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Invisiblespinvis
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Registered: 09/15/20
Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: mt cleverest]
    #27468946 - 09/15/21 05:34 AM (2 years, 4 months ago)

Inner Worlds Outer Worlds;

"When the Buddha was asked: 'What are you?'
He said simply: 'I am awake.'
What does this mean, to be awake?
The Buddha does not say exactly, because the flowering of each individual life is different.
But he does say one thing; 'It is the end of suffering.'"


Inner Worlds Outer Worlds;

"Like a dog chasing it's tail, it is only the ego identity that wants to find an answer, a purpose.
The truth of who you are does not need an answer, because all questions are created by the egoic mind.
You are not your mind.
The truth lies not in more answers but in less questions."


Inner Worlds Outer Worlds;

"In the Buddhist tradition the bodhisattva is a person with an awakened Buddha nature.
A bodhisattva vows to help to awaken every being in the universe, realizing that there is only one consciousness.
To awaken ones true self, one must awaken all beings.
There are innumerable sentient beings in the universe, I vow to help them all to awaken.
My imperfections are inexhaustible, I vow to overcome them all.
The Dharma is unknowable, I vow to know it.
The way to awakening is unobtainable, I vow to attain it."


Meister Eckhart;

"The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love."


Luke 11:34;

"The lamp of the body is your eye; when therefore your eye is clear your whole body shall be illuminated"


Matthew 6:22;

"But the lamp of the body is the eye; therefore if your eye shall be sound, your whole body also will be illuminated."


Socrates;

"By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher."


Mark 4:10-29;

But when they were by themselves, those twelve who were with him inquired of him about that parable.
Yeshua said to them, “It has been given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but to outsiders, everything has been in parables,”
“So that seeing they shall see and not see, and hearing they shall hear and they shall not understand, unless perhaps they shall be converted and their sins shall be forgiven them.”

He said to them, “Do you not know this parable? How shall you know all the parables?”
“The sower, who sowed, sowed the word.”
“But these upon the side of the road are those who have the word sown in them, and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes and takes the word away that was sown in their hearts.”
“And those that were sown upon the rock are those who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with joy.”
“And they have no root in themselves, but they abide for a while, and when there is distress or persecution because of the word, they are soon subverted.”
“And those sown among the thorns are those who have heard the word,”
“And the cares of this world and the seductiveness of wealth and other desires are entering in and choking the word and it becomes unfruitful.”
“And they that were sown in the good ground are those who hear the word and receive and yield fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold and an hundred fold.”

And he said to them, “Does one bring a lamp to be put under a basket or under a bed? Should it not be put on a lampstand?”
“For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and nothing secret that will not be discovered.”
“If a man has an ear to hear, let him hear.”
And he said to them, “Take heed what you hear; that measure in which you are measuring is measured to you, and it is increased to you who hear.”
For whoever has it, it shall be given to him; and whoever does not have it, from him shall be taken even that which he has.

And he said, “Thus is the Kingdom of God like a man who cast seed in the ground.”
“And he shall sleep and arise by night and by day and the seed grows and lengthens while he is unaware.”
“For the earth produces fruit itself; first shall be the blade and afterward the ear, then finally the full wheat in the ear.”
“But whenever the fruit ripens, immediately the sickle is brought because the harvest has arrived.”


John 18:36;

"Yeshua said to him, “My Kingdom is not from this world; if my Kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting that I would not have been delivered up to the Judeans, but now my Kingdom is not from here.”"


Luke 17:20-21;

"And when some of the Pharisees asked Yeshua, “When is the Kingdom of God coming”, he answered and he said to them, “The Kingdom of God does not come with what is observed.”
“Neither do they say, 'Behold, here it is!' and 'Behold, from here to there!', for behold, the Kingdom of God is within some of you.”"


The Gospel of Thomas - 1-3;

"And he said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death."

Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All."

Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.""


The Buddha's Way of Virtue - § XIII - THE WORLD - 174;

”Blinded are the men of this world; few there are who have eyes to see: few are the birds which escape the fowler's net; few are they who go to heaven.”


The Buddha's Way of Virtue - § XII - SELF - 164-165;

"Whoso fondly repudiates the teaching of the noble and virtuous Arahats, following false doctrine, is like the bamboo which bears fruit to its own destruction."

"Thou art brought low by the evil thou hast done thyself; by the evil thou hast left undone art thou purified. Purity and impurity are things of man's inmost self; no man can purify another."


The Buddha's Way of Virtue - § VIII - THE THOUSANDS - 104-105;
"Self-conquest is better than other victories: neither god nor demi-god, neither Mara nor Brahma, can undo the victory of such a one, who is self-controlled and always calm."


The Buddha's Way of Virtue - § VI - THE WISE MAN - 85;
"Few amongst men are they who reach the farther shore: the rest, a great multitude, stand only on the bank."


The Buddha's Way of Virtue - § II - ZEAL - 21;
"Zeal is the way to Nirvāna. Sloth is the day of death. The zealous die not: the slothful are as it were dead."


The Buddha's Way of Virtue - § I - THE TWIN TRUTHS - 19;
"If a man is a great preacher of the sacred text, but slothful and no doer of it, he is a hireling shepherd, who has no part in the flock."


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Invisiblespinvis
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Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: spinvis]
    #27469095 - 09/15/21 08:47 AM (2 years, 4 months ago)

Bulleh Shah;

"Yes, yes; you’ve read thousands of books but you’ve never tried to read your own self; you rush into your temples, into your mosques, but you have never tried to enter your own heart; futile are all your battles with the devil for you have never tried to fight your own desires."


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Invisiblespinvis
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Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: Asante]
    #27470296 - 09/16/21 08:02 AM (2 years, 4 months ago)

The Power of a Word
A Sufi Story

There is a story told that once a Sufi was healing a child that was ill. He was repeating a few words, and then gave the child to the parents saying, “Now he will be well.”

Someone who was antagonistic to this said to him, “How can it be possible that by a few words spoken, anyone can be healed?”

From a mild Sufi an angry answer is never expected, but this time he turned to the man and said, “You understand nothing about it. You are a fool.”

The man was very much offended. His face was red. He was hot. The Sufi said, “when a word has the power to make you hot and angry, why should not a word have the power to heal?”


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Invisiblespinvis
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Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: spinvis]
    #27470306 - 09/16/21 08:09 AM (2 years, 4 months ago)

Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī;

"You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don't. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly."


Sri Ramana Maharshi;

"Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside."


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Invisiblespinvis
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Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: spinvis]
    #27475638 - 09/20/21 12:28 PM (2 years, 4 months ago)

Jiddu Krishnamurti;

"It is no measure of one's health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."


Samadhi - Maya - The Illusion of the Self;

"In the "Kalama Sutta", the Buddha said: 'In order to ascertain the truth, one must doubt all traditions, scriptures, teachings, and all the content of one's mind and senses.'"


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Invisiblespinvis
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Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: spinvis]
    #27477666 - 09/22/21 01:06 AM (2 years, 4 months ago)

Psalm 46:10;
"Be still, and know that I am God"


Ramana Maharshi;
"To realize the Self is to be still."


Mirra Alfassa - The Mother;
"It is in the silence of your heart that the Divine will speak to you and will guide you and will lead you to your goal."


Lao Tzu;
"Empty yourself of everything. Let the mind rest at peace. The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return. They grow and flourish and then return to the source. Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of the Tao."


Bhagavad Gita;
"Compose yourself in stillness, draw your attention inward and devote your mind to the Self. The wisdom you seek lies within."


Eckhart Tolle;
"Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. It is the I Am that is deeper than name and form."


Meister Eckhart;
"Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness."


Nisargadatta Maharaj;
"In the stillness of the mind I saw myself as I am: unbound."


Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī;
"Let silence take you to the core of life."


Rabia Basri;
"You know of the how, but I know of the how-less."


Zhou Xuanjing;
"The secret of the receptive must be sought in stillness."


Jiddu Krishnamurti;
"The complete stillness of the brain is an extraordinary thing; it is highly sensitive, vigorous, fully alive, aware of every outward movement but utterly still."


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Invisiblespinvis
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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: Asante]
    #27481845 - 09/25/21 01:43 PM (2 years, 4 months ago)

Pema Chödrön - When Things Fall Apart - Heart Advice for Difficult Times;
"To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again."


Leo Tolstoy - Three Methods Of Reform;
"There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself."


Carl Gustav Jung;
"To let the unconscious go its own way and to experience it as reality is something that exceeds the courage and capacity of the average European. He prefers simply not to understand this problem. For the spiritually weakened this is the better course, since the thing is not without its dangers."


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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: Jaegar]
    #27484691 - 09/28/21 03:38 AM (2 years, 3 months ago)

Adi Shankara;
"The world, like a dream full of attachments and aversions seems real until the awakening."


Ali ibn Abi Talib;
"Your Remedy is within you, but you do not sense it.
Your Sickness is from you, but you do not perceive it.
You Presume you are a small entity,
But within you is enfolded the entire universe.
You are indeed the evident book,
By whose alphabet the hidden becomes the manifest.
Therefore, you have no need to look beyond yourself,
What you seek is within you, if only you reflect."


Swami Vivekananda;
"The attempt to remove evil from the world by killing a thousand evil - doers, only adds to the evil in the world."


St Francis of Assisi;
"Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received but only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage."


Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī;
"As long as you do not die while living
How will you obtain true benefit ?
Therefore, die and come out of your body.
You have died many times, yet still you remain behind the veil
For the method of dying you did not learn."


Tilopa;
"It's not the appearance that binds you, it's the attachment to the appearance that binds you.

Don’t recall. Don’t imagine. Don’t think. Don’t examine. Don’t control. Rest.

Cut the mind at its root and rest in naked awareness."


Samadhi - Maya - The Illusion of the Self;
"When you realize Samadhi, it becomes clear that there is a controller. There is a machine, an evil demon leaching your life day after day. The machine is you."


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Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: PocketLady] * 3
    #27493248 - 10/05/21 06:47 AM (2 years, 3 months ago)

Osho;
"If you love a flower, don’t pick it up.
Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love.
So if you love a flower, let it be.
Love is not about possession.
Love is about appreciation."


Hazrat Inayat Khan;
"The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels."


Swami Vivekananda;
"You are incarnations of God, all of you. You are incarnations of the Almighty, Omnipresent, Divine Principle. You may laugh at me now, but the time will come when you will understand. You must. Nobody will be left behind."


Jiddu Krishnamurtui;
"Have you ever sat very quietly with closed eyes and watched the movement of your thinking? Have you watched your mind working? or rather, has your mind watched itself in operations, just to see what your thoughts are, what your feelings are how you look at the trees, flowers, birds, people, how you respond to a suggestion or react to a new idea? Have you ever done this?"


Tilopa;
"Let go of what has passed.
Let go of what may come.
Let go of what is happening now.
Don’t try to figure anything out.
Don’t try to make anything happen.
Relax, right now, and rest."


Paramhansa Yogananda;
"You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God's creative principle works in you."


Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī;
"Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames."


Miyamoto Musashi;
"Anger. Control your anger. If you hold anger toward others, they have control over you. Your opponent can dominate and defeat you if you allow him to get you irritated."


Atisha;
"Avoid friends who cause you to increase delusions, and rely upon those who increase your virtue. This you should take to heart. Since there is never a time when worldly activities come to an end, limit your activities. Dedicate your virtues throughout the day and the night, and always watch your mind."


Ajahn Amaro;
"The best way to deal with excessive thinking is to just listen to it, to listen to the mind. Listening is much more effective than trying to stop thought or cut it off."


Guru Gobind Singh;
"Egotism is such a terrible disease, he dies, to be reincarnated he continues coming and going."


Imam Ali;
"Truthfulness has diminished among the people and dishonesty has become abundant; love is being expressed by people with their tongue while they hate each other with their hearts."


Daisaku Ikeda;
"It is impossible to build one's own happiness on the unhappiness of others. This perspective is at the heart of Buddhist teachings."


Rabia Basri;
"How long will you keep pounding on an open door Begging for someone to open it?"


Milarepa;
"Deep in the wild mountains, is a strange marketplace, where you can trade the hassle and noise of everyday life, for eternal Light."


Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī;
"There is a life in you,
search that life,
Search the secret jewel,
in the mountain of your body."


Saint Augustine;
"And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought."


Kabir;
"Wherever you are is the entry point."


Hui-Neng;
“Truth has nothing to do with words. Truth can be likened to the bright moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon’s location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger.”


Hazrat Inayat Khan;
"Love itself is the healing power and the remedy for all pain."


Dogen;
"When we discover that the truth is already in us, we are all at once our original selves."


Sri Ramana Maharshi;
"Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world. The Sun is simply bright. It does not correct anyone. Because it shines, the whole world is full of light. Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world."


Kabir;
"There's a moon in my body, but I can't see it! A moon and a sun.
A drum never touched by hands, beating, and I can't hear it!"


Yoga Vashishta;
"O Rama, there are liberated beings even among worms and insects; and there are stupid fools among the gods. The self is in all; it exists as the all everywhere at all times and in all ways."


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Invisiblespinvis
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Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: Raven44] * 1
    #27497133 - 10/08/21 09:05 AM (2 years, 3 months ago)

Scientist: "There's no way that blocking the coastal lagoons could possibly be affecting the ecosystems up in the mountains, where they live, up in the mountains, miles away."
Kogi tribe; "You say he is learned, I don't believe it. We have studied the mother well, she shows what must be protected. This man has learned nothing at all. You don't teach each other not to damage the mother. You dig, you exploit the earth. If you knew she can feel, you'd stop. But you plunder her. All the estuaries are like this. You block the lagoons. How would you feel if someone stuck a cork up your ass?"


Amma;
"God doesn't need anything from us, He is a giver, He gives like the sun.
The sun doesn't need light from the candle.
God is the subjective experience that is beyond the intellect, It is pure experience. God is pure experience. It is just like electricity , you can not see electricity but you can feel it."


Amma;
"The real mistake humanity has committed lies in the inability to differentiate between requirements and luxuries."


Kodo Sawaki;
"You are worried about death?
Do not worry - you will die for sure."


Thich Nhat Hanh;
"The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart."


Chandogya Upanishad;
“There is a Light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the Light that shines in our heart.”


Kabir;
"All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop."


Lao Tzu;
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."


Lao Tzu;
"The words of truth are always paradoxical."


Guru Nanak;
"Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God."


Siddhārtha Gautama;
"All descriptions of reality are temporary hypotheses."


Socrates;
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."


Socrates;
"If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality."


Confucius;
"He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions."


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Invisiblespinvis
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Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: oceanmotion] * 2
    #27720676 - 04/04/22 10:39 AM (1 year, 9 months ago)

Socrates;
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."


Socrates;
"I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think"


Paramahansa Yogananda;
"Your true personality begins to develop when you are able, by deep intuition, to feel that you are not this solid body but are the divine eternal current of Life and Consciousness within the body."


Plato;
"There will be no end to the troubles of humanity, until philosophers become kings, or kings become philosophers."


Paramahansa Yogananda;
"The greatest thing you can do to cultivate true wisdom is to practise the consciousness of the world as a dream. If failure comes, say: "It is a dream." Then shut off the thought of failure from your mind. In the midst of negative conditions, practise "opposition" by thinking and acting in a positive, constructive way."


Kathopanishad;
"Sensual pleasure is the goal of the worldly man. Money is his God and goal. Eat, drink and be merry, this is his supreme philosophy"


Confucius;
"Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear."


Lao Tzu;
"I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures."


Chanakya;
"Those born blind cannot see; similarly blind are those in the grip of lust. Proud men have no perception of evil; and those bent on acquiring riches see no sin in their actions."


Gautama Buddha;
"Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self."


Confucius;
"Learn advidly. Question it repeatedly. Analyze it carefully. Then put what you have learned into practice intelligently."


Gautama Buddha;
"Be where you are; otherwise you will miss your life."


Swami Vivekananda;
"Dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to carry that out in your life."


Lao Tzu;
"He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much."


Lao Tzu;
"Great acts are made up of small deeds."


Aristotle;
"Even that some people try deceived me many times... I will not fail to believe that somewhere, someone deserves my trust."


Gautama Buddha;
"Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but you. They are all your teachers, each doing just the right things to help you learn perfect patience, perfect wisdom, perfect compassion."


Confucius;
"He who is concerned only with the purity of his own life ruins the great human relations."


Albert Einstein;
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed. The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness."


Sri Ramana Maharshi;
"God dwells in you, as you, and you don't have to 'do' anything to be God-realized or Self-realized, it is already your true and natural state. Just drop all seeking, turn your attention inward, and sacrifice your mind to the One Self radiating in the Heart of your very being. For this to be your own presently lived experience, Self-Inquiry is the one direct and immediate way."


Vladimir Nabokov;
"The glory of God is to hide a thing, and the glory of man is to find it."


Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī;
"Where is that Moon that never rises or sets?
Where is that soul that is neither with nor without us?
Don't say it is here or there.
All creation is Him but for the eyes that can see."


The Peshitta - Psalms - 82:6;
"I have said, "You are gods; you are all children of The Highest!"


The Peshitta - John - 10:22-39;
"But it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem and it was winter.
And Yeshua was walking in The Temple on the porch of Solomon.
And the Judeans surrounded him and were saying, “How long will you keep our souls in suspense? If you are The Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Yeshua answered and said to them, “I have told you, and you do not believe, and the works that I do in the Name of my Father, they testify of Me.”
“But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep, just as I said to you.”
“My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow Me.”
“And I am giving them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them from my hand.”
“My Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch anything from my Father's hand.”
“I and my Father, We are One.”

And the Judeans picked up stones again to stone him.
And Yeshua said to them, “Many excellent works from the presence of my Father I have shown you. For which of those works are you stoning me?”
The Judeans were saying to him, “It is not for excellent works that we are stoning you, but because you blaspheme, and as you are a man, you make yourself God.”
Yeshua said to them, “Is it not written in your law, 'I have said, “You are gods”'?”
“If he called those men gods because The Word of God was with them and the scripture cannot be destroyed”,
“Are you saying to The One whom The Father sanctified and sent into the world, “You blaspheme”, because I said to you, 'I am The Son of God?”
“If I am not doing the works of my Father, you should not believe me”,
“But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe me, believe those deeds, so that you may know and that you may believe that my Father is in me and I in my Father.”
And they again sought to seize him, and he escaped from their hands."


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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: spinvis] * 1
    #27721692 - 04/05/22 02:45 AM (1 year, 9 months ago)

Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī;
"O’ day, arise!
shine your light, the atoms are dancing

Thanks to him the universe is dancing,
overcome with ecstasy, free from body and mind

I’ll whisper in your ear where their dance is leading them.

All the atoms in the air and in the desert are dancing,
puzzled and drunken to the ray of light,
they seem insane.

All these atoms are not so different than we are,
happy or miserable,
perplexed and bewildered

We are all beings in the ray of LIGHT from The Beloved,

Nothing can be said."


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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: spinvis] * 1
    #27721761 - 04/05/22 06:13 AM (1 year, 9 months ago)

Terence McKenna - Esalen workshop - 1989;
"People think psychedelic consciousness is a permission to escape-ism. I don't think so. I think it's an invitation to a high degree of awareness. The real options, the real nature of the predicament. Not as it's culturally defined, but, as it is defined by reality. You become aware of all this, you feel into the facts, I mean, you are connected to the rhythm of flux. And this leaves no room for unconsciousness. Unconsciousness is what is destroying us, as a species. It's a luxury, for hunter gatherers, it's absolutely fatal, to thermal nuclear high techies, like ourselves. I mean, we can't have enrage-able apes, locked up inside our brains, not when we have our fingers on thermonuclear arsenals, and that sort of thing. We have to chill out, get serious about the human enterprise. We have come this far, through unimaginable hell. I mean, the people, the nobility, of our ancestors, what they went through. Without anti-biotics, without penicillin, without wall-to-wall beige carpeting. I mean, it has been a long pull over the last hundred and fifty thousand million years. Five times the ice has ground south from the poles, a mile deeper more, splitting, and island-ing human populations, and bringing, you know, tremendous hardship. Our people have had it very, very, tough. I mean, we are not strong in tooth and claw, all of our adaptations were to preserve tiny populations. I mean, the estimation is that, at the height of the Neanderthal period, there were less than 40.000 individuals in Europe. I mean tiny, tiny, human populations. And against all odds, and being smart, smart, smart, these people brought us, to this point. And now, you know, it's our turn, and, we have it within our power to do something, they had it within their power, only to hand on the flame of hope, of aspiration, of shamanic imaginings. But its given to us, if we play it right, to actually take those hopes, and turn it into a conflagration of transformation, that will burn away the dross of history, and recover, and reunite, the various parts of the human legacy. In a way that will give permission for a sane and caring world. The prodigal journey into history was for a purpose. The purpose was technological prowess. The perfection of the tool creating impulse, and at the end of history comes the ultimate tool. The flying saucer, the omni-programmable Macintosh, the machine which does anything. And that perfected tool is lethal then, in the theater of its creation. It has to be carried back into archaic nature, and we have to begin to deconstruct, dematerialize, retreat, begin effeminizing, of our attitude toward ourselves, and nature. Care, encouragement, reflection, rather than, dominance, utilization, destruction. If we don't do this, I think that our situation is fairly precarious, and the whole point, of talking about psychedelics in this context is, they make this, something other than, an inspiring after dinner speech. Because you've heard this speech before, this is what all good guys say, but they don't s.. There's no hope for it without psychedelics. Because they impel you, to change behavior, to think new thoughts, to see deeper into reality, to aspire higher, and to feel more. And if we can't awaken ourselves, to those things, then, it's simply not going to happen. And all the means, the tools, the gnosis, the shamans, they still exist at the periphery, of this doomed civilization. They still exist, to help us, toward a new understanding. But we have to clarify this up, for ourselves, in our own minds. We need to try these ideas out on other people, even the most skeptical of people. This idea can stand on its own two feet. It can compete in the marathon of ideas, it's as respectable as any of these other answers. It cannot be sneered into non-existence, which is currently the establishment approach to it. Is, is just, you know, we're deluded, our brains are damaged, we've taken so many drugs, we don't understand the real nature of power and politics and society. Well, this is all coming from people who claim they do, and look at the mess they've made of it. So I don't think there's any reason to hang our heads. This is religion, as it was practiced the first million years. This is social responsibility, as it was practiced the first millions years. And, for us to take it up, is nothing more than for us to return to the last moment, in our own story when everything made sense. And I maintained that last moment, was in that partnership paradise in Saharan Africa. Now we have to go forward, into the past. This is the way, to create a unified meaning, to what has happened to us. Because if this just ends, in a toxi-fied and ruined planet, then, you know, what a comment on, the values, that we hold most dear. Our belief that life is for something, our belief that integrity matters, our belief that our transmission from generation to generation was something that was important. We, the meaning of it all, is in the hands of the living. Those people, 100.000 years in the grave, their meaning, is in our hands. Because the question is, what shall we do, with what they have given us? Well, that's it, that's the question that I want to leave you with."


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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: pablokabute] * 1
    #27735816 - 04/15/22 11:18 AM (1 year, 9 months ago)

Ibn 'Arabi;
"Listen, O dearly beloved!
I am the sought essence in the cosmos
I am the centre of the circle and its circumference,
I am the compound and the simple
I am the command descending between Heaven and Earth,
I have only created perceptions for you so that by them, you might perceive Me
So if you perceive Me, you perceive yourself.
But you cannot perceive Me through yourself.
It is through My Eyes that you see Me and yourself,
Through your eyes you cannot see Me.

Dearly beloved!
How often I call you and you don’t hear!
How often I show myself to you and you don’t see!
How often I’ve become fragrance and you don’t smell Me,
And tasty food, a but you don’t taste Me!

What’s with you that you don’t feel me in the things you touch?
Or sense Me in sweet scents?
Why don’t you see Me? Why don’t you hear Me?
Why? Why? Why?
For you My delights surpass all other delights,
And the pleasure I bring you surpasses all other pleasures.
For you I am lovelier to all loveliness
I am Beauty/beautiful, I am Grace/gracious

Dearly beloved!
Love Me, and not other than Me
long for me, concern yourself with me
Don’t worry about anything other than me
Hug me, Kiss me!
Where could you find union like mine?
All that you seek is in it
And I want you for you
but you, you flee from me!

Dearly beloved!
You cannot treat Me fairly,
For if you approach Me,
It is because I have approached you.
I am nearer to you than yourself,
Than your soul, than your breath.
Who among creatures
Would treat you as I do?

I am jealous of you, over you,
I don’t like to see you with others
Not even with yourself.
Be Mine, be with Me
I will be with you
as you are with Me
while you are not even aware
be for Me as you are in Me,
Though you are not even aware of it.

Dearly beloved!
Let us go toward Union.
And if we find the road
That leads to separation,
We will destroy separation.

Come! Let us go hand in hand.
Let us enter the presence of the Real.
Let It be our judge
And imprint Its seal upon our union
For ever."


Awḥad Al-dīn Balyānī;
"There is no existence to any other who could pass away, or have a name or be named. Because of this, the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, said, whoever knows their self, knows their Lord. He also said, I knew my Lord through my Lord. What the Prophet pointed out by that is that you are not you but you are Him and there is no you. It is not that He enters into you or that you enter into Him, or that He comes out of you or that you come out of Him. It does not mean that you have being and you are qualified by this or that attribute.

What is meant is that you never were and never will be, whether through yourself or through Him or in Him or with Him. You have neither ceased to be nor are you existent. You are Him and He is you, without any of these imperfections. If you know your existence in this way, then you know God, and if not, then not.

Most of those who claim to know God make the knowledge of God dependent on the passing away of existence and on the passing away of that passing away. That is clearly an error and misconception. The knowledge of God does not require the passing away of existence or the passing away of that passing away because things have no existence and what does not exist cannot pass away. Passing away implies the prior existence of something that passes away. If you know yourself without existing and passing away, then you know God, and if not, then not."



Awḥad Al-dīn Balyānī;
"I know the Lord through the Lord
without doubt or uncertainty.
My essence is really His essence
without lack or imperfection.
There is no otherness between Us
and my self is the place where
the invisible appears.
Since I know myself
without mixture or blemish,
I have reached union with my beloved
without distance or closeness.
I have received a gift overflowing
without any giving or intermingling.
My self did not vanish in Him
nor does the one who vanished remain."


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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: spinvis]
    #27797417 - 05/29/22 08:42 AM (1 year, 7 months ago)

‘Alî ash-Shushtarî;
"Behold My beauty, witness of Me
In every man,
Like the water flowing through
The sap of branches.
One water drink they, yet they flower
In many hues."


Rūmī;
“I belong to no religion.
My religion is Love.
Every heart is My temple”


Hafez;
"On Love’s path, there is neither near nor far
I see you clearly, and I send you a prayer"


Ibn ‘Arabi;
"He saw the lightning in the East and longed for the East,
but if it had flashed in the West he would have longed for the West.
My desire is for the lightning and its gleam, not for places and  earth."


Ḥallāj;
"Earnest for truth, I thought on the religions:
They are, I found, one root with many a branch.
Therefore impose on no man a religion,
Lest it should bar him from the firm-set root.
Let the root claim him, a root wherein all heights
And meanings are made clear, for him to grasp."


Ḥallāj;
"Amazed by you and by me, O you, the desire of the desirers
You drew me closer to thee, until I thought that you were me
I vanished in ecstasy until you erased me from myself by thee
O my blessing in life and my rest after death
I have no intimacy with anyone but thee
When I’m afraid or in safety
O you, the gardens of meanings that surround all my art
If I want anything, it’s you, my utmost desire"


Ḥallāj;
"I am He whom I love, and He whom I love is I
two spirits dwelling in one body
if you see me, you see Him,
and if you see Him, you see us."


Amir Khusrow;
"If there is a paradise on earth,
It is here, it is here, it is here"


Amir Khusrow;
"I have become you, and you me,
I am the body, you, the soul;
So that no one can say hereafter,
That you are someone, and I, someone else."


An anonymous gem from Andalusia;
"Passion is hidden, while my tears reveal it
it is dying while my love revives it

My slender torturer
all beauties have been combined in her

As if, in her beauty, she were Joseph’s face
and as if, in my sadness, I were like his father

O, you who burns with fire the face of her love
wait, for my tears will drown it

My body is scorched by love, and all my limbs
Watch over my heart, for you are in it

If those in love with you deny my love
then I am love, and the son of love, and its brother"


pseudo-Rumi;
"What is to be done, O Muslims? for I do not know myself.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Magian, nor Muslim.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature’s quarry, nor of the heaven circling above.
I am not made of earth, nor of water, nor of wind, nor fire;
nor of the Divine Throne, nor the carpet, nor the cosmos, nor mineral.
I am not from India, nor China, nor Bulgaria, nor Turkestan;
I am not from the kingdom of the two Iraqs, nor from the earth of Khurasan.
Neither of this world, nor the next, I am, nor of Heaven, nor of Hell;
Nor from Adam, nor from Eve, nor from Eden nor Rizwan.
My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless;
‘Tis neither body nor soul, for I myself am the Beloved.
I have cast aside duality, I have seen the two worlds as one;
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I say.

He is the First, He is the Last, He is the Outward, He is the Inward;
I know no one other than He, none but he who is He
Drunk with Love’s cup, the two worlds have been lost to me;
I have no business save carouse and revelry.
If once in my life I spent a moment without you,
From that time and from that hour I repent of my life.
If once in this retreat I win a moment with you,
I will trample on both worlds, and dance in ecstasy
O Shams of Tabriz, I am so drunk in this world,
That except for drunkenness and revelry, I have no tale to tell."


Ibn al-Fāriḍ;
"Purity but not water, Subtlety but not air
Light but not fire, Spirit but not body"


Ibn ‘Ajībah;
"In speaking of the Sufi, they have invoked the similitude of the four elements upon which the physical world is based: air, earth, water, and fire, also known as the four natures, and mentioned by Ibn Sina in the verses

What Hippocrates said of them was sound:
They are fire, water, earth, and wind

All four of these can be found in the nature of the Sufi."


Avadhuta Gita - Chapter 6, Verse 9;
"Neither space nor air is the Reality;
Neither earth nor fire is the Reality.
If there’s only the limitless One, all is Shiva.
Which, then is the cloud, and which is the rain?"


Emir ‘abd al-Qadir;
"I am God, I am the creature
I am the Lord, I am the servant
I am the Throne, I am the carpet
I am water, I am fire
I am wind, I am earth
I am quantity, I am quality
I am finding, I am losing
I am essence, I am attribute
I am nearness, I am distance
All existence is my existence
I am only, I am unique"


Ibn ‘Arabi;
"Let not the lies of teeth and tongue
Or dancing lips distract you from
The union of all speech in breath
A music from behind our death
All that’s spoken or that’s heard
Is but that wind inside the words
That howling, longing sigh that stirs
Our soul’s flames to ascend like birds
So this is all we have to say:
A fiery sigh when we’re apart
A gasping cry when the bright ray
Of your dark eyes pierces my heart

The echo of that sigh born from
the pregnant silence of your mouth
Flows through the world like wind and fire
Breathing all sounds in and back out
Souls like whisps of bright desire
Curl round your lips like your dark hair
Swimming in your voice’s choir
We’re all just breath, words of your prayer"


Emir ‘abd al-Qadir;
"O sun without light, O light without sun
O sea without limit, O shore without sea
O denial without knowledge, O knowledge without denial
O other without identity, O identity without other
O cover without unveiling, O unveiling without cover
O dawn without night, O night without dawn,
O my amazement, O my wonder, O the edge of his throne…"


Ḥallāj;
"I saw my Lord with the eye of my Heart,
I said, “Who are thou?”  He answered, “Thou.”
Thus where no where hath, as from Thee,
Nor is there, as to Thee, a where.
Thous giv’st imagining no image
For it to imagine where Thou art.
Thou art He who hath filled all where,
and beyond all where.  Where art Thou then?"


Shushtari;
"After extinction I came out, and I
Eternal now am, though not as I
And who am I, O I, but I?"


Ibn al-Fāriḍ;
"If not for You, we would not know Love,
If not for Love, we would not know You."


Carl Gustav Jung;
"Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."


Albert Einstein;
"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."


Albert Einstein;
"The true measure of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and sense in which he has attained liberation from the self."


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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: cubezy]
    #27815586 - 06/12/22 04:51 AM (1 year, 7 months ago)

Wes "Scoop" Nisker - Trance-Personal Conference - Prague - 1992;
There's a candidate for president, who could lead us in this decline and fall, to make it easy for us. My friend here, nobody;

"Nobody will lower your taxes
Nobody will feed the poor
And nobody can fix the economy because nobody's minding the store
And nobody has all the answers
Nobody can stop the wars where nobody wins and nobody loses because nobody is keeping score
And nobody is going to do it for you
And nobody will treat you fair because nobody knows the trouble you've seen
And nobody cares
And one more thing nobody is perfect
And nobody will live forever
And nobody's going to save you
Nobody knows what's going on
And nobody is the one and only one
Well one more thing nobody loves you
Oh and nobody could be so divine
And nobody could fool all the people all the time..."

Well, the trance-personal conference, that's what we're here in Prague for. And really what's it all about is, breaking out of your personal trance. Trance-personal is breaking out of your personal trance, and into the cosmic dance. And you do this by breathing hard and fast and hyperventilating. Or by taking psilocybin mushrooms and having a vision. Or by taking a hero's journey or a shamans journey. Or taking a course in miracles, developing your imagination, your mythic imagination, your intuition. Getting in touch with your heart chakra. Your right hemisphere of your brain until you can see the implicit order, and you can smell the morphic resonance. And you can feel yourself dissolve into the ultimate hologram of the universal ground of being. And learn to love it all as you do yourself. That's transpersonal and it's breaking out of your personal trance, and into the cosmic dance.

Because really you know, we are all one. I'm one anyway, I think you're probably one too. And you know those people who achieve oneness can then move on to twoness, something like that. Anyway, we are all made of the same stuff. As you can see you know, there's grass here and trees. And if you go inside of those grass and trees, you'll find subatomic particles that are the same as the subatomic particles inside of me. What else is there to say? I mean we are all one. And you can have this cosmic perspective. The big bang and everything expanding away from everything else. And it all eventually coming back again into this one little particle that it all came out of. And you can have the great perspective of the Buddha, sits there with his little smile watching empires rise and fall, and individuals rise and fall, and even universes rise and fall. Everything's born and transforming into something else, and nothing remains as it is. And the Buddha knows this and yet he's got this little smile on his face. Sort of a little smaller than that of Alfred E. Neumans, who once said; "What, me worry?". The Buddha's sort of like that, but a little bit smaller of a smile. But no matter how big a cosmic perspective you are, you got, sometimes, you get the blues. Because everybody gets the blues. And life is tough. You know it's just that way. You know the Hasidic rabbis used to say; "If God lives on earth, people would break out all his windows". So I'd like to close maybe here with a little song called "The Buddha Blues".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP8mx0PYNwo&t=10174s

Lyrics;
"Woke up this morning and there was trouble in my mind
I tried some meditation but no peace could I find
Called up my Guru I asked him what to do and he said
Son you just gotta remember that first noble truth

You were born to suffer
You were born to pay your dues
And that path keeps on getting longer
When you got The Buddha Blues

Well money will bring you problems and love will make you cry
Sometimes it seems like life is just a bitch and then you die
Buddha says desire is what keeps you from being free
And I'm craving for this and I'm craving for that and it just won't let me be

Don't lead me to suffer
Don't lead me to pay some dues
And that path goes on forever when you got The Buddha Blues

Well Christian people believe you go to heaven or you go to hell
The Jews believe the messiah is yet to come gonna judge this life so well
Some people believe it don't mean nothing in the end
But the Buddha done told me I'm going to come back
And do it again and again and again

Be reborn and suffer
Be reborn to pay some dues
And that path keeps getting longer
When you've got The Buddha Blues

Well everybody suffers everybody's gotta pay
Looking at human history seems it's always been that way
The white folks in the bible
The red man knows it's true
The yellow man was the first to discover
There ain't much you can do

You tripped for to suffer you tripped for to pay some dues
And that path keeps getting longer
When you've got The Buddha Blues

Well now we are all born into ignorance
In a world of greed and hate
But maybe things will get better when we reincarnate
We won't have so many problems
Our next life will be fine
As long as we don't get a body Lord
As long as we don't get a mind

Won't have to suffer so much
Won't have to pay so many dues
And that path may get a little shorter
Won't have so many Buddha Blues"


Edited by spinvis (09/24/23 09:52 AM)


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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: wabbey]
    #27825384 - 06/18/22 04:52 AM (1 year, 7 months ago)

Gautama Buddha;
There are only two mistakes one can make
along the road to truth;
not going all the way,
and not starting."


Hafez;
"God disguised as myriad things, and playing a game of tag has kissed you and said, "You're it. I mean you're really it. Now it does not matter what you believe or feel. For something wonderful, something major-league wonderful, is someday going to happen.""


Rūmī;
"When you eventually see through the veils to how things really are, you will keep saying again and again, “This is certainly not like we thought it was!”


Mencius;
“People are eager to comment on something when they themselves are not in the situation of doing it.”


The Upanishads;
"Not that which the eye can see
But that whereby the eye can see

Know that to be Brahman the eternal
And not what people here adore

Not that which the ear can hear
But that whereby the ear can hear

Know that to be Brahman the eternal
And not what people here adore

Not that which speech can illuminate
But that by which speech can be illuminated

Know that to be Brahman the eternal
And not what people here adore

Not that which the mind can think
But that whereby the mind can think

Know that to be Brahman the eternal
And not what people here adore"


Hui-Neng;
“When our mind works freely without any hindrance, and is at liberty to 'come' or to 'go', we attain Samadhi of Prajna, or liberation. Such a state is called the function of 'thoughtlessness'. But to refrain from thinking of anything, so that all thoughts are suppressed, is to be Dharma-ridden, and this is an erroneous view.”


Kabir;
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty.

You don't grasp the fact that what is most alive of all is inside your own house;
and you walk from one holy city to the next with a confused look!

Kabir will tell you the truth: go wherever you like, to Calcutta or Tibet;
if you can't find where your soul is hidden,
for you the world will never be real!”


Luke - 12:27-32;
“Consider the lilies how they grow, that they do not labor neither do they weave, but I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was robed like one of these.”
“But if God so clothes the grass that today is in the field and tomorrow will fall into a fire, how much better is he to you, O' small of faith?”
“You should not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, neither should your mind be distracted by these things.”
“For all the people of the world are seeking these things, for your Father knows that these things are necessary for you.”
“However, seek The Kingdom of God, and all these things are added to you.”
“Fear not, little flock, for your Father desires to give you The Kingdom.”


Sri Anandamayi Ma;
"In the field of action, people's minds become crippled by the lack of freedom to proceed in their own way. The same is true in the sphere of religion. If the aspirant does not find scope for a wide extention of his search in keeping with his individual temperament, his efforts will stagnate in 'narrow grooves."


Maharaj Charan Singh Ji;
“If there is any true temple, true gurdwara, true mosque or true church, it is our own body. This place God has designed for Himself, and He sits within it.”


Paramhansa Hariharananda;
"If you are absorbed in the workings of the mind, then emotions, judgments, dislike, and other negativities arise and are reflected back to you in people, in nature, in the world."


Swami Vivekananda;
"Let every one do the best he can for realising his own ideal. Nor is it right that I should be judged by your standard or you by mine. The apple tree should not be judged by the standard of the oak, nor the oak by that of the apple. To judge the apple tree you must take the apple standard, and for the oak, its own standard."


Kabir;
"When the flower opens, the bees will come."


Adi Shankara;
"Even after the Truth has been realised, there remains that strong, obstinate impression that one is still an ego - the agent and experiencer. This has to be carefully removed by living in a state of constant identification with the supreme non-dual Self. Full Awakening is the eventual ceasing of all the mental impressions of being an ego."


Hafez;
"I have learned so much from God
That I can no longer call myself

A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,
A Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me

That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Or even pure Soul.

Love has
Befriended me so completely
It has turned to ash
And freed me

Of every concept and image
My mind has ever known."


Rūmī;
"Again it happens in my sleep. A core of wakefulness opens. But I have ways of ignoring that. You say, How long will you beg from others, when there are things born of you that emperors want? Why waste time in meanness? Who else can say what you say to me? If I could repeat it, people passing by would be enlightened and go free. You are an ocean inside my chest, where everyone changes places, believer-unbeliever, cynic-lover, dervish-king. Last night, you came to my sleep asking, how are you? Locked out of life, waiting, weeping."


Ibn 'Arabi;
"The truth is hidden because it's so bright."


Hebrews - 11:1;
"Now faith is the conviction concerning those things that are in hope, as if it were these things in action, and the revelation of those things that are unseen"


Amma;
"In order that Thou should dance within me, O Mother, O Adorable one, I bow and surrender to Thee.

Existing as the power of life within the individual soul, if Thou should leave, all would become still.

O Universal energy, the self the perfect bliss, come, come. O Supreme light, remain never abandoning me.

Come, come, O ocean of knowledge, the cause of the diverse creation, embodiment of the substratum of the universe, measureless essence.

O Thou atom of atoms, who pervades the universe, dweller in the thousand-petalled lotus, come, come.

Whose brilliance equals millions of suns, dweller within myself, that mother alone is the only hope for getting merged in Her.

O Ambrosial light, ocean of bliss, may my mind merge in Thee forever.

O pure and qualityless being, I bow to Thee again and again. Compassionate to the afflicted, rid me of my distress.

O knowledge of knowledge, essence, shive (consort of shiva), giver of shelter, O mother, Kundalini Shakti, I have not even the knowledge to know.

O Shankari, Thou must come to remove my doubts. May I not have the fate of a madman, O Maya."


Gautama Buddha;
“There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.”


Kabir;
"If you don't break your ropes while you're alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?"


Rūmī;
"Come, come; whoever you are, come
Whether an infidel, a fire-worshipper, or an idolater, come
Our dervish lodge is not a place of despair,
is not the portal of the hopeless.
Even if you've broken your oaths a hundred times, come"


Oscar Wilde;
"Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow."


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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: spinvis]
    #27831595 - 06/22/22 10:57 AM (1 year, 7 months ago)

Hanshan - The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain - 25;
"Calligraphy unrestrained
Physique robust enough
Alive a body with limits
Dead a ghost with no name
It’s been like this since ancient times
What else can you do
Join me inside the clouds
I’ll teach you magic mushroom songs"


The Book of Everything - Journey of the Hearts Desire - Hakim Sanai's The Walled Garden of Truth;
"In polishing the mirror of my heart
I strive to clean the veil that blinds me.
Fancy and sense cloud my vision
And obscure my heart
from meeting You."


Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching - 1: GATEWAY TO ALL MARVELS;
"The Tao that can be Told
Is not the True Tao;
Names that can be Named
Are not True Names.
The Origin of Heaven and Earth
Has no Name.
The Mother of the Myriad Things
Has a Name.
Free from Desire,
Contemplate the Inner Marvel;
With Desire,
Observe the Outer Radiance.
These issue from One Source,
But have different Names.
They are both a Mystery.
Mystery of Mysteries,
Gateway to All Marvels.

THE RIVER MASTER

The Tao that can be Told is the mundane Tao of
the Art of Government, as opposed to the True
Tao of Nature, of the So-of-Itself, of Long Life, of
Self-Cultivation through Non-Action. This is the
Deep Tao, which cannot be Told in Words,
which cannot be Named. The Names that can be
Named are such worldly things as Wealth, Pomp,
Glory, Fame, and Rank.

The Ineffable Tao
Emulates the Wordless Infant,
It resembles
The Unhatched Egg,
The Bright Pearl within the Oyster,
The Beauteous Jade amongst Pebbles.
It cannot be Named.

The Taoist glows with Inner Light, but seems
outwardly dull and foolish. The Tao itself has no
Form, it can never be Named.

The Root of the Tao
Proceeds from Void,
From Non-Being,
It is the Origin,
The Source of Heaven and Earth,
Mother of the Myriad Things,
Nurturing All-under-Heaven,
As a Mother Nurtures her Children.

MAGISTER LIU

The single word Tao is the very Core of this
entire Classic, its lifeblood. Its Five Thousand
Words speak of this Tao and of nothing else.

The Tao itself
Can never be
Seen.
We can but witness it
Inwardly,
Its Origin,
Mother of the Myriad Things.
The Tao itself can never be
Named,
It cannot be Told.

And yet we resort to Words, such as Origin,
Mother, and Source.

Every Marvel
Contemplated,
Every Radiance
Observed,
Issues from this One Source.
They go by different Names,
But are part of the same
Greater Mystery,
The One Tao, the Origin, the Mother.
In freedom from Desire,
We look within
And Contemplate
The Inner Marvel,
Not with eyes
But inwardly
By the Light of Spirit.
We look outward
With the eyes of Desire,
And Observe
The Outer Radiance.

Desire itself, in its first Inklings, in the
embryonic Springs of Thought, is born within
the Heart-and-Mind. Outer Radiance is
perceived through Desire, in the World, in the
opening and closing of the Doors of Yin and
Yang. This is the Named, the Visible, these are
the Myriad Things. Thus, both with and without
Desire, we draw near to the Mystery of
Mysteries, to the Gateway that leads to all
Marvels, to the Tao."


Saint John of the Cross - The Complete Works of - Vol. II - Stanzas XIV - XV - The Bride;
"I find in my Beloved the mountains, the lonely and wooden vales, the distant isles, the murmur of the waters, the soft whisper of the zephyrs . . .
the quiet night with its sister the dawn, the perfect solitude---all that delights and all that fires our love."


Rabindranath Tagore - Collected Works of - Miscellaneous Verses;
"I threw away my heart in the world; you took it up.
I sought for joy and gathered sorrow, you gave me sorrow and I found joy.
My heart was scattered in pieces, you picked them up in your hand and strung them in a thread of love.
You let me wander from door to door to show me at last how near you are.
Your love plunged me into the deep trouble.
When I raised my head I found I was at your door."


The Upanishads - ISHA The Inner Ruler - 0-18;
"All that is full. All that is full.
From fullness, fullness comes.
When fullness is taken from fullness,
Fullness still remains.

OM shanti shanti shanti

The Lord is enshrined in the hearts of all.
The Lord is the supreme Reality.
Rejoice in him through renunciation.
Covet nothing. All belongs to the Lord.

Thus working may you live a hundred years.
Thus alone will you work in real freedom.

Those who deny the Self are born again
Blind to the Self, enveloped in darkness,
Utterly devoid of love for the Lord.

The Self is one. Ever still, the Self is
Swifter than thought, swifter than the senses.
Though motionless, he outruns all pursuit.
Without the Self, never could life exist.

The Self seems to move, but is ever still.
He seems far away, but is ever near.
He is within all, and he transcends all.

Those who see all creatures in themselves
And themselves in all creatures know no fear.
Those who see all creatures in themselves
And themselves in all creatures know no grief.
How can the multiplicity of life
Delude the one who sees its unity?

The Self is everywhere. Bright is the Self,
Indivisible, untouched by sin, wise,
Immanent and transcendent. He it is
Who holds the cosmos together.

In dark night live those for whom
The world without alone is real; in night
Darker still, for whom the world within
Alone is real. The first leads to a life
Of action, the second to a life of meditation.
But those who combine action with meditation
Cross the sea of death through action
And enter into immortality
Through the practice of meditation.
So we have heard from the wise.

In dark night live those for whom the Lord
Is transcendent only; in night darker still,
For whom he is immanent only.
But those for whom he is transcendent
And immanent cross the sea of death
With the immanent and enter into
Immortality with the transcendent.
So we have heard from the wise.

The face of truth is hidden by your orb
Of gold, O sun. May you remove your orb
So that I, who adore the true, may see
The glory of truth. O nourishing sun,
Solitary traveler, controller,
Source of life for all creatures, spread your light
And subdue your dazzling splendor
So that I may see your blessed Self.
Even that very Self am I!

May my life merge in the immortal
When my body is reduced to ashes.
O mind, meditate on the eternal Brahman.
Remember the deeds of the past.
Remember, O mind, remember.

Oh god of fire, lead us by the good path
To eternal joy. You know all your deeds.
Deliver us from evil, we who bow
And pray again and again.

OM shanti shanti shanti"


Saint Teresa of Avila - The Pater Noster of Saint Teresa - Part Three - Complete Detachment From The World;
"Do not permit me to depart from this life until I am absolutely detached from all earthly things, nor before I realize the utter folly of loving aught but Thee. May I never fall into the error of applying the term love to anything in this world! If the foundation is unstable, the building cannot long stand."


Kabir - Songs of Kabir - IV;
"Do not go to the garden of flowers!
Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O Friend! go not there;
In your body is the garden of flowers.
Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus,
and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty."


Hanshan - The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain - 70;
"A hermit’s heart is heavy
He mourns the passing years
He looks for roots and mushrooms
But seeks eternal life in vain
His yard is clear the clouds are gone
The woods are bright the moon is full
Why doesn’t he go home
The cinnamon trees detain him"


The Bhagavad Gita - 7: Wisdom from Realization - 1-30;
"Krishna

With your mind intend on me, Arjuna, discipline yourself with the practice of yoga. Depend on me completely. Listen, and I will dispel all your doubts; you will come to know me fully and be united with me.

I will give you both jnana and vijnana. When both of these are realized, there is nothing more you need to know.

One person in many thousands may seek perfection, yet of these only a few reach the goal and come to realize me. Earth, water, fire, air, akasha, mind, intellect, and ego - these are the eight divisions of my prakriti. But beyond this I have another, higher nature, Arjuna; it supports the whole universe and is the source of life in all beings.

In these two aspects of my nature is the womb of all creation. The birth and dissolution of the cosmos itself takes place in me. There is nothing that exists separate from me, Arjuna. The entire universe is suspended from me as my necklace of jewels.

Arjuna, I am the taste of pure water and the radiance of the sun and moon. I am the sacred word and the sound heard in the air, and the courage of human beings. I am the sweet fragrance in the earth and the radiance of fire; I am the life in every creature and the striving of the spiritual aspirant.

My eternal seed, Arjuna, is to be found in every creature. I am the power of discrimination in those who are intelligent, and the glory of the noble. In those who are strong, I am strength, free from passion and selfish attachment. I am desire itself, if that desire is in harmony with the purpose of life.

The states of sattva, rajas, and tamas come from me, but I am not in them. These three gunas deceive the world; people fail to look beyond them to me, supreme and imperishable. The three gunas make up my divine maya, difficult to overcome. But they cross over this maya who take refuge in me. Others are deluded by maya; performing evil deeds, they have no devotion to me. Having lost all discrimination, they follow the way of their lower nature.

Good people come to worship me for different reasons. Some come to the spiritual life because of suffering, some in order to understand life: some come through a desire to achieve life's purpose, and some come who are men and women of wisdom. Unwavering in devotion, always united with me, the man or woman of wisdom surpasses all the others. To them I am the dearest Beloved, and they are very dear to me. All those who follow the spiritual path are blessed. But the wise who are always established in union, for whom there is no higher goal than me, may be regarded as my very Self.

After many births the wise seek refuge refuge in me, seeing me everywhere and in everything. Such great souls are very rare. There are others whose discrimination is misled by many desires. Following their own nature, they worship lower gods, practicing various rites.

When a person is devoted to something with complete faith, I unify his faith in that. Then, when faith is completely unified, one gains the object of devotion. In this way, every desire is fulfilled by me. Those whose understanding is small attain only transient satisfaction; those who worship the gods go to the gods. But my devotees come to me.

Through lack of understanding people believe that I, the Unmanifest, have entered into some form. They fail to realize my true nature, which transcends birth and death. Few see through the veil of maya. The world, deluded, does not know that I am without birth and changeless. I know everything about the past, the present, and the future, Arjuna; but there is no one who knows me completely.

Delusion arises from the duality of attraction and aversion, Arjuna; every creature is deluded by these from birth. But those who have freed themselves from all wrongdoing are firmly established in worship of me. Their actions are pure, and they are free from the delusion caused by the pair of opposites.

Those who take refuge in me, striving for liberation from old age and death, come to know Brahman, the Self, and the nature of all action. Those who see me ruling the cosmos, who see me in the adhibhuta, the adhidaiva, and the adhiyajna, are conscious of me even at the time of death."


Christina Rossetti - Complete Works of - Verses - He Cannot Deny Himself;
"Love is still Love, and doeth all things
well,
Wether He show me heaven or hell
Or earth in her decay
Passing away
On a day,

Love is still Love, tho' He should say,
"Depart,"
And break my incorrigible heart,
And set me out of sight
Widowed of light
In the night.

Love still is Love, is Love, if He should
Say,
"Come," on that uttermost dread day;
"Come," unto very me,
"Come where I be,
Come and see."

Love is still Love, whatever comes to
Pass:
O Only Love, make me thy glass,
Thy pleasure to fulfill
By loving still
Come what will."


Sri Ramana Maharshi - Be As You Are - Part One - THE SELF;
"That in which all these worlds seem to
exist steadily, that of which all these
worlds are a possession, that from which
all these worlds rise, that for which all
these exist, that by which all these worlds
come into existence and that which is
indeed all these – that alone is the existing
reality. Let us cherish that Self, which is
the reality, in the Heart."


Gautama Buddha - The Dhammapada - 14: The Awakened One - 179-196;
"He is the conqueror who can never be conquered, into whose conquest no other can ever enter. By what track can you reach him, the Buddha, the awakened one, free of all conditioning?

How can you describe him in human language - the Buddha, the awakened one, free from the net of desires and the pollution of passions, free from all conditioning?

Even the gods emulate those who are awakened. Established in meditation, they live in freedom, at peace.

It is hard to obtain human birth, harder to live like a human being, harder still to understand the dharma , but hardest of all to attain nirvana.

Avoid all evil, cultivate the good, purify your mind: this sums up the teachings of the Buddhas.

Cultivate the patience that endures, and attain nirvana, the highest goal in life. Do not oppress others or cause them pain: that is not the way of the spiritual aspirant.

Do not find fault with others, do not injure others, but live in accordance with the dharma. Be moderate in eating and sleeping, and meditate on the highest. This sums up the teachings of the Buddhas.

Even a shower of gold cannot quench the passions. They are wise who know that passions are passing and bring pain in their wake.

Even celestial pleasures cannot quench the passions. They are true followers of the Buddha who rejoice in the conquest of desires.

Driven by fear, people run for security to mountains and forests, to sacred spots and shrines. But none of these can be a safe refuge, because they cannot free the mind from fear.

Take refuge in the Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha and you will grasp the Four Noble Truths: suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path that takes you beyond suffering. That is your best refuge, your only refuge. When you reach it, all sorrow falls away.

One like the Buddha is hard to find: such one is not born everywhere. Where those established in wisdom are born, the community flourishes.

Blessed is the birth of the Buddha, blessed is the teaching of the dharma: blessed is the sangha, where all live in harmony.

Blessed beyond measure are they who pay homage to those worthy of homage: to the Buddha and all his disciples, who have gone beyond evil, shed all fear, and crossed the river of sorrow to the other shore."


Saint Therese of Lisieux - Story of a Soul - Memories;
"I hold full sweet your memory,
My childhood days, so glad, so free.
To keep my innocence, dear Lord, for Thee,
Thy Love came to me night and day,
Alway.

I loved the swallows’ graceful flight,
The turtle doves’ low chant at night,
The pleasant sound of insects gay and bright,
The grassy vale where doth belong
Their song.

I loved the glow-worm on the sod;
The countless stars, so near to God,
But most I loved, in all the sky abroad,
The shining moon of silver bright,
At night.

The grass is withered in its bed;
The flowers within my hands are dead.
Would that my weary feet, Jesu! might tread
Thy Heavenly Fields, and I might be
With Thee!

My rainbow in the rain-washed skies—
Horizon where my suns arise—
My isle in far-off seas—pearl I most prize—
Sweet spring and butterflies—I see
In Thee!

In Thee I have the springs, the rills,
The mignonette, the daffodils,
The Eglantine, the harebell on the hills,
The trembling poplar, sighing low
And slow.

The lovely lake, the valley fair
And lonely in the lambent air,
The ocean touched with silver everywhere—
In Thee their treasures, all combined,
I find.

I go to chant, with Angel-throngs,
The homage that to Thee belongs.
Soon let me fly away, to join their songs!
Oh, let me die of love, I pray,
One day!

I hear, e’en I, Thy last and least,
The music from Thy Heavenly Feast;
There, deign receive me as Thy loving guest
And, to my harp, let me but sing,
My King!

Unto the Saints I shall be near,
To Mary, and those once treasured here.
Life is all past, and dried is every tear;
To me my home again is given—
In Heaven."


Kabir - Songs of Kabir - XIX;
"O my heart! the Supreme Spirit, the
great Master, is near you:
wake, oh wake!
Run to the feet of your Beloved: for
your Lord stands near to your
head.
You have slept for unnumbered ages;
this morning will you not
wake?"


Awḥad Al-dīn Balyānī - Know Yourself: An Explanation of the Oneness of Being - Pages 31-37;
"Whoever is qualified in this way has in~
numerable attributes, without limit or end.
Just as the person whose physical form
passes away is deprived of all their attributes
whether praiseworthy or blameworthy, so
the person who dies a mystical death has
all their attributes, whether praiseworthy
or blameworthy, taken away from them and
God comes into their place in all their states.
The essence of God comes into the place of
their essence and the attributes of God come
into the place of their attributes. Because of
this, the Prophet said, Die before you die, that
is, Know yourself before you die. He also said,
God says, 'My servant continues to approach
Me with free acts until I love him. And when I
love him, I am his hearing, his sight, his hand...',
which refers to the fact that whoever knows
their self sees their whole being as the very
being of God, without any change in their
essence or attributes. There is no need for
any change since that person was not the
existence of their own essence but was simply
ignorant of the knowledge of their self.

When you know yourself, your egoism disap-
pears and you know that you are no other
than God. If you had an independent exis-
tence, you would have no need of passing
away or of self-knowledge. You would
therefore be a lord apart from Him, but there
is no lord apart from God, who is blessed and
exalted.

The benefit of the knowledge of the self is to
know for certain that you are neither exis-
tent nor nonexistent, that you are not, never
have been and never will be. In this way, the
meaning of There is no god but God becomes
clear: there is no divinity other than Him,
being belongs to none but Him, there is no
other except Him, there is no god but He.

If someone says: You make His lordship
superfluous.

The reply is: I do not make His lordship super-
fluous, because He has not stopped being both
ruler and ruled, just as He has never stopped
being both creator and what is created, and He
is now as He has always been. His creativity and
His lordship do not need what is created or
subject to Him. When He brought the crea-
tures into existence, He was already endowed
with all His attributes, and He is now as He
has always been. There is no difference in His
oneness between the new and the eternal:
the new requires His manifestation and the
eternal requires His remaining hidden. His
exterior is identical to His interior and His
interior is identical to His exterior; His first is
the same as His last and His last is the same as
His first and all is one and the one is all. He
was described as every day in a different configu-
ration when there was no 'thing' other than
Him. And He is now as He has always been,
since in reality what is other than Him has no
being. Just as in eternity-without-beginning
and timelessness, He was every day in a differ-
ent configuration when no thing existed, so He
is now as He has always been, although there is
no thing or day, just as there has been from all
eternity no thing or day. The existence of the
creatures and their nonexistence are the same.
If it were not so, it would require the origina-
tion of something which was not already in
His oneness. That would imply imperfection
and His oneness is far more exalted than that.

When you know yourself in this way, without
attributing any opposite, like, equal or associ-
ate to God, then you really know yourself.
That is why the Prophet said, Whoever knows
their self, knows their Lord and not Whoever
gets rid of their self, knows their Lord because
he knew and saw that there is nothing other
than Him. Then he pointed out that the
knowledge of the self is the knowledge of
God. In other words, Know yourself or Know
your being, because you are not you but you
do not know it. That is, know that your
being is neither your being nor other than
your being. You are neither existent nor
nonexistent, nor other than existent nor
other than nonexistent. Your being and your
non-being are His being, without any being
or absence of being because your being and
your non-being are the same as His being
and His being is the same as your being and
non-being.

So if you see things without seeing anything
else with God or in God, but see things as
Him, then you know yourself and such a
knowledge of the self is knowledge of God,
without doubt or uncertainty and without
mixing anything temporal with the eternal,
whether in Him or through Him."


The Book of Everything - Journey of the Hearts Desire - Hakim Sanai's The Walled Garden of Truth;
"Belief brings me close to You
but only to the door.
It is only by disappearing into
Your mystery
that I will come in."


Hanshan - The Poetry of Hanshan (Cold Mountain), Shide, and Fenggan - HS9;
"People ask the way to Cold Mountain;
No road passes through to Cold Mountain.
In the summer the ice never melts;
The sun comes out, but the mists preserve their haze.
How did someone like me get here?
Because my mind is not the same as yours.
If your mind were like mine,
You'd be able to get to the middle of it."


Lalla-Vakyani or the Wise Sayings of Lal-Ded - A Mystic Poetess of Ancient Kashmir - 1-5;
"When by repeated practice (of yōga ) the whole expanse (of the visible universe) hath ascended to absorption; When the qualified (universe) hath become merged within the Ether; When the ethereal Void itself hath become dissolved, then naught but the Weal hath remained. The true doctrine, O Brāhma, is but this alone.
There is there no word or (thought of) mind. There is there no non-transcendent or transcendent. Not by vow of silence, not by mystic attitudes, is there entry there. Not there dwell Śiva and his Śakti. If there remaineth somewhat, that is what the doctrine teacheth.
With passionate longing did I, Lallā, go forth. Seeking and searching did I pass the day and night. Then, lo, saw I in mine own house a learned man, And that was my lucky star and my lucky moment when I laid hold of him.
Slowly, slowly, did I stop my breath in the bellows-pipe (of my throat). Thereby did the lamp (of knowledge) blaze up within me, and then was my true nature revealed unto me. I winnowed forth abroad my inner light, So that, in the darkness itself, I could seize (the truth) and hold it tight.
He who hath deemed another and himself as the same, He who hath deemed the day (of joy) and the night (of sorrow) to be alike, He whose mind hath become free from duality, He, and he alone, hath seen the Lord of the Chiefest of gods."


Hafez - Collected Poetical Works of - Persian Lyrics - Gazel I;
"In roses veil'd the morn displays
Her charms, and blushes as we gaze;
Come, wine, my gay companions, pour
Observant of the morning hour.

See, spangling dew-drops trickling
Chace,
Adown the tulip's vermeil face;
Then come, your thirst with wine
Allay,
Attentive to the dawn of day.

Fresh from the garden scents exhale
As sweet as Edens fragrant gale:
Then come, let wine incessant flow
Obedient to our morning vow.

While now beneath the bow'r full-
blown
The rose displays her em'rald throne,
Let wine, like rubies sparkling, gleam
Refulgent as morns orient beam.

Come, youths, perform the task
Assign'd:
What! in the banquet-house confin'd?
Unlock the door; why this delay.
Forgetful of the dawn of day?

Shall guests at this glad season wait?
Come, keeper, open quick the gate:
'Tis strange to let time pass away.
Regardless of the dawn of day.

Ye love-sick youths, come, drain the
Bowl:
Thirst ye for wisdom? feast the soul:
To heaven your morning homage pay
With hearts that glow like dawn of day.

Kisses more sweet than luscious wine.
Like HAFIZ, sip from cheeks divine,
'Mid smiles as heav'nly Peries bright,
And looks that pierce like orient light."


Kabir - Songs of Kabir - XVI;
"Between the poles of the conscious
and the unconscious, there has
the mind made a swing:
Thereon hang all beings and all
worlds, and that swing never
ceases its sway.
Millions of beings are there: the sun
and the moon in their
courses are there:
Millions of ages pass, and the swing
goes on.
All swing! the sky and the earth and
the air and the water; and
the Lord Himself taking form:
And the sight of this has made Kabîr a
servant."


Hanshan - The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain - 290;
"Relaxing below Cold Cliff
The surprises are quite special
Taking a basket to gather wild plants
Bringing it back loaded with fruit
Spreading fresh grass for a simple meal
Nibbling on magic mushrooms
Rinsing my ladle and bowl in a pool
Making a stew from scraps
Sitting in sunshine wrapped in a robe
Reading the poems of the ancients"


Edited by spinvis (06/28/22 01:15 PM)


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Posts: 586
Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: wabbey]
    #27840054 - 06/28/22 02:06 AM (1 year, 6 months ago)

Hanshan - The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain - 24;
"The new year ends a year of sorrow,
Spring finds everything fresh.
Mountain flowers laugh with green water,
Cliff trees dance with blue mist.
Bees and butterflies seem so happy,
Birds and fishes look lovelier still.
The joy of companionship never ends,
Who can sleep past dawn."


Hanshan - The Poetry of Hanshan (Cold Mountain), Shide, and Fenggan - HS18;
"The year departs, traded for a new year of grief,
Though spring now comes and everything looks new.
Mountain flowers laugh at the clear waters;
Cliffs and peaks dance in the blue mist.
Butterflies and bees speak of their own joy;
Birds and fish are even more charming.
But old friendship's feeling never ends,
And I cannot sleep the whole night."


Karl Brunnhölzl - A Lullaby to Awaken the Heart: The Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra and Its Tibetan Commentaries - The Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra for Recitation;
"This is from the nineteenth chapter in the Tantra That Teaches the Great Perfection as Samantabhadra's Unobstructed Awakened Mind, which teaches that through making this powerful aspiration prayer, all sentient beings cannot help but awaken.

HO!

Everything in samsara and nirvana that can possibly appear
has a single ground, two paths, and two results--
the miraculous displays of awareness and unawareness.
Through the aspiration prayer of Samantabhadra,
may all awaken in a fully perfect manner
in the palace of the dharmadhatu.

The ground of all is unconditioned--
the self-arising, inexpressible, vast spaciousness
without the names "samsara" or "nirvana."
The awareness of just this is buddhahood;
unaware, sentient beings wander in samsara.
May all beings of the three realms
be aware of the reality of the inexpressible ground.

I, Samantabhadra,
am aware that this very reality of the ground
without causes and conditions, is self-arising within the ground,
unaffected by the flaws of outer and inner, or superimposition and denial,
and untainted by the stains of the darkness of mindlessness.
Therefore, self-appearances are not blemished by any flaws.
Within self-awareness resting in its seat,
there is no fear, even if the threefold existence is destroyed,
nor is there attachment to the five sense pleasures.
In nonconceptual self-arising mind,
neither solid forms nor the five poisons exist.

The unceasing dimension of awareness's lucidity
is of a single essence and yet displays as five wisdoms.
The five original buddha families spring forth
from the maturation of these five wisdoms.
Through wisdom's fully unfolding from that,
the forty-two buddhas originate.
Through the dawning of the dynamic energy of the five wisdoms,
the sixty blood-drinkers come to life.
Therefore, ground awareness was never deluded.
Since I am the original buddha,
through my aspiration prayer,
may all sentient beings cycling through the three realms
recognize the face of self-arising awareness
and fully unfold great wisdom.

My emanations form an unceasing stream,
unfurling as inconceivable billions
and displaying as a vast array of suitable guidance.
Through my compassionate aspiration prayers,
may all sentient beings cycling through the three realms
leave the six kinds of existence behind.

At first, since deluded sentient beings
do not dawn as awareness in the ground,
they are absolutely mindless and oblivious.
Exactly that is unawareness, the cause of delusion.
From within that vacuous swoon,
a fearful vague cognizance stirs.
From that, self and others as well as enmity arise.
Through the gradual blossoming of the latent tendencies,
samsara unfolds, taking its natural course.
Due to that, the five poisons of the afflictions flourish
and their karmas become an incessant flow.
Thus, the ground of sentient beings' delusion
is mindless unawareness.
Hence, through this aspiration prayer of myself, the buddha,
may all recognize awareness itself.

Connate unawareness
is mindless, oblivious cognizance.
Imaginative unawareness
is the clinging to the duality of self and other.
This twofold connate and imaginative unawareness
is the ground of delusion of all sentient beings.
Through this aspiration prayer or myself, the buddha,
may all samsaric sentient beings'
darkness of dull mindlessness be dispelled,
may their mind of dualistic clinging be translucent,
and may awareness recognize its own face.

The mind of dualistic clinging is doubt--
from the arising of subtle fixation,
dense latent tendencies gradually unfold.
Be it food, wealth, clothing, places, companions,
the five sense pleasures, or beloved relatives,
we are tormented by our attachment to what seems attractive.
These are mundane delusions--
the karmas of perceiver and perceived are never exhausted.
When the results of clinging ripen,
we are born as hungry ghosts tortured by craving--
how pitiful is our hunger and thirst!
Through this aspiration prayer of myself, the buddha,
may sentient beings full of attachment and clinging
neither cast out the torment of desire
nor welcome the craving of attachment,
but may awareness take its very seat
through letting mind relax in its own state,
and may discriminating wisdom be attained.

A subtle mind of fear stirs
around the appearance of external objects.
Thus, the unfolding of hatred's latent tendencies
leads to powerful enmity, beating, and killing.
When the results of hatred ripen,
oh, how we suffer by being boiled and burned in hell!
Through this aspiration prayer of myself, the buddha,
when fierce hatred flares up
in all sentient beings of the six realms,
may it relax in its own state without adopting or rejecting,
may awareness take its own seat,
and may lucid wisdom be attained.

Our own mind being haughty,
it vies with others and dismisses them.
Through the arising of intense pride,
we experience the suffering of our fighting and struggling with others.
When the results of those actions ripen,
we are born as gods experiencing transition and downfall.
Through this aspiration prayer of myself, the buddha,
when sentient beings give rise to such haughtiness,
may they let their mind relax in its own state,
may awareness take its very own seat,
and may the wisdom of equality be realized.

Triggered by the latent tendencies of rampant dualistic clinging,
the competitive mind of fighting and struggling blossoms
from the pain of praising ourselves and disparaging others.
Being thus reborn in the asura realm of killing and slashing,
we take a deep plunge into the realms of hell.
Through this aspiration prayer of myself, the buddha,
when a competitive mind, fighting, and struggling arise,
May we not entertain enmity but let it relax in its own place,
may mind take its very own seat,
and may the wisdom of unimpeded enlightened activity be.

Mindlessness, indifference, distraction,
obtuseness, dullness, forgetfulness,
unconsciousness, laziness, and bewilderment
result in our roaming as animals without any shelter.
Through this aspiration prayer of myself, the buddha,
may the radiance of lucid mindfulness shine
in the darkness of our bewildered dullness,
and may nonconceptual wisdom be attained.

All sentient beings of the three realms
are equal to myself, the buddha, the ground of all,
but for them it has become the ground of mindless delusion.
Right now, they engage in meaningless activities,
with the six kinds of karma being like delusions in a dream.
I, however, am the primordial buddha.
In order to guide the six kinds of beings through emanations,
through this aspiration prayer of Samantabhadra,
may all sentient beings without exception
become awakened in the dharmadhatu.

A HO!

From now on, whenever mighty yogic practitioners
make this powerful aspiration prayer
within self-luminous awareness free of delusion,
all sentient beings who hear it
will fully awaken within three lives.

During solar or lunar eclipses,
when clamor or earthquakes occur,
at the solstices, or at the turn of the year,
if we let ourselves arise as Samantabhadra
and recite this prayer within the hearing of all,
through the aspiration of us yogic practitioners,
all sentient beings of the three realms
will gradually become free from suffering
and then swiftly attain buddhahood."


Matsuo Basho - Collected Works of Basho and the Haikuists - Haiku by Matsuo Basho;
"an old pond
a frog jumps into
the sound of water"


Hanshan - The Poetry of Hanshan (Cold Mountain), Shide, and Fenggan - HS19;
"Your calligraphy may be highly fluent,
Your stature utterly impressive.
In life a bounded body,
In death you become a nameless ghost.
It's been often like this since ancient times,
What use for you to struggle now?
Come up here, among the white clouds,
And I'll teach you the Purple Fungus Song."


Zensho W. Kopp - The ZEN Ox-Herding Pictures: The Path to Enlightenment - III. Finding the Ox;
"Poem and annotation by Kakuan:

The nightingale's singing echoes lucidly.
The sun shines softly, the breeze is mild, the willows by the river are green.
There stands the ox, no longer can anything conceal it.
Yet which artist can paint this majestic head with its magnificent horns?

When you hear the song, you can sense the origin. As soon as the six senses have blown past on the breeze, you have passed through the gate. Wherever you may go you see the ox's head everywhere. This unity is like salt in water and color in ink. Not even the smallest thing is different from the true self.

Comment by Zensho - selection of pages - 68-72:
The root of your illusions and suffering is therefore to be found solely in your preference for yourself, brought about by the ego-delusion. Without this autonomous, habitual concept of an identifying ego-notion there is no duality and thus there is no delusion of a personality, existing of its own accord. For what you in general believe to be your own personality is in truth nothing more than a process of mental-physical phenomena, devoid of all reality. All your memories, everything which you identify with in your ignorance. beginning with the first day of your childhood, all the interwoven memories of your dead past, form your assumed individuality.
In this way, the false self, the ego-delusion, which defines itself through discriminating thinking, clings tightly to the illusion of time since it is frighteningly aware that the present moment of "now" would mean its dissolution and thus its certain death. Therefore it does everything in its power to sustain the illusion of time and is constantly trying to strive forth from the presence of now.
This dualistic thinking, caught in the illusion of time, causes your consciousness to experience itself as separate from everything it perceives and thus the misconceptions accumulate, one upon the other. I and you arise, right and wrong, good and evil, and you are trapped in the tangle of your discriminating, conceptual thinking. Consequently, your apparent personality is nothing more than a marionette, hanging from the threads of  your own conditionings.
"Be here now, turn your mind around and behold your true countenance before your birth", says Zen. Everything else is just needless energy consumption and a pure waste of time. For all analyzing why this is so or not so and who or what you are, only maneuvers you all the more into the creeping snarl of the samsaric cycle of birth and death. And remember: just when you are in great confusion, death can befall you.
Therefore, see things as they really are, without concept of your dualistic interpretation. That is correct, non-identifying perspective of a Zen practitioner, that is the way to the all-perfecting clarity of the mind. When you have found the mind-ox, your true essence, in the primal insight of the self, "Kensho", you are aware of your primordial, true essence and you achieve of state of consciousness of crystal-clear awareness of mind.
In this experience, you are in unison with yourself and all things. Your consciousness is no longer that of separateness in the sense of "here am I and there is the world". Instead, you now understand that your mind is all things, and all things are a phenomenon of your own true self.

This unity is like salt in water and colour in ink. Not even the smallest thing is different from the true self.

However valuable this experience, which is often wrongly held for Satori may be, we must not forget in the process that this is "not yet the true, great Englightenment experience", as is the case with true Satori. Although a true Kensho experience, as an insight into your own essence, presents a high state of spiritual achievement, it is nevertheless as far from it as the heavens from the earth. For Satori is far more than an intuitive understanding of the true self, as in a Kensho experience, since the one who experiences Satori dissolves completely into Satori. By viewing the mind-ox in this third ox-herding picture, in a fleeting, short moment of primal insight, you have experienced Kensho, the essence of your true nature, so that your spiritual eye has opened.
All the same, you have yet to die the mystical Great Death, in which the ego-delusion is completely extinguished and you arise from the dead. For true life only begins with the death of the ego. Only then do you truly begin to live. What is more, Kensho can be experienced at different levels and one must consider that most experiences of Kensho are very shallow and to a certain extent still take place on an intellectual level. Some of those who think they have seen the ox, have in truth only seen the end of the ox's tail. But most of them, filled with pride, claiming they have experienced Kensho, have in fact only seen a goat and then try to ride home on this goat. This shows that on this level, one is not yet truly armed against falsities. Even when you have "Glimpsed", as Zen puts it, and have had a mystical experience, perhaps Kensho - continue on! The Chinese Zen Master Han-shan (seventeenth century) says of this:

Many of those who practice Zen often only attain a superficial realization without depth. Worst of all is when they settle for such a small, superficial realization without depth."


Matsuo Basho - Collected Works of Basho and the Haikuists - Haiku by Matsuo Basho;
"wishing once more to glimpse
in the dawning blossoms
the face of god"


The Book of Everything - Journey of the Hearts Desire - Hakim Sanai's The Walled Garden of Truth;
"If You had not wished for me a glimpse of You,
You might have hidden
Someplace more difficult to find.
As it is, my night is now pregnant with the day
And I awake to find You in Your garden."


Tilopa's Mahamudra Upadesha: The Gangama Instructions with Commentary - The Gangama Mahamudra of Tilopa - Root Text;
"In Sanskrit the title is Mahamudra Upadesha.
In Tibetan it is Chag-gya Chen-po Men-ngag, Mahamudra Instructions.

Prostration to Shri Varjradakini!

Intelligent Naropa, you who have undergone austerity
Bearing suffering with devotion to the guru,
Fortunate one, pay attention to this!

There is no "teaching" of Mahamudra,
Yet an example is space: upon what does it rely?
Our mind Mahamudra, likewise, has no support.
Not remedying anything, relax and settle in the unborn primordial state.

If bonds are relaxed, we are liberated, without doubt.
Just as looking into space stops our sight of visual forms.
If mind looks into mind,
Thoughts cease and unexcelled enlightenment is attained.

Clouds of vapor ascend in the sky,
They don't go anywhere, nor do they remain.
Similarly, when we see that thoughts are our own mind,
The rising waves of thought will clear.

The nature of space is beyond color and shape;
It does not stain light or dark, does not change.
The essence of our mind is also beyond color and shape;
It is not stained by light or dark, good or bad phenomena.

The brilliant clear essence of the sun
Is not obscured by the darkness of a thousand eons.
Likewise, the clear light essence of one's mind
Cannot be obscured by eons of samsara.

For example. we use the term "empty space"
Yet there is nothing in space to which the term refers.
Likewise, we say, "our own clear-light mind"
Yet there is nothing that is truly a base of the designation.

Thus, mind's nature has always been like space.
There is no phenomenon that is not included in it.
Giving up all physical activity, the yogi sits relaxed.
Vocal expression does not exist. Why? It is like empty echoes.
Without a thought in mind, look at the transcendent Dharma!
Body has no essence, like a plantain tree.
Mind, like being in space, is beyond objects of thought.
Without discarding or placing, relax and settle within that state.

If mind is without fixed reference point, that is Mahamudra.
Meditating and familiarizing with that, unexcelled enlightenment is attained.

Practitioners of Mantra, and of the Pramitas,
Vinaya Sutra, the Pitakas, and so on,
Will not see clear light Mahamudra
By way of the tenets of each of their scriptures.
Because of their assertions, clear light is obscured, not seen.

Conceptual vows degenerate from the meaning of samaya.
No activity in the mind, free of all desire,
Naturally arisen, naturally extinguished, like designs on water,
If we do not leave the meaning of nonabiding and nonobservation,
We don't transgress samaya and are a lamp in the darkness.

Free from all desire, if we do not abide in extremes
We shall see all teachings of the three pitakas.

If we mount this meaning, we will be liberated from samsara.
Absorbed in it, all harm and obscuration will be burned.
We are said to be a lamp of the teachings.

Silly beings, uninterested in this meaning,
Are always carried away by the river of samsare and finished.
How pitiful, silly beings suffering unbearably in the worse realms.
If we are unable to bear it, want liberation, rely upon a skillful guru,
And their blessings enter our heart, our mind will be liberated.

Kye ho! These samsaric things are the cause of meaningless suffering.
Since fabricated things lack essence, look at the essential meaning!
Beyond all subject-object duality is the king of views.
If we have no distraction, it is the king of meditations.
If we exert no effort, it is the king of action.
If we lack hope and fear, the fruit will manifest.

Beyond observed objects, mind's nature is luminous.
With no path to travel, keeping to the buddha patch,
Accustomed to no object of meditation,
One attains unexcelled enlightenment!

Kye ma! Worldly things cannot be well checked
Or analyzed, like illusions or dreams.
Dreams and illusions do not exist in actuality,
So, disillusioned, give up worldly activity.
Sever attachment and aversion to entourage and land.
Staying alone in the forest, meditate in retreat.
Abide in the state of nonmeditation.
A tree grows with trunk, branches, and foliage;
If its single root is cut, the hundreds of thousands of branches will dry up.
Likewise, if the root of the mind is cut, the foliage of samsara will dry up.

For example, darkness accumulated over a thousand eons,
That whole mass of darkness, is dispelled by a single lamp.
Likewise, our own clear-light mind instantly dispels
Ignorance, harm, and obscuration amassed over eons.

Kye ho! Intellectual Dharma does not see what transcends intellect.
Fabricated Dharma does not realize what "nonactivity" means.
If you wish to attain "transcendence of intellect" and "nonactivity,"
Cut the root of your mind and leave awareness naked.
Immerse conceptual thoughts in that bright stainless water.
Do not approve or reject appearances; leave them as they are.

Not abandoning or adopting, all of existence is liberated in Mahamudra.
In birthless alaya--"foundation of all"--imprints, harm, and obscurations are abandoned.
Don't be proud and calculating; settle in the essence of birthlessness.
Since appearances are reflexive, we run out of mental creations.
Freed from boundaries and limits is the supreme king of views.
Boundless, deep and vast, is the supreme king of meditations.
Cutting extremes, unbiased, is the supreme king of conduct.
Without hope, naturally liberated, is the supreme result.

At first, it's like racing mountain rapids.
In the middle, it moves slowly like the River Ganges.
At last, all rivers meet the sea, like the meeting of mother and child.
If those of little intelligence cannot abide in this state,
Apply breathing techniques and cast awareness into the essence.
Through mode of view, holding the mind, and many branches,
Persevere until you abide in awareness.

By having marmamudra, bliss-void wisdom will dawn.
Blessings of method and wisdom join in union.
Elements slowly falling, spinning, drawn back upward,
Are brought into the places and made to pervade the body.
Without attachment to it, bliss-void deep awareness dawns.

Long life without white hair, waxing like the moon,
Luminous complexion with the strength of a lion,

Common siddhis quickly attained, we mount the supreme.

May these pith instructions of Mahamudra
Abide in the  hearts of fortunate living beings!

This completes the twenty-three vajra verses on Mahamudra taught by the sovereign of Mahamudra siddhas, Tilopa, to the learned and accomplished Kashmiri pandit Naropa on the banks of the River Ganges. Great Naropa then taught it to the Tibetan lotsawa, Great King of Translators Marpa Choki Lodro, who translated it and made it definitive at Naropa's northern abode of Pullahari. ITHI! May all be virtuous!"


Matsuo Basho - Collected Works of Basho and the Haikuists - Haiku by Matsuo Basho;
"unseen Spring -
at the mirror's reverse,
the blossoming plum"


Hanshan - The Poetry of Hanshan (Cold Mountain), Shide, and Fenggan - HS68;
"The mountain dweller is troubled in heart,
Always sighing at the passing of the years.
So he labors hard to pick his mushrooms and thistles--
But how can his choices make him immortal?
The courtyard is broad--the clouds are clearing;
The forest is bright--the moon is now full.
Why should I not go home now?
The cinnamon tree detains me."


Longchenpa - The Precious Treasury of the Fundamental Nature (The Collected Works of Khangsar Tenpa'i Wangchuk) - selected pages;
"Homage to Glorious Samantabhadra!
Buddha from the first,
The ground of actual enlightenment,
Beyond all change and present of itself,
The space of adamantine essence, indestructible--
This is the nature of the mind
The natural great perfection.
Nothing do I take and nothing do I cast aside--
Nothing comes and nothing goes.
Thus it is that I bow down in homage.

The expanse of the nature inexpressible of all phenomena,
The culmination of all views and different from them all,
The all-transcending meaning of the Great Perfection
I shall now explain according to my realization.
Listen!

The ultimate and quintessential view
Belonging to the mind, space, pith instruction classes
Lies in nonexistence, evenness,
Spontaneous presence, single nature.
Each of these four has in turn four aspects:
Their key points are revealed, essentialized, subsumed,
A clear conviction is then gained in their regard.

1. Nonexistence

First, I demonstrate the principle of nonexistence.
Nonexistence means the absence of intrinsic being.
In the great expanse of the enlightened mind, which is like space,
Whatever may appear has no intrinsic being.

In the vast expanse, the womb of space,
The universe, the beings it contains,
And the four elements in constant flux
Are simply empty forms without intrinsic being.
The things appearing in the enlightened mind
Are just the same.

2. Evenness

When the fundamental nature of the phenomena--
Their nonexistence--is correctly grasped,
The nature of their evenness is understood.
According to the precepts of the Atiyoga
Summit of all vehicles,
Samantabhadra's vast and spacious mind,
The greatest of the great,
Is like the sky, beyond both center and circumference.
It has the character of unbroken great equality.

The fundamental nature, as it is,
Of things belonging to the phenomenal existence
And of enlightened mind devoid of form
Is never parted from the state
Of freedom from conceptual construction.
Here there is no center, no periphery, no thought--
Its evenness subsists
Within a vast uninterrupted state.

3. Spontaneous Presence

And now the nature of spontaneous presence is revealed.
It abides, not made by anyone, from the beginning.
Like an all-providing jewel, the enlightened mind
Is ground and source of all things in samsare and nirvana.

The things appearing in penomenal existence
Are all manifest in space.
Likewise, both samsara and nirvana
Ceaselessly appear in the enlightened mind.
Just as various dreams occur while beings sleep,
The six migrations and the three worlds
Manifest within the mind.
All things, in the very instant of arising,
Subsist within awareness.
They are the great appearances of the ground,
Empty yet spontaneously present.

4. Single Nature

And now the one sole nature [of phenomena] is shown.
The one awareness is the ground of all phenomena.
However many they may seem,
They do not waver from their one sole nature.
So it is said. Their one and only root
Is primal wisdom self-arisen.
In certain situations, from a single gem,
Fire and water, different and distinct, may both emerge.
And yet their root is one, the pure and precious lapis lazuli.
Likewise, even though from one awareness, self-cognizing,
Nirvana and samsara both arise,
Their root is one, the ultimate enlightened mind.
The difference that divides them is illusory,
Deriving from the recognition or nonrecognition of awareness.

Phenomenal existence, samsara and nirvana,
All things appearing in awareness,
In the moment of their being perceived,
Have but the nature of emptiness alone.
They are like magical illusions, dreams,
Like moons reflected in the water.
Wholly empty and primordially empty,
Beyond conceptual elaboration,
They dwell within awareness,
Space-like, insubstantial,
The ground of their appearance.
Since all is, in the one expanse,
Primordially pure,
There is no dualism, no "two."
All is gathered in a single sphere,
The darmakaya without edges, without corners.
Emaho!"


Matsuo Basho - Collected Works of Basho and the Haikuists - Haiku by Chiyo-ni;
"in clear water
there is no back
no front"


Hanshan - The Poetry of Hanshan (Cold Mountain), Shide, and Fenggan - HS295;
"I roost and roam at the foot of Cold Cliff,
Especially amazed at its most hidden marvels.
I took hamper in hand and picked mountain vegetables,
I brought a basket and returned with fruit.
Now in my simple lodging I spread rushes and sit;
I chew on the purple mushrooms,
Then wash gourd and bowl in a clear pool,
As I blend and simmer the tick and the thin.
Baking in the sun I sit with my robe around me,
Idly reading the poetry of the men of old."


Zensho W. Kopp - The ZEN Ox-Herding Pictures: The Path to Enlightenment - IX. Having returned to the Origin;
"Poem and annotation by Kakuan:

He has returned to the origin.
Yet his steps were in vain.
Better, were he from the beginning on to have been as though
blind and deaf - dwelling in his true abode,
without longing for the external.
The river flows as it flows,
the red flowers are red of their own accord.

From the very beginning there is no dust - the truth is clear to see. He beholds the alternating coming and going of all life in the world and abides in serene non-action.
He does not allow himself to be deceived by fleeting spectacles of this changing world. Why should he still trouble himself with anything at all?
The rivers flow blue, the mountains are green. He rests within himself and beholds the transformation of all things.

Comment by Zensho - selection of pages - 153-155:
"The moment you awakened from the dream of body, mind and world, it was suddenly clear to you that your own mind is buddha and that from the beginning on, there was nothing to achieve.
When you have returned to the origin of your birth- and deathless true essence, you recognize that all your efforts were in vain. In fact, you had just taken on unnecessary hardship to find your true being, even though you had never really lost it since it was constantly present as the silent observer behind all experiences. Similarly, the Chinese Zen Master Poa-chi (ninth century) says:

The Great Way cannot be achieved through practice. All talk of practice is just designed for ignorant people. When you have fathomed the principle and then look back at the practice,  you will see for the first time that all your efforts were in vain.

You cannot find your true self through books and learning because it lies beyond all words and thinking. You can study all the sayings of the old masters, learn everything by heart, plus all the commentaries to go with them. Yet the instant you suddenly awaken to the radiating splendor of the One Mind, you will see that all of this was nothing more than chaff, of no further value.
Tokusan (ninth century), who later went on to become a tremendous Zen master, experienced this too. Tokusan was a great Buddhist scholar. He specialized in interpreting the Diamond Sutra and practiced Zen under Zen Master Ryutan.

One evening he sat together with his master in the master's room. As it became dark the master said to Tokusan, "It is getting late, it is best if you go and sleep." Tokusan then took leave and went out. However, he quickly returned with the words, "It is very dark outside, I cannot see anything."
Without saying a word, Zen Master Ryutan lit an oil lamp and handed it to him. As Tokusan reached out his hand to take the lamp, the master suddenly blew out the light in the lamp. In the same instant, Tokusan's mind shone ablaze and expanded into boundlessness, and he attained the Great Enlightenment.

The next morning, he took his entire collection of philosophical deliberations on the Diamond Sutra and burned them in front of the monastery while exclaiming, "Compared to the depths of the highest experience, all knowledge and learning is like a drop of water falling into the great abyss."

One day, as Tokusan was reading the Diamond Sutra, an inquisitive monk asked him which Sutra he was reading. Tokusan raised the Diamond Sutra up high and said, "This is the last to be burned."

The moment Enlightenment takes place, you recognize with radiating clear awareness that everything you had previously reached in your mental striving was just unnecessary ballast. Yet right from the start, had you been "as though blind and deaf" for all the scholarly, theoretical interpretations of the inexpressible truth, you could have spared yourself all the effort.
If you had immersed yourself in your innermost ground with your whole being from the beginning on, and had dissolved into it, your true essence as your "true abode" would have revealed itself in a flash. This is what the words of Zen Master Kakuan's poem for this ninth ox-herding picture tell us."


Eihei Dogen - Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki: The New Annotated Translation ― Also Including Dogen's Waka Poetry with Commentary - Part Two. White Snow on Bright Leaves - 11 Poem on the Eyes Received at Birth;
"The village in deep mountains
I entered seeking the Way
is nowhere but the capital city
I've always lived in"


Eihei Dogen - Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki: The New Annotated Translation ― Also Including Dogen's Waka Poetry with Commentary - Part Two. White Snow on Bright Leaves - 13 Poem on Activating the Mind without Dwelling;
"Waterbirds
fly away and return
leaving no trace
even so, they do not forget
the path"


Edited by spinvis (08/03/22 03:43 PM)


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Invisiblespinvis
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Re: Greatest Spiritual Quotes? [Re: spinvis]
    #27853071 - 07/07/22 03:52 AM (1 year, 6 months ago)

Terence McKenna;
"Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behavior and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong."


Sutta Pitaka - Anguttara Nikaya - 1.22;
"A unique being, an extraordinary man arises in this world for the benefit of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, benefit, and happiness of devas and human beings. Who is this unique being? It is the Tarhagata, the exalted, fully enlightened one."


Alan Watts - Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life - Part Four: 1968-1969 - 15. Not What Should Be, but What is! - pages 233-235;
"In pursuing spiritual disciplines, however, such as yoga, Zen, and also psychotherapy, there arises a difficulty. This difficulty lies in wanting to find a method whereby I can change my consciousness and improve myself. But the self that needs to be improved is the one that is doing the improving, and so I am rather stuck. I find out that the reason I think I believe in God is that I hope that somehow God will rescue me. In other words, I want to hang onto my own existence and feel rather shaky about doing that for myself, so I hope there is a God who will take care of it. Or I may think that if only I could be loving, I would have a better opinion of myself. I could face myself if I were more loving. So by some gimmickry the unloving me has to turn itself into a loving me. This is just like trying to lift yourself off the ground with your own bootstraps; it cannot be done. This is why religion, in practice, mainly produces hypocrisy and guilt, due to the constant failure of these enterprises.

People study Zen, and they say that getting rid of your ego is a superhuman task. I assure you it is very, very difficult to get rid of your ego. You have to sit for a long time, and you are going to get the sorest legs. It is hard work, and all you wretched kids who think you are getting rid of your ego with easy yoga do not know what you are in for. The biggest ego trip is getting rid of your ego, and of course the joke of it all is that your ego does not exist. There is nothing to get rid of. It is an illusion, as I have tried to explain, but still you ask how to stop the illusion. But who is asking? In the ordinary sense in which we use the word I, how can I stop identifying myself with the wrong me? The answer is simply that you cannot.

The Christians acknowledge this by saying that mystical experience is a gift of divine grace. Man, as such, cannot achieve this experience; it is a gift of God, and if God does not give it to you there is no way of getting it. That is solidly true, since you cannot do anything about it because you do not exist. You might say that is pretty depressing news, but the whole point is that it is not depressing news. It is the joyous news. There is a Zen poem that talks about “it”, meaning the mystical experience, satori, the realization that you are, as Jesus was, the eternal energy of the universe. The poem says, “You cannot catch hold of it, nor can you get rid of it. In not being able to get it, you get it. When you speak, it is silent. When you are silent, it speaks.”

This phrase – not being able to get it, you get it – is the feeling Krishnamurti tries to convey to people when he says, “Why do you ask for a method? There is no method. All methods are simply gimmicks for strengthening your ego.” How do we not ask for a method? He answers, “In asking that you are still asking for a method.” If you really understand what your “I” is, you will see there is no method. We think this is so sad, but it is not. This is the gospel, the good news, because if you cannot achieve it, if you cannot transform yourself, that means that the main obstacle to mystical vision has collapsed. That obstacle was you. What happens next? By now you are at your wit’s end, but what you are going to do – commit suicide? Suppose you just put that off for a little while, and wait and see what happens. You cannot control your thoughts, and you cannot control your feelings, because there is no controller. You are your thoughts and your feelings, and they are running along, running along, running along. Just sit and watch them. There they go. You are still breathing, aren’t you? Still growing your hair; still seeing and hearing. Are you doing that? Is breathing something that you do? Do you see? Do you organize the operations of your eyes, and know exactly how to work those rods and cones in the retina? Do you do that? It happens, and it is happening. Your breathing is happening. Your thinking is happening. Your feeling is happening. Your hearing, your seeing, the clouds are happening across the sky. The sky is happening blue; the sun is happening shining. There is is: all this is happening.

May I introduce you? This is yourself. This is a vision of who you really are, and the way you really function. You function by happening, that is to say, by spontaneous occurrence. This is not a state of affairs that you should realize. I cannot possible preach about it to you, because the minute you start thinking, “I should understand that,” the stupid notion that “I” should bring it about arises again, when there is no “you” to bring it about. That is why I am not preaching. You can only preach to egos. All I can do is talk about what is."


Aspiration by the Twelfth Gyaltshap Mingyur Gocha, Mangalam;
"OM SWA STI KARMA KA BI DZA YA
From the unchanging, permanent Dharmakaya appears the magical body of Karmapa.
May your three secrets of body, speech, and mind firmly remain in the vajra realm.
May your boundless activities be blazingly glorious and spontaneously accomplished."


Sutta Pitaka - Majjhima Nikaya - 1.37;
"Well expounded is the Dhamma by the exalted one, to be self-realized, with immediate fruit, inviting investigation, leading on to Nibbana, to be comprehended by the wise, each for himself."


Thomas Cleary - The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra - 18 Clarifying Method;
"“There are ten things which cause the practices of enlightening beings to be pure: (1) giving up all possessions to satisfy the wishes of sentient beings; (2) adhering to pure morality, not transgressing; (3) being inexhaustibly gentle and tolerant; (4) cultivating practices diligently without regressing; (5) being free from confusion and mental disturbance, through the power of correct mindfulness; (6) analyzing and comprehending the innumerable teachings; (7) cultivating all practices without attachment; (8) being mentally imperturbable, like a great mountain; (9) extensively liberating living beings, like a bridge; (10) knowing that all living beings are in essence the same as the Buddhas. These ten things make enlightening beings’ practices pure.
“Once enlightening beings have attained purity in practice, they also attain ten even greater things: (1) the Buddhas of other realms always protect them; (2) their roots of goodness increase, going beyond any comparison; (3) they are able to receive the boosting power of the Buddhas; (4) they always find good people and are relied on by them; (5) they remain diligent and are never heedless; (6) they know all things are equal and not different; (7) their minds always abide in unexcelled great compassion; (8) they observe things as they really are, producing sublime wisdom; (9) they are able to practice skillful techniques of liberation; (10) they are able to know the Enlightened Ones’ power of skill in liberative means. These are the ten excellent qualities of enlightening beings.
“Enlightening beings have ten pure vows: (1) they vow to develop living beings to maturity, without wearying; (2) they vow to fully practice all virtues and purify all worlds; (3) they vow to serve the Enlightened, always engendering honor and respect; (4) they vow to keep and protect the true teaching, not begrudging their lives; (5) they vow to observe with wisdom and enter the lands of the Buddhas; (6) they vow to be of the same essence as all enlightening beings; (7) they vow to enter the door of realization of thusness and comprehend all things; (8) they vow that those who see them will develop faith and all be benefited; (9) they vow to stay in the world forever by spiritual power; (10) they vow to fulfill the practice of Universal Good, and master the knowledge of all particulars and all ways of liberation. These are the ten pure vows of enlightening beings.
“Enlightening beings can successfully fulfill their great vows by abiding by ten principles: (1) never wearying in mind; (2) preparing great adornments; (3) remembering the superlative will power of enlightening beings; (4) when hearing about the Buddha-lands, vowing to be born in them all; (5) keeping their profound determination everlasting; (6) vowing to develop all living beings fully; (7) staying through all ages without considering it troublesome; (8) accepting all suffering without aversion; (9) having no craving for or attachment to any pleasures; (10) always diligently protecting the unexcelled teaching.
“When enlightening beings fulfill such vows, they attain ten inexhaustible treasuries: perception of the Buddhas; perfect memory power; certain understanding of all the teachings; compassionate salvation; various states of concentration; extensive blessings and virtues satisfying the hearts of all beings; profound knowledge to expound all truths; spiritual powers gained as a consequence of practice; subsistence for immeasurable eons; entry into boundless worlds. These are enlightening beings’ ten inexhaustible treasuries.
“When enlightening beings have attained these ten treasuries, their virtue is complete, their knowledge is pure; they explain the truth to sentient beings according to their needs and capacities. How do enlightening beings explain the truth to sentient beings according to their needs and capacities? They know what beings do; they know their causes and conditions; they know their mental behavior; they know their inclinations. To those with much greed and desire they expound impurity; to those with much anger and hatred they expound magnanimity and kindness; to those with much ignorance and delusion they teach diligent contemplation; to those in whom these poisons of greed, hatred, and ignorance are equal, they expound the teaching of the development of the knowledge to overcome them. Those who like birth and death they teach about the three kinds of suffering. To those who are attached to where they are, they teach the empty nullity of places. To those who are lazy they talk of great vigor. To those who harbor conceit they explain the equality of things. To flatterers and deceivers they tell of the simple honesty of the hearts of enlightening beings. To those who like silence and tranquility they expound the Teaching extensively, so that they will accomplish it. Thus do enlightening beings teach according to what is necessary and appropriate."


Saadi Shirazi - Collected Works of - Bustan - CHAPTER III. Concerning Love;
"Thy love renders thee impatient and disturbed. With such sincerity hast thou placed thy head at her feet that thou art oblivious to the world.
When in the eyes of thy beloved riches count not, gold and dust are as one to thee.
Thou sayest that she dwelleth in thine eyes -- if they be closed, she is in thy mind.
If she demand thy life, thou dost place it in her hand; if she place a sword upon thy head, thou holdest it forward.
When earthly love produces such confusion and such obedience demands, dost thou wonder if travellers of the road of God remain engulfed in the Ocean of Reality?
In the remembrance of their Friend they have turned their backs up the world; they are so fascinated by the Cup-bearer that they have spilled the wine.
No medicine can cure them, for no one has knowledge of their pains.
With their cries of longing do they root up a mountain; with their sighs they dismember a kingdom.
Such is their weeping at dawn that the tears wash the collyrium of sleep from their eyes. Night and day are they immersed in the sea of love; so distracted are they that they know not night from day.
So enamoured are they of the beauty of the Painter that they care not for the beauty of His designs.
He drinks of the pure wine of Unity who is forgetful of both this world and the next.


Yamada Mumon - Lectures on The Ten Oxherding Pictures - Picture Five: Taming the Ox - page 59;
"Somewhere in the records of Rinzai, Rinzai Zenji says, "Don't continue on with thoughts that have already arisen and don't arouse any that have not yet been aroused. Just this will be worth far more to you than ten years of pilgrimage". Don't let thoughts that have already arisen lead you off; let them pas away untouched just as they have arisen. And about those thoughts which have not yet arisen, it is unnecessary to think "I must not cause them to arise." If you concentrate on letting go all thoughts which may arise without grasping on to them, this will be more useful than ten years of half-hearted monastery training.

WAKA
Days pass, even the wild ox comes to hand,
And becomes a shadow to my body,
How gratifying!"


Longchenpa - Illuminating Sunlight;
"Every type of experiential content belonging to samsara and nirvana has, as its very basis, a natural state that is a spontaneously present buddha—a dimension of purity and perfection, that is perfect by  nature. This natural state is not created by a profound buddha nor by a clever sentient being. Independent of causality, causes did not produce it and conditions can not make it perish. This state is one of self-existing wakefulness, defying all that words can describe, in a way that also transcends the reach of the intellect and thoughts. It is within the nonarising vastness of such a basic natural state that all  phenomena belonging to samsara and nirvana are, essentially and without any exception, a state of buddha—purity and perfection."


Edited by spinvis (08/01/22 06:07 AM)


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