Following on from my post from May 22nd, here are a couple of very apt quotes I came across in the book The Zen Teachings of Bodidharma authored by Red Pine and published by North Point Press ISBN 978-0-86547-399-7. They really resonated with me so I thought I would share them.
At the appearance of spirits, demons or divine beings, conceive neither respect nor fear. Your mind is basically empty. All appearances are illusions.
Eyes that aren’t attached to form are the gates of Zen.
The birth of the waking state is but a sleep and a forgetting – William Wordsworth
September 2018
Knowledge of the world is a kind of ignorance – Rumi
I rise and fall Through pleasure and pain I’m on the wheel of life
The bitter, the sweet It’s all the same I’m on the wheel of life
Joy and grief The smooth and the strife I’m on the wheel of life
I flit from one pole to the other The opposites bring their treasure Jewels and gold My experience unfolds
I Am The Wheel of Life
Photo by Stéfano Girardelli on Unsplash
I came across this beautiful parable sometime ago and completely forgot about it until the other day when someone brought it to my attention. It is the famous old Cherokee parable of the “Two Wolves” and I find it so powerful and true that I thought I would share it here. It was such a timely reminder for me and I hope you enjoy reading it.
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life.
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Whether you were reading this for the first time, or whether like me, it served as a memory jogger, I hope you felt inspired.
I’ve started to read that wonderful book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle again. It’s about the fourth time I’ve read it and each read seems to throw up something new that I missed previously. This time however, I encountered what I can only describe as a “memory jogger” on page 46. It is so beautiful that I was inspired to share it with you. I hope you like it.
Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to “die before you die” – and find that there is no death – Eckhart Tolle
Having no destination, I am never lost.
Ikkyu 1394 – 1481
I came across these words by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. He is someone that I don’t really know anything about, however, these words really resonate with where I am today, so I thought I would share them. Hope you find them inspiring.
“There are many spiritual seekers whose aim is to acquire sufficient merit to reach a certain place, such as Heaven or Vaikuntha. I have had no aims except to find out. I was not aware of my awareness, and suddenly I became conscious that I Am. Where and how did this consciousness arise in me? That was my enquiry, going back to that state when the presence of phenomena was not there. That is, original knowledge of the original Self”.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
I read something today by Rupert Spira, which is as profound as it is beautiful. The central message is that, “Meditation is not an activity.” I thought I would share it with you.
“Meditation is not a state that comes and goes, it is that in which all states come and go.”
“Meditation is simply the natural presence of consciousness.”
Good old Rupert!
I’m about half-way through the book, Stillness Speaks, by Eckhart Tolle and I came across this truly beautiful piece of wisdom that I felt I just had to share with you. I hope it inspires you in the same way that it inspired me:
“Just as water can be solid, liquid or gaseous, consciousness can be seen to be “frozen” as physical matter, “liquid” as mind and thought, or formless as pure consciousness.”
“Pure consciousness is Life before it comes into manifestation, and that Life looks at the world of form through “your” eyes because consciousness is who you are.”
Eckhart Tolle
Just as a matter of interest, and following on from my previous post, Everything Serves A Purpose, I thought it would amuse you to know that it’s happened again. After me explaining that my out-of-body experiences had dried up, and sharing with you what happened the last time I made a similar statement, during the early hours of 16/11/20 I had… yes, you guessed correctly… an out-of-body experience…
You couldn’t make it up!
Author - Richard F Holmes 