Rumi’s poem The Real Threat … Nothingness. Shunyata. Emptiness. Just so. If it escapes, the lover’s breath, and strikes the universe of fire, That universe without origin, it will dissolve into particles. The entire universe becomes sea, out of fear that the sea will turn to nothing. Neither man nor humanity remain when man is […]
Rumi – The Real Threat … Nothingness Read Post »
I’ve been contemplating the poem ‘The Tao is a Silent Flower’ in meditation recently – space, time, form and emptiness: The Tao is a silent flower which blooms through the night, But the night through which it blooms is the flower itself. No Tao, no flower, no bloomer, no night. And for this reason, it
The Tao is a Silent Flower Read Post »
Some drowsy reflections on Niutou Farong’s Song of Mind (Xin Ming) when unable to sleep whilst ill … The nature of the mind is non-arising,What need is there of knowledge and views?Originally there is not a single dharma;Why discuss inspiration and training? Niutou Farong (牛頭法融) Niutou Farong begins with the view, a view which includes
Reflections on Niutou Farong – Song of Mind (Xin Ming) Read Post »
I’ve noticed a change in my meditation lately. After quite a period of formless mahamudra meditation, I’ve recently been practicing Shamatha with the breath as the focus. But, funny thing, I can’t really find the breath to focus on. It’s pretty much there when I start … a sense of it popping up here and
Where did my breath go? Read Post »
The birds have vanished into the sky,and now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me,until only the mountain remains. Li Bai (李白)from Endless River: Li Po and Tu Fu: A Friendship in Poetry, Translated by Sam Hami. This is so evocative. A truly beautiful image, of Li Po sitting *with* the
Li Bai / Li Po – The Birds Have Vanished Into The Sky Read Post »
Some reflections on a dialogue between Jinul Puril Bojo Daesa (보조지눌), also also known as Bojo, and Chinul, a 12th century Korean master and one of his students: Question: In our case, what is this mind of void and calm, numinous awareness? Chinul: What has just asked me this question is precisely your mind of void
Reflections on Chinul – Pointing to your Original Mind Read Post »
I thought I’d therefore share some further reflections on Gampopa’s threefold classification of Compassion (from The Jewel Ornament of Liberation). Compassion with reference to Sentient beings Gampopa’s first category – ‘Compassion with reference to Sentient beings’ is simply the desire to help beings when we see that they are suffering. However, due to our level
Deepening Compassion Read Post »
(The third slogan of the Seven Points of Mind Training). This slogan is the third of the points on the actual practice – the cultivation of Bodhicitta. Let even the remedy subside …. The antidote will vanish of itself …. Even the Antidote Itself is Liberated in its own Place …. What is the Remedy
Self Liberate Even the Antidote Read Post »
I was reflecting on covetousness, and the whole area of craving this morning. I was in particular wondering why my mind tends to focus in a particular way in relation to this. In a sense, it has a choice. It can either focus on what it has already got, or on what it is lacking
Covetousness – Craving Read Post »
The most powerful moment of the concerts for me was when Madonna brought on the Ethiopian woman who had last been seen as a blighted, starving child in a video shown at the Live Aid concerts 20 years ago. It seemed inconceivable that the terrible wretch in the video was now the radiant and stunningly
