The sun neither rises nor sets
Easily to be observed from outer space
Yet the picture is suggestive of a sunset
Phenomena arising and subsiding
Like the sun seems to rise from the ocean and to subside in it
Although that doesn’t really happen
Awareness neither rises nor sets
Everything seems to arise and to subside in it
Although that doesn’t really happen
Silence is most natural. But it doesn’t mean “no thinking”. The majority of thinking revolves around one item or more of the “unholy trinity,”, other(s), my feeling(s).. Unholy, because all wars and conflicts are regarding “I and mine…” or its plural “We and our…” so it is obvious that without “I”, the sense of otherness has gone too and Silence just IS, irrespective of thinking. It will be clear that religions, systems of meditation and yogas are aiming to diminish the sense of “I” to such an extent that one becomes aware of the Silence. If this results in a preference/like for Silence above anything else, that could be called Grace because it will transform seeming austerities into a joy and “attainment” will be swift.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest known written stories, the earliest versions date to about 2000 B.C. The epic hails from ancient Babylonia, a kingdom that was located in the area between the rivers Euphrat and Tigris in what is now Iraq. The epic was originally written on clay tablets in cuneiform, the wedge shaped characters of the Sumerian language. The fullest surviving version of the epic, however, was written in Akkadian, another Babylonian language.
To be a spiritual seeker is to be concerned with moving beyond the limits of the ordinary mind. The main obstacle we encounter in attempting to do this is our own psyche and no tinkering with outer circumstances or systems will help advance us. We must go to that center within to bring about a change in ourselves. It does no good to travel from one place to another to find spiritual enlightenment. If you cannot find God in your own backyard, it is not likely you will find God along the Jordan, the Ganges or the Nile; nor will you find Her in the flower or a smile.
We must be living expressions of truth, not fossilizing custodians of ancient theosophy. The spiritual seeker knows that life is being moved by powerful unseen forces. At times traditional beliefs and dogma are insufficient. Recasting old ideas and collecting knowledge is not synonymous with spiritual experience. It may serve to activate our interest but it does not provide an inner awareness. There is no set course of instruction which, after completing, we receive an S.D. (“Saint’s Degree”) or an M.D. (“Mystic’s Degree”). Each of us has a unique past to draw from and each is drawn to and responds to certain practices in our own unique and individual way. Individual differences are neither better nor worse, just different. To compare one’s self with others is to forget the uniqueness of your own journey.
The Book Of One, The Spiritual Path of Advaita by Dennis Waite, Published by O Books,46 West Street, Alresford, Hants, SO24 9AU, UK, 288 pages, paper back, £9.99 or $17.95.
Whether ultimate reality is fullness of the Self or Emptiness has always been a fascinating problem. It had been for long a debate between Buddhists and Advaitins, and among Buddhists themselves (Yogacara with the Mind-Only theory and Madhyamika with the Shunyata or Emptiness theory).
Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch of Ch’an (Chinese Zen) but sometimes is regarded as the real father of this tradition, in his famous Platform Sutra said that “seeing one’s own original nature is enlightenment.” His view was condemned by other Buddhists as heretic because orthodox Buddhism believed in (absolute) No-Self. His Platform Sutra was burned after his death.
Nirvana, the Third Dharma Seal, is the ground of being, the substance of all that is. A wave does not have to die in order to become water. Water is the substance of the wave. The wave is already water. We are also like that. We carry in us the ground of interbeing, nirvana, the world of no-birth and no-death, no permanence and no impermanence, no self and no nonself.Nirvana is the complete silencing of concepts. The notions of impermanence and nonself were offered by the Buddha as instruments of practice, not as doctrines to worship, fight or die for. “My dear friends,” the Buddha said,” the Dharma I offer you is only a raft to help you to cross over to the other shore.” The raft is not to be held onto as an object of worship. It is an instrument for crossing over to the shore of well-being. If you are caught in the Dharma, it is no longer the Dharma. Continue reading
Frank Maiello
Regardless of what you think, say or do, the
perfection of Freedom was, is and always will
be who and what you really are.
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