These pages contains quotations I originally shared on the nondual quotes list. Enjoy!
"Realization of Truth is higher than all else. Higher still is Truthful Living." ~Guru Nanak, Sri Rag
From "More Poems" A. E. Housman XIII I lay me down and slumber And every morn revive. Whose is the night-long breathing That keeps a man alive? When I was off to dreamland And left my limbs forgot, Who stayed at home to mind them, And breathed when I did not? . . . . . -- I waste my time in talking, No heed at all takes he, My kind and foolish comrade That breathes all night for me.
Look at Love.../Rumi Look at Love... how it tangles with the one fallen in love look at spirit how it fuses with earth giving it new life why are you so busy with this or that or good or bad pay attention to how things blend why talk about all the known and the unknown see how unknown merges into the known why think separately of this life and the next when one is born from the last look at your heart and tongue one feels but deaf and dumb the other speaks in words and signs look at water and fire earth and wind enemies and friends all at once the wolf and the lamb the lion and the deer far away yet together look at the unity of this spring and winter manifested in the equinox you too must mingle my friends since the earth and the sky are mingled just for you and me be like sugarcane sweet yet silent don't get mixed up with bitter words my beloved grows right out of my own heart how much more union can there be translated by Nader Khalili
Earth, mountains, rivers - hidden in this nothingness. In this nothingness - earth, mountains, rivers revealed. Spring flowers, winter snows: There's no being or non-being, nor denial itself. - Saisho (? - 1506) Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, p.32 Translated by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto
Ask those who know... Ask those who know, what's this soul within the flesh? Reality's own power. What blood fills these veins? Thought is an errand boy, fear a mine of worries. These sighs are love's clothing. Who is the Khan on the throne? Give thanks for His unity. He created when nothing existed. And since we are actually nothing, what are possessions, houses, shops? God sent us here to come and see the world. This world itself is not everlasting. What are all of Solomon's riches? Ask Yunus and Taptuk what the world means to them. The world won't last. What are You? What am I? ~Yunus Emre
The Sonnets to Orpheus: I Rainer Maria Rilke A tree ascended there. Oh pure transcendence! Oh Orpheus sings! Oh tall tree in the ear! And all things hushed. Yet even in that silence a new beginning, beckoning, change appeared. Creatures of stillness crowded from the bright unbound forest, out of their lairs and nests; and it was not from any dullness, not from fear, that they were so quiet in themselves, but from just listening. Bellow, roar, shriek seemed small inside their hearts. And where there had been at most a makeshift hut to receive the music, a shelter nailed up out of their darkest longing, with an entryway that shuddered in the wind- you built a temple deep inside their hearing. Translated by Stephen Mitchell
Being conscious is cutting through your own melodrama and being right here. Exist in no mind, be empty, here now, and trust that as a situation arises, out of you will come what is necessary to deal with that situation including the use of your intellect when appropriate. Your intellect need not be constantly held on to keep reassuring you that you know where you're at, out of fear of loss of control. Ultimately, when you stop identifying so much with your physical body and with your psychological entity, that anxiety starts to disintegrate. And your start to define yourself as in flow with the universe; and whatever comes along ~ death, life joy, sadness ~ is grist for the mill of awakening. Not this versus that but whatever. ~ Ram Dass, Grist for the Mill
From 'The Power of Now' Eckhart Tolle: Do you truly know what is positive and what is negative? Do you have the total picture? There have been many people for whom limitation, failure, loss, illness, or pain in whatever form turned out to be their greatest teacher. It taught them to let go of false self- images and superficial ego-dictated goals and desires. It gave them depth, humility, and compassion. It made them more real. Whenever anything negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it, although you may not see it at the time. Even a brief illness or an accident can show you what is real and unreal in your life, what ultimately matters and what doesn't. Seen from a higher perspective, conditions are always positive. To be more precise: they are neither positive nor negative. They are as they are. And when you live in complete acceptance of what is which is the only sane way to live - there is no "good" or "bad" in your life anymore. There is only a higher good - which includes the "bad." Seen from the perspective of the mind, however, there is good -bad, like-dislike, love-hate.
There Is A Brokenness by Rashani There is a brokenness out of which comes the unbroken, A shatteredness out of which blooms the unshatterable. There is a sorrow Beyond all grief which leads to joy And a fragility Out of which depth emerges strength. There is a hollow space Too vast for words Through which we pass with each loss, Out of whose darkness we are sanctified into being. There is a cry deeper than all sound Whose serrated edges cut the heart As we break open To the place inside which is unbreakable And whole.
Make excursions in pure simplicity. Identify yourself with non-distinction. Follow the nature of things and admit no personal bias. Then the world will be in peace. ~ Chuang Tzu
If the mind is happy, not only the body but the whole world will be happy. So one must find out how to become happy oneself. Wanting to transform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the whole world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes. ~ Ramana Maharshi
Eternal Now Meher Baba Life is not meant to be rich in spiritual significance at some distant date, but it can be so at every moment if the mind is disburdened of illusions. Only through a clear and tranquil mind is the true nature of spiritual infinity grasped -- not as something that is yet to be but that already has been, is, and ever will be eternal Self-fulfillment. When every moment is rich with eternal significance, there is neither the lingering clinging to the dead past nor a longing expectation for the future but an integral living in the eternal Now. Only through such living can the spiritual infinity of the Truth be realized in life. It is not right to deprive the present of all importance by subordinating it to an end in the future. For this means the imaginary accumulation of all importance in the imagined future rather than the perception and realization of the true importance of everything that exists in the eternal Now. There cannot be an ebb and flow in eternity, no meaningless intervals between intermittent harvests, but a fullness of being that cannot suffer impoverish- ment for a single instant. When life seems to be idle or empty, it is not due to any curtailment of the infinity of the Truth but to one's own lack of capa- city to enter into its full possession.... Spiritual life is not a matter of quantity but of inherent quality of living. Spiritual infinity includes in its scope all phases of life. It comprises acts that are great as well as acts that are small. Being greater than the greatest, spiritual infinity is also smaller than the smallest; and it can equally express itself through happenings irrespective of whether they are outwardly small or great. Thus a smile or a look stands on the same level as offering one's life for a cause, when the smile or the look springs from Truth-consciousness. There are no gradations in spiritual importance when all life is lived in the shadow of Eternity. If life were to consist only of big things and if all the little things where to be omitted from its scope, it would not only be finite but would be extremely poor. The infinite Truth, which is latent in every- thing, can reveal itself only when life is seen and accepted in its totality. DISCOURSES, pp. 118-119
If you keep your heart immersed always in the ocean of divine love, Your heart is sure to remain ever full to the overflowing with the waters of the divine love. ~ Ramakrishna
One moon shows in every pool; in every pool, the one moon. Zen Forest Saying
...the growing and dying of the moon reminds us of our ignorance which comes and goes; but when the moon is full it is as if the eternal light of the Great Spirit were upon the whole world. ~Black Elk
The madness of love Is a rich fief; Anyone who recognized this Would not ask Love for anything else: It can unite Opposites And reverse the paradox. lam declaring the truth about this: The madness of love makes bitter what was sweet, It makes the stranger a kinsman, And it makes the smallest the most proud. To souls who have not reached such love, I give this good counsel: If they cannot do more, Let them beg Love for amnesty, And serve with faith, According to the counsel of noble Love, And think: 'It can happen, Love's power is so great!' Only after his death Is a man beyond cure. -HADEWIJCH of Antwerp
This is from: 'This - Prose and Poetry of Dancing Emptiness'
Sri H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji)
You are the One which is aware
of the awareness of objects and ideas.
You are the One that is even more silent than awareness.
You are the Life which precedes the concept of life.
Your nature is silence and it is not attainable,
It always Is.
You are Emptiness, the ultimate Substance:
removing Emptiness out of Emptiness
leaves only Emptiness because there is nothing beyond It.
Emptiness is between "is" and "is not"
and nothing is out of this Emptiness so it is the Fullness.
To be Free, you need the firm conviction
that you are this Substratum, this Peace, this Emptiness.
All rises from,
dances about in,
and returns to
This.
As Ocean rises as a wave to dance,
so you are this Dancing Emptiness!
You Can Still Be Free Savage Garden Cool breeze and autumn leaves Slow motion daylight A lone pair of watchful eyes Oversee the living Feel the presence all around A tortured soul A wound unhealing No regrets or promises The past is gone But you can still be free If time will set you free Time now to spread your wings To take to flight The life endeavor Aim for the burning sun You're trapped inside But you can still be free If time will set you free But it's a long long way to go Keep moving way up high You see the light It shines forever Sail through the crimson skies The purest light The light that sets you free If time will set you free Sail through the wind and rain tonight You're free to fly tonight And you can still be free If time will set you free And going higher than mountain tops And go high the wind won't stop And go high Free to fly tonight Free to fly tonight
Our original nature is, in highest truth, devoid of any atom of objectivity. It is void, omnipresent, silent, pure; it is glorious and mysterious peaceful joy ~ and that is all. Enter deeply into it by awakening yourself. ~ Huang Po
Knowledge is to understand To understand who you are. If you know not who you are What's the use of learning? The aim in learning is To understand God's Truth. Because without knowledge It is wasted hard labour. Do not say: I know it all, I am obedient to my God. If you know not who God is That is sheer idle talk. Twenty-eight syllables You read from end to end. You name the first `alpha'' What can it possibly mean? Yunus Emre says also Let me receive what I need. The best possible thing Is to find perfect peace. Yunus Emre (?1238-?1320) Translated by Taner Baybars
Those who desire to understand, who are looking to find that which is eternal, without beginning and end, will walk together with greater intensity will be a danger to everything which is unessential, to unrealities, to shadows. They will concentrate, they will become the flame, because they understand. Jiddhu Krishnamurti
"Saints and mystics throughout history have adorned their realisations with different names and given them different faces and interpretations, but what they are all fundamentally experiencing is the essential nature of the mind." ~Sogyal Rinpoche
"Mind and body dropped off; dropped off mind and body! This state should be experienced by everyone; it is like piling fruit into a basket without a bottom, like pouring water into a bow! With a pierced hole; however much you may pile or pour you cannot fill it up. When this is realized the pail bottom is broken through. But while there is still a trace of conceptualism which makes you say 'I have this understanding' or 'I have that realization', you are still playing with unrealities." ~Dogen
When you don't require anything from the world and nothing from God, when you don't desire anything, when you don't strive for anything, don't expect anything, the divine will enter you, unasked and unexpected. ~Nisargadatta From 'The wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj' by Robert Powell
Hidden Treasure (Winwood/Capaldi) Take a walk down by, take a walk down by the river There's a lot that you, there's a lot that you can learn If you've got a mind that's open, if you've got a heart that yearns If you listen to, if you listen to the water You will hear the sound, you will hear the sound of life There's a million different voices, there is happiness and strife Message in the deep, from a strange eternal sleep That is waiting there, that is waiting there for you Like hidden treasure Traffic, The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, 1972
Are you born now? Why do you think of other births? The fact is that there is neither birth nor death. Let him who is born think of death and palliatives therefore. ~Ramana Maharshi Just understand that birth-and-death is itself nirvana. There is nothing such as birth and death to be avoided; there is nothing such as nirvana to be sought. Only when you realize this are you free from birth and death. ~Dogen
"I follow the Way of Love, and where Love's caravan takes its path, there is my religion, my faith." ~Ibn 'Arabi
Neither is there Bodhi-tree, Nor yet a mirror bright; Since in reality all is void, Whereon can the dust fall? ~Hui Neng
Love will be enlightened when we come into contact with that bliss which is free from any condition or object. It must be thoroughly understood that we have no need to acquire love, because in the depths of ourselves we are 'desire for perfect bliss', or in theological language, 'Love of God'. No one needs to acquire or increase love, but only to enlighten it on its true aim. ~Jean Klein
My inside, listen to me, the greatest spirit, the Teacher, is near, wake up, wake up! Run to his feet - he is standing close to your head right now. You have slept for millions and millions of years. Why not wake up this morning? ~Kabir, Version by Robert Bly
Uncreated (Quotations from Chuang Tzu) To name Tao is to name no-thing. Tao is not the name of (something created). "Cause" and "chance" have no bearing on the Tao. Tao is a name that indicates without defining. Tao is beyond words and beyond things. It is not expressed either in word or in silence. Where there is no longer word or silence Tao is apprehended.
The Brim Hafiz You hide your face in the leaves, and your eyes fill with rosewater, sleepy as a narcissus opening. You slip away in the garden seasons. The purple violets, the white lily, they change, and you hurry off. Surface bubbles open their eyes, and vanish. How different is this world from those bubbles? Your way with a body-cup is to drain its love-wine. Do that to us! from 'The Hand of Poetry' Inayat Khan/Coleman Barks
The true meaning of love one's neighbor is not that it is a command from God which we are to fulfill, but that through it and in it we meet God. ~Martin Buber
More Quotations: Back to Top Next Page Nondual Quotes Index Allspirit Quotations Index
