Enlightenment, What is it? Who Cares?

[cowboyangel]

Love Alan Watts.


My take on omnipresence.........


[youtube][/youtube]

[Isotopia]

...

[Ugly Dougly]

It is said that soon after his enlightenment the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha's extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked, "My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being or a god?"

"No," said the Buddha.

"Well, then, are you some kind of magician or wizard?"
Again the Buddha answered, "No."

"Are you a man?"
"No."

"Well, my friend, then what are you?"
The Buddha replied, "I am awake."

Yes, Taoism is easy. Rather, the Tao is easy to understand.

[neon tetra]

the temple bell stops
but the sound keeps coming
out of the flowers

















the shadow of the bamboo sweeps over the stairs
but the dust does not move

the disc of the moon passes through the water of the lake
leaving no trace

















Underneath the superficial self, which pays attention to this and that, there is another self more really us than I.
And the more you become aware of the unknown self -- if you become aware of it -- the more you realize that it is inseparably connected with everything else that is.
You are a function of this total galaxy, bounded by the Milky Way, and this galaxy is a function of all other galaxies.
You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes.
You look and look, and one day you are going to wake up and say, "Why, that's me!"
And in knowing that, you know that you never die.
You are the eternal thing that comes and goes that appears -- now as John Jones, now as Mary Smith, now as Betty Brown -- and so it goes, forever and ever and ever.

-Alan Watts




















Meditation teacher Larry Rosenberg went to Korea to practice with Zen Master Seung Sahn. During the journey, he undertook a pilgrimage to other teachers and temples, and while traveling on a remote road, he came across a particularly elegant Buddhist shrine at the base of a mountain. Next to it was a sign - "Way To The Most Beautiful Buddha In All Of Korea," with an arrow pointing to the thousand-step path up the mountain.

Larry decided to climb, hiking up the steps until he reached the top. The view was breathtaking in every direction. The simple Zen stone pagoda matched the elegance of the one below. But in place of the Buddha on the altar there was nothing, only empty space and the gorgeous green-hilled vista beyond. When he went closer, at the empty altar was a plaque that read, "If you can't see the Buddha here, you had better go down and practice some more."

[neon tetra]

poor man

skillful beyond all other animals

by being able to think in time

and knowing the future

he dies before he is dead

he shrinks from the shark's teeth before they bite him

he dreads the alien germ long long before its banquet begins




- Alan Watts

[Isotopia]

Time for bad haiku

Super spiritual butt heads

Shut up hippie

[neon tetra]

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[Ugly Dougly]

[Ugly Dougly]

The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.

The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

[neon tetra]

(Spirit Rock)






A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot
where it's being boiled.
"Why are you doing this to me?", it yells.
The cook knocks it back down with the ladle.
"Don't you try to jump out.
...You think I'm torturing you.
I'm giving you flavor
so you can mix with spices and rice
and be the lovely vitality of a human being.
Remember when you drank rain in the garden
and grew to your fullest
It was for this"

~ Rumi

[gyre]

[robbidobbs]

Enlightenment isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

[cowboyangel]

...

what the hell does"..." mean? What is the meaning of mean?
If you checked your mailbox, you'd have seen my offer of comp tix to Pinot Days for you...offer still stands. Back up prize? A coffee cupful of thermite.

[cowboyangel]

Robbi...how are ya doing? As mistress of the pot, I guess you would be qualified to make pronouncements on the sound of one porta potty door closing.

[robbidobbs]

It goes WHAM!
It's a pleasant sound, one that engenders comfort and relief.

[cowboyangel]

[quote="robbidobbs"]It goes WHAM!
It's a pleasant sound, one that engenders comfort and relief.[/quote


see what I mean? What else can enlightenment be but comfort and relief?

[neon tetra]

[joel the ornery]

What else can enlightenment be but comfort and relief?

a blemish on your backside.

[cowboyangel]

hey bowl man better watch out for the tornado man gonna get you.....and Dorothy and Toto too

[Roger Dodger]

For me a part of enlightenment is knowing that you will get a reaction by throwing a pebble in a calm pool of water. And it is easier to disturbed a pool than it is to calm one after it has been disturbed.

Sometime we are looking so forward on the path we forget to look at the ground under our feet.

Cowboy Angel, I always enjoyed your posts. Interesting stuff.

[Roger Dodger]

A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot
where it's being boiled.
"Why are you doing this to me?", it yells.
The cook knocks it back down with the ladle.
"Don't you try to jump out.
...You think I'm torturing you.
I'm giving you flavor
so you can mix with spices and rice
and be the lovely vitality of a human being.
Remember when you drank rain in the garden
and grew to your fullest
It was for this"

~ Rumi

Yes as the pot is boiling (it would add if it was not in a pot of boiling stew.) As why does the Cock believe it understands what the needs of the lentil are?

And when I drank the water it was cool. This is a pot of boiling water not the garden.

And may I ask what about the vegetarians? Maybe some don't like cock in their "stew". Me I am good with it. But I enjoy a good hen as well in my soup that makes up....

[I see a butterfly flirter by and wonder off, then wave to see if you would like to join me as it lands on a flower. A large yellow sunflower. The breeze blows gently the day turns to night.]

[FIGJAM]

Why is a cow?

[Roger Dodger]

Why is a cow?

Did the cow ask that question? Why would you not be more concerned "Why am I?" if such a question would be asked.

For the cow it does not ask "why is a human?" They ask "why am I in this pen?" as the cow looks for pasture.

But they taste so good don't they? Mmmm, I always wanted a porterhouse from a place like Morti's, you know?

[neon tetra]

I went out of mind and then came to my senses
By meeting a magpie who mixed up his tenses,
Who muddled distinctions of nouns and of verbs,
And insisted that logic is bad for the birds.
With a poo-wee cluck and a chit, chit-chit;
The grammar and meaning don't matter a bit.

The stars in their courses have no destination;
The train of events will arrive at no station;
The inmost and utmost self of us all
Is dancing on nothing and having a ball.
So with chat for chit and with tat for tit,
This will be that, and that will be IT!

[Roger Dodger]

It is said that soon after his enlightenment the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha's extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked, "My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being or a god?"

"No," said the Buddha.

"Well, then, are you some kind of magician or wizard?"
Again the Buddha answered, "No."

"Are you a man?"
"No."

"Well, my friend, then what are you?"
The Buddha replied, "I am awake."

Yes, Taoism is easy. Rather, the Tao is easy to understand.

That is such a common line around here? Are you sure your not the Buddha?

There are many roads to the top of the mountain. Why impede or sway the path of another if they are ahead or behind you? It is the journey, but that journey, if impeded by anther is no longer their true course. It is the course of the one that "claims" enlightenment as they believe their trail is the best. And as you may fly over the holes in the path that you don't see as they do not exist for you, another may fall in and feel that it was a trap. Then diverting both from their true course.

For that matter is there a top of the mountain or a never ending potential to better self and mind in a way that allows to achieve that Nirvana of "self" and "actualization of self in relation to surrounding"?

Personally I could use a nap. I have been awake to long.

This is a cool thread.

[cowboyangel]

For me a part of enlightenment is knowing that you will get a reaction by throwing a pebble in a calm pool of water. And it is easier to disturbed a pool than it is to calm one after it has been disturbed.

Sometime we are looking so forward on the path we forget to look at the ground under our feet.

Cowboy Angel, I always enjoyed your posts. Interesting stuff.

Thank You. You win some and you lose some. There are some who'd make me walk the plank.

[neon tetra]

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh





inside this new love, die.
your way begins on the other side.
become the sky.
take an ax to the prison wall.
escape.
walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
do it now.
you're covered with thick cloud.
slide out the side. die,
and be quiet. quietness is the surest sign
that you've died.
your old life was a frantic running from silence.
the speechless full moon comes out now.

~ Rumi

[Ugly Dougly]

A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot
where it's being boiled.
"Why are you doing this to me?", it yells.
The cook knocks it back down with the ladle.
"Don't you try to jump out.
...You think I'm torturing you.
I'm giving you flavor
so you can mix with spices and rice
and be the lovely vitality of a human being.
Remember when you drank rain in the garden
and grew to your fullest
It was for this"

~ Rumi

Yes as the pot is boiling (it would add if it was not in a pot of boiling stew.) As why does the Cock believe it understands what the needs of the lentil are?

And when I drank the water it was cool. This is a pot of boiling water not the garden.

And may I ask what about the vegetarians? Maybe some don't like cock in their "stew". Me I am good with it. But I enjoy a good hen as well in my soup that makes up....

[I see a butterfly flirter by and wonder off, then wave to see if you would like to join me as it lands on a flower. A large yellow sunflower. The breeze blows gently the day turns to night.]

You're probably aware that you missed the point.

[neon tetra]

"Speak and act from unwise thoughts, and sorrow will follow you as surely as the wheel follows the ox who draws the cart. Speak and act from wise thoughts and happiness will follow you as closely as your shadow, unshakable."

~ The Dhammapada

[neon tetra]

"Every one of us is called upon, probably many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, loss of a job or a limb or a loved one, a graduation, bringing a new baby home: it's impossible to think at first how this all will be possible. Eventually, what moves it all forward is the subterranean ebb and flow of being alive among the living.

In my own worst seasons I've come back from the colorless world of despair by forcing myself to look hard, for a long time, at a single glorious thing: a flame of red geranium outside my bedroom window. And then another: my daughter in a yellow dress. And another: the perfect outline of a full, dark sphere behind the crescent moon. Until I learned to be in love with my life again. Like a stroke victim retraining new parts of the brain to grasp lost skills, I have taught myself joy, over and over again."

~ Barbara Kingsolver





"Suffering confers neither privileges nor rights; it all depends on how one uses it. If you use it to increase the anguish of others, you are degrading, even betraying it. And yet the day will come when we shall understand that suffering can elevate human beings . . . God help us to bear our suffering well."

~ Elie Wiesel





"Let go of the ways you thought life would unfold;
the holding of plans or dreams or expectations – Let it all go.
Save your strength to swim with the tide.
The choice to fight what is here before you now will only result in struggle, fear, and desperate attempts to flee from the very energy you long for.

Let go.
Let it all go and flow with the grace that washes through your days whether you receive it gently or with all your quills raised to defend against invaders.
Take this on faith: the mind may never find the explanations that it seeks, but you will move forward nonetheless.

Let go, and the wave’s crest will carry you to unknown shores, beyond your wildest dreams or destinations.

Let it all go and find the place of rest and peace, and certain transformation."

~ Danna Faulds





"Overcome any bitterness that may have come because you were not up to the magnitude of pain that was entrusted to you. Like the mother of the world who carries the pain of the world in her heart, each one of us is part of her heart, and therefore endowed with a certain measure of cosmic pain. You are sharing in the totality of that pain. You are called upon to meet it in joy instead of self pity."

~ Sufi saying