Flow

To be permeable; to let life flow through being.

Mission Impossible

Watched "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" recently; thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I get really impressed upon by the certainty of purpose displayed by the hero in these movies. They have such a strong sense of confidence in what they do, that the consequence of their actions ends up being beneficial to a large population of humankind. When Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise's character, is being assigned to a mission, the robot voice always says "Your mission should you choose to accept..." And he says "Yes." He always says yes, and then goes about performing the tasks to accomplish the mission, with no second thoughts. Talk about reaching maximum heights of doing!

Call me silly, but I can't help noticing the functional similarity between movie heroes such as Ethan Hunt, James Bond, Superman, Spiderman, to name a few, and real life heroes as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Benjamin Franklin, Madame Curie, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, etc. These people rest in their definiteness of purpose and thus make their actions seem second nature.

To attain a state of Zen being as this! :)

Duality and Seamlessness

Compassion for all beings, can be experienced, when I recognize the saint and sinner in me, and not identify with either of them.

If an experienced Zen teacher is asked  to describe enlightenment by presenting simple or complex viewpoints before him, his response most often is "Not that, and not that either."

There seems to be a deep correlation between the ability of being skillful in the world and getting over self.

Price versus Value

Motivational speaker Dr. Denis Waitley shares that "Life is not a treasure-hunt; Life itself is the treasure." I'd like to agree with him. :)

Wearing the invisibility cloak

 Bowing Formally

- Dogen

A snowy heron on the snow field,

where winter grass is unseen,

hides itself in its own figure.

Being completely in your own skill is being invisible.

To find spirituality in uncommon places...

To me, the human spirit sincerely expressing itself is spirituality.

To wish upon a star

Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands.
But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny. ♥...

~ Carl Schurz

Source: Love

A thing to be understood

It is a deep realization; that of passing away.

From the movie Troy:

Achilles [to Briseis]: I'll tell you a secret, something they don't teach you in your temple. The gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now, and we will never be here again.

It seems to blend in with the Four Noble Truths.

1. Life means suffering.

2. The origin of suffering is attachment.

3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.

4. There is a path to the cessation of suffering.

Explained in more detail here: The Four Noble Truths

How funky!

Deities in tantric Buddhism represent different aspects of the principles of energy. They are depicted as male or female and can be either wrathful or peaceful. The wrathful aspect is associated with transmutation by force, leaping into wisdom, and choiceless transmutation. It is the act of cutting through, associated with crazy wisdom.

Source: “Tantra,” in Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, page 272, Shambhala Library Edition

To be rebirthed each morning

My teacher Koun shared in his Dharma talk, an incident related to the death of a close friend of his. It so happened that this friend passed away in circumstances which may be considered unusual or freakish. While she was driving home that day, a strong gust of wind uprooted a tree and carried this massive tree onto her car; it caused her death. We would think that for a person who is healthy and happy to die like this as freakish. But in reality, it isn't! Incidents like this happen all the time. 

It got me to thinking of how I get into a sort of a mechanical process with my life most days. But honestly, is this all I owe to life? Is this all I can bring to life? Think not! I imagine that it's okay to let a day slip away with doing less than a fulfilling job, because it'll be here for me tomorrow. And the same pattern repeats itself, again, and again, and again. Until there is a wake up call. Then it comes as a realization that everyday, being given the chance to engage in life, is the first time it is and may be the last time it will ever be. How much more meaningful things start to seem!

What if our voice is the voice of all beings...

"I see strength in you."

"Thank you."

"Sorry."

"I love you."

"Peace be with you."
"Yes."

Some examples of sentences or phrases, which when meaningfully spoken, have the capacity to turn around the heavens.

As my teacher Koun would say, "May we follow the 90-10 principle in our speech. May we say 10% of that which we want to say, and may the 10% be enough."

Beauty in the undying human spirit

It is the practice...4

Go on, sir, and faith and strength will come to you.

...

It is not men of genius who move the world and take the lead in it, so much as men of steadfastness, purpose, and indefatigable industry.

...

The example of the brave is an inspiration to the timid, their presence thrilling through every fibre.

...

Always endeavor to be really what you would wish to appear.

...

"It is excellent

To have a giants' strength;

but it is tyrannous

To use it like a giant."

Source: Self Help, by Samuel Smiles

It is the practice...3

"Have we not all eternity to rest in?" exclaimed Arnauld. "Why waste this life then?"

...

It is not then how much a man may know, that is of importance, but the end and purpose for which he knows it.

...

For it is every man's duty to discipline and guide himself, with God's help, according to his responsibilities and the faculties with which he has been endowed.

Source: Self Help, by Samuel Smiles

It is the practice...2

The highest object of life we take to be, to form a manly character, and to work out the best development possible, of body and spirit of mind, conscience, heart, and soul. This is the end; all else ought to be regarded but as the means.

...

Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one, more important, which he gives to himself.

...

If you have great talents, industry will improve them; if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. Nothing is denied to well-directed labor; nothing is to be obtained without it.

...

He who does well one work at a time, does more than all.

Source: Self Help, by Samuel Smiles

It is the practice...1

Yield once, and a portion of virtue has gone. Resist manfully, and the first decision will give strength for life; repeated, it will become a habit. It is in the outworks of the habits formed in early life that the real strength of the defense must lie; for it has been wisely ordained, that the machinery of moral existence should be carried on principally through the medium of the habits, so as to save the wear and tear of the great principles within. It is good habits, which insinuate themselves into the thousand inconsiderate acts of life, that really constitute by far the greater part of man's moral conduct.

...

Real glory springs from the silent conquest of ourselves, 

And without that the conqueror is nought

But the first slave.

...

A penny is a very small matter, yet the comfort of thousands of families depends upon the proper spending and saving of pennies.

Source: Self Help, by Samuel Smiles

Wonderful World

As teacher Thich Nhat Hanh would say, "the miracle then is not walking on water, but to walk on this earth." And as teacher Koun would further add, "the miracle is walking on this earth, and also knowing that we are walking."

and there is this desire...

The lifestyle of a monk intrigues me no end...

...

“A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.” —Louis Nizer

the Zen experience

One bright sunny morning Zar visited an art exhibit; it was Lar's. Lar's exhibit was just a big empty space with a tall ladder reaching all the way to the ceiling. The ceiling was high, but Zar could see that something was written there, so he asked Lar if he could climb the ladder, and off-course, Lar said please, go ahead. So he climbed this tall ladder and there at the top, on the ceiling, in tiny letter, was the word "yes." Just that. So of course Zar fell in love with Lar.

The story is an adaptation from one of the accounts of how John Lennon met Yoko Ono and fell in love with her. Who knows if it's true. The interest is in its Zen nature; the nature of void.

by Guru Singh

Mastery is when the same person shows up in you for every experience: meeting a head of state; receiving a parking ticket; finding a child in need.

Love can Lift

The Beatitudes by Buddha

Not to serve the foolish; but to serve the spiritual;

to honor those worthy of honor, this is the greatest blessing.

To dwell in a spot that benefits your condition;

to think of the effect of your deeds;

to guide the behavior aright - this is the greatest blessing.

Much insight and education; self control and pleasant speech,

and whatever word be well spoken - this is the greatest blessing.

To support father and mother; to cherish spouse and child;

to follow a peaceful calling - this is the greatest blessing.

To bestow alms and live righteously; to give help to the kindred;

deeds which cannot be blamed - these are the greatest blessing.

To abhor and cease from error; abstinence from strong drink;

not to be weary in well doing - these are the greatest blessing.

To be long suffering and meek; to associate with the tranquil;

religious talk at due seasons - this is the greatest blessing.

Self-restraint and purity; the knowledge of the Noble Truths;

the attainment of Nirvana - this is the greatest blessing.

In the midst of the eight world miseries, like the person of pure life,

be calm and unconcerned - this is the greatest blessing.

Listener, if you keep this Dharma,

the Law of the spiritual world,

you will know its ineffable joy.

This is the greatest blessing.

The Beatitudes by Jesus

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land.

Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see Truth.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of the Most High.

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

...

by Guru Singh

Learn to face your fear and it will guide you through its reasons for being; reasons that will tell a story—a story with an ending to the fear.

Words to live by as the entrance into this New Year, 2012, is being made. Happy New Being!