Monday 26 June 2006

Going home

Does one really have to fret
About enlightenment?
No matter what road I travel,
I’m going home.

- Shinsho

Wednesday 21 June 2006

Like strangers on the road

For twenty seven years
I’ve always sought the Way.
Well, this morning we passed
Like strangers on the road.

- Kokuin (10th century)

Tuesday 20 June 2006

Behind a blood-stained curtain

Behind a blood-stained curtain, love has spread its gardens.
Lovers are busy with the beauty of the love that is beyond explanation.
Intellect says: 'The six directions are the limit, there is nothing beyond them.'
Love says:'There is a road, and I have journeyed on it many times.'
Love detected markets beyond that market.
Intellect says:'Do not set foot on the land of annihilation;
There is nothing there but thorns.'
Love says;'Those thorns you feel are only inside you!
Be silent! remove the thorn of existence from the foot of the heart;
So that you may see the gardens within.'
O Shams of Tabriz! you are the Sun cloaked by the cloud of speech;
When your Sun rose, all the words melted!

(Divan 132:1-3, 6-8)

Thursday 15 June 2006

What exactly is it that you want?

What exactly is it that you want?

Independence of mind and will. Ability to make one's own decisions, without having to kowtow to anyone else, without having to make unwilling compromises because someone else has to be considered and accommodated.

To have just the one person, that is yours forever, that loves you and you alone, that is faithful in word, thought and deed, that considers you and your needs above all else.

To achieve in your career, to be recognized for the person that you are, for your skills and accomplishments, not for who you are with or accompany.

To have children, that you love and who love you in return. Who you help grow and mature and become wonderful human beings in their own right. Who bring you joy and comfort as you grow older.

To do your own thing, when you want to do it for the reasons that you want or please you. At your own pace, with no demands from others except for the demands that you consciously agree to.

To be with someone, to feel human warmth and contact, to grow more intimate in a most meaningful manner over the years, to have companionship into your old age, that is just there and demands nothing more than it is there.

To choose who you want to be with, when you want to be with them. To choose to be with a different person or persons whenever it suits. To define the parameters of your relationships according to what you think or want, however that may change over time.

To be transported to the ends of pleasure by the person that you love, and who loves you in return. By your true love, for it is true love that defines the ends of pleasure, that maps the extent of bounding one's world, of transforming profane to sublime.

To love and be loved, utterly and absolutely, forever and forever.

Look - conditions

Look. There was one who was enlightened with the sound of a bamboo being struck and another who clarified his mind upon seeing peach blossoms. Is the bamboo bright or dull, deluded or enlightened? Are peach blossoms shallow or deep, wise or foolish? Although flowers blossom year after year, not everyone who sees them is enlightened. When a bamboo cracks, not everyone who hears it realizes the way.

Enlightenment and clarity of the mind occur only in response to the sustained effort of study and practice. Endeavoring in the way ripens the conditions of your practice. It is not that the sound of the bamboo is sharp or the color of the blossoms is vivid. Although the sound of the bamboo is wondrous, it is heard at the moment when it’s hit by a pebble. Although the color of the blossoms is beautiful, they do not open by themselves but unfold in the light of springtime. Studying the way is like this. You attain the way when conditions come together. Although you have your own capacity, you practice the way with the combined strength of the community. So you should practice and search with one mind with others.

- Dogen (1200-1253)

Thursday 8 June 2006

Whom have I encountered in my dream last night?

You are happy, happy, but I am a thousand times happier!
Whom have I encountered in my dream last night? I know not.
I am so happy, I cannot be contained in the world;
But like a spirit, I am hidden from the eyes of the world.
If the foot of the trees were not tied to earth, they would be pursuing me;
For I have blossomed so much, I am the envy of the gardens.

(Divan 1740:1-3)

Tuesday 6 June 2006

A little "Over The Top" methinks

What we know as 'life' is the analytical realization in the seriality of time of our eternal reality. - Why Lazurus Laughed by Wei Wu Wei