The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
—
Happy New Year to all…
Growing up in the fifties, for a while I believed that what I saw on television sitcoms was the typical family. They all got along. Nobody got drunk or flew into a rage. There was never any real ugliness. Many of us watching thought, of course, that only our family was the exception to the norm. The truth went unspoken in favor of this American dream.
As we practice, we begin to know the difference between our fantasy and reality. The more steadfast we are with our experience, the more aware we become of when we start to tighten and retreat. When we are denigrating ourselves, do we know it? Do we understand where the desire to lash out at another is coming from? Do we aspire not to keep going down that same old self-destructive road? Do we realize that the suffering we feel is shared by all beings? Do we have any longing for all of us to stop sowing the seeds of misery? Only the “principal one” knows the answers to these questions.
We can’t expect always to catch ourselves spinning off into a habitual reaction. But as we begin to catch ourselves more frequently and work with interrupting our habitual patterns, we know that the bodhichitta training is seeping in. Our desire to help not just ourselves but all sentient beings will slowly grow.
So in all activities, not just sometimes when things are going well or are particularly bad, train with the bodhichitta slogans of Atisha. But remember, “Don’t try to be the fastest,” “Abandon any hope of fruition,” and “Don’t expect applause”!
From: The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
By Pema Chodron
—
gill
http://allspirit.co.uk
From:
http://tatfoundation.org/forum.htm
Why Do You…?, by Art Ticknor
Richard Rose organized a winter intensive in 1979-80, and in one of
the sessions he posed some rhetorical questions for consideration,
which I made notes of. One set of questions was the following:
* Why do you study, or why do you work?
* Why do you pursue whatever you’re pursuing so actively?
* To get a better job? To get a better mate? To get a better
position besides just food and shelter?
* Is this a pursuit of wanting fantasy that will beget fantasy,
and fantasy again that will beget agony?
* Or do you study or work to buy a better house, so that the house
will own you, and then this house will stand to constantly remind you
that you are locked in space and time….?
Are you acting out the script to a play you didn’t write? Sleepwalking
through life — a life that’s like a puppet show?
It doesn’t make much difference how alert you think you are. You can
vipassana or zazen until the proverbial cows come home — without
awakening. Spiritual action involves turning the attention around,
letting go of the fantasies.
Rose was pointing to the reversed focus of spiritual action in the
opening lines of his blank verse poem “The Mirror”: Who is it that
speaks to you? Who is it that listens to me? Rumi was indicating the
same direction in “Table Talk”: Who says words with my mouth? Who
looks out with my eyes? If you could let those questions get past the
ego defenses, they could trigger the doubt sensation that announces
the opening of the door to looking — and the possibility of awakening
from the sleep of merely believing.
Another line of questions from the intensive was:
* Does a robot have any meaning or purpose beyond the intents of
the program?
* Can a robot program himself to any degree?
* Can a robot be programmed by other robots for his own good?
* Can a robot decide on a purpose and know what is good for
himself, enough to submit to programming by another or with the help
of another robot?
* Would such a robot come to know himself in this manner?”
Do you long for inspiration? Do you say to yourself: “If only I knew
what I really wanted, what to do….”? Can inspiration come via logic?
Or is logic a “well-coordinated robot functioning, reacting with
seeming consciousness” as Rose asked in the 1978 intensive? Is there
any spiritual hope unless our intuition sees a possible solution?
Rumi was appealing to the higher intuition when he spoke these words:
Lo! I am with you always, means when you look for God,
God is in the look of your eyes,
in the thought of looking, nearer to you than your self,
or things that have happened to you.
There’s no need to go outside. Be melting snow.
Wash yourself of yourself.
Does a man intentionally go out from his source — or is he propelled?
Does a man do anything volitionally — or is he compelled to
rationalize actions and inactions? Does a man sincerely hope to find
happiness in transience — or is he programmed to choose temporary
pleasure?
What brought you to read these words? Were you drawn by your “magnetic
center,” by hope and longing? Why do you keep busy with the
inessential, which keeps you locked in space and time?
—
gill
Tags: richard rose, rumi, self enquiry, volition
Your true substance…
Rumi
Your true substance is concealed in falsehood,
like the taste of butter in buttermilk.
Your falsehood is this perishable body;
your truth is that exalted spirit.
For many years, this buttermilk of the body,
is visible and manifest, while the butter, which is
the spirit, is perishing and ignored within it-
until God sends a prophet, a chosen servant, a
shaker of the buttermilk in the churn,
who skillfully shakes it, so that you might know
your true self which was hidden.
[Mathnawi IV, 3030-3034]
From
Jewels of Remembrance: A Daybook of Spiritual Guidance from the Wisdom of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
Translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski
—
I have been thinking of death a lot lately. My mother died at the end of August, and it made me look at life, what it is, what it means. My brother and sisters and I decided between us that we didn’t want any regrets. We would do what she wanted (she wanted to die at home), and we would do as much as we could do with her whilst she could do it. And although it is natural to still think could we have done this or that, we know that mum lived a full life, and died with her family all around her. I love this poem from Mary Oliver:
When Death Comes
by Mary Oliver
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps his purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle pox;
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering;
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth
tending as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.
Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.
~Ramana Maharshi
If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes transformation. Seeing the problem and attempting to fix it, is akin to employing a fox to protect the chickens.
~J. Krishnamurti
We listen with hope and fear; we seek the light of another but are not alertly passive to be able to understand. If the liberated seems to fulfill our desires we accept him; if not, we continue our search for the one who will; what most of us desire is gratification at different levels. What is important is not how to recognize one who is liberated but how to understand yourself. No authority here or hereafter can give you knowledge of yourself; without self knowledge there is no liberation from ignorance, from sorrow.
~J. Krishnamurti
—
gill
allspiritinspiration : Message: Knowledge and Understanding.
Tags: desire, Fear, hope, Ignorance, knowledge, krishnamurti, Liberation, ramana maharshi, sorrow, Transformation
“In the strictest sense, we cannot actually
think about life and reality at all, because
this would have to include thinking about
thinking, thinking about thinking about
thinking, and so *ad infinitum*. One can
only attempt a rational, descriptive philosophy
of the universe on the assumption that one is
totally separate from it. But if you and your
thoughts are part of this universe, you cannot
stand outside them to describe them. This is
why all philosophical and theological systems
must ultimately fall apart. To ‘know’ reality
you cannot stand outside and define it; you
must enter into it, be it, and feel it.
—
gill
http://allspirit.co.uk
Tags: Life, philosophy, thinking, universe
The Buddha said that we are never separated from enlightenment. Even at the times we feel most stuck, we are never alienated from the awakened state. This is a revolutionary assertion. Even ordinary people like us with hang-ups and confusion have this mind of enlightenment called bodhichitta.
The openness and warmth of bodhichitta is in fact our true nature and condition. Even when our neurosis feels far more basic than our wisdom, even when we’re feeling most confused and hopeless, bodhichitta-like the open sky-is always here, undiminished by the clouds that temporarily cover it.
Given that we are so familiar with the clouds, of course, we may find the Buddha’s teaching hard to believe. Yet the truth is that in the midst of our suffering, in the hardest of times, we can contact this noble heart of bodhichitta. It is always available, in pain as well as in joy.
From The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
by Pema Chodron
—
gill
http://allspirit.co.uk
Tags: awakened, Buddha, Enlightenment, stuck, Suffering
“When we come face-to-face with the fear and pain in our psyche, we stand at the gateway to tremendous renewal and freedom. Our deepest nature is awareness, and when we fully inhabit that, we love freely and are whole. This is the power of Radical Acceptance: When we stop fighting the energy that has been bound in fear, it naturally releases into the boundless sea of awareness. The more we awaken from the grip of fear, the more radiant and free becomes our heart.”
From Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha
by Tara Brach
—
gill
allspirit.co.uk
“If a child smiles, if an adult smiles, that is very important. If in our daily lives we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile? Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy. The source of a true smile is an awakened mind.
How can you remember to smile when you wake up? You might hang a reminder–such as a branch, a leaf, a painting, or some inspiring words–in your window or from the ceiling above your bed, so that you notice it when you wake up. Once you develop the practice of smiling, you may not need a reminder. You will smile as soon as you hear a bird singing or see the sunlight streaming through the window. Smiling helps you approach the day with gentleness and understanding.”
From Peace Is Every Step
- The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh
Tags: awakened mind, happy, Joy, Peace, peaceful, practice, smile
