New Spiritualibus Blog Posts – Excerpts

Spotlight attention
nurturing a focus
or then opposite
deny any attention
suppress what’s off
and on will light up
most basic choice
practice every day
moment by moment
listening to the silence
so sounds harmonize
too low or too high
settle for octaves
as anchor points
though replacing
is not acceptable
as so often seems
but what else is here
in the sound of silence
than this calm abiding
breathing in and out
listening and looking
the eternal harmony
in everything and all
sentient beings
now awake
see and hear
a rainbow bridge
Beringia frozen dry
connecting continents
for human life migration
leaving a deep memory
in the sound of drums
accented by the horn
and cymbals crash
while chants pray
to harmony in all
fragile, strong
silent and calm
the core of breath
overtones, harmonics
reverberate of origins
through transmission
lines reach way back
and forward in time
past now and future
relish what’s common
let go of the differences
together is the strength
while the divisions fall
short of wholesome
spotlight attention.

“Happiness is the key” — homage to Khandroma

Meditating earnestly and attentively

“If you meditate earnestly, pure in mind and kind in deeds, leading a disciplined life in harmony with the dharma, you will grow in glory. If you meditate earnestly, through spiritual disciplines you can make an island for yourself that no flood can overwhelm.”

“Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do.”

— The Dhammapada (#24-25 and #50), translated by Eknath Easwaran, pp. 109 and 118

Spotlight attention on the beauty of parting

May our attention always find the spotlight of silence!

Covet conceit
to be free of it
embrace closely
all that is real
breathe in
and out.

Can you know
a resolving solution
unless you experienced
and recognize entirely
underlying problems
a striking revelation
breathe in and out.

Accept you covet
wallowing in conceit
so you find a way out
realizing this is neither
what you want nor real
essence of the wholesome
impatience to learn patience
tension to recognize serenity
confusion to realize clarity
thus embrace all that is
so it may transform
and then dissolve
breathing in
and out.

“J’en ai marre” — How much is too much?

How to keep coveting conceit at bay?

“He who wants a rose must respect her thorn.” (Persian proverb)

“Just as the sand settles into stillness… so too can the mind find clarity in silence.”

“Words are but one way to express our understanding… Sometimes, the heart speaks louder in silence than in sound. Compassion and love can flow through presence and action, beyond the confines of language.”

“It is time for the outer development of technology to be matched by the inner development of humanity. The world only changes when we envision the transformation we wish to see. The task for us is to imagine another way and shepherd it into being.”

— Jack Kornfield All in this together, pp. 23, 48, 49, and 89

Three famous guardians who don’t covet conceit

May all who did covet conceit realize a wholesome balance!

Arising of delight
and also of suffering;
cessation of delight
and also of suffering.

Feeling conditioned by contact
craving conditioned by feeling
my self rises and falls
the eyes see forms
ears hear sounds
the nose smells
tongue tastes
body touches
mind thinks
consciousness
contact, feeling
and craving
for identity
this I am not
this is not mine
this is not my self
cessation of identity
the end of suffering
this is possible
pleasant
painful
neither nor
disenchanted
dispassionate
liberated.

Abandon the unwholesome
understand, make an effort
develop the wholesome
serenity and insight
realize liberation
void knowledge
happy and glad
train day and night
in wholesome states.

— inspired by the Puṇṇovāda, Chachakka, and Piṇḍapārisuddhi Suttas
(Majjhima Nikaya #145, #148, and #151)

“On the sill of infinity” — here nor there nor in between

Unwavering equanimity

“There is wavering in one who is dependent, there is no wavering in one who is independent; when there is no wavering, there is tranquility; when there is tranquility, there is no bias; when there is no bias, there is no coming and going; when there is no coming and going, there is no passing away and reappearing; when there is no passing away and reappearing, there is no here nor beyond nor in between. This is the end of suffering.”

“If he should wish: ‘May I abide perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive,’ he abides perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive. If he should wish: ‘May I abide perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive,’ he abides perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive. If he should wish: ‘May I abide perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive and the unrepulsive,’ he abides perceiving the unrepulsive in that. If he should wish: ‘May I abide perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive and the repulsive,’ he abides perceiving the repulsive in that. If he should wish: ‘May I, avoiding both the repulsive and unrepulsive, abide in equanimity, mindful and fully aware,’ he abides in equanimity towards that, mindful and fully aware. That is how one is a noble one with developed faculties.”

— Majjhima Nikāya – the middle length discourses of the Buddha, translated from Pali by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi – Channovāda Sutta, #144.11, p. 1116 and Indriyabhāvanā Sutta, #152.11-16, p. 1150

Delight or suffering — a choice of blossoms!

May delight and suffering cease in unwavering equanimity!