idea ‘I am this body’
reassures the ego that it exists.

Yesterday, we looked at Cheng Man Ching, one of Yang Chengfu’s foremost students who popularized Tai Chi in America. Today we have a quote from Wolfe Lowenthal, one of Cheng Man Ching’s senior students from his school in New York City back in the 1960s and early1970s.

“As the practitioner incorporates the quality of tai chi movement into his life, he finds that he stops banging into things. The result of not falling into each step provides the opportunity to instantaneously ease back from unexpected barriers.” — Wolfe Lowenthal, “There Are No Secrets: Professor Cheng Man Ch’ing and His Tai Chi Chuan,” 1991

Today’s Video: “Cheng Man Ching PUSH HANDS and FAJING”
https://youtu.be/sqLuicG8_Xg

 

05/09/2023

The Truth is the Truth,
Dogma is Dogma.
They are not the same.
Which Dogma does not matter,
one is no more true than another.
While there are many Dogmas,
there is only one Truth,
one Reality.
Be open to it
by rising above the Dogmas.

The most prevalent tai chi form being practiced today was originally formulated by Yang Chengfu, the youngest son of Yang Luchan who originated the Yang family tai chi form. One of Yang Chengfu’s more famous students was Professor Cheng Man-ching, who is noted for establishing and popularizing taichi in America. He moved from Taiwan to New York City, where he established his school in the early 1960s. Cheng was also a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a calligrapher, painter and poet. Here’s a short sample of his poetry.

“Pity! The southerly trees have shed their leaves. Nobody comes to appreciate the mountain’s beauty. Tomorrow I too will float away. My reflection gone from cool streams.”
– Cheng Man-ch’ing

And one simply called TaiChi…
T A I C H I
TAI CHI CHUAN HAS NO OPINION. IT HAS NO INTENTION. IT IS AN IDEA WITHOUT MOTIVE.
IT IS AN ACT WITHOUT DESIRE. IT IS, PROPERLY, THE NATURAL RESPONSE TO AN OUTSIDE FORCE, NOT BEING PERCEIVED AS SUCH.
FOR IN NATURE, ALL ARE THE SAME, EVERYTHING IS ONE. THAT WHICH ATTACKS IS THE SAME AS THAT WHICH RESPONDS, THE SAME FORCE – REDIRECTED AND RECYCLED.
WHEN YOU INITIATE AN ILL-INTENTIONED MOVE, IT COMES BACK ON YOU.
THE PRINCIPLES OF TAI CHI ARE THE SAME PRINCIPLES BEHIND THE INNER MECHANISM OF THE GREAT ENGINE OF THE UNIVERSE.
– CHENG MAN CH’ING

Today’s Video: “THE PROFESSOR: Tai Chi’s Journey West – Official Trailer”
https://youtu.be/Ro7vNLy-PmE

 

05/08/2023

Be the witness,
not the doer, the actor.
Be aware,
see the natural flow of life,
your actions, their motives, results.
Notice the walls
you have built around yourself.

Today we are starting to view the quotes of Taichi Masters and other Martial Artists on enlightenment and their particular art. We begin with a tribute to a famous artist andTaichi player, Ju Ming. Ju who recently passed away began studying tai chi some 40 years ago and had become one of Asia’s foremost sculptors through his Taichi Series, which he started in the late 1970s. The Series features large, angular, bronze sculptures frozen in Tai Chi postures, capturing the principles of this highly meditative internal art.

‘When I first started practising tai chi I practised by myself, so all the forms of the earlier series are mostly single, But as you practise more you need to learn ‘pushing hands’ and you need a partner to practise with, which is why you see, later on, two sculptures ‘pushing hands’ in more abstract form.

‘As you go further and further you become more skilful and the energy is floating with your partner. The (Taichi) Arches evolved from the representation of two tai chi masters in the pushing hands position. This is the final step, when the two bodies connect. They are more abstract than earlier works in the series, and they also impart a stronger sense of motion. In the older pushing hands works there’s still a gap between the two bodies. Now, I have connected the two sides so that the energy and tension of musculature flows between them as one body that evolved into the shape of an arch.” – Ju Ming

Ju Ming’s story is reminiscent of that famous Taichi principle “Stillness in motion, and motion in stillness,” but at the same time reflects upon a principle of art: “Art imitates Life as well as Life imitates Art.” So, when doing your Taichi form find the art – the beauty, the truth – of each posture. Enjoy your practice.

Today’s Video: “Ju Ming, who created world-famous ‘T’ai chi’ sculptures, dies at 85”
https://youtu.be/_EJ5moD2tJk

 

05/06/2023

We cannot find the Light
since we are the light
underlying all our senses.
all our thoughts, sensations.
We cannot perceive
that which perceives

We end the week of looking at contemporary Tibetan Buddhist masters with the first woman to become a Tibetan geshe.

Geshe Kelsang Wangmo is a German-born Buddhist nun, scholar, and teacher. She is the first woman to be awarded a Geshe title, considered equivalent to a Ph.D. in Buddhist philosophy. She was raised in a Roman Catholic family in Lohmar, Germany. After completing high school in 1989, she went on a backpacking trip. Travelling through Israel, Turkey, Cyprus, Thailand, Indonesia, and Japan, she reached India. After visiting Kolkata, Varanasi, and Manali, she landed in Dharamshala. She had planned to stay for a couple of weeks before returning to start university, studying medicine. But eventually, she stayed on.

She took ordination as a nun in April 1991. She later enrolled in the traditional geshe curriculum (a 17-year course) at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (IBD) in Dharamshala. In April 2011, the IBD conferred the degree of geshe, a Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monastics, on her, thus making her the world’s first female geshe.

“I don’t like the word ignorance. It implies that we’re stupid. We’re not stupid. I prefer the word misperception.That is the cause for all our troubles…The problem is, we misperceive how the ‘I’ exists. From the Buddhist perspective, every problem comes back to that: misperceiving reality. Because of this misperception, there is anger and attachment. Buddha says we can get rid of all these problems if we get rid of misperception.”
– Geshe Kelsang Wangmo

Could it be that we misperceive reality because we are ignorant? Thank about that and enjoy your weekend, everyone.

Today’s Video: “Geshe Kelsang Wangmo Self Cherish Vs Self Confidence”
https://youtu.be/_fw_qVRBOVE

 

05/05/2023

Beauty is the same in all.
Live in beauty,
Look from beauty.
It is our wholeness,
our awakenedness.
No longerdivided, separate,
we live in our fullness,
our global oneness.

Thubten Chodron, born Cheryl Greene, is an American Tibetan Buddhist nun, author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey in Newport, Washington, the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Western nuns and monks in the United States. Chodron is a central figure in the reinstatement of the Bhikshuni (Tib. Gelongma) ordination of women. She is a student of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, Lama Thubten Yeshe, Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, and other Tibetan masters. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and is co-authoring with the Dalai Lama a multi-volume series of teachings on the Buddhist path, The Library of Wisdom and Compassion.

““When you plant seeds in the garden, you don’t dig them up every day to see if they have sprouted yet. You simply water them and clear away the weeds; you know that the seeds will grow in time. Similarly, just do your daily practice and cultivate a kind heart. Abandon impatience and instead be content creating the causes for goodness; the results will come when they’re ready.”
― Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron

If you are one who longs for enlightenment, I cannot think of any better advice than be patient and be content creating the causes for goodness. That all we need to do.

Today’s Video: “Introduction | Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron”
https://youtu.be/4ZaI_H0qlh4

 

05/04/2023

Being stillness,
without someone
trying to be still.
No controller, no doer,
no chooser making choices.
living choicelessly,
allowing
the situation to unfold,
to RESOLVE itself.

Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, July 14, 1936, is an American Tibetan-Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Chödrön has written several dozen books and audiobooks, and is principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia.

Chödrön began studying with Lama Chime Rinpoche during frequent trips to London over a period of several years. While in the United States she studied with Trungpa Rinpoche in San Francisco. In 1974, she became a novice Buddhist nun under Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa. In Hong Kong in 1981 she became the first American in the Vajrayana tradition to become a fully ordained nun or bhikṣuṇī.

Trungpa appointed Chödrön director of the Boulder Shambhala Center (Boulder Dharmadhatu) in Colorado in the early 1980s. Chödrön moved to Gampo Abbey in 1984, the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in North America for Western men and women, and became its first director in 1986.

“But as we let go of our repetitive stories and fixed ideas about ourselves–particularly deep-seated feelings of “I’m not okay”–the armor starts to fall apart, and we open into the spaciousness of our true nature, into who we really are beyond the transitory thoughts and emotions. We see that our armor is made up of nothing more than habits and fears, and we begin to feel that we can let those go.”
― Pema Chödrön, Living Beautifully: with Uncertainty and Change

We have put on the armor to protect ourselves from that which is most fearful to us – deep-seated change. Yes, the armor does protect us and at the same restricts us and restricts our movement from doing what really need to be done – change!

Today’s Video: “Pema Chödrön – Why I Became a Buddhist”
https://youtu.be/A4slnjvGjP4

 

05/03/2023

suffering and pleasure,
sadness and joy,
one follows the other,
reciprocating, oscillating,
one after the other.
no peace in one’s bosom,
no stillness in one’s heart,
chasing after one,
trying to escape the other.
never living,
dying day by day.
what fools these mortals be!

Continuing with contemporary Tibetan Masters, today we meet Serme Khen Rinpoche Geshe Tashi Tsering, abbot of Sera Mey Monastic University in India. He was born in Purang, Tibet in 1958, and his family escaped to India in 1959. He entered Sera Mey Monastic University in South India when he was 13 years old, and graduated with a Lharampa Geshe degree 16 years later. From 1994 to 2018, he was the resident Tibetan Buddhist teacher at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London.

In the west, Tsering teaches in English and is renowned for his warmth, clarity and humour. Besides Jamyang, he has been a regular guest teacher at other Buddhist centres in the UK and around the world. He is also the creator and original teacher of the Foundation of Buddhist Thought Course, a two-year course which gives an overview of Tibetan Buddhist study and practice. In March 2018 the Dalai Lama asked Geshe Tashi to become abbot of Sera Mey Monastic University in India. He was enthroned as abbot on 17 June 2018.

“The first training, ethics (also called ethical conduct or moral discipline) is crucial in developing the second and the third, concentration and wisdom, and as such is really the foundation for the other two.”

“So ethical conduct, practicing a moral life, is not something that can effectively be enforced from the outside but must grow out of a subjective understanding of what helps and what harms others.”
― Tashi Tsering, The Four Noble Truths: The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, Volume 1

Today’s Video: “Developing Compassion Without Attachment | Geshe Tashi Tsering”
https://youtu.be/i95DFJCNuIo

 

05/02/2023

The flame may be gone,
but the embers never die.
They remain embedded
in the hearts of all
whom he touched.

Continuing our look at contemporary Tibetan Master, we honor one who just passed away a few weeks ago on April 13th. Thubten Zopa Rinpoche was a Tibetan Buddhist lama in the Gelug school. He is known for founding the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition and Maitripa College in Portland, Oregon.

Born in Thangme, Nepal, in 1946,vhe was recognized early in life as the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama Kunzang Yeshe, from the same region (hence the title “Rinpoche”). At the age of ten, he went to Tibet and studied and meditated at Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s monastery near Pagri. He took his monastic vows at Dungkar Monastery in Tibet. Lama Zopa Rinpoche left Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese occupation of Tibet, and went to the Tibetan refugee camp at Buxa Duar, West Bengal, India, where he met Lama Yeshe, who became his closest teacher.

“The real miracle is when someone is able to stop the cause of suffering and create the cause of happiness by learning that their own mind is the source of their suffering and happiness. The real miracle is to transform our mind, because this will take care of us for many lifetimes. Our positive attitude will stop us from creating the cause of problems, thus ensuring our happiness not only in this life but in hundreds, or even thousands, of future lives up to enlightenment. This is the greatest success. (p. 30)”
― Thubten Zopa, Ultimate Healing: The Power of Compassion

Today’s Video: Our Beloved Lama Zopa Rinpoche
https://youtu.be/nIpRmyZVNJk

 

05/01/2023

desire,
our jailer,
listen to it,
listen closely,
but don’t act upon it.
listen in stillness
and to your reactions.
see how deeply rooted.
see how much you desire
to be free of your jailer.
desiring to be desireless
is still a desire.

Happy Merry Month of May to everyone!

We ended April with ancient Tibetan Masters and lineage founders. Today we begin May with contemporary Tibetan Masters, and our first one happens to be a co-founder of a Tibetan foundation and dharma center and an American. Jeffrey Miller is an American lama born in 1950 in Long Island, New York. Miller’s Dharma name, Surya Das, meaning “Servant of the Sun, was given to him in 1972 by the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba. Miller is a poet, chantmaster, spiritual activist, author of many popular works on Buddhism, and spokesperson for Buddhism in the West. He has long been involved in charitable relief projects in the developing world and in interfaith dialogue.

He is a Dharma heir of Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche, a Nyingma master of the non-sectarian Rime movement, with whom he founded the Dzogchen Foundation and Center in 1991. He received Nyoshul Khenpo’s authorization to teach in 1993.

“Breath by breath, let go of fear, expectation, anger, regret, cravings, frustration, fatigue. Let go of the need for approval. Let go of old judgments and opinions. Die to all that, and fly free. Soar in the freedom of desirelessness.

Let go. Let Be. See through everything and be free, complete, luminous, at home — at ease.”
― Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World

Today’s Video: Lama Surya Das – Natural Meditation
https://youtu.be/Anyh0l6Grtc

 

04/29/2023

Resolve,
determindness, resoluteness,
but to what purpose?
to make money?
to gain status?
to raise a family?
a purpose that comes with Life?
Where to find it?
In Himalayan caves, cathedrals,
gambling halls, brothels,
or within us, in life, itself?

We close out the week and the month with one of Tilopa’s most important teachings: “The Six Precepts or Words of Advice” that he gave to Naropa.

“The Six Precepts or Words of Advice”
Don’t recall Let go of what has passed
Don’t imagine Let go of what may come
Don’t think Let go of what is happening now
Don’t examine Don’t try to figure anything out
Don’t control Don’t try to make anything happen
Rest Relax, right now, and rest
– Tilopa

So, try those out this weekend and see how you do. In that case then, there’s no senses in asking you to have a wonderful weekend.

Today’s Video: :Tilopa’s Six Essential Points of Meditation – Mahamudra – Kagyu Tibetan Buddhism”
https://youtu.be/A34zMe7EDPE

 

04/28/2023

without borders
without patterns
keep the energy feeling alive,
spaciousness, vibrations,
the body participates
in that deepened sense,
understanding awareness.

Staying with the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, today we look at a legendary character and master, Tilopa. He practiced Anuttarayoga Tantra, a set of spiritual practices intended to accelerate the process of attaining Buddhahood. He ground sesame seeds during the day and at night he was a solicitor and bouncer for Dharima, a prostitute. . After receiving the transmission in a vision of Vajradhara, Tilopa meditated in two caves, and bound himself with heavy chains to hold the correct meditation posture. He practiced for many years and then met the mind of all buddhas in the form of Diamond Holder Vajradhara. Tilopa is considered the grandfather of today’s Kagyu Lineage. Naropa, his most important student, became his successor and carried and passed on the teachings.

This quote is in the form of a song with which Tilopa instructed the Mahamudra to Naropa:

“The fool in his ignorance, disdaining Mahamudra,
Knows nothing but struggle in the flood of samsara.
Have compassion for those who suffer constant anxiety!
Sick of unrelenting pain and desiring release, adhere to a master,
For when his blessing touches your heart, the mind is liberated”
– Tilopa, from the song “The Ganges Mahamudra”

Today’s Video: “The short biography of Mahasidda Tilopa”
https://youtu.be/tBxue5hKdYM

 

04/27/2023

Listen, listen closely.
We listen to things,
but real listening is not
listening to.
It is not listening to anything,
just the feeling of being
without conceptualizing,
without characterizing or judging.
Be available to the presence.
Let it unfold within you.
Allow the moment to come to you.

The last two sessions we looked at Milarepa. Today we look at one of his foremost teachers, Marpa Lotsawa. Known commonly as Marpa the Translator, Marpa Lotsāwa was a Tibetan Buddhist teacher credited with the transmission of many Vajrayana teachings from India, including the teachings and lineages of Mahamudra. Due to this the Kagyu lineage, which he founded, is often called Marpa Kagyu in his honour. This lineage was my first encounter with Tibetan Buddhism.

Upon Marpa’s athird journey to India, he eventually found Mahasiddha Naropa and received the full transmission from him, after which Naropa formally declared Marpa to be his successor. After Marpa’s second visit to India Milarepa became his disciple. After the death of Marpa’s son, Darma Dode, Milarepa inherited Marpa’s lineage in full.

Having made the mistake of chosing his personal meditational Buddha-form, Hevajra, over his teacher, Naropa, Marpa fell ill. His dharma brothers and sisters came to visit him, hoping to find a cure. Marpa tod them:

“Dear Vajra brothers and sisters! Whether I live or die depends purely on the karma of Tibetans. If they have the good karma to receive the teachings I am about to bring them, I will survive anyway, whether I get proper medicine or not. And if they do not have this karma, I will die anyway, however well you try to cure me. So, let us not spend money of the sangha and rely on the nature of phenomena!” – Marpa Lotsawa

Marpa soon got well. Therefore the Tibetans who were to receive his teaching must have had good karma. The statement by Marpa and his subsequent cure have not been approved by the FDA.

Today’s Video:
https://youtu.be/wfL0U_NcA_4

 

04/26/2023

simplicity comes through understanding,
stillness comes through understanding,
peace comes through understanding,
beauty and love come through understanding,
and what does understanding come through?
not through objects,
not through the mind,
but through grace,
the grace of being understanding.

Today, let’s do one more quote from Milarepa. This one is a rather lengthy, controversial quote.

“When ye look at me I am an idle, idle man; when I look at myself I am a busy, busy man. Since upon the plain of uncreated infinity I am building, building the tower of ecstasy, I have no time for building houses. Since upon the steppe of the void of truth I am breaking, breaking the savage fetter of suffering, I have no time for ploughing family land. Since at the bourn of unity ineffable I am subduing, subduing the demon-foe of self, I have no time for subduing angry foe-men. Since in the palace of mind which transcends duality I am waiting, waiting for spiritual experience as my bride, I have no time for setting up house. Since in the circle of the Buddhas of my body I am fostering, fostering the child of wisdom, I have no time for fostering snivelling children. Since in the frame of the body, the seat of all delight, I am saving, saving precious instruction and reflection, I have no time for saving wordly wealth.” ― Milarepa, Songs of Milarepa

Here Milarepa seems like he is scoffing at some rather noble pursuits like raising a family, fostering children, building a business, farming. What he is actually telling us is no matter how noble a pursuit, if it is external, in other words dealing with objects, phenomena, don’t waist your time on it. Instead turn your attention inward to reflect upon your true nature, “fostering the child of wisdom.”

Today’s Video: “Milarepa (1) – Selected Pointers and Teachings for Meditation – Tibetan Buddhism – Kagyu”
https://youtu.be/uiL8XdhMyMg

 

04/25/2023

When life asks for thinking, think.
When life asks for acting, act
When life asks for stillness, be still.
When life asks for rest, rest.
When life asks for forgiveness, forgive.
When life asks for thanksgiving, give thanks.
Not through discipline, but understanding.

Last week we looked at quotes from Chan Buddhist masters in China. Today we move to Tibet and a famous Tibetan master from the 11th Century, Milarepa. In his younger years, he studied black magic in an attempt to gain revenge on a wicked uncle who had stripped his mother and sister of all their property. This led him to mass murder and destruction through the occult. Some time later with a heavy conscience, he sought out various Tibetan Buddhist masters, finally gaining acceptance as a full-fledged disciple under the guidance of the Tibetan master Marpa. After his years of study with Marpa were completed, Milarepa sought out remote, isolated mountain retreats in which he practiced rigorous meditation and was eventually enlightened. He went on to teach and convert many disciples.

“Life is short and the time of death is uncertain; so apply yourself to meditation. Avoid doing evil, and acquire merit, to the best of your ability, even at the cost of life itself. In short: Act so that you have no cause to be ashamed of yourselves and hold fast to this rule.” – Milarepa

Today’s Video: Milarepa: The Great Tibetan Tantric & His Enlightenment – Sadhguru
https://youtu.be/Oi7eLmaL1DU

 

04/22/2023

Happy Earth Day, Everyone!

Don’t seek the purpose of Life.
Life has no purpose.
There is no one who lives,
there is no one who dies.
No liver and no dier.
There is only living,
only life.
Isn’t that enough?
Why do you want more?

Today we look at Bodhidharma’s main disciple, the monk who became heir to Bodhidharma and the Second Patriarch of Chan buddhism, Dazu Huike. Huike studied with Bodhidharma at Shaolin for six years. Then Bodhidharma gave Huike his robe and bowl, a sign that Huike was now Bodhidharma’s dharma heir and ready to begin teaching.

Bodhidharma also gave Huike a copy of the Lankavatara Sutra, which Huike is said to have studied diligently for the next few years. The Lankavatara is a Mahayana sutra chiefly known for its teaching of Yogacara and Buddha-Nature.

“Originally deluded, one calls the mani-pearl a potsherd
Suddenly one is awakened—and it is [recognized] as a pearl
Ignorance and wisdom are identical, not different.” – Dazu Huike

Enjoy Earth Day, everyone! And have an enjoyable weekend.

Today’s Video: “Zen Will Change Your Life – Bodhidharma & Huike”
https://youtu.be/9uaFnYhWke8

 

04/21/2023

Reactions, deeply rooted,
can we let go?
Live grounded in our being,
completely harmonious
and appropriate
to our actions?
See the tension in our reactions.
See it without trying to change it.
Pure seeing, being aware.
Then the ground becomes the body.
The organic body memory,
natural, original.
A sensitive body is the real body.

We have been following two major Chan masters of the Tang dynasty, Lin-Chi and his mentor. Huangbo. So today we go all the way back to the start of the Chan Buddhist period in China with the arrival of Bodhidharma from India in the sixth century.

“To find Buddha, you have to see your nature. Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha. If you don’t see your nature, invoking buddhas, reciting sutras, making offerings, and keeping precepts are all useless. Invoking buddhas results in good karma, reciting sutras results in a good memory, keeping precepts results in good rebirth, and making offerings results in future blessings—but no Buddha.” – Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma is telling us that the purpose of our life is not to gain good karma or have a good memory or a good rebirth or future blessings. It has nothing to do with the future or future lives. The purpose of life is to realize our true nature here and now.

Today’s Video: “Why do monks always greet with one hand? – The Story of Bodhidharma”
https://youtu.be/Wtt9Rqjhm8U

 

04/20/2023

A corpse is still.
A corpse has no thoughts.
A corpse has no conflicts.
A corpse has no desires.
A corpse has no anxiety, no stress.
Why do many spiritual teachers
encourage students to be corpses?

Today we continue with quotes from Huangbo “Chan Master Without Limits” and mentor to Lin-Chi

“Awakening occurs as the nature of the mind, it doesn’t involve the six perfections and myriad practices. These are all merely marginal activities for teaching and helping liberate others in various states and according to circumstances. “Enlightenment,” “suchness,” “ultimate reality,” “liberation”… all of these are expedient, temporary expressions, unnecessary to the awakened mind.” – Huangbo

So now that we see all these practices that spiritual advisors over the years have encouraged us to do, when are we going to stop chasing our tails and make ourselves available to our true nature?

Today’s video: “Zen Teaching of Huang Po”
https://youtu.be/ohz3VF27Ad

04/19/2023

A sense of lack
deep and engrossing,
the price we pay
for the enjoyment
of feeling separate.

Like most realized masters, Lin-chi had a spiritual teacher who guided him to the threshold. Huangbo, was the head of a monastery that he named Huangpo after the mountain where he grew up. He was given the posthumus title of “Chan Master Without Limits.

“As to cultivating the six perfections (of character) and all the other self-improvement practices, and performing all sorts of virtuous activities to accumulate merit – since you are already complete, you cannot add to that perfection through practice. You should perform practices when there is an appropriate occasion, and return to stillness when the occasion has ended. If you do not clearly see that this mind itself is awakening, but instead want to practice by attaching to forms and seeking rewards, then it is all delusion apart from the Way.” -Huangbo

Self-improvement, self-cultivation, seeking enlightenment, none of it has anything to do with becoming realized. The Self is already realized. One merely needs to see it, not as a concept but as the Truth.

Today’s Video: “Huang Po – Be a Buddha”
https://youtu.be/KB_xn_Vjopc

 

04/18/2023

Identifying with the body-mind
prevents it from living
to its fullest.
To be a perfect human being
we mustn’t believe
we are a human being.
To the extent we believe,
our humanity will remain hidden,
our best qualities won’t actualize.
So then, what are we?

Today we hear more from Linji, one of the most highly regarded of the T’ang period masters and founder of the Linji school of Chinese Zen (Chan) Buddhism.

“If you want to be free, get to know your real self. It has no form, no appearance, no root, no basis, no abode, but is lively and buoyant. It responds with versatile facility, but its function cannot be located. Therefore when you look for it you become further from it, when you seek it you turn away from it all the more.” – Lin-chi

Today’s Video: “Rinzai – Zen Master Lin chi- Linji Yixuan Quotes – Taoism and Iconoclast”
https://youtu.be/aN5Z1jOOPeI

 

04/17/2023

Trusting is our nature.
without trust
we are something else,
not human.
Trusting is not calculation,
not plotting,
no hesitation.
It is beauty, love,
intelligence.
When one does not trust,
one does not love,
an expression of the heart,
not of the mind.

This week we move from Europe in the Middle Ages to the same period in the Far East, starting with the great ninth century Chinese Zen master Lin-chi, one of the most highly regarded of the T’ang period masters and founder of the Linji school of Chinese Zen (Chan) Buddhism.

“When it’s time to get dressed, put on your clothes.
When you must walk, then walk.
When you must sit, then sit.
Just be your ordinary self in ordinary life,
unconcerned in seeking for Buddhahood.
When you’re tired, lie down.
The fool will laugh at you
but the wise man will understand.” – Lin-chi

Any questions or do you understand? Ordinary self living an ordinary life, can anything be more clear?

Today’s Video: “Words of Lin-Chi | Zen Buddhism”
https://youtu.be/jjCRz4ohQDA

 

04/15/2023

Truth can only be understood
by Truth.
Truth can only be transmitted
by Truth.
One who criticizes, compares, judges
is not privy to the Truth,
Only when there is listening
without a listener,
observing
without an observer
does Truth reveal itself.

Yesterday we looked at Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Italian theologian and philosopher. Today, we move further back in history to the Dark Ages and two quotes from another Christian saint. Augustine of Hippo born in 354 A.D. spent his early life as a heretic until Saint Ambrose converted him. Eventually Augustine became an important “Father of the Early Church” and influence the development of Western Christianity.

“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.” – Saint Augustine

“Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” – Saint Augustine

Today’s Video: “Saint You Should Know: Augustine of Hippo”
https://youtu.be/DNFpcUp5nBw

 

04/14/2023

welcoming,
surrendering,
listening,
not knowing.
always new,
always the same,
eternally young,
eternally new.

For today’s quote (actually two short ones), we turn back to the middle ages and the 13th-century Italian theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas.

“Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.” – Thomas Aquinas.
And one more…
“One aspect of neighbourly love is that we must not merely will our neighbours good, but actually work to bring it about.”
– Thomas Aquinas

Today’s video: “Five Ways to Prove God Exists (Aquinas 101)”
https://youtu.be/42Eg6UUBqqo

04/13/2023

There is nothing to take,
yet we cannot give up trying.
See there is nothing there,
and the desire to take fades.

Over the past two days, I have been including a couple of Sadguru’s video lectures in conjunction with Dhyan Giten’s 3 stages of satori. So, today I thought I would post a quote from Sadguru.

“If you ask a tree how he feels to know that he’s spreading his fragrance and making people happy, I don’t think a tree looks at it that way. I am just like that, and it is just my nature to be like this.”
― Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Today’s Video: “The Secret Language of Trees”
https://youtu.be/9HiADisBfQ0

 

04/12/2023

Would you like
to live in peace,
to be free from
a stressful life,
draining relationships
petty foibles?
defending your self-image
brings nothing but trouble.
Let go!

Today we have Part 3 of Swami Dhyan Giten’s three stages of enlightenment.

“The third stage of enlightenment:
Ocean, Wholeness, No-self, Pure being

At the third stage of enlightenment, at the third step of Satori, our individual river flowing silently, suddenly reaches to the Ocean and becomes one with the Ocean.
At the third Satori, the ego is lost, and there is Atma, pure being. You are, but without any boundaries. The river has become the Ocean, the Whole.
It has become a vast emptiness, just like the pure sky.
The third stage of enlightenment happens when you have become capable of finding the inner being, the meditative quality within, the gap, the inner silence and emptiness, so that it becomes a natural quality.
You can find the gap whenever you want.
This is what tantra callas Mahamudra, the great orgasm, what Buddha calls Nirvana, what Lao Tzu calls Tao and what Jesus calls the kingdom of God.
You have found the door to God.
You have come home.”
― Swami Dhyan Giten

There’s nothing much I can add. This is the third and final stage in which you return to your true nature. Though you still function in the world, you are not of the world. You are not in it; the world is in you.

Today’s Video: “The Simplest Way to Enlightenment – Sadhguru Spot of 10”
https://youtu.be/9pSvd87cBaE

 

04/11/2023

bodily sensations,
by not accepting them,
trying to change them,
taking pills to escape them
robs us of intimacy.

Today is Part 2 of Swami Dhyan Giten’s three stages of enlightenment.

“2. The second stage of enlightenment:
Silence, Relaxation, Togetherness, Inner Being

The second stage of enlightenment is a new order, a harmony, from within, which comes from the inner being. It is the quality of freedom.
The inner chaos has disappeared and a new silence, relaxation and togetherness has arisen.
Your own wisdom from within has arisen.
A subtle ego is still present in the second stage of enlightenment.
The Hindus has three names for the ego:
1. Ahamkar, which is the ordinary ego.
2. Asmita, which is the quality of Am-ness, of no ego. It is a very silent ego, not aggreessive, but it is still a subtle ego.
3. Atma, the third word is Atma, when the Am-ness is also lost. This is what Buddha calls no-self, pure being.
In the second stage of enlightenment you become capable of being in the inner being, in the gap, in the meditative quality within, in the silence and emptiness.
For hours, for days, you can remain in the gap, in utter aloneness, in God.
Still you need effort to remain in the gap, and if you drop the effort, the gap will disappear.
Love, meditation and prayer becomes the way to increase the effort in the search for God.
Then the second stage becomes a more conscious effort. Now you know the way, you know the direction.”
– Swami Dhyan Giten

Needless to say, it is quite a leap from Stage 1 to Stage 2. Perhaps the good Swami should have included a few intermediate steps to get us to Stage 2 such as bodywork, attending satsang and dialogues with a spiritual teacher, guided meditations, reading scriptures and books by noted teachers to name a few.

Today’s Video: “Sadhguru – what is enlightenment and how to get there”
https://youtu.be/nbVP11csZiY

 

04/10/2023

Intimacy
transcends the body.
true to the glimpse,
beyond the mind.
we are everything
intimate,
without borders,
open
in not knowing.
yet we know
through intimacy

This week we begin our quotes on Enlightenment with a Swedish spiritual teacher and author, Swami Dhyan Giten with the three stages of enlightenment. Today is Stage 1 – A Glimpse.

“These are the three stages of enlightenment, the three glimpses of satori.

1. The first stage enlightenment:
A Glimpse of the Whole

The first stage of enlightenment is short glimpse from faraway of the whole. It is a short glimpse of being.
The first stage of enlightenment is when, for the first time, for a single moment the mind is not functioning. The ordinary ego is still present at the first stage of enlightenment, but you experience for a short while that there is something beyond the ego.
There is a gap, a silence and emptiness, where there is not thought between you and existence.
You and existence meet and merge for a moment.
And for the first time the seed, the thirst and longing, for enlightenment, the meeting between you and existence, will grow in your heart.”
– Swami Dhyan Giten

This is a stage that many gurus and spiritual teachers point out as a sudden breakthrough. Over the course of time, if one is sincere in their cultivation, these glimpses become more frequent and longer and for some can eventually lead to satori.

Today’s Video: “Swami Dhyan Giten intuition, the inner source of love truth & wisdom.”
https://youtu.be/JMyQZGQND30

04/08/2023

Taking a cup of tea,
there is no one
who takes tea.
Making some toast,
there is no one
who makes toast.
No taker of tea,
no maker of toast,
only tea-taking,
only toast-making.

One last Carl Jung quote to close out the week, and it’s a profound one indeed.

“A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” – Carl Jung

We can see this recurring theme in Jung’s quotes of going within and facing one’s dark side as the path he believes will free us from ourselves. Here he gives us an additional clue as to what to look for within – those behaviors we see in others that irritate us.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Today’s Video: “How to Integrate Your Shadow – The Dark Side is Unrealized Potential”
https://youtu.be/tIoJhqnOc0M

 

04/07/2023

Flowing through us,
it is our beingness.
the Oneness,
there are not two.
There is no other.
only the One.

We continue today with more from Carl Jung who speaks to us about enlightenment and the darkness that sets us free.

“When we must deal with problems, we instinctively resist trying the way that leads through obscurity and darkness. We wish to hear only of unequivocal results, and completely forget that these results can only be brought about when we have ventured into and emerged again from the darkness. But to penetrate the darkness we must summon all the powers of enlightenment that consciousness can offer.” – Carl Jung

Our true nature is always hidden by the darkness that lies within the depths of our unconscious. So, Jung had said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” He is restating that insight in the quote above. There are no two ways about it – if one seeks enlightnment, one must face the darkness of the unknown and, as Jung states, venture into it.

Today’s Video: “Jordan Peterson: Carl Jung’s Intelligence was “bloody terrifying”
https://youtu.be/ltYGVobKX0U

 

04/06/2023

presence is the absence
of what you are not.
neither this nor that.
it does not come by will,
only by waiting,
waiting and being open.

Today’s quote on enlightenment is from the world of psychology. Carl Jung is considered the father of analytical psychology, but he was a an insightful philosopher as well. If you remember, Jung’s commentary served as the preface fro Richard Wilhelm’s German translation of “The Secret of the Golden Flower, an eighth-century Chinese text on Taoist alchemy.

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”
― C.G. Jung

According to Jung, and I believe he is correct, you can chuck all those visualizations your meditation and yoga teachers have given you. Instead start on the level of the body and work your way inside, peeling away one layer at a time.

Today’s Video: “Becoming Your True Self – The Psychology of Carl Jung”
https://youtu.be/uRDy4M5jI-g

 

04/05/2023

Discernment
leads to clarity.
A clear mind
leads to openness.
An open mind
leads to availability.
Grace will seek out
one who is available.

Two similar quotes today but from two different spiritual sects. The first one is from Dogen Zenji, a Japanese Buddhist priest, writer and philosopher and founder of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism. The second one is from Jean Klein, a French author, spiritual teacher and philosopher of Advaita Vedanta.

“Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.” – Dogen Zenji

“You know yourself only in relation to objects, in relation to the image that yu have created. You believe that you can see what really are the same way that you cam see an object.”

Both of these quotes are telling us that the Reality which we are – our true nature – is not an object. Therefore, we cannot use our minds to realize our true nature. The mind is just another object the same as the body, and we know ourselves in relation to our body-mind. Thus, we need to cultivate silent observation, observing our body-minds and other worldly objects without conceptualization. To do that we must first see that we do not observe free from any conclusion.

Today’s Video: Zen Master Dōgen Zenji: Four Lessons About Genuine Enlightenment
https://youtu.be/Idu9r5U3TR0

 

04/04/2023

beyond the mind,
beyond our thoughts,
our true nature awaits.
nothing to find,
nothing to obtain,
it is in waiting
that we are waiting,
waiting in stillness.

Again another insightful quote from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, a spiritual teacher in the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

“But beyond the mind, beyond our thoughts, there is something we call the ‘nature of the mind’, the mind’s true condition, which is beyond all limits. If it is beyond the mind, though, how can we approach an understanding of it?

Let’s take the example of a mirror. When we look into a mirror we see in it the reflected images of any objects that are in front of it; we don’t see the nature of the mirror. But what do we mean by this ‘nature of the mirror’? We mean its capacity to reflect, definable as its clarity, its purity, and its limpidity, which are indispensable conditions for the manifestation of reflections. This ‘nature of the mirror’ is not something visible, and the only way we can conceive of it is through the images reflected in the mirror. In the same way, we only know and have concrete experience of that which is relative to our condition of body, voice, and mind. But this itself is the way to understand their true nature.”
― Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State

Here Namkhai Norbu is telling us to use the entire body-mind to sense, to feel our true nature. Use your entire body and mind to patiently wait with a welcoming openness.

Today’s Video: “Chögyal Namkhai Norbu – Margarita – January 2nd 2012”
https://youtu.be/gePd_7aT7y8

 

04/03/2023

The body is in you,
but you are not the body.
This room is in you,
but you are not this room.
The world is in you,
but you are not the world.
You are the Reality
in which all things dwell.

Continuing with Tibetan Buddhist master, today we look at Namkhai Norbu (8 December 1938 – 27 September 2018). He was a Tibetan Buddhist master of Dzogchen and a professor of Tibetan and Mongolian language and literature at Naples Eastern University. He was a leading authority on Tibetan culture, particularly in the fields of history, literature, traditional religions (Tibetan Buddhism and Bon), and Traditional Tibetan medicine. Below is a rather long but important quote on his teachings of Dzogchen and the trap we get ourselves into as we try to discover our true nature intellectually.

“All the philosophical theories that exist have been created by the mistaken dualistic minds of human beings. In the realm of philosophy, that which today is considered true, may tomorrow be proved to be false. No one can guarantee a philosophy’s validity. Because of this, any intellectual way of seeing whatever is always partial and relative. The fact is that there is no truth to seek or to confirm logically; rather what one needs to do is to discover just how much the mind continually limits itself in a condition of dualism.

“Dualism is the real root of our suffering and of all our conflicts. All our concepts and beliefs, no matter how profound they may seem, are like nets which trap us in dualism. When we discover our limits we have to try to overcome them, untying ourselves from whatever type of religious, political or social conviction may condition us. We have to abandon such concepts as ‘enlightenment’, ‘the nature of the mind’, and so on, until we are no longer satisfied by a merely intellectual knowledge, and until we no longer neglect to integrate our knowledge with our actual existence.”
― Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State

We need to see how our dualistic minds have trapped us into an intellectual way of seeing reality, which can only be reached experientually not intellectually. Thus, as Namkhai Norbu tells us, we need to drop our various conditioned thinking and abandon such intellectual concepts as ‘enlightenment’, ‘the nature of the mind’,

Today’s Video: “IN DZOGCHEN THE MIRROR IS A METAPHOR FOR OUR REAL CONDITION”
https://youtu.be/z0HIYZclJz0

 

04/01/2023

Can you hear them?
The plants, the trees
talking to one another.
Can you feel them?
Their openness and love
for one another.

We begin April with another Tibetan Buddhist teacher and scholar. Chögyam Trungpa was a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the 11th of the Trungpa tülkus and supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries. He was considered a radical of sorts in that he merged Tibetan Buddhism with the myth of Shambhala and originated an enlightened society that became known as Shambhala Buddhism. Both his controversial teaching methods and behavior particularly his heavy drinking, womanizing, and the physical assault of students were considered provocative. The quote below is an example of his provocation.

“Dharma literally means ‘truth’ or ‘norm.’ It is a particular way of thinking, a way of viewing the world, which is not a concept but experience. This particular truth is very painful truth—usually truths are. It rings with the sound of reality, which comes too close to home. We become completely embarrassed when we begin to hear the truth. It is wrong to think that the truth is going to sound fantastic and beautiful, like a flute solo. The truth is actually like a thunderbolt. It wakes you up and makes you think twice whether you should stay in the rain or move into the house. Provocative.”
― Chögyam Trungpa

Hopefully everyone will stay out of the rain this weekend. See you on Monday.

Today’s Video: “Surrendering Your Aggression -Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche –Shambhala”
https://youtu.be/6OBhY8cWvYU

 

03/31/23

not a man,
not a woman,
not a race,
not an ethnicity.
not even a person,
merely roles to put on
like a hat or a coat
or a body-mind identity,
confusing life by day
with society’s roles.
But in deep sleep,
one’s true nature arises.

Moving on from India, we travel North to Tibet where we find the land of Tibetan Buddhism and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a Vajrayana master, scholar, and poet and recognized as one of the greatest realized masters. He was head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 1988 to 1991.

“It is always beneficial to be near a spiritual teacher. These masters are like gardens or medicinal plants, sanctuaries of wisdom. In the presence of a realized master, you will rapidly attain enlightenment. In the presence of an erudite scholar, you will acquire great knowledge. In the presence of a great meditator, spiritual experience will dawn in your mind. In the presence of a bodhisattva, your compassion will expand, just as an ordinary log placed next to a log of sandalwood becomes saturated, little by little, with its fragrance.”
― Dilgo Khyentse, “The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most”

It would be difficult to argue with Dilgo Khyentse’s point. The benefits of having a spiritual teacher and being in the presence of a realized master, regardless of sect or lineage, cannot be overstated.

Today’s Video: “Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche”
https://youtu.be/oVFf1GCs8HE

 

03/30/23

don’t look left or right,
don’t look up or down,
don’t look ahead or behind,
look within,
for you are what you are
looking for.

Let’s have one more quote from Paramahansa Yogananda because I really like this one. It’s something most of us are missing…

“Make up your mind that you will be happy whether you are rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy, happily married or unhappily married, young or old, smiling or crying. Don’t wait for yourself, your family, or your surroundings to change before you can be happy within yourself. Make up your mind to be happy within yourself, right now, whatever you are, or wherever you are.” – Paramahansa Yogananda

Why is it so hard for most of us to be happy? Because we are too busy looking for happiness. Where? In objects, of course. What we don’t realizze is the fact that we are happiness. It’s our natural birthright. So give up the notion of finding it out there in objects of all kinds, including people. They cannot bring you happiness because happiness is what you are – your true nature.

Today’s Video: What Happens When You Die Unenlightened? | Sri Paramahansa Yogananda
https://youtu.be/jZWjbwMvIUY

 

03/29/23

to be…or not to be?
Observe closely.
Not a question of being…
or not being.
Both must vanish,
leaving the double absence,
the absence of absence.
Thus arises being the being,
a being beyond being and non-being.

Today we look at another Hindu guru and mystic, who not only brought meditation to America but kriya yoga as well. Paramahansa Yogananda introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization the Self-Realization Fellowship and Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.

“Every day try to help uplift physically, mentally, or spiritually suffering people, as you would help yourself or your family. If, instead of living in the misery-making selfish way, you live according to the laws of God, then, no matter what small part you may be playing on the stage of life, you will know that you have been playing your part correctly, as directed by the Stage Manager of all our destinies. Your part, however small, is just as important as the biggest parts in contributing to the success of the Drama of Souls on the Stage of Life. Make a little money and be satisfied with it by living a simple life and expressing your ideals, rather than make lots of money and have worries without end.”
– Yogananda

Simple advice: live simply and do simple things to help others. If all of us followed this simple advice what a remarkable place this world would be.

Today’s Video: “Solve all your Problems Easily by Developing your Intuition”
https://youtu.be/E87msHaVT9c

 

03/28/23

nothing to attain,
nothing to achieve,
nothing to become,
nothing to know,
no knower to know it.
nowhere to go,
nothing to do,
no doer to do it.

More from Vivekananda, the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission. In fact, we have two quotes, both insightfully powerful.

“All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. You can do any thing and everything, without even the guidance of any one. Stand up and express the divinity within you.”
― Swami Vivekananda, Lectures from Colombo to Almora

“All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love’s sake, because it is the only law of life, just as you breathe to live.”
― Swami Vivekananda , Letters of Swami Vivekananda

If you put both quotes together, you get…”the power of love is within you. It is expansive and can do anything and everything. Believe in love, the only law of life and then you can do anything and everything just as you breathe to live. Stand up and express the divinity within you that is Love, pure love.”

Today’s Video: TRY THIS Simple Mind Control Method if You Cannot Control Your Mind Directly | Swami Vivekananda
https://youtu.be/iWX8tQfikOM

 

03/27/23

never free,
never still,
never available,
always seeking,
always choosing,
always grasping,
never content, always stressed,
the mind without a clue.

Last week we looked at the Zen monks who brought Zen Buddhism to the West and specifically to America.Today we look at the the Hindu monk who brought Advaita Vedanta to America – Swami Vivekananda.

“You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, no one can make you spiritual.
There is no other teacher but your own soul.”
― Swami Vivekananda

A disciple of the Indian mystic, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda founded the spiritual order named after his teacher, Ramakrishna Mission.

Today’s Video: Enlightenment Experience – How Swami Vivekananda Attained Enlightenment? (As Explained by Himself)
https://youtu.be/F_sQBT-cpyA

 

03/24/2023

Joy!
is there any other reason
for just sitting?
does it have to matter?
become another goal?
can I just enjoy
the quiet peace
it brings?
enjoy the peace,
enjoy the joy.

I want to conclude our look at Zen Buddhist quotes on aspects of enlightenment with a quote from my former Zen teacher and visual artist, John Daido Loori.

“Serene illumination, or just sitting, is not a technique, or a means to some resulting higher state of consciousness, or any particular state of being. Just sitting, one simply meets the immediate present. Desiring some flashy experience, or anything more or other than ‘this’ is mere worldly vanity and craving.”
– John Daido Loori, “The Art of Just Sitting: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza”

The idea of sitting meditation as something we do that has been taught across many traditions promoted by unqualified or lower level teachers is undeniably incorrect. This fact has also been stated across many traditions by qualified spiritual teachers like Daido, who tell us to sit just for the pure joy of it. Don’t turn sitting into another object or goal to achieve.

Today’s Video: “Zen Buddhism: The Nature of the Self”
https://youtu.be/O7YsFGXCN68

 

03/23/2023

silence is waiting.
don’t try to grasp it.
just leave the door open
and put out a welcome mat.
it will come when it’s ready.

Maezumi Roshi was another prominent Japanese Zen Buddhist who help to establish Zen Buddhism in America, especially on the West Coast. He was the founding teacher of Yokoji-Zen Mountain Center and the Zen Center of Los Angeles.

“We do not make harmony. We do not achieve it or gain it. It is there all the time. Here we are, in the midst of this perfect way, and our practice is simply to realize it and then to actualize it in our everyday life.”
― Maezumi Roshi

Like most aspects that pertain to enlightenment – silence, stilling the mind, non-doing, non-thinking – harmony is something we seek or try to obtain because we look at enlightenement and all of its aspects and modalities – love, beauty, truth – as objects because the mind can only recognize objects. Harmony like all these the other modalities of our True Nature cannot be sought, gained or achieved because they are who we really are, and, as Maezumi Roshi tells us, they are here all the time – we are it!

Today’s Video: Lineage: Hakuyū Taizan Maezumi
https://youtu.be/DRQTL8dCp-8

 

03/22/2023

without absence,
there is no presence.
when I am absent
there is presence.
in the absence of myself,
comes spontaneity.

Shunryu Suzuki, the monk that brought Japanese Zen Buddhism to America, is such an interesting spiritual teacher with tremendous insights that we can gain much from looking at more of his quotes. Today he has very practicial advice on trying to control others.

“Even though you try to put people under control, it is impossible. You cannot do it. The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous. Then they will be in control in a wider sense. To give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way to control him. So it is with people: first let them do what they want, and watch them. This is the best policy. To ignore them is not good. That is the worst policy. The second worst is trying to control them. The best one is to watch them, just to watch them, without trying to control them.”
— Shunryu Suzuki (Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice)

Most of us do just the opposite.

Today’s Video: “Breathing (ZEN: Right Practice) by Shunryu Suzuki”
https://youtu.be/MfXhbKui5So

 

03/21/2023

doing without a doer,
no reference to the I.
potentiality waits urgently
for actualization.
Let it come up
by getting out of the way.
your true nature rises.

We started the week with a quote from the ancient Zen Master Dogen. Today we celebrate the contemporary monk who brought Zen to America, Shunryu Suzuki. He established the first Zen Buddhist monastary outside of Asia at the San Francisco Zen Center and one of th emost popular books on Zen Buddhism is a collection of his sayings entitled “Zen Mind, Beginners Mind.”

“If enlightenment comes first, before thinking, before practice, your thinking and your practice will not be self-centered. By enlightenment I mean believing in nothing, believing in something which has no form or no color, which is ready to take form or color. This enlightenment is the immutable truth. It is on this orginal truth that our activity, our thinking, and our practice should be based.” – Shunryu Suzuki

There you have it. All you need to know about enlightenment. Actually, it is all we can know. Quite different, indeed, from the idea of Heaven, conditioned in many of us from early childhood, with God sitting on a throne surrounded by adoring angels, an idea profusely propagated by many of our politicians today trying to striaght-jacket the population into accepting their extremist values.

Today’s Video: ♡ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi ♡ Zen Buddhism ♡ Meditation Instruction ♡ Sound and Noise ♡
https://youtu.be/PhSZMs81DNE

 

03/20/2023

emerald green rows
winding up circular slopes,
piercing the morning clouds
misting the young tender leaves
at the top of each plant,
that will nourish
not only one’s body,
but warm the soul.

We start off the week in Japan and an enlightening quote from the great Zen master, Dogen the founder of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism. Even thought this is an ancient quote from the 13th-Century, it points to the very nature of our divisiveness and hostility to those with differing political, social or spiritual ideologies.

“Do not be concerned with the faults of other persons. Do not see others’ faults with a hateful mind. There is an old saying that if you stop seeing others’ faults, then naturally seniors and venerated and juniors are revered. Do not imitate others’ faults; just cultivate virtue. Buddha prohibited unwholesome actions, but did not tell us to hate those who practice unwholesome actions.”
― Zen Master Dogen

Why then did the Buddha prohibit these unwholesom actions but did not tell us to hate those who propagated them? A true enlightened master realizes that evil does not exist just as good does not exist. These are both human thought-concepts based on faulty thinking. What exists are wisdom or clarity and ignorance. We need to see that those world leaders and politicians that so often aggravate us are not evil but ignorant. Berate their ignorant actions but not the person

Today’s Video: Zen Master Dōgen Zenji: Four Lessons About Genuine Enlightenment
https://youtu.be/Idu9r5U3TR0

 

03/17/2023

the sound that vibrates each organ
and energizes the body-mind
is the same sound that vibrates
the cosmos,
energizes the stars,
and orbits their planets.
Can you hear it, not with your ears
but your whole body?
your whole silent body?

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we look at not one but three quotes from an Irishj guru and spiritual teacher of sorts, actually he is a literary genius, Janes Joyce.

“Every life is in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves.”
― James Joyce, Ulysses

“Think you’re escaping and run into yourself. Longest way round is the shortest way home.”
― James Joyce, Ulysses

“You made me confess the fears that I have. But I will tell you also what I do not fear. I do not fear to be alone or to be spurned for another or to leave whatever I have to leave. And I am not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake, a lifelong mistake and perhaps as long as eternity too.”
― James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Today’s Viceo: LITERATURE – James Joyce
https://youtu.be/1SuHkY2wAQA

 

03/16/2023

streaming from the beauty, peace and love
of the Self,
the Life Force empowers and uses
the body-mind
to perceive the beauty, peace and love
manifesting
in the grandeur of the cosmos.

There’s a quote from Black Elk, the Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, that reminds one of quotes from the Tao de Ching with regards to innocence and returning to the purity of a young child. Here is a comparison.

“He who possesses Virtue in abundance is like a newly born infant.
Poisonous insects will not sting him;
Wild beasts will not seize him;
Birds of prey will not attack him.
His bones are soft, his muscles weak, but his grasp is strong.” – Lao Tzu, Tao de Ching, Ch. 55

“Be like a channel for the world’s waters;
Open and flowing, like the mind of a child.
Full of virtue, harmony and excellence.” – Lao Tzu, Tao de Ching, Ch. 28

“Grown men can learn from very little children for the hearts of the little children are pure. Therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.”― Black Elk

And the Great Spirit or the Dao or Reality and its Grace will show us many things if we can return to the early state of innocence.

Today’s Video: “Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa) – Selected Wisdoms for Meditation “
https://youtu.be/nTQn_eGjbgA

 

03/15/2023

In the beginning is stillness.
In the ending is stillness.
Its beginning is its ending,
its ending the beginning.
It moves in circles
and returns in circles.
In its movement there is stillness.
In its stillness there is movement.
In its fullness there is emptiness,
in its emptiness fullness.

Continuing with Native American spiritual leaders, today we focus on Black Elk, the Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. Black Elk is best known for his interviews with poet John Neihardt, where he discussed his religious views, visions, and events from his life published in Neihardt’s book Black Elk Speaks in 1932. Years later he was interviewed by American ethnologist Joseph Epes Brown for his 1947 book The Sacred Pipe. Black Elk eventually converted to Catholicism, becoming a catechist, but he also continued to practice Lakota ceremonies and care for his people, especially the children and the elderly.

“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.”
― Black Elk

“The Holy Land is everywhere”
― Black Elk

I don’t think any spiritual leader from any tradition, ancient or modern, could have said it any better: “… at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.”

Today’s Video: “Dakota Life: Black Elk Speaks”
https://youtu.be/4hec_rZS-RU

 

03/14/2023

the trees are silent,
their leaves motionless
the air is still,
not stirring the branches
or rustling the leaves.
nature is in meditation
as the mourning doves
recite their mantra.

Today we cross the Great Pond as many of our ancestors did back in the 17th and 18th centuries to build what we now call the United States. Our quote today comes from a true American, a native of this land, Tenskwatawa, (Open Door) the younger brother of the famous Shawnee Chief Tecumseh. Known as the Prophet, Tenskwatawa was the spiritual leader of the Shawnee people, who after a vision he had, urged his people not to follow the ways of the white man but to return to their ancient ways. Here is an excerpt of his plea to his people.

“Our Creator put us on this wide, rich land, and told us we were free to go where the game was, where the soil was good for planting. That was our state of true happiness. We did not have to beg for anything. Our Creator had taught us how to find and make everything we needed, from trees and plants and animals and stone. We lived in bark, and we wore only the skins of animals. Our Creator taught us how to use fire, in living, and in sacred ceremonies. She taught us how to heal with barks and roots, and how to make sweet foods with berries and fruits, with papaws and the water of the maple tree. Our Creator gave us tobacco, and said, Send your prayers up to me on its fragrant smoke. Our Creator taught us how to enjoy loving our mates, and gave us laws to live by, so that we would not bother each other, but help each other. Our Creator sang to us in the wind and the running water, in the bird songs, in children’s laughter, and taught us music. And we listened, and our stomachs were never dirty and never troubled us. Thus were we created. Thus we lived for a long time, proud and happy.” – Tenskwatawa (Open Door)

The Open Door, isn’t that what a guru, a true spiritual teacher is? An Open Door to Enlightenment. Furthermore, was Tenskwatawa’s message any different from the likes of Laozi, Zhuangzi, Atmananda, Ramana Maharshi, Anandamayi ma, and others who remind us to give up worldly desires and their addictive behaviors and follow the Dao, the way of Nature and thus return to your true nature?

Today’s Video: Sacred Vision of Tenskwatawa, the Open Door & Tacumseh
https://youtu.be/Q7VmskTecbY

 

03/13/2023

so gentle is the mist
enshrouding the hillside,
lush green foliage
peeking through the grey mantle,
narrow rivulets snake downhill,
refreshing, nourishing.
precious droplets soaking into the soil
renewing the roots below.
so too the divine current
misting the world with its grace,
refreshing the body,
renewing the spirit.
can you feel it awakening within?

Today we start off the new week by crossing the Channel, leaving our French spiritual teachers and authors for an English spiritual teacher, poet and yogi, an Advaita disciple of Jean Klein and a teacher of Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition, Billy Doyle. He has a couple of poetry books in the spirit of nonduality, “Mirage of Separation” and “Ocean of Silence.” Here are two selections from the latter.

“look out at the open landscape
or imagine one spreading endlessly in front of you
enter into it
touch it, embrace it with your whole being
let it absorb you
there are not two” – Billy Doyle, “Ocean of Silence”

“this very moment
have you ever dived into its depth
or are you forever taken by the waves of your mind
here, now, the whole universe is open to you
singing its song
but if you’re not quiet
all you will hear is your own echo” – Billy Doyle, “Ocean of Silence”

I picked these two verses not only for their imagery but because they are also instructive. Here Doyle shows us how to sit quietly and contemplate are true nature. The first is a visual method, looking out at an open landscape or imagining one. The second is an auditory method, diving into the depth of silence, listening for the song of the universe.

Today’s Video: “Relaxation and the Energetic Body – Guided Meditation – Billy Doyle (Part 1)”
https://youtu.be/734NABjXAH4

 

03/11/2023

Mantras are not to be
interpreted nor understood
verbally or conceptually.
Their virtue is in the sound.
Each organ, each cell
responds to certain frequencies.
Thus the sound, not the words,
harmonizes the body and soul.

Today we have two French spiritual teachers tell us about – what else that the French are famous for besides wine and cheese but – love. Here is Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Jean Klein on love…

“Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing until it embraces the totality of men and the earth.” – Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

“If there were no internal propensity to unite, even at a prodigiously rudimentary level — indeed in the molecule itself — it would be physically impossible for love to appear higher up, with us, in hominized form…. Driven by the forces of love, the fragments of the world seek each other so that the world may come into being.” – Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

“You want me to talk about love, to give you a hold, something to feel, to admire or obtain. I will not give you a straw to grasp, and in this emptiness you will be taken by yourself. You are love so don’t try to be a lover.” – Jean Klein

Before loving your surroundings you must first love yourself. Not, of course, the image you have of yourself, but your real self. When you look at things from this higher principle we call love, all things become lovable. Things appear constantly according to hour point of view. Love must become your nearest. It is your nearest and your dearest. Be in identity with it. In love, there is no place for somebody. Love is not a state which you go in and out of. It is the principle which is our permanence. – Jean Klein, “Beyond Knowledge”

Have a loving weekend, everyone! See you Monday.

Today’s Video: “Phenomenon of Man and the Evolution of LOVE – Teilhard de Chardin”
https://youtu.be/VpPUgfeTie8

 

03/10/2023

Openness is Life, itself.
One cannot understand Life.
Only Life can understand Life.
Receive Life
by being open to Life.

Jean Klein has so many instructive quotes on Self-Cultivation that I wanted us to review one more vital one.

“In silent surrender there is bliss and prayer without request or demand. There is no doer, experiencer, lover or beloved. There is only a divine current. You see that the very act of welcoming is itself the solution to the problem and the action which follows your comprehension is very straightforward. When you become familiar with the act of surrender, truth will solicit you unsought.” – Jean Klein

This is so important. Silent surrender is pure prayer, itself, without any requests or supplications. And there is no doer who prays or a beloved that one prays to. There is only a divine current, like the flow of Life, rthe flow of the Dao. Thus we completely surrender to that current and remain open and welcome whatever it might bring, trusting that absolute presence of the moment.

Today’s Video: “Jean Klein on courage, being a Truth Seeker, and apathy towards work (3/3)”
https://youtu.be/ynQur2z4xcI

 

03/09/2023

This body-mind,
this unique instrument
we are not,
but that which gives it life
and empowers it
to perceive
the grandeur of creation.

Today we have a most vital quote as we continue with the words of Jean Klein, a French author, doctor, musicologist and a teacher of Advaita-Vedanta. For some of us this may be a life-changing advice that will save us both time and effort on our quest for Self-Cultivation and Fulfillment.

“Discipline is of no use whatsoever, since things are naturally eliminated by discernment without it being necessary for us to treat them brutally. Even in the course of the technique known as “letting-go”, a faint shadow of discipline is implied, for letting-go of an object implies a certain discipline. Only an effortless and choiceless, I repeat choiceless reaction, is the hallmark of liberation.” – Jean Klein

Got that? If you don’t understand, read it several times. Make it your own as if those are your very words. Not as a mantra – God no! But as a very deep understanding, a natural discernment.

Today’s Video: “Silence Beyond a Quiet Mind: The First Time Francis (Lucille) Met his Teacher, Jean Klein”
https://youtu.be/rsvH8SoBltk

 

03/08/2023

Seek not,
Want not,
Fear not,
You are the Life Force.

Unlike Teilhard de Chardin, Jean Klein was not a French esoteric Christian author and spiritual teachcer. Instead he followed the Hindu teachings of Advaita Vedanta in the tradition of Ramana Maharshi and Atmananda Krishna Menon. He was trained as a medical doctor and a musicologist before traveling to India where he met his guru. As it turned out, Jean Klein was my teacher’s teacher.

“When you become responsive to the solicitations of silence, you may be called to explore the invitation. This exploration is a kind of laboratory. You may sit and observe the coming and going of perceptions. You remain present to them but do not follow them. Following a thought is what maintains it. If you remain present without becoming an accomplice, agitation slows down through lack of fuel. In the absence of agitation you are taken by the resonance of stillness.” – Jean Klein

Like my teacher, Jean Klein often mentioned invitations and being invited. It’s Life, itself, that invites you to discover your true nature. You need to be open and welcome the invitation in order to receive a glimpse of what you truly are.

Today’s Video: “Our True Nature – Jean Klein (Advaita Vedanta)”
https://youtu.be/sc4ZHmcqWfE

 

03/07/2023

Insight happens.
One cannot force it.
It is a gift from Heaven
in communion
with the Universe.

As it would happen, Teilhard de Chardin was in communion with the Universe, a Wholly Communion. In his “Hymn to the Universe,” it begins with “The Mass on the World,” where he actually performs an entire mass as a meditation that celebrates the Eucharist of Christ in the Ordos Desert of Inner Mongolia, China, where Teilhard found himself on the feast day of the Transfiguration. Here is an excerpt from the “Offering” of that mass.

“—I call before me the whole vast anonymous army of living humanity; those who surround me and support me though I do not know them; those
who come, and those who go; above all, those
who in office, laboratory and factory, through their
vision of truth or despite their error, truly believe
in the progress of earthly reality and who today
will take up again their impassioned pursuit of the
light.
This restless multitude, confused or orderly, the
immensity of which terrifies us; this ocean of humanity
whose slow, monotonous wave-flows trouble
the hearts even of those whose faith is most firm: it
is to this deep that I thus desire all the fibers of my
being should respond. All the things in the world to
which this day will bring increase; all those that
will diminish; all those too that will die: all of
them, Lord, I try to gather into my arms, so as to
hold them out to you in offering. This is the material
of my sacrifice; the only material you desire.”

And so we see Teihard’s deep connection with all of humanity as he does not feel himself, like many of us do, as a separate and distinct entity with little or no connection to the multitudes. Regardless of one’s religious or spiritual background this is a major hurdle that must be cleared in the process of Self-Cultivation and Realization.

Today’s Video: “Teilhard de Chardin’s Mass on the World”
https://youtu.be/gNyaf8nJY8s

 

03/06/2023

Live with your questions.
Seek not to understand.
There is no one there,
No one to find understanding.
Be open, be available.
Let understanding find you.

We ended last week with a quote from Pierre Teihard de Chardin, whom I find most interesting. So, continuing with quotes on enlightenment from the esoteric Christian tradition, here is a special one that refers to you and I and most of humanity and our relation to the Cosmos.

“Humanity has been sleeping-and still sleeps-lulled within the narrowly confining joys of its little closed loves. In the depths of the human multitude there slumbers an immense spiritual power which will manifest itself only when we have learnt how to break through the dividing walls of our egoism and raise ourselves up to an entirely new perspective, so that habitually and in a practical fashion we fix our gaze on the universal realities.”
– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Those dividing walls are the fictitious boundaries of our bodies engendered by our egoism and acquired conditioning that hide us from the universal reality that we are not separate entities but are that spiritual power that unities us all – the Life Force – call it Dao or God or Brahman or Buddhahood.

Today’s Video:
https://youtu.be/BrN7kpB16WM

 

03/04/2023

Like breathing,
like the heart beating,
Understanding is effortless.
No need to seek it.
Like the rain that comes and goes,
washing away the dust of ignorance.
Seek not,
Want not,
Worry not,
And there is understanding.

Continuing our view of Enlightenment in the Christian esoteric tradition, today we have a quote from Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit paleontologist, scientist, philosopher and theologian. Yesterday we looked at the American Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. Whereas Merton’s work is suggestive of Bhakti, Enlightenment through love for God or the Divine Spirit, Teilhard de Chardin’s work had more of a Jnana approach, that is Enlightenment through observation and knowledge of ourselves as it relates to the Ultimate.

“Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge.”
― Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

That convergence later in de Chardin’s work became known as the Omega Point and the emergence of the Noosphere (the thinking or mind sphere which transcended the Biosphere and in turn the Physiosphere).

Today’s Video: “Why Humanity is Special – de Chardin and the Birth of the Noosphere”
https://youtu.be/-js4HpU6QbY

 

03/03/2023

When the mind and the body
are happening in me
and not me in them,
that is tai chi.

Today we are viewing Enlightenment from the Christian esoteric tradition with one of the 20th-Century’s famous Christian mystics, Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, author of over 50 books and a leader in exploring the Interfaith movement with prominent spiritual leaders of Eastern religions.

“What is “grace”? It is God’s own life, shared by us. God’s life is love. Deus caritas est. By grace we are able to share in the infinitely selfless love of Him Who is such pure actuality that He needs nothing and therefore cannot conceivably exploit anything for selfish ends. Indeed, outside of Him there is nothing, and whatever exists exists by His free gift of its being, so that one of the notions that is absolutely contradictory to the perfection of God is selfishness.”

One will notice from this quote and others that, unlike many of the prominent Eastern spiritual teachers that Merton had spoken with, he still maintained his Christian vision of a personal God, an omniscient, omnipresent Supreme Being. In Eastern religions like socme sects of Hinduism, Buddhism and Daoism, the idea of a Supreme Being or God is of a more nebulous mature.

Today’s Video:
https://youtu.be/5X8fp2CvQmA

 

03/02/2023

When we expect without expecting
all that arises is available to us.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the author of “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “The Song of Hiawatha,” and the first American translator of Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” was the most popular poet in 19th-Century America. As for Enlightenment, the one thing we can deduce from his work is that he definitely believed in an afterlife. Here are a few examples.

“Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, and things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art; to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.” – Henry Wadsorth Longfellow

“Death is the chillness that precedes the dawn; We shudder for a moment, then awake In the broad sunshine of the other life.” – Henry Wadworth Longfellow

“The grave itself is but a covered bridge, Leading from light to light, through a brief darkness!” – Henry Wadworth Longfellow

Today’s Video: “The life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow”
https://youtu.be/DsKJom0yKnQ

 

03/01/2023

The peace that knows itself
emerges without seeking it.
A cloud unfolding above
allowing sunlight to shine through.

We ended February with Verse #32 from “Song of Myself” from Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” and we shall kick off March with Whitman’s tribute to the Hindu concept of Maya…

“Are you the new person drawn toward me?
To begin with, take warning – I am surely far different from what you suppose;
Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal?
Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy’d satisfaction?
Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
Do you see no further than this façade—this smooth and tolerant manner of me?
Do you suppose yourself advancing on real ground toward a real heroic man?
Have you no thought, O dreamer, that it may be all maya, illusion?”
― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

At least consider the possibility that all you perceive is Maya, an illusion, whether it be a person, an object or even a thought, consider that on the phenominal level all is an illusion.

Before Whitman there was Longfellow. We shall take a look at some Longfellow’s enlightened work tomorrow.

Today’s Video: “O Me! O Life! – Walt Whitman”
https://youtu.be/kGZo87If2T8

 

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