Will You Understand

In a grove of tall bamboos
Beside an ancient temple
Steam rolls from the brazier
In fragrant white clouds;
I show you the path of Sages
Beyond this floating world,
But will you understand
The lasting taste of spring?

-- Baisao (1675-1763)

Infinity

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the former.
 -- Albert Einstein

Abode of the Way

Heaven is calm and clear,
Earth is stable and peaceful.
Beings who lose these
Qualities die,
While those who
Emulate them live.
Calm spaciousness is the
House of spiritual light;
Open selflessness is the
Abode of the Way.

-- Huai-nan-tzu

Fear Death

What shall he fear that does not fear death
 -- Schiller, Johann Friedrich Von

Revolutionary Bureaucracy

Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.
  - Kafka, Franz

Solace or Assistance

You ARE right - nobody does love you

You are alone in this world and you will die alone, facing the long eternity of extinction without solace or assistance.

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. -- Voltaire

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
  --  Voltaire

Perfectly Ambiguous Ending

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity".

one seriously weird individual

We are talking about a seriously weird individual here (well, at least, someone who wants to be weird)

http://www.pdark.de/about-en.html

German version

Welcome to the World of Philmann Dark

NEWS About me About the author Stories Mailing lists Links Impressum Copyright

Some short facts about me FAQ Some short facts about me Size 2 Meters Hair color Dark Brown, almost black Eye color Blue-Gray Hobbies Communication Current Occupation First Contact Officer Current body Planetdestroyer #13 Age of current body 86'483 Earth years as of 1.1.1970 FAQ What does Current body mean? I'm an immortal life form. My origins go way back to beginning of the universe. Unfortunately, nothing material can stand the test of time so my bodies deteriorate and I'm forced to seek a new host. I'm not a prasitic lifeform, though. I don't remove the former owner of the body but instead form a symbiosis with them. Usually, the hosts evolve over time (or rather their souls do). When the body of the host finally becomes inhabitable, the former owner of the host has evolved that much that (s)he has no urges to posess a body anymore (which would end in a struggle for control of the next body). The advantage for someone to form a symbiosis with him is that we grant protection and psychic abilities (some would call this magic but that's a very imprecise term) to the new host who in turn uses them to influence his/her surroundings. Our current host, for example suffers from a computer virus, which has destroyed the other PDs during the last years of the great galactic war. By protecting him against the virus, we both get what we want. Where do you originally come from? I came to be on a small, nameless planet which was destroyed long ago when one of the eight suns it circulated turned into a Super Nova. My race (about 300 beings) died with its planet. Planetdestroyer? The term is more slang than real. We're not like the big energy projectors that you saw in the Star Wars movies. What's the point in blowing up a perfectly good planet? Instead, our modus operandi was to extinct the population on the surface of the planet or to drive it away. And did you? During the great galactic war, I destroyed three major populations (actually drove them into extinction) and wiped out the populations of 377 planets. I was responsible for 5'300'475'000'000 +/- 1% casualties. *ulp* And your job here? After the great war, I was cleaning hazardous zones (mine fields and other relicts of the great war). It is generally accepted that I contributed a major part to the rebuilding of the civilizations that we see in the galaxy today. My current occupation is that of a First Contact officer (FCO). FCOs seek emerging civilizations in our galaxy and protect them against external influences (technology smugglers or people who use our advances in social sciences to influence primitive sociologies). After the systems are sealed off, we wait until the civilization has evolved to a point where they have enough internal stability to survive the contact with a much advanced one. This is usually the around the time when a civilization begins to build the first colonies on other planets because this step takes a lot of energy and therefore needs a very broad support in the members of the civilization in question. This means that the internal struggles which usally destroy a civilization when it makes first contact with an advanced one, must have been resolved or are at least under control. Unfortunately, the evolution from a civilization, in which greed and agression are major driving forces, to the next level is usually one which is accompanied with a lot of turmoil because some of the most powerful or influential beeings of such civilizations have come to their positions because they were the most greedy and aggressive. Beeing greedy and agressive, they distrust the change and try to prevent it. Even if they know the futility of the attempt, beeing what they are forces them to still try to prevent this change to the worse for them. What do you especially like on Earth? I enjoy the creativity and power of young civilizations a lot. I like to be surprised by new ways to do things and, just like parents, I'm proud if my civilization has climbed another step on their own. Unlike real parents, I usually don't teach or influence; I'm only observing. Noting things. This has lead to some confusion in the past. Usually, people blame me for not stepping in and preventing damage. This is a charge against which I don't defend because of two things: First, people who blame this on me, are usually in an agitated state and talking to them is pointless. Secondly, if you can't do mistakes, then you cannot learn and thus, evolve. Preventing a child to burn its hands makes them careless. So please don't blame me for giving you the chance to learn. Copyright © 2001-2002 Aaron Digulla a.k.a. Philmann Dark. Last Modification: 27.11.2001

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The Mind of Steven Wright

If you're not familiar with the work of Steven Wright, he's the guy who once said: "I woke up one morning and all of my stuff had been stolen and replaced by exact duplicates." His mind sees things differently than we do - to our amazement and amusement. Here are some more of his gems:-

I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back.

Half the people you know are below average.

99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.

The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.

OK, so what's the speed of dark?

How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

I intend to live forever - so far, so good.

If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."

Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.

Narcissism as the ultimate expression of 21st century religion

Narcissism as the ultimate expression of 21st century religion.
In the same manner that in the mid/later 20th century we truly experienced the essence of Nietszche, it is only in the very late 20th and early 21st century that we are now channeling the essence of Freud.

Habits

The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.
  - Fyodor Dostoevsky

In seeking the essence of the Way

In seeking the essence of the Way,
one should quiet the mind
and penetrate to the depths.
Silently wander within
and clearly see the origin
of all things, obscured by nothing.
The mind is boundless and formless,
just as the pure water
contains the essence of autumn.
It is glistening white and lustrously bright
in the same way that
moonlight envelops the entire night.

- Hung-chih (12th century)

Woody

Is sex dirty? Only if it's done right.
  - Woody Allen

Perfect Lover Perfect Love

"We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love".
  -- Tom Robbins in "Still Life With Woodpecker"

God, Spinoza, Einstein and Scott Adams

This is perfectly apposite to belief systems in our current society:
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/05/god_for_weasels.html

God for Weasels

One of the great things about being ignorant is that I often think my ideas are original. It's a wonderful feeling. That's why I try to avoid any knowledge that would spoil the sensation. Sometimes it isn't easy. People keep hurling knowledge at me, and I can't always duck.

For example, people often accuse me of ripping off the great philosopher Spinoza when I write about the universe being God, or when I say people obviously have no free will. I act like I know what they are talking about and quickly change the subject. In reality, I didn't know Spinoza from Shinola.

Einstein has famously said he believes in Spinoza's version of God. I always wondered why he invoked Spinoza. It was time to find out about this Spinoza dude. I'm far too lazy to read an entire book, so I went to Wikipedia and read what strangers with no credibility had to say about him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza

Holy cow! My opinions match Spinoza's perfectly. It turns out that being ignorant is almost exactly like being a well-read student of philosophy who can quote from the work of the masters. How lucky is that?

Now I know why Einstein invoked Spinoza when talking about his beliefs. Einstein discovered more than the theory of relativity. He also found a way to act like he believed in God, so all the God-lovers would accept him as their own, while simultaneously saying God is nothing more than semantics, so atheists would embrace him too. And he blamed it all on a dead guy, Spinoza. How many ways does Einstein need to keep proving he's a genius? I mean seriously, this is just showing off.

I have decided to adopt Einstein's weasel-genius view of God so everyone thinks I'm on their side. That could come in handy when I run for President. For the record, I believe in Spinoza's God. Less than one percent of Americans will know what that means. The other 99% will think I believe God is a bearded guy who hands out harps in the afterlife. They will love me for being on their side.

I think Spinoza would be proud to know that his life's work boiled down to creating a God for weasels.

Pelagic Callipygian

cal·li·pyg·i·an        /ˌkæl əˈpɪdʒ i ən/ [kal-uh-pij-ee-uh n]
–adjective
having well-shaped buttocks.  

Also, cal·li·py·gous        /ˌkæl əˈpaɪ gəs/ [kal-uh-pahy-guh s]
  _____

[Origin: 1640–50; < Gk kallipýg(os) with beautiful buttocks; referring to a statue of Aphrodite (kalli- calli- + pyg( ) rump + -os adj. suffix) + -ian ]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.  

American Heritage Dictionary -
cal·li·pyg·i·an        (kāl'ə-pĭj'ē-ən)
adj.   Having beautifully proportioned buttocks.   

---

pe·lag·ic        /pəˈlædʒ ɪk/ [puh-laj-ik]
–adjective
1.    of or pertaining to the open seas or oceans.     
2.    living or growing at or near the surface of the ocean, far from land, as certain organisms.   
Compare neritic, oceanic.
  _____

[Origin: 1650–60; > L pelagicus > Gk pelagikós, equiv. to pélag(os) the sea + -ikos -ic ]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source
pe·lag·ic        (pə-lāj'ĭk)  
adj.   Of, relating to, or living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters: pelagic birds.   

Vain Wishes

You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.  Don't let yourself indulge in vain wishes.
   -- Rabindranath Tagore

Treasure Mountain

It is pitiful that we are
living in a treasure mountain
but cannot see it.
If we develop an
enlightenment seeking mind,
everything becomes the
practice of enlightenment,
even if we are in the midst
of the various worlds of samsara.

- Dogen (1200-1253)

Go with the flow

Outwardly go along
With the flow,
While inwardly keeping
Your true nature.
Then your eyes and ears
Will not be dazzled,
Your thoughts will not
Be confused,
While the spirit within you
Will expand greatly to roam
In the realm of absolute purity.

- Huai-nan-tzu

A Dream Within A Dream (by Edgar Allan Poe)

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep - while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Aspect are within us, and who seems most kingly is king

Aspect are within us, and who seems most kingly is king.
-- Hardy, Thomas

Just an ordinary person

When the mind's as is,
Circumstances also are as is.
There's no real
And also no unreal.
Giving no heed to existence
And holding not
To nonexistence,
You're neither saint nor sage,
Just an ordinary person
Who has settled their affairs.
Easy, so easy.

- Layman P'ang

And cannot those who once have lovd. ever forget their Love?

And he said Wherefore do I feel such love & pity
Ah Enion Ah Enion Ah lovely lovely Enion
How is this All my hope is gone for ever fled
Like a famishd Eagle Eyeless raging in the vast expanse
Incessant tears are now my food. incessant rage & tears
Deathless for ever now I wander seeking oblivion
In torrents of despair in vain. for if I plunge beneath
Stifling I live. If dashd in pieces from a rocky height
I reunite in endless torment. would I had never risen
From deaths cold sleep beneath the bottom of the raging Ocean
And cannot those who once have lovd. ever forget their Love?
Are love & rage the same passion? they are the same in me
Are those who love. like those who died. risen again from death
Immortal. in immortal torment. never to be deliverd
Is it not possible that one risen again from Death
Can die! When dark despair comes over [me] can I not
Flow down into the sea & slumber in oblivion. Ah Enion

-- William Blake
THE FOUR ZOAS (1797)
"Night The Fourth"
(see: http://www.english.uga.edu/nhilton/Blake/blaketxt1/the_four_zoas.html#nt4 )

The Wail of Enion

The Wail of Enion

I am made to sow the thistle for wheat, the nettle for a nourishing dainty:
I have planted a false oath in the earth, it has brought forth a Poison Tree:
I have chosen the serpent for a counsellor, and the dog
For a schoolmaster to my children:
I have blotted out from light and living the dove and nightingale,
And I have causèd the earthworm to beg from door to door:
I have taught the thief a secret path into the house of the just:
I have taught pale Artifice to spread his nets upon the morning
My heavens are brass, my earth is iron, my moon a clod of clay,
My sun a pestilence burning at noon, and a vapour of death in night.

What is the price of Experience? Do men buy it for a song,
Or Wisdom for a dance in the street? No! it is bought with the price
Of all that a man hath -- his house, his wife, his children.
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy,
And in the wither'd field where the farmer ploughs for bread in vain.

It is an easy thing to triumph in the summer's sun,
And in the vintage, and to sing on the waggon loaded with corn:
It is an easy thing to talk of patience to the afflicted,
To speak the laws of prudence to the houseless wanderer,
To listen to the hungry raven's cry in wintry season,
When the red blood is fill'd with wine and with the marrow of lambs:

It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements;
To hear the dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughter-house moan;
To see a God on every wind and a blessing on every blast;
To hear sounds of Love in the thunderstorm that destroys our enemy's house;
To rejoice in the blight that covers his field, and the sickness that cuts off his children,
While our olive and vine sing and laugh round our door, and our chil 1000 dren bring fruits and flowers.

Then the groan and the dolour are quite forgotten, and the slave grinding at the mill,

And the captive in chains, and the poor in the prison, and the soldier in the field
When the shatter'd bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead:
It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity --
Thus would I sing and thus rejoice; but it is not so with me.

-- William Blake

(see http://users.compaqnet.be/cn127848/blake/collected/chap-27.html#enion )

Dangerous Plaything

The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.
 -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Success

The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is erroneous, on the contrary, it makes them for the most part, humble, tolerant, and kind. Failure makes people bitter and cruel.
-- Maugham, W. Somerset

How very quickly life itself is pressed along its course

The sound of a swollen
Mountain stream rapidly rushing
Makes one know
How very quickly life itself
Is pressed along its course.

-- Saigyo (1118-1190)

Sages’ minds are luminous

Because they have no high
Opinions of themselves,
The sages' minds are luminous;
Not caring for status,
They become illustrious;
Being without pride,
They achieve success;
Unassertive, they are supreme.
Because they do not contend,
No one contends with them.

-- Lao-tzu

Bible Humour

Dec 25 reading Malachi 1-4	Study Guides and Commentary Archive	* Malachi on the Messiah and Faithfulness written about 430-420 BC - contemporary of Nehemiah
"So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me", says the LORD Almighty. (3:5) "Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. But you ask, "How are we to return?" (3:7b)
Although Malachi was NOT the one who said "God's ways are not man's ways", that truth fits the prophesy he was given. But many of God's chosen people still didn't get it. The prophesy is largely an argument between the Lord and Israel, like: "I have loved you," the Lord says. "How?" asks Israel "I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland.." "You have said harsh things against me," says the Lord. Like what? asks Israel. "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements? ... Certainly the evildoers prosper and even those who challenge God escape." (3:13-15) What king is pleased with disrespectful citizens? What father wouldn't punish disobedient children? And the Lord is both King and Father. The Lord continues his plan to make his Name great among all nations. (1:11) His plan for his people is "the way", and many of the priests had already turned away to do and teach other ways, like being unfaithful. Your faithfulness to your wife effects your faithfulness to God. How you live your life has direct effect upon your life with God. Obey Him; give Him your best in your sacrifices and your whole tithe. In this last book of the Jewish Bible, written about 430-420 BC, the Lord gives more details about His long promised messenger of the covenant who, before He comes to His temple, will be announced by another messsenger preparing the way before Him. "Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when He appears?" This will not be an easy process. Faithful Levites, Judah, and Jerusalem will be refined and purified. (3:1-4) In conclusion, the day is coming when the arrogant and evildoers will be cut off. Remember the law of the Lord's servant Moses. Watch for Elijah before the dreadful day of the Lord. Either the hearts of fathers will be to their children and vice versa, or the land will be cursed.

Happy

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)

clouds and fog everywhere

When there are clouds and fog everywhere, the world is dark, but that does not mean the sun has decomposed. Why is there no light? The light is never destroyed; it is just enshrouded by clouds and fog. The pure mind of all living beings is like this, merely covered up by the dark clouds of obsession with objects, arbitrary thoughts, psychological afflictions, and view and opinions. If you can just keep the mind still so that errant thought does not arise, the reality of nirvana will naturally appear. This is how we know the inherent mind is originally pure.

-- Hongren (602-675)

Work and the Way

People who really have
Their minds on the Way
Do not forget work on the fundamental
No matter what they are doing.
Yet if they still distinguish this work
>From ordinary activities
Even as they do them together,
They will naturally be concerned
About being distracted by activities
And forgetting the meditation work.
This is because of viewing
Things as outside the mind.

-- Muso (1275-1351)

Stranger Than Fiction

See "Stranger Than Fiction".
My take on it:
About mid-life crisis and addressing life in a purely existential manner, heavily influenced by JP Sartre and literary conceit (in a manner).
Facing one's own death willingly and with fore-knowledge.
The "redemption" (not really, but in a manner of speaking only) of realising that life is created every second and is not directed or ordained or inevitable.
A very modern darwinian view on life - that nothing is impossible - only improbable: some things may be very very very highly improbable yet nothing is ever impossible. Life is, in fact, purely statistical - which makes life glorious and worthwhile and ultimately meaningful.

Wordy non-attachment

The way of buddhas is wide open, without any stages.  The door of nothing is the door to liberation; having no intention is the will to help others.  It is not within past, present, and future, so it cannot rise and sink; setups are counter to reality, because it is not in the realm of the created.  Move, and you produce the root of birth and death; be still, and you get drunk in the village of oblivion.  If movement and stillness are both erased, you fall into empty annihilation; if movement and stillness are both withdrawn, you presume upon buddha nature.  You must be like a dead tree or cold ashes in the face of objects and situations while acting responsively according to time, without losing proper balance.  A mirror reflects a multitude of images without their confusing its brilliance; birds fly through the air without mixing up the color of the sky.

- Hsuan-sha

Don’t love sagehood

Don't love sagehood; sagehood is an empty name. There is no special truth but this radiant spiritual openness, unobstructed and free. It is not attained by adornment and cultivated realization. From the buddhas to the Zen masters, all have transmitted this teaching, by which they attained liberation.
   - Te-shan (d. 867)

The Train

My friend, the train
Forward and Majestic
Overbearing my Journey

Whatever a man knows

Whatever a man knows, whatever is not mere rumbling and roaring that
he has heard, can be said in three words.
-- Kurnberger

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)
Rumi

Wisdom and Age

Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up
all by itself.
- Woodrow Wilson

Calm and Strife

The person resolute in the Way must strive not to lose sight of it,
whether in a place of calm or in a place of strife. Beware of clinging
to quiet places and shunning those where there is disturbance. If you
try to take refuge from trouble by running to some quiet place, you
will fall into confusion.

- Daikaku (1213-1279)

Cleverness and Stupidity (oh, and money, too!)

To be clever enough to get all the money, one must be stupid enough to want it.
-- Gilbert K. Chesterton

Same Source Differ In Name

Ever desireless,
One can see the mystery.
Ever desiring,
One can see the manifestations.
These two spring
From the same source
But differ in name.

- Lao tzu

Caught in the storm of my tears, with a bleeding heart

I said I shall tell the tale of my heart as best as I can;
Caught in the storm of my tears, with a bleeding heart,

I failed to do that!
I tried to relate to event in broken, muted words;
The cup of my thoughts was so fragile, that I fell into pieces like
shattered glass.
Many ships were wrecked in this storm;
What is my little helpless boat in comparison?

The waves destroyed my ship, neither good remained nor bad;
Free from myself, I tied my body to a raft.
Now, I am neither up nor down-no this is not a fair description;
I am up on a wave one instant, and down under another the next.
I am not aware of my existence, I know only this:
When I am, I am not, and when I am not, I am!

(Divan 1419:1-6)
Rumi

In the World

In the World

Barefoot and naked of breast,
I mingle with the people
Of the world.
My clothes are ragged
And dust laden,
And I am ever blissful.
I use no magic to extend my life;
Now, before me,
The dead trees become alive.

- Kakuan (1100-1200)

The Primordial Sea

It is impossible to give a clear account of the world, but art can
teach us to reproduce it --just as the world reproduces itself in the
course of its eternal gyrations. The primordial sea indefatigably
repeats the same words and casts up the same astonished beings on the
same sea-shore.
-- Albert Camus

the sages who, abandoning learning, rest in spontaneity

Fearing that none of you would understand, they gave it the name Tao,
but you must not base any concept upon that name. So it is said that
"when the fish is caught, the trap is forgotten." When body and mind
achieve spontaneity, the Tao is reached and universal mind can be
understood. In former times people's minds were sharp. Upon hearing a
single sentence, they abandoned study and so came to be called "the
sages who, abandoning learning, rest in spontaneity." In these days,
people only seek to stuff themselves with knowledge and deductions,
placing great reliance on written explanations and calling all this
the practice.

- Huang-po (d.850)

Priceless!

Holy Moses! Have a look!
Flesh decayed in every nook!
Some rare bits of brain lie here,
Mortal loads of beef and beer,
Some of whom are turned to dust,
Every one bids lost to lust;
Royal flesh so tinged with 'blue'
Undergoes the same as you.

-- Amanda McKittrick Ros

objects

Over the ages
You have followed objects,
Never once turning back
To look within.
Time slips away;
Months and years
Are wasted

- Kuei-shan Ling-yu (771-854)

Contentment

It is the bedrock or foundation on which to parry the vicissitudes of common existence.

Narrow and Wide

Many times the mountains have
Turned from green to yellow
So much for the capricious earth!
Dust in your eyes,
The triple world is narrow;
Nothing on your mind,
Your chair is wide enough.

- Muso (1275 – 1351)

There is a going beyond appearance and emptiness

The more you talk and think about it,
The further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking,
And there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To return to the root is to find the meaning,
But to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment
There is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.

- Seng Ts'an (d. 606 )

A lotus comes out of the mud

Sitting on top of a boulder
The gorge stream icy cold
Quiet fun holds a special charm
Fogged-in on deserted cliffs
A fine place to rest
The sun leans and tree shadows sprawl
While I view the ground of my mind
A lotus comes out of the mud.

- Han-shan

Truly Seeing

With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of
joy, we see into the life of things - William Wordsworth

The narrower the mind, the broader the statement - Ted Cook

The narrower the mind, the broader the statement - Ted Cook

Don’t seek fame or fortune

Don't seek fame or fortune,
Glory or prosperity.
Just pass this life as is,
According to circumstances.
When the breath is gone,
Who is in charge?
After the death of the body,
There is only an empty name.
When your clothes are worn,
Repair them over and over;
When you have no food,
Work to provide.
How long can a phantomlike body last?
Would you increase your ignorance
For the sake of its idle concerns?

- Tung-shan

Distant, vast!

In the still night by the vacant window,
Wrapped in monk's robe I sit in meditation,
Navel and nostrils lined up straight,
Ears paired to the slope of shoulders.
Window whitens; the moon comes up;
Rain's stopped, but drops go on dripping.
Wonderful,the mood of this moment-
Distant, vast!

- Ryokan (1758-1831)

Consciousness and perception

Consciousness and perception range from shallow to deep. As for
profound perceptions, they are pure through the ages. They are the
basis to influence and cultivate mind from the first generation of the
aspiration for enlightenment until the achievement of buddhahood
without falling back.

- Records of the Lanka

persistence

Nothing in this world can
take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common
than unsuccessful people with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius
is almost a proverb.

Education will not;
the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination
alone are omnipotent.

- Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)

I climb the road to Cold Mountain,

I climb the road to Cold Mountain,
The road to Cold Mountain that never ends.
The valleys are long and strewn with stones;
The streams broad and banked with thick grass.
Moss is slippery, though no rain has fallen;
Pines sigh, but it isn't the wind.
Who can break from the snares of the world
And sit with me among the white clouds?

- Han-shan

The sphere of birthless mind

Look into the sphere of birthless mind!
Let dawn the enjoyment of ceaseless play!
When free of hope and fear, that's the result.
Why speak of birth and death?
Come to the natural, unmodified state!

- Milarepa

I said I shall tell the tale of my heart as best as I can

I said I shall tell the tale of my heart as best as I can;
Caught in the storm of my tears, with a bleeding heart,

I failed to do that!
I tried to relate to event in broken, muted words;
The cup of my thoughts was so fragile, that I fell into pieces like
shattered glass.
Many ships were wrecked in this storm;
What is my little helpless boat in comparison?

The waves destroyed my ship, neither good remained nor bad;
Free from myself, I tied my body to a raft.
Now, I am neither up nor down-no this is not a fair description;
I am up on a wave one instant, and down under another the next.
I am not aware of my existence, I know only this:
When I am, I am not, and when I am not, I am!

(Divan 1419:1-6)

Love

Rainer Maria Rilke: "For one human being to love another is the most
difficult task of all. It's the work for which all other work is mere
preparation."
Teilhard de Chardin: "Someday after we have mastered the winds, the
waves, and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love; and
then for a second time in the history of the world, human beings will
have discovered fire."
Leo Tolstoy: "Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I
understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only
because I love."
Blaise Pascal: "If you do not love too much, you do not love enough."
Emily Dickinson: "Until you have loved, you cannot become yourself."

Confusion

To know that the one good is balance and yet not to reach balance, to
know all phenomena are mind and yet not to understand mind; this is
confusion. To know the matter of birth and death is serious and yet
not to realize birthlessness, to know impermanence is swift and yet
not to realize there is fundamentally no speed; this is confusion.

- Records of the Lanka

Giving

The spirit in which a thing is given determines that in which the debt is acknowledged; it's the intention, not the face-value of the gift, that's weighed.
- Seneca

nymph, perfect, divine

... goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow,
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!

An example

An example of what I was talking about in the previous post:


The world? Moonlit
Drops shaken
From the crane’s bill.

- Dogen (1200 – 1253)

Enlightenment Now

Driving yesterday;
Stopped and noticed
The myriad facets in the stop light
Of the car next to me.
Unbelievably fascinating,
Totally absorbed by this simple
Quest into perception.
Sudden awareness:
This is the Enlightenment
Of Chinese Zen Masters.
This is how they felt
Looking at bamboo and mist
From their mountain huts.
They continued living
Their struggling existence
Yet were in a state
Of Enlightenment.
So it is with me
Now, for a month.
Life will still hold
Its travails, joys and pains.
I will still struggle
And strive and
Achieve and not;
Yet with Enlightenment
Always There,
Always Available,
Just below the surface;
Simply need to look
And it will be there.

Happiness

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)

If you do not find it now, you will repeat the same routines for myriad eons

Make no mistake about it; if you do not find it now, you will repeat the same routines for myriad eons, a thousand times over again, following and picking up on objects that attract you. We are no different from Shakyamuni Buddha. Today, in your various activities, what do you lack? The spiritual light coursing through your six senses has never been interrupted. If you can see in this way, you will simply be free of burdens all your life.

- Lin Chi (d 867?)

Whack to the Side of the Soul

If it had been me maybe a couple of months ago (mmm, who knows, maybe longer ago), and I had somebody writing something to me about being contented and all that crap, I would probably have written "and then you wake up one morning and find that someone has pissed in your
cornflakes". It is the perfect response to reading all that stuff.

Except that, in my current state of mind, if I found that someone had pissed in my cornflakes, I would look at wonder at the piss in the cornflakes and see all this amazing stuff and marvel at the weirdness of some people and the novelty of cornflake piss - then tip it out and make myself some more - and still be contented with life as it is and was and could be.

That is the stupid thing about this feeling - it doesn't seem to matter what the external situation is (and most of any internal situation), there is always something about whatever is happening that is right and good and meet and that reinforces the feeling. Weird.

I was putting the bin out last night and it hit the gate and tipped over, spilling out a bunch of stuff onto the lawn and path - all whilst in the darkness and wind.
I just thought "wow" - how did all those tins and bottles from underneath the jammed in cardboard get to fall out.
I piled them all back in and continued with putting the bin out, then got the other one and marvelled at the moon in the sky and the windy night.

Things may be upsetting, but any feeling of upsettedness disappears so quickly, eaten away by the bacteria of goodness and happiness.
Even happens for more critical / important / bigger issues.
Just takes a little longer for the "bacteria" to do their work.

All in all, it strikes me that this whole thing is a little more than just being like a cow - contentedly chewing on one's cud in the field, waiting for the truck to pull up (although, in the longer longer view of life, that may be the most apt description of all).

This thing is like a "whack" to the side of the soul.
Everything has been shifted.
Everything is now seen and experienced from the "shift".
Nobody can see any difference, except everything that I do and happens to me is now different.

Still Contentment

Am I still feeling contentment? Well, strangely, yes, in its own strange little manner.

It was a very strong feeling on the weekend and just before, and now sort of a little less, but I think a lot of that has to do with the normal ebb and flow of the stresses of working and family and just living - both in the society we live in (which can be manic at times - but let's have some perspective here - I am sure that people living 100 years ago, 200 years, 300 years ago, even 3,000 years ago or more, felt, at the time, and from one time to another, that they lived in a manic sort of society that put all sorts of pressures on them, one way or another (and that there may have been others that did not exactly feel this way either) and from the very fact that we are just living, ie being alive - just breathing and heart-beating is an ebb and flow pressurised stress-ful type of thing - why do you think our bodies and minds eventually wear out and we die?

So, there is all that stuff con-bobulating on the surface, with the awareness and continued strong feeling of solid contentment providing the foundation for ongoing existence.

So far, a pretty good feeling to have, and something to embed in one's psyche and physique, to have available as a resource at some future point when events conspire to topple one's contentment control.

Anyway, we will see how long it goes for and how we can continue in this new world.

Just now back from lunch.
Must write some more.
It is actually quite absurd, this feeling.
Things were dead-level before lunch at work - just work, nothing special (and, consequentially (I think) no real additional awareness of the feeling of contentment).
Yet I am at lunch and the feeling wells again - ever so gently.
And then I am walking back to work and I see an outdoor sculptor and feel how wonderful is it that there is something there, and I see an old van stop for someone to cross the road at a roundabout and I marvel (yes, marvel!) at the wonder of that old beat-up van stopping for someone to cross the road.

Thus the awareness comes that this feeling of contentment (as it has been so-called so far) is not just the bland, benign, "who really cares" feeling of a nothingness which is passed off with a pretty title, but rather, an active state of deeper awareness and appreciation of each single element of this gorgeous universe we live in, and being at-peace, at-one with all that makes this world, that creates this wonder.

It is an active state that is strong and on-going, of persistence and solidity, not one of strenuous hyper-activity that soon consumes all its reserves, depletes its energy and fades into the background and disappears, left with nausea, ennui, whatever!

That is the intriguing thing about this feeling - it is not one thing, nor another, but everything.
Which makes it interesting to see how long it maintains itself, as itself, of itself.

Materialism

The most terrible thing about materialism, even more terrible than its proneness to violence, is its boredom, from which sex, alcohol, drugs, all devices for putting out the accusing light of reason and suppressing the unrealizable aspirations of love, offer a prospect of deliverance.
- Malcolm Muggeridge

Contentment

I thought I would very quickly write and tell you about the strangest thing:
Over the last couple of weeks, and especially marked over the last week - I have been feeling a great feeling of contentment and "at peace-ness" with everything - being able to quietly smile at just totally everything, being able to just look at trees on the side of the road and be happy, very happy that they exist and that I am observing their existence, in the manner that they are presenting themselves to me, at this very moment, in this very way.
Most unlike the normal situation I have come to expect.
And I am thinking that this is some sort of lasting situation, that, for some strange reason, totally unknown and unforeseen, some cosmic corner has been turned and this will last for a long time.
Most likely mistaken, but even that internal certainty of lasting contentment, based on no facts and no evidence of any sort, is, in itself, another reason to feel contented and at peace.
Most interesting.

Why I Write

"I do not write for a select minority, which means nothing to me, nor for that adulated platonic entity known as 'The Masses'. Both abstractions, so dear to the demagogue, I disbelieve in. I write for myself and for my friends, and I write to ease the passing of time."
— Jorge Luis Borges, Introduction to The Book of Sand

The Theatre

“He knew that an enormous proportion of mankind feels, weirdly but indisputably, a stronger awe for the theatre than almost any other art or activity on earth. He knew that to get in on the inside, to be ‘behind scenes’ in the theatre, was to achieve a glamour completely out of proportion to that attached to almost any other profession. He knew that to give to the average person free seats for the theatre (while pretending that such a thing was easy because one was intimately connected with it) gratified such a person a dozen times more than to give him the money for the seats. When anxious to flatter, cajole, or bribe people in the past, he had often himself bought seats at a theatre and then given them away with the pretence that he had come by them through inside influence and that they were of no use to himself.”

- Patrick Hamilton, Mr. Stimpson and Mr. Gorse

Social Fabrications

"I gave way to delight, as mystics have for centuries when they peeked through the curtains and discovered that this world- so manifestly real was actually a tiny stage set constructed by the mind. We discover abruptly that everything we accept as reality is just social fabrications."
- Timothy Leary, 1966

Discrimination

I teach that the multitudinousness of objects have no reality in themselves but are only seen of the mind and, therefore, are of the nature of maya and a dream. ...It is true that in one sense they are seen and discriminated by the senses as individualized objects; but in another sense, because of the absence of any characteristic marks of self-nature, they are not seen but are only imagined. In one sense they are graspable, but in another sense, they are not graspable.

- Buddha

As I watched

As I watched:

Thrones were set up
and the Ancient One took his throne.
His clothing was bright as snow,
and the hair on his head as white as wool;
his throne was flames of fire,
with wheels of burning fire.
A surging stream of fire
flowed out from where he sat;
Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,
and myriads upon myriads attended him.
The court was convened and the books were opened.

As the visions during the night continued, I saw:

One like a Son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
When he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
The one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed.

-- Dn 7:9-10, 13-14

A demon will attach himself to you

If you create the idea of a Pure Land and your aim is to be saved by the vow of Amida, a demon will attach himself to you through that aim. Because doubt, like the great sky, has no subjective body, the demon has nothing to hold on to.

- Shosan

Manifestations of the Mind

All such notions as causation, succession, atoms, primary elements...are all figments of the imagination and manifestations of the mind. - Buddha

One thing is certain, your body will get old, decay, and die. - Buddha

One thing is certain, your body will get old, decay, and die. - Buddha

GRETCHENS STIMME

from:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Selected Poetry"
translated by David Luke
Penguin Books, 1999


GRETCHENS STIMME

Meine Mutter, die Hur,
Die mich umgebracht hat!
Mein Vater, der Scheim,
Der mich gessen hat!
Mein Schwesterlein klein
Hub auf die Bein
An einem kühlen Ort — Da ward ich em schönes Waldvogelein,
Fliege fort, fliege fort!


GRETCHEN’S VOICE

Who killed me dead?
My mother, the whore!
Who ate my flesh?
My father, for sure!
Little sister gathered
The bones he scattered;
In a cool, cool place they lie.
And then I became a birdie so fine,
And away I fly — away I fly.

Creativity

Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.

-- George Lois

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquillity and occupation which give happiness.

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquillity and occupation which give happiness.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Slave to the Shavian Rhythm

Slave to the Shavian Rhythm

The practice of Zen

The practice of Zen
Has no secret,
Except standing on the
Verge of life and death.

- Takeda Shingen (1521-1573)

I can't tell you what art does

I can't tell you what art does and how it does it, but I know that often art has judged the judges, pleaded revenge to the innocent and shown to the future what the past suffered, so that it has never been forgotten. Art, when it functions like this, becomes a meeting-place of the invisible, the irreducible, the enduring, guts, and honor.

Berger, John

The empty sky listened with a cold heart

In my pot nothing but the wind’s deep moan,
For company only a staff of wisteria vine;
Last night we chatted and laughed till all hours
The empty sky listened with a cold heart.

- Muso Soseki (1275–1351)

Going home

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

- Shinsho

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

Oneness

This shape I have, O master, who do I look like?
One moment I am a fairy, the next and enchanter of one.
Burning with enthusiasms, I am both the candle and the crowd gathered around it;
I am the smoke and the light, together and scattered at once.

(Divan 1465:1-2)

My perplexity is more perplexing

There is no edge to my vast desert;
There is no peace for my heart and my soul.
The world is taken, from end to end, by image and form;
Which of these images is mine?
If you see a severed head on the way
Rolling in the direction of the battlefied;
Ask him, ask him concerning my secrets
For, from him you hear my hidden mysteries.
What if one ear could be found;
Suited to understand the speech of my birds.
What if one bird could fly,
Who wore my ring of Solomon's secrets [around her neck].
What am I saying? when I know telling this tale
Is beyond my limits and my ability is.
How can I utter one word when each moment
My perplexity is more perplexing.

(Divan 239:1-8)

Thoughts and Dreams were reality. Long long future way - full of hope and concern.

Thoughts and Dreams were reality. Long long future way - full of hope and concern.