Category: Spiritualibus

Tathāgata or Buddha
plurality over uniformity
understanding over rejection
consciousness over ignorance
detachment over personification
forgiveness over accusation
harmony over clashes
sharing over owning
unity over duality
spirit over mind
joy over suffering
inclusion over exclusion
appreciation over repulsion
acceptance over separation
humility over arrogance
reality over illusion
love over hate
peace over war
giving over taking
solutions over conflict
movement over paralysis
cooperation over isolation
befriending over alienation
tending over destruction
everything over nothing
nothing is everything!

“Flashes of radiant cognizance” — in empty space

Emptiness, concepts, names, and more

“To abide in emptiness takes a leap of faith. You have to leave behind the familiar comforts of sense objects and the old habits of thinking, liking, and disliking. You set off on a wide sea with just intention as your rudder, and you don’t know what will come next. You can try paddling hard and kicking, but that only sends you in circles. Relaxing with awareness helps but does not bring complete security. The maps are encouraging, but so much of the vastness seems uncharted — and yet you have committed to the journey. You need to maintain your effort but without striving hard for a result. In such a moment, you have to trust in the journey — and you have to trust in emptiness enough to surrender to it. This expresses a deep faith in the unfolding.”

“The more we live in the world of concepts, the more we forget that what the name points to is just a momentary flashing into sense experience. We take the static concept as real and forget the changing reality… We need to remember that the name is just something we’ve invented because it is useful… Doctrines are also concepts; they are not reality itself. When one is in touch with the underlying reality of things, one doesn’t have to label it… [It] is what it is.”

Born in consciousness and attention

“Before an object appears, the light is invisible, unborn, and unmanifest. Once an object appears, the light is born and manifest. The object is then ‘born’ in consciousness.”

“Understanding the truth of things is the most beneficial view, and that ultimately relies on experience, not concepts…
No one technique is always the best practice. What is best is what’s suited to your body and mind in a given moment. As a general rule, when distracted, focus on a simple object to collect the attention.”

— Guy Armstrong, Emptiness: a practical guide for meditators, pp. 159, 201-202, 238, 252

It is what it is — flowing in countless dribbles, falls, rivers, and streams

• 道 可 道 非 常 道 •
“The Dao that can be spoken of is not the ever-constant Dao.”

— Lao Zi, Dao De Jing, beginning of verse #1, minimalist translation by Bruce R. Linnell

I remember you now
in a moment present
though gone far away
you’re here in my heart
maybe you reincarnated
somewhere else already
found our renewed family
within this eternal current
that begins and ends all
still carrying forward
when we are gone
leaving the heart
one for another
always next steps
to let go what was
and embrace what is
open to whatever comes
learning how we all shape
what we are contributing
ever more consciously
where we go and don’t
challenging humanity
what appears as self
like late snow in spring
I treasure you in my heart
in this very present moment.

“Hearts dance and remember” — all in one in all

Remember what Gotama told Vacchagotta and the bhikkhus (monks)

“To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I, with the divine ear.., which is purified and surpasses the human, hear both kinds of sounds, the divine and the human, those that are far as well as near’ — you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.

“To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I, with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, see beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate… and may I understand how beings pass on according to their actions’ — you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.

You will be “realizing for [your]self with direct knowledge, here and now” that: “Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.”

“Here [you] develop the mindfulness enlightenment factor, which is supported by seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, and ripens in relinquishment. [You] develop the investigation-of-states enlightenment factor. . . the energy enlightenment factor. . . the rapture enlightenment factor. . . the tranquility enlightenment factor. . . the concentration enlightenment factor. . . the equanimity enlightenment factor, which is supported by seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, and ripens in relinquishment.

“[These] seven enlightenment factors, developed and cultivated, fulfill true knowledge and deliverance.”

— Majjhima Nikāya — the middle length discourses of the Buddha, translated from Pali by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi — Mahāvacchagotta Sutta, 73.20, .23, and .26, pp. 600-601 and Ānāpānasati Sutta, 118.42 and .43, p. 948

Remember before you were small you were big?

May our hearts dance and remain sound and wholesome!

WAY AND VIRTUE:

Reliable words are not pretty;
pretty words are not reliable.

Insights are not learned;
learning does not produce insights.

What is good does not need pretty words;
pretty words are no good.

Good is not excessive;
excess is no good.

The wise doesn’t accumulate things;
he gives to people, having already more himself.

The spirit of heaven is beneficial, it causes no harm;
the wise way for people is to act without striving.

— Lao Zi, Daodejing 道德经, #81 — inspired by study group with Elena Camesi Janke

“Welcome to the moment” — remembering the future

Way and virtue before dropping the leaves

May we all shine in our splendid colors!

Less is more
conditionally
a small state
arms around
to embrace
no weapons
avoiding thus
back and forth
listen and see
can be enough
for three or ten
a teacher asked
only one for three
all the others ten
they wished for
more not less
but turns out
three horses
ten guinea pigs
as this happened
so very long ago
still a small child
now all grown
rather old
at long last
less is more.

(Inspired by Lao Zi, Daodejing, #80, and a 2nd grade school memory)

“Future memory past now” — neither minor nor major

Looking to dismiss ego delusion?

“What is inside is me,
What is outside is mine —
When these thoughts end . . .
Freedom dawns.”

— Nāgārjuna, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, 18.4 / Stephen Batchelor, Verses from the Center, p. 114

“Destroy ‘the ego’, hound it, beat it, snub it, tell it where to get off?
Great fun, no doubt, but where is it? Must you not find it first?
Isn’t there a word about catching your goose before you can cook it?
The great difficulty here is that there isn’t one.”

— Wei Wu Wei, Posthumous Pieces, p. 48

“The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
Until only the mountain remains.”

— Li Po, translated by Sam Hill, Crossing the Yellow River: Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese

When and where is less becoming more?

万事如意 / wànshì rúyì — May all your wishes come true!