Home Blog Page 93

The greatest of all delusions

The greatest of all delusions is the conviction that knowledge is not a delusion.

– Tripura Rahasya

The I is as real as…

The “I” in “I think” and “I do” is as real as the “it” in “it rains” and “it is cold.”

– Leo Hartong

Our unchanging centre

We are completely unaware of our true nature because we identify ourselves with our body, our emotions and our thoughts, thus losing sight of our unchanging centre, which is pure consciousness. When we return to our true nature, our thoughts and perceptions no longer appear as modifications of a single substance, they come into being and subside like waves of the ocean.

– Jean Klein

The silence of the mountain

0

You are all searching for the silence of the mountain. But you’re looking for something outside. This silence is accessible to you right now, inside the center of your own being.

– Ramana Maharshi

Only God I saw

In the market, in the cloister – only God I saw.
In the valley and on the mountain – only God I saw.

Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation;
In favor and in fortune – only God I saw.

In prayer and fasting, in praise and contemplation,
In the religion of the Prophet – only God I saw.

Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance,
Qualities nor causes – only God I saw.

I opened mine eyes and by the light of his face around me
In all the eye discovered – only God I saw.

Like a candle I was melting in his fire:
Amidst the flames outflashing – only God I saw.

Myself with mine own eyes I saw most clearly,
But when I looked with God’s eyes – only God I saw.

I passed away into nothingness, I vanished,
And lo, I was the All-living – only God I saw.

– Baba Kuhi of Shiraz

What is reality?

What is worship?
To realize reality.
What is the sacred law?
To do no evil.
What is reality?
Selflessness.

– Ansari of Herat

Nothing is sweeter than love

0

Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing more courageous, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller nor better in heaven and earth; because love is born of God, and cannot rest but in God, above all created things.

– Thomas A Kempis

Don’t separate from this skin bag

Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely.
Open your hands and walk, innocent.
Thousands of words, myriad interpretations,
are only to free you from obstructions.

If you want to know the undying person in the hut,
don’t separate from this skin bag here and now.

– Shitou

Nothing’s going on

Watermelons and Zen students grow pretty much the same way.
Long periods of sitting till they ripen and grow all juicy inside,
but when you knock them on the head to see if they’re ready – sounds like nothing’s going on.

– Peter Levitt