31 December, 2013

Wishes for the New Year



30 December, 2013

Tommorrow never comes by Leo Duse

  Photocredit: vishnu108.deviantart.com

Images of past arise
Thoughts of future die
Tomorrow, yesterday 
always now they say.
Bodies, ticking seconds
Illusions beckon
The Luminous essence
Exists in our presence
Ocean deep, vast as sky
Minus all that is an I
Phenomena a speck of dust
All but one turn to rust
In an atom a universe
Impossible to disperse
In each body trillion worlds
Ever waiting to unfold
Beyond infinite time creation
The road to lasting illumination

Leo Duse 
Book of Poems (Copyright)

29 December, 2013

On the essence of emptiness

Photocredit:www.brigidmarlin.com via Google
images

“There is a sphere where there is neither earth 
nor water nor heat nor air, for it is beyond the 
field of matter; nor is it the sphere of infinite 
space, or consciousness, for it is beyond the 
field of mind. There is not the condition of 
nothingness, neither is there the state of this 
world or another world, nor sun nor moon. 
This is the uncreated. This condition I call
neither arising nor passing away, neither
 dying nor being born. It is without form 
and without change. It is the eternal, 
which never originates and never passes 
away. To find it is the end of sorrow.” 

Udana Sutta

28 December, 2013

Alone And Drinking Under The Moon: Li Po

Amongst the flowers I 
am alone with my pot of wine 
drinking by myself; then lifting 
my cup I asked the moon 
to drink with me, its reflection 
and mine in the wine cup, just 
the three of us; then I sigh 
for the moon cannot drink, 
and my shadow goes emptily along 
with me never saying a word; 
with no other friends here, I can 
but use these two for company; 
in the time of happiness, I 
too must be happy with all 
around me; I sit and sing 
and it is as if the moon 
accompanies me; then if I 
dance, it is my shadow that 
dances along with me; while 
still not drunk, I am glad 
to make the moon and my shadow 
into friends, but then when 
I have drunk too much, we 
all part; yet these are 
friends I can always count on 
these who have no emotion 
whatsoever; I hope that one day 
we three will meet again, 
deep in the Milky Way. 

Li Po

26 December, 2013

Trirukkural wisdom...

“Not killing is the first and foremost good. 
The virtue of not lying comes next.” 

Tirukkural 

25 December, 2013

On infinity...

“As great as the infinite space beyond is the 
space within the lotus of the heart. Both 
heaven and earth are contained in that inner 
space, both fire and air, sun and moon, 
lightning and stars. Whether we know it in 
this world or know it not, everything is 
contained in that inner space.” 

Chandogya Upanishad

24 December, 2013

Special Birthday Wishes

Special Birthday Wishes for Dr Yucci Maria Orsini
25 December 2013
I would like to take this opportunity to wish a very Happy Birthday to Dr. Yucci Maria Orsini one of the many wonderful and ardent supporters of this initiative, in Italy. Dr Yucci (Phd.Ret.) has had a distinguished university language teaching career and has always been a pragmatic educator with infinite patience and wisdom. In addition to university teaching she also taught music extensively to the Japanese community in South Africa where she lived with her family for many years.I thank her so much for the seeds of kindness and wisdom that have inspired and blossomed within me over time.
 May you have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND MUCH LOVE from Sukhothai! 

23 December, 2013

On Being awake...

“He is not asleep. He is not awake. 
He never closes his eyes or opens them. 
Wherever he is, 
he is beyond everything. 
He is free. And the man who is free 
always lives in his heart. 
His heart is always pure. Whatever happens,
he is free of all desires.” 

Ashtavakra Gita

22 December, 2013

Equanimity...bliss!

“The master goes about his business with
perfect equanimity. He is happy when he
sits, Happy when he talks and eats, 
Happy asleep, Happy coming and going. 
Because he knows his own nature, 
He does what he has to without feeling
ruffled like ordinary people. Smooth and
shining like the surface of a vast lake. 
His sorrows are at an end.” 

Ashtavakra Gita

20 December, 2013

On friendship...

“It is harmful to make a multitude of foes, 
But it is ten times worse to give up the friendship 
of the worthy.” 

Tirukkural 

19 December, 2013

"Teaching"...

“When one teaches, two learn.” 

Robert Half


On light...

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the 
candle or the mirror that reflects it.” 

Edith Wharton

18 December, 2013

On phenomena...

“No matter how bad a state of mind you may get into, 
if you keep strong and hold out, eventually the floating 
clouds must vanish and the withering wind must cease.” 

Dogen

17 December, 2013

Universe within...

“Therefore it is said that the whole universe is just 
an illusion, unless you immediately realize the vehicle of
truth and attain the mystic path all at once, forgetting 
all about subject and object, arriving at basic unminding, 
seeing through worldly troubles, understanding gangs 
of devils. If you effectively understand this, it will make 
you happy for life. If you still don't understand, 
its just because you yourselves 
are avoiding it.”

Hui-lin

16 December, 2013

Dhammapada wisdom!

“Be quick in doing what's admirable. Restrain your mind from what's evil. 
When you're slow in making merit, evil delights the mind.”

Dhammapada,  (translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu). 

15 December, 2013

Life In A Love

Escape me? 
Never...
Beloved! 
While I am I, and you are you, 
So long as the world contains us both, 
Me the loving and you the loth 
While the one eludes, must the other pursue. 
My life is a fault at last, I fear: 
It seems too much like a fate, indeed! 
Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed. 
But what if I fail of my purpose here? 
It is but to keep the nerves at strain, 
To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall, 
And, baffled, get up and begin again,--- 
So the chace takes up one's life ' that's all. 
While, look but once from your farthest bound 
At me so deep in the dust and dark, 
No sooner the old hope goes to ground 
Than a new one, straight to the self-same mark, 
I shape me... 
Ever 
Removed! 

Robert Browning

13 December, 2013

Common threads in Wisdom...

“Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, who
sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed
in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and
sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end
of sorrow through meditation. Through constant effort
they learn to withdraw the mind from selfish 
cravings and absorb it in the Self. Thus they
attain the state of union.” 

Bhagavad Gita

12 December, 2013

The Sign Of No Sign by Julian Colgan

Reducing everything down to consciousness,
what else is there to do but to be conscious.

To be conscious is to be aware of 
the infinite buddha nature that masquerades as
an ordinary and somewhat blunt mind.

Attributing many signs and sayings to
a purely historical buddha,
the real buddha is you as you are.

Attached to the signs and sayings of
a far and distant past, the dharma is no longer
valid if it becomes another source of attachment.

Attaching yourself to the buddha is not the goal
of accomplishment because the goal of a buddha
is to no longer have to have goals.

Consciously above all designations and not having
any one religion to care for,
liberation cannot be formatted into a set code
of conduct or into a series of religious formalities.

Those who think that it can or that it should have
not realized what the infinite buddha nature is.

Too close to notice and too far away to quickly care,
thoughts are mirrors of the Ultimate Reality
and desires are generators of unlimited aspirational prayers.

Thinking and desiring as a Buddha, compose
your own narrations of nirvana.

Expecting no sign or saying from the 
far and distant past to confirm this,
the Buddha is when you are completely at ease
with all that permeates every wheel of time.

Samsara spinning out of time and nirvana coming closer
to mind, find what is always there while looking
in the mirror of self contemplation.

Racing towards nothing that is in sight,
what is spectacular is never out of sight.

Liberated or in turmoil,
the mind is the same.

Sameness being equal, equalize yourself
in the infinite Buddha nature once and for all.

By Julian Colgan (Copyright)
Awake to Buddhahood
emptinessofmind.blogspot.com

10 December, 2013

Precious Garland...

“Considering the harm others do to you
As created by your former deeds, 
do not anger. Act such that further
suffering will not be created 
And your own faults will disappear.” 

Nagarjuna, "Precious Garland"


09 December, 2013

On direct experience...


“A king asked a sage to explain the Truth. In response
the sage asked the king how he would convey the
taste of a mango to someone who had never
eaten anything sweet. No matter how hard
the king tried, he could not adequately 
describe the flavor of the fruit, and, in frustration, 
he demanded of the sage "Tell me then, how would 
you describe it?" The sage picked up a mango and 
handed it to the king saying "This is very sweet.
Try eating it!"” 

Hindu Wisdom

08 December, 2013

On hard work...

“Hard work spotlights the character of people: 
some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, 
and some don't turn up at all.” 

Sam Ewing

07 December, 2013

On the vastness of consciousness...

"The realm of consciousness
is much vaster than thought can grasp. 
When you no longer believe everything you think, 
you step out of thought and see clearly that the 
thinker is not who you are."

Eckart Tolle

06 December, 2013

On Mindful attention...

“Just as the footprints of any creature that walks 
the earth can be placed in the elephants footprint, 
which is the largest of all: even so mindful 
attention is the one quality that ensures ease 
of mind at all times. Mindful attention causes
beneficial thoughts that have not yet arisen to 
arise. It also causes harmful thoughts that 
have already arisen to vanish. In the one who is 
mindful, the good that is to be will be realized.” 

Anguttara Nikay

05 December, 2013

On The Nature Of Emptiness by Julian Colgan

Emptiness cannot be realized
because there is nothing to realize
that is beyond your own diamond forged mind.

Emptiness cannot be seen
because there is nothing that is intrinsically
representative of formless formlessness.

Emptiness cannot be defined
because the nature of defining something
means that there is something that can be defined.

The middle way is not the middle way
when there is a mind to divide and label
something that appears to be extreme as being extreme.

The lotus is empty of a buddha
when the Buddha renounces his or her Buddha nature.

By saying that a buddha is a buddha,
Buddhahood is lost.

Though losing something is empty of meaning,
making senses of emptiness is a meaningless task.

Working for what does not exist,
what does exist is beyond the mountain range of nirvana.

Sitting in a lotus position,
what you are sitting on
is sitting in you.

Every time an argument is made,
a counter argument is nowhere to be heard.

Seeing a rainbow encircled around your mind,
the rainbow of benedictions
is always there because there is nothing there.

Reading many sutras,
the only sutra that is never read
is the sutra of spontaneous 
relinquishments of all destructive desires.

Never looking into future or past lives,
the eternity of buddhahood
rings as clear as a silver bell
when placed in a high location or atmosphere.

Nirvana being a stream
and samsara a bridge,
not one step is needed to cross
that bridge of illusory apparitions.

Already there without being there,
the nature of emptiness is no better than samsara,
for samsara points the way to what is in need
of being seen as empty.

Neither found in the dharma or in the sangha,
emptiness is the perception of non-perception.

That which is eternal is always changing
and that which is stable is always fading.

Governed by the karma of no karma,
set yourself free of needless worries.

Anxious over what does not exist,
what does exist is the union
of a particular nature with no particular nature.

A simple and complex puzzle,
the mind is all there is to know.

by Julian Colgan (Copyright)
Awake to Buddhahood
http://emptinessofmind.blogspot.ca/

03 December, 2013

On the Master...

"Feeling the living presence of Buddha, of Padmasambhava, of your master, 
and simply opening your heart and mind to the embodiment of truth, 
really does bless and transform your mind. As you invoke Buddha, your own 
Buddha nature is inspired to awaken and blossom,
as naturally as a flower in sunlight."

Sogyal Rinpoche

02 December, 2013

Freedom...

“You have no caste. No duties bind you. 
Formless and free, Beyond the reach of the senses, 
The witness of all things. So be happy! ” 

Ashtavakra Gita