‘The sunrise comes!
The dewdrop slips into the shining sea!’
– The Light of Asia
or
The Great Renunciation of Being, The Life and Teaching of Gautama
I’m not devoutly religious. I’m devoutly philosophical. I’m devoutly moral and devoutly a lover of people.
Sometimes you’ll come across a Bodhisattva disguised as something else. No surprise there right?
Writing is a grand mirage. By imagination only you have to describe that which isn’t there.
Writers tell you that you have to bleed out onto the page from your open heart. What they really mean is that you have to overcome self-doubt.
The candle of faith burns for fuel your good deeds and though sad, warms you.
The greenhouse of faith is almost a perfect environment.
The 80’s version of being completely financially destitute was living by yourself in a two bedroom apartment.
Come before the candle and burn the fats of your good deeds. They’re refined in that flame.
If you ever feel like a sinner, ask yourself who you’ve sinned against.
If you lack an immediate answer you’re without sin.
– on being forgiven
Every process is fundamentally pure.
– case 223, Pure Original Nature.
The edges of your mind aren’t the edges of my mind.
– the three-year-old.
You’ll notice that monks rest themselves against their skeletons. Just do that if you ever need a break.
If you want to be real, you have to be real. What a catch 22.
Some of the worst jokes I’ve ever heard have been long and unnecessarily complicated.
– case 225, The Garuda King
If someone is brave enough to point out some major flaw in your action, honour that bravery and improve yourself by considering it without ego.
The more you possess the clumsier you move. Open up and let gravity pull it away.
Gravity is a force of cleansing. One need only relax their grip and sins slip away.
I know I’ve written of being between disasters before. I know you know that its unpredictable nature makes it a disaster.
It really is a very special place though. We never recognize it because we’re too busy enjoying it. If you’re having a lot of fun, that’s how you know you’re between disasters. This train doesn’t have brakes so make sure you recognize the good times.
I haven’t been to too many funerals. The reason I haven’t is that I think I keep waiting to be invited or something. People don’t get invited to funerals right?
I feel like I’m so dislikable that people die secretly, just so that I won’t find out and attend their funeral.
In the midst of disaster, lets support each other with our unbreakable strength, shall we?
‘I’m tough ’cause she’s tough,’ the tough guy spoke of his mother, jerking his thumb toward her.
‘Every boat you see from now on,’ she told him, ‘is a metaphor for navigating, safely and dry, through other people’s egos. Stay light and fast. ‘
He went to trade school and became a quantum mechanic.
The resistance fighter must often fight against public opinion as it’s controlled by the ruling class.
Any concept with form attached, even enlightenment and Nibanna, is exactly what’s keeping your from formless state. Bodhidharma spoke about teaching mind to mind to be formless, even of mind.
Whatever your last thought was, was a concept that exists in your mind.
– on intentional grammar
Meditate while you lay in a comfortable bed. Fall asleep and sleep as much as you want to. Meditate when you wake up and sleep as much as you need to. Meditate when you wake up.
The real problem with concepts is that some people actively collect them.
Anything other than a clear mind is bullshit. Just clear your mind.
– Bodhidharma
To work with a team is to give consciousness to a concept. Humans are special in that sense, we create a conscious entity called a team.
This team entity is exactly whatever’s in it. Each individual is an exactly fractional contributor to that team.
Gold doesn’t sit on the sidewalk for long, though in a river millennia.
Some concepts are magnetic in nature. Bodhisattvas return with these and labour.
Skanda loves the people who love the temple. They love the temple so he protects it. No wonder he said that donating food the sangha was the most meritous deed.
– case 227, The Merit of Donating Food to the Sangha
In my past travels I’d often arrive at a perfectly lovely place full of perfectly lovely people. When the time came for me to say goodbye, I’d tell them that I was travelling to the next city over, or country, or whatever. Someone would always remark that the next place is full of awful, criminal type people.
Eventually I’d arrive there and also find it a perfectly lovely place full of perfectly lovely people. You can guess what I’d hear when it was time to leave.
Every place is full of perfectly lovely people no matter what anyone tells you.
Maybe they love you and want you to stay.
– perfectly lovely people
Thank you for the opportunity for change. Change is fundamental to the human experience.
A person full of poison will always let you know in some subtle way.
Once in a while, while thinking on a subject, forget the details. Focus on the feelings you feel while thinking on it. This is both a good way of more deeply understanding a subject and to practice nondual thinking.
Singularity of thought brings about virtues and dualities of thought, vice.
Dahui figured out nondual thinking so Zhaozhou told him everything he’d need to know about being a Zen master.
– case 229, In the Dharma There Is No Duality
The next time you go through an international border ask the border guard if all of her questions are rhetorical.
Bodhidharma and Nanyue Huairang both agree when it comes the topic of formlessness.
– case 234, The Mind-Ground Contains the Seed
If you perceive the way at all, you’re not perceiving the way.
– case 234, The Mind-Ground Contains the Seed