Be There Always
I turned into a bird. I can’t remember where I found this… Disciple: How am I peace and consciousness? Do you see? D: Yes. How can you prove it? D: I see objects and so I am convinced that I see. Here you must remember that when you see objects “you” do not “possess” sight—you […]
The Practice
The combined effort involved in saving this little guy from certain death was nothing short of a miracle. “What’s going on right now, and how can I be with it?”-Eckhart Tolle… summing up his philosophy of life. Mystic: “A person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Absolute, […]
The Greatest Thing
Burning Dresser “The way is to have a complete experience with full feeling in every moment, not to use each moment to think about the past or future, trying to make sense of it all.” -Shunryu Suzuki Being aware is the only experience that is not a conditioned concept. What we have been conditioned to […]
See What Happens
Daddyo and Candis in Hawaii for my big six-0. “…there is no connection between your senses and the outside world…” -Pai-Chang Last night on the porch, I realized for the first time… He is saying that the body does not perceive anything. So then who is the perceiver? According to Ramana Maharshi:“The body is insentient. You […]
The Only Evil
“By being alive to difficulty one can avoid it.” -Lao Tzu Inattention is our only problem. Problems remain problems because we are unaware of the thoughts that created them. As usual, the remedy is awareness. As you become more aware of the mind’s tendency to create problems, the fewer problems it creates. Which is the […]
How Marvelous
BigJoni in Hawaii for my 60th birthday celebration. I hope you enjoy this collection of thought-stoppers… “How marvelous! This is truly marvelous and superb! The secret of all perfect buddhas is that things come and go within what does not come or go, yet in the very act of their coming or going, there is […]
Witness This
My first 45 ACP, and BabyJoni at 18 months. “That which cannot change, remains. The great peace, the deep silence, the hidden beauty of reality remain. While it cannot be conveyed through words, it is waiting for you to experience for yourself.” -Nisargadatta Maharaj Remain silent and witness this astonishing fact: You are only aware of […]
Be Present
Snorkeling with humpback whales off the coast of the Dominican Republic, in March, 2007. “What you are… what you actually are, is being. Being is not the mind thinking. Thinking is a movement, a motion. Being is the silence that precedes the motion. You cannot see it; you cannot grasp it because you are it. […]
When One Is Quiet
“A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does self-awareness affect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and steady self-awareness inner energies wake up and work miracles without effort on your part.”-Nisargadatta Maharaj […]
Moment to Moment
“That’s essentially what Zen practice is about: functioning from moment to moment.”-Charlotte Joko Beck Moment-to-moment attention effortlessly generates impeccable activity. When you know you are aware, every thought is helpful. ====“If the meditator is able to use whatever occurs in his life as the path, his body becomes a retreat hut.”-Jigme Lingpa