To be Nothing

The ending of the self, the "me": to be nothing. The word nothing means "not a thing". Not a thing created by thought. To be nothing; having no image of yourself. But we have a great many images of ourselves. To have no image of any kind, no illusion, to be absolutely nothing. The tree is nothing to itself. It exists. And in its very existence it is the most beautiful thing, like those hills: they exist. They don't become something, because they can't. Like a seed of an apple tree, it is apple; it doesn't try to become the pear, or another fruit - it is. You understand? This is meditation. This is the ending of the search, and truth is.

J. Krishnamurti in "On Nature and the Environment" page 93

Sadhana

Your sadhana, or practice, is your spiritual path. In yoga class you learn with your teacher and enjoy the company of like-minded souls. The real magic of yoga, however, begins when you integrate what you learn into your daily life...

Remember that practice continues off your mat and throughout your day.

Marsha and Donald Wenig

Forced Action

If heaven and earth cannot sustain a forced action,

how much less is man able to do?

from the 23rd verse of the Tao in Wayne Dyer's "Change your thoughts change your life"

Forcing leads nowhere

Yoga has nothing to do with acrobatics or spectacular exhibitionism, even though some poses rather look like it. Students are sometimes inclined to force the flexibility of their bodies to the maximum, but this leads nowhere.

Vanda Scaravelli in "Awakening the Spine" page 41

Conventional Knowledge

The reason why Taoism and Zen present, at first sight, such a puzzle to the Western mind is that we have taken a restricted view of human knowledge. For us, almost all knowledge is what a Taoist would call conventional knowledge, because we do not feel that we really know anything unless we can represent it to ourselves in words, or in some other system of conventional signs such as the notations of mathematics or music.

Alan Watts in "The Way of Zen" page 24

A Good Mind

Even the worship of gurus, teachers, priests is over. Denial is the result of a good mind that is not afraid to explore.

Vanda Scaravelli in "Awakening the Spine" page 88

Words become extraordinarily important

We use words to measure the immeasurable. So one must be aware also of the network of words, how words cheat us, how words mean so much: communism, to a capitalist, means something terrible. Words become extraordinarily important.

J. Krishnamurti in "On Nature and the Environment" page 92

Happiness

Happiness involves taking part in the game of life, not standing on the edge of things and frowning.

Today's entry on my Brahma Kumaris calendar

A love like that

Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth 
"You owe me".

Look what happens with a love like that,

It lights the whole sky.

Hafiz

Chinese Proverb

One showing is worth a hundred sayings.

Alan Watts in "The Way of Zen" page 29

A New Attitude

Is it possible to have a different attitude in which a new intelligence, not imposed by authority, but born from interest, attention and sensitivity, will emerge and in which body and mind, fused in one single action, are collaborating together?

Vanda Scaravelli in "Awakening the Spine" page 88

Awareness of yourself

If you actually are not aware of yourself, of your words, your gestures, your walk, the way you eat, why you drink and smoke, and all the rest of the things human beings are doing, how can you be aware of what is going on profoundly?

J. Krishnamurti in "On Nature and the Environment" page 91

Human Nature

Human nature is more often than not a conglomeration of habits, addictions, opinions, beliefs, prejudices and social conditionings that we cobble together in order to try and make sense of life and fit its demands. But it is not fixed.

Sally Morningstar

Simply exist

Why is it that we cannot simply exist? Why can we not do things for the sake of doing them? 

Vanda Scaravelli in "Awakening the Spine" page 88

Listen

Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart.

Mother Teresa

Silence

Silence is something that comes naturally when you are watching, when you are watching without motive, without any kind of demand, just to watch, and see the beauty of a single star in the sky, or to watch a single tree in a field, or to watch your wife or husband, or whatever you watch. To watch with a great silence and space. Then in that watching, in that alertness, there is something that is beyond words, beyond all measure.

J. Krishnamurti in "On Nature and the Environment" page 92

God just listens

Dan Rather, CBS anchor, once asked Mother Teresa what she said during her prayers. She answered, "I listen." So Rather turned the question and asked, "Well then, what does God say?" To that Mother Teresa smiled with confidence and answered, "He listens”.

Stand Alone

To stand alone in the world is one of the most difficult things: not to belong to any nation, except perhaps having a passport; not to belong to any ideology, any particular kind of activity of the left or right; not to repeat a single word that you yourself have not known, so that there is integrity. Because if you belong to any organization, any group, or follow any guru, anyone, you are not being honest. So, in a world that is so disorderly, divided, full of antagonism, bitterness and falsehood, can you stand completely alone? Sorry, either you do this or you don’t. You can’t say, “Well, I do belong to a particular little group, but I am really free from all that.” You know, when there is no integrity, when there is no honesty and virtue, systems and organizations become tremendously important. Haven’t you noticed this? Then the organizations, systems, control the mind. But if the mind is really honest, straight, clear, then no system is required because it is totally virtuous.

From J. Krishnamurti’s first public talk at Saanen, 16 July 1972.

Yoga must not be organised

BE CAREFUL, VERY CAREFUL about organisations. Yoga cannot be organised, must not be organised. Organisations kill work.

Vanda Scaravelli in "Awakening the Spine" page 110

Devil helps organise the truth

You know there is a story of the Devil and a friend walking along the street. And the friend picks up something from the pavement, looks at it and says: 'I've found the truth. Here it is!' So the Devil replies ''I'll help you to organize it.'' All the world has tried to organize truth and therefore has destroyed it.

J. Krishnamurti Talks in Europe 1968 Rome 3rd Public Talk 17th March 1968

Truth is a truth until you organise it

Lao-tzu might say that  truth is a truth until you organise it, and then it becomes a lie. Why? Because the purposes of the organisation begin to take precidence over that with it first attempted to keep in order.

Wayne Dyer in "Change your thoughts - change your life" page 90

Give up sainthood

Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom, and it will be a hundred times better for everyone.

Throw away morality and justice and people will do the right thing.

Throw away industry and profit and there will be no thieves.

All of these are outward forms alone;

they are not sufficient in themselves.

It is more important to see the simplicity,

to realise one's true nature,

to cast off selfishness and temper desire.

19th Verse of Tao Te Ching. Wayne Dyer "Change your thoughts change your life" page 88

It's our earth

The earth on which we live is our earth - right? It is not the British earth, the French earth, or the German, Russian, Indian, Chinese, it is our earth on which we are all living. That is a fact. But thought has divided it racially, geographically, culturally, economically. That division is causing havoc in the world... It is our earth on which we are all living but we have divided it - for security, for various patriotic, political, illusory reasons, which eventually bring about war.

J. Krishnamurti in "On Nature and the Environment" page 73

Listen to your body

You have to learn how to listen to your body, going with it and not against it, avoiding all effort or strain and centering your attention on that very delicate point, the back of the waist (where the spine moves in two opposite directions). You will be amazed to discover that, if you are kind to your body, it will respond in an incredible way.

Vanda Scaravelli "Awakening the Spine" page 16

Wisdom and Love

Wisdom is knowing that I am nothing,
Love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves.

                      Nisargadatta Maharaj

Take notice

When a book literally falls into your lap or is sent to you by several different people - or even when you keep seeing the title and having it refered to by others over and over - you need to notice, stop your resistance, and surrender.

Wayne Dyer in "Your Ultimate Calling" page 51

Nature and Humanity

If you lose touch with nature you lose touch with humanity.

Krishnamurti's Journal 4th April 1975

May your troubles be less

May your troubles be less,
your hapiness more
and nothing but blessings come through your door.

Renee Locks

Need for practice

People do need to do some sort of practice in order to really integrate this so that is really becomes something they're embodying rather than just an experience they had.

Bill Harris in conversation with Genpo Roshi

Your duty is to be

Your duty is to be. Not to be somebody, not to be nobody - for therein lies greed and ambition - not to be this or that - and thus become conditioned - but just to be.

Anthony de Mello in "The Prayer of the Frog" page 192

To become non-greedy is still a form of greed

If you are greedy, what matters is to understand your greed and not try to become non-greedy; because the very desire to become non-greedy is still a form of greed.

J. Krishnamurti "Life Ahead" page 136