Category: Spiritualibus

Devadūtas —
messengers
like angels
not all light
or beautiful
but all colors
of every kind
also suffering
opportunities
help wake up
from delusion
a human form
of self ‘nd mine
to however it is
no more nor less
entirely what it is
to totally let all be
in boundless space
and consciousness
embracing freedom
as the divine realizes
the present moment
for what’s here now
with all the angels
one to each other
divine messengers
with a big welcome
to accept and learn
wake up and open!

“देवदूत Devadūtas, angels here and now” — where are you?

Also suffering can be welcomed

“Knowing the world as the world is not a resignation in a negative way — ‘Oh, you know how the world is’– as if it is bad, that there’s something wrong with it. That’s not knowing the world as the world. ‘Knowing ‘ is a matter of studying, and taking an interest, investigating, examining experience, and really being willing to look at and feel [also] its negative side. It’s not [only] about seeking sensory pleasures, pleasurable experiences, but about seeing even your most disappointing ones, your worst failures, as opportunities to learn, as a chance to awaken: one can say that they’re devadūtas or ‘heavenly messengers’ that tap us on the shoulder and say, ‘Wake up!’

That’s why in Buddhism, aging, sickness, disabilities, and loss are seen not as things to fear and despise but as devadūtas. This word devadūta is a Pāli word; dūta means a ‘messenger’ of some sort, deva is ‘angelic’ or ‘heavenly’; so they’re heavenly messengers sent to … us.”

— The Sound of Silence, Ajahn Sumedho, p. 149

Devadūtas like angels or ancient trees

May you and I and all awake to harmony and peace!

A pilgrimage
on crossroads
from boundaries
across an ocean
some portages
toward silence
so many loons
and an eagle
right above
on a treetop
an old linden
at least three
hundred years
needs patience
to stay overnight
when you ask for
sounds of silence
one keeps hearing
but others may not
or at least not yet…
talking a little about
only what is present
a stillpoint here now
trusting awareness
in everyone’s heart.

“A pilgrim’s path” — here now

Trust your intuition

“There are so many problems at this time, it is overwhelming… The problems that face humanity on this planet… The delusion, the ignorance, the cause of the suffering. And now we are looking here, … not blaming someone else, but recognizing the ignorance in our lives, the illusions we create and operate from. We are learning to recognize that which isn’t deluded. That takes a willingness to be patient with yourself, and being receptive and open to whatever you are feeling, whatever results you are having from your practice… Come and see, trust this awareness more and more, recognize it… Be aware.”

— The Sound of Silence, Ajahn Sumedho, p. 118

Pilgrimage beyond boundaries

May you, I, and all be free and happy!

Aware of the sound of silence
no further words are needed
to rest in the present here now.

“Earth to God, come in please” — two dozen times

Thought, awareness, and the sound of silence

Thought and awareness

“Experience is always now, here and now… All that — memories of the past or anticipation of the future — is happening now… The future is a thought in the mind, in the present, and the past is a memory. You can be aware of thinking, be aware of thought. We are not our thoughts; our thoughts are artificial creations… that we tend to identify with, intimidate ourselves with…”

“Thinking is a critical faculty… a very useful function to have. But as an identity it’s a failure. You’re not at all what you think, you know — what you think you are is not what you are. And yet we tend to believe what we think we are…
Thought is a creation. So in this very present moment, what is it that isn’t a thought? Awareness isn’t a thought.”

“When we develop awareness, we’re coming from intuitive awareness rather than from personal experience. … Getting beyond that to an awareness before the personality can arise or cease — that’s awareness or sati-sampajañña [in Pali].”

“Trust in the awareness as that which holds you, which you’re resting in, in which you can observe. Witness the observer…”

The sound of silence

“I notice the kind of background sound which I refer to as the sound of silence, a resonating vibratory sound… a high-pitched kind of vibration that’s always present. … When you recognize this sound of silence your thinking process stops — you can rest in this stream. It’s like a stream. It isn’t like ordinary sound that rises and ceases or begins and ends. … Behind that, behind all other sounds is this sound of silence. … It’s always present, it’s just there whether I notice it or not.”

“One can see, recognize the sound of silence, the reality of consciousness — it has no boundary because it takes consciousness to be aware of this subtle, ringing, resonating vibration — and as we explore that, it has no boundary. We don’t create it, it’s like space, it’s infinite.”

“We’re not projecting or experiencing the consciousness through perceiving any particular thing but through awareness. That’s why I keep pointing to this sense of attentiveness and listening, like the sound of silence. I use this listening or hearing… learning to pay attention and recognize what awareness really is. … It keeps you fully present.”

Non-thinking and boundless awareness

“In this you recognize non-thinking. And as I said before, you have to think to create yourself as a person. With non-thinking, there’s no longer a person. …
This is the point: present-moment awareness of the infinite that embraces the finite. To me the great gift of being human is that we can do this.”

— The Sound of Silence, Ajahn Sumedho, pp. 21, 37, 63-70

Floating harmony of silence

Elephants, cattle, horses, and mares
gold and silver, women and men
no assembly all empty and void
except the community of heart
no village, no people to be seen
but forest in resolute confidence
hardly stress disturbing perception
void and empty of what is not there
in the singleness presence of forest
that becomes a perception of earth
no ridges, rivers, mountains, ravines
just this even and smooth sphere
genuinely undisturbed and pure
proceeding in boundless space
one perception field to another
previous ones empty and void
in singleness of the present
boundless consciousness
recognizing base spheres
nothingness that’s empty
neither nor non-perception
finally signless concentration
what it could at all be, or not
empty, void, and full at once
confident, steady, and resolute
in this body conditioned by life
as an individual consciousness
to recognize boundless at last
understanding what is present
and empty or void what is not
conditioned as well as volitional
impermanent and prone to cease
let go all taints of ignorant desire
always liberated free in holy life
what had to be has been done
no more coming nor going
to whatever state of being
sensing what is present
in this body and mind
boundless conscious
sound and space
empty and void
it’s all the same
unsurpassed pure
we train to enter and abide
in this supreme emptiness to be.

(Inspired by and based on the Cūḷasuññata Sutta,
#121 in the Majjhima Nikāya, the middle length discourses of the Buddha)

“Swami Uodalric puja” — spontaneous celebration

No elephants, cattle, or horses — but forest here

May you, and I, and all be well and happy!

Anattā — not self
This is not mine
This I am not
This is not my self
So please, what is?
Reality and delusion
We are all in between
Rather practice reality
Nurture what is uplifting
Not what is pulling down
With all human limitations
Better treasure freedom
Interwoven all together
Not self-centered fear
But realizing rather
This is not mine
This I am not
Is not my self
Consciousness
In calming silence
Where life is flowing
We can ride the waves
Of being in harmony
Ever here and now.

“Satipaṭṭhāna concordance” — a meditative object

Anattā — not self: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’

“As to those various views that arise in the world associated either with doctrines of a self or with doctrines about the world: if [the object] in relation to which those views arise, which they underlie, and which they are exercised upon is seen as it actually is with proper wisdom thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self,’ then the abandoning and relinquishing of those views comes about.”
— Sallekha Sutta — effacement — #8.3

“A well-taught noble disciple who has regard for noble ones and is skilled and disciplined in their Dhamma [harmony of life], who has regard for true men and is skilled and disciplined in their Dhamma, regards material form thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’ He regards feeling thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’ He regards perception thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’ He regards formations thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’ He regards what is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, encountered, sought, mentally pondered thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’ And this standpoint for views, namely, ‘That which is the self is the world; after death I shall be permanent, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change; I shall endure as long as eternity’ — this too he regards thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’
“Since he regards them thus, he is not agitated about what is non-existent.”
— Alagaddūpama Sutta — the simile of the snake — #22.16 & 17

— Majjhima Nikāya — the middle length discourses of the Buddha, translated from Pali by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, pp. 123 & 229-230

Strawberry moon in the advent of summer heat