A Dance with Dragons

I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes.
I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles.
I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags.
I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot.
I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of magicians.
I discern the highest conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated ones as flowers appearing in one's eyes.
I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime.
I look upon the judgement of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons.

~ Gautama Buddha

Slap!

~ Zach Weiner - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Gnosis

Science, the new nobility!
Progress.
The world moves!... And why shouldn't it?
We have visions of numbers.
We are moving toward the Spirit.
What I say is oracular and absolutely right.
I understand, and since I cannot express myself except in pagan terms,
I would rather keep quiet.

~ Arthur Rimbaud, excerpt from A Season in Hell

Explosions in the sky

Your expectation of something unique and dramatic, of some wonderful explosion, is merely hindering and delaying your Self Realization.
You are not to expect an explosion, for the explosion has already happened - at the moment when you were born, when you realized yourself as Being-Knowing-Feeling.
There is only one mistake you are making: you take the inner for the outer and the outer for the inner.
What is in you, you take to be outside you and what is outside, you take to be in you.
The mind and feelings are external, but you take them to be intimate.
You believe the world to be objective, while it is entirely a projection of your psyche.
That is the basic confusion and no new explosion will set it right!
You have to think yourself out of it.
 There is no other way.

~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

Zen warnings

To observe the regulations and keep to the rules is tying oneself without a rope.
To act freely and unrestrainedly just as one wishes is to do what heretics and demons would do.
To recognize mind and purify it is the false Zen of silent sitting.
To give rein to oneself and ignore interrelating conditions is to fall into the abyss.
To be alert and never ambiguous is to wear chains and an iron yoke.
To think of good and evil belongs to heaven and hell.
To have a Buddha view and a Dharma view is to be confined in two iron mountains.
He who realizes it as soon as thought arises is one who exhausts his energy.
To sit blankly in quietism is the practice of the dead.
If one proceeds, he will go astray from the principle.

If one retreats, he will be against the Truth. 

If one neither progresses nor retreats, he is a dead man breathing.

Now tell me, what will you do? 

Work hard and be sure to attain "it" in this life, lest you have eternal regret.

~Mumon Ekai

The empty boat

He who rules men lives in confusion. 
He who is ruled by men lives in sorrow.
The Tao therefore desires
Neither to influence others
Nor to be influenced by them.
The way to get clear of confusion
And free of sorrow
Is to live with Tao
In the land of the great void. 
If a man is crossing a river
And an empty boat collides with his own skiff, 
Even though he be a bad-tempered man, 
He will not become very angry. 
But if he sees a man in the boat
He will shout at him to steer clear. 
If the shout is not heard, he will shout again
And yet again, and begin cursing.
Yet, if the boat were empty 
He would not be shouting and not be angry. 
If you can empty your own boat, 
Crossing the river of the world, 
No one will oppose you. 
No one will seek to harm you. 
He who can free himself from achievement and from pain
Descends and is lost amid the masses of men. 
He will flow like Tao, unseen. 
He will go about like life itself, 
With no name and no home. 
Simple is he without destination. 
To all appearances he is a fool. 
His steps leave no trace. 
He has no power. 
He achieves nothing. 
He has no reputation. 
Since he judges no one, no one judges him. 
Such is the perfect man. 
His boat is empty.

~Zhuangzi

The most direct approach

Why don't you understand the essence that has always been there? There is not much to Buddhism; it only requires you to see the way clearly. It does not tell you to extinguish random thoughts and suppress body and mind, shutting your eyes and saying "This is It!" The matter is not like this.

You must observe the present state. What is its logic? What is its guiding pattern? Why are you confused? This is the most direct approach.

How about when I have not spoken to you, and you have not hear me; is there any point in coming and going? At such a time, do not make up forced rationalizations.

From the Buddhas above to the totality of beings below, all is thus. In this sense, sages and ordinary people are equal, wrong and right are equal, samsara and nirvana are equal. Now I ask you, whose business are the ancient Buddhas, and the generations of past, present, and future? Whose business are the contaminated lands of the ten directions?

I say, if you understand all this thirty years from now, you will realize that I did tell you. Just don't say, "This is It!" If you do, that is called the view of an outsider.

~Foyan

An ordinary fellow

When the mind is at peace,
the world too is at peace.
Nothing real, nothing absent.
Not holding on to reality,
not getting stuck in the void,
you are neither holy nor wise,  just
an ordinary fellow who has completed his work.

~Layman P'ang

The body of The Buddha

Your body is not bounded by the surface of your skin, you know.
The sun and moon are your body.
The oceans and rivers are your body. The whole Universe is your body.
The Buddha built his religion upon this mind, this consciousness.
Sometimes you call it body, sometimes you call it God.
We don't use any name for it.
When you observe that your mind is as boundless as the sky, an endless Universe, and your present state - this moment - is here... that is all.
When you have to express yourself by speech, you must realize it is not Zen.
All the writings are in your heart, they are inherent, the intrinsic law of your nature.
You cannot find this anywhere outside yourself.

~Sokei-an

Excerpt from The Zen Eye, A collection of Zen talks by Sokei-An, Edited by Mary Farkas

Polishing a tile

One day when Nangaku came to Baso’s hut, Baso stood up to receive him. Nangaku asked him, “What have you been doing recently?”

Baso replied, “Recently I have been doing the practice of seated meditation exclusively.”

Nangaku asked, “And what is the aim of your seated meditation?”

Baso replied, “The aim of my seated meditation is to achieve Buddhahood.”

Thereupon, Nangaku took a roof tile and began rubbing it on a rock near Baso’s hut.

Baso, upon seeing this, asked him, “Reverend monk, what are you doing?”

Nangaku replied, “I am polishing a roof tile.”

Baso then asked, “What are you going to make by polishing a roof tile?”

Nangaku replied, “I am polishing it to make a mirror.”

Baso said, “How can you possibly make a mirror by rubbing a tile?”

Nangaku replied, “How can you possibly make yourself into a Buddha by doing seated meditation?”

Shobogenzo, Kokyo, Hubert Nearman

Matthew

If you cling to your life, you will lose it;
but if you give up your life, you will find it.

~Matthew 10:39

No one

 
Suffering exists, but no one who suffers.
Deeds exist, but no doers are found.
A path there is, but no one who follows it.
And nirvava is, but no one who attains it.

~a buddhist saying

The cosmic joke

Since everything is but an apparition,
perfect in being what it is,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection,
one may well burst out in laughter.

~Longchenpa

Watts

When you discover
that it is you who beats your heart,
you will at the same time discover
that it is you who shines the sun

~ Alan Watts

Insanity

I have lived on the lip of insanity,
wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door.
It opens.
I've been knocking from the inside.

~Rumi

Blake

We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.

~William Blake - Auguries of Innocence

What's this all about?

Hi,
I've decided to share some of my favourite poems, sayings and quotes from various sources on the subject of the Self, awakening, Buddha nature, Zen, Tao, God etc.
There is a possibility of some jokes involved as well.
Enjoy.