Nothing to say

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Charles Caleb Colten

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.

G.K.Chesterton

A wish

You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true.
You may have to work for it however.

Richard Bach "Illusions"

Before you speak

Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?

Sai Baba

Ritualism

Ritualism is a kind of kindergarten for spiritual novices.

Swami Pavitrananda

The meditative mind

Meditation is not a matter of being absorbed in some grandiose idea or image: that only quietens one for the moment, as a child absorbed by a toy is for the time being quiet. But as soon as the toy ceases to be of interest, the restlessness and the mischief begin again. Meditation is not the pursuit of an invisible path leading to some imagined bliss. The meditative mind is seeing watching, listening, without the word, without comment, without opinion - attentive to the movement of life in all its relationships throughout the day. And at night, when the whole organism is at rest, the meditative mind has no dreams for it has been awake all day. It is only the indolent who have dreams; only the half-asleep who need the intimation of their own states. But as the mind watches, listens to the movement of life, the outer and the inner, to such a mind comes a silence that is not put together by thought. 

Krishnamurti "The Only Revolution India Part 3"

What is zen?

Try if you wish. But Zen comes of itself. True Zen shows in everyday living, CONSCIOUSNESS in action. More that any limited awareness, it opens every inner door to our infinite nature.

Instantly mind frees. How it frees! False Zen wracks brains as a fiction concocted by priests and salesmen to peddle their own wares.

Look at it this way, inside out and outside in: CONSCIOUSNESS everywhere, inclusive, through you. Then you can't help living humbly, in wonder.

Paul Reps in "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones"

The Four Reliances

Rely on the truth the teacher teaches, not on his personality.

Rely on what he means, not on the words he speaks.

Rely on the real meaning, not on a partial provisional understanding.

Rely on your wisdom mind, not on the judgemental intellect.

The Buddha

Tibetan saying

Those who are too clever, completely miss the point.

Awareness. Attention. Absorption.

They say Buddha practiced every form of asceticism known to the India of the times, in an effort to attain enlightenment. All in vain. One day he sat under a bodhi tree and enlightenment occurred. He passed on the secret of enlightenment to his disciples in words that must seem strange to the uninitiated: "When you draw in a deep breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a deep breath. And when you draw in a shallow breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a shallow breath. And when you draw in a medium-sized breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a medium-sized breath." Awareness. Attention. Absorption.

Anthony de Mello in "The Song of the Bird" page 19

Come into the present

Drop every thought of the future, drop every thought of the past, drop every image and abstraction, and come into the present. Contemplation will arise!

Anthony de Mello in "The song of the bird" page 18

What is formulated is not true

There is no path to truth. Truth must be discovered, but there is no formula for its discovery. What is formulated is not true. You must set out on the uncharted sea, and the uncharted sea is yourself. You must set out to discover yourself, but not according to any plan or pattern, for then there is no discovery. Discovery brings joy - not the remembered, comparative joy, but joy that is ever new. Self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom in whose tranquillity and silence there is the immeasurable. 

Krishnamurti "Commentaries on Living Series I, My Path and Your Path"

Remembrance

The remembrance of yesterday only darkens today, and comparison prevents perception.

Krishnamurti

Cicero's 6 mistakes of man #6

Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.

Cicero's 6 mistakes of man #5

Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not acquiring the habit of reading and study.

Cicero's 6 mistakes of man #4

Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.

Cicero's 6 mistakes of man #3

Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.

Cicero's 6 mistakes of man #2

The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected

Cicero's 6 mistakes of man #1

The illusion that personal gain is made up of crushing others.

Have a little relaxation

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgement will be surer; since to remain contantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgement...
Go some distance away because the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony or proportion is more readily seen.

Leonardo Da Vinci

 

A shallow mind does not become fathomless by adorning itself with knowledge and clever phrases, by quoting words of wisdom, or by decorating its outward appearance.

Krishnamurti in "Commentaries on Living Series I Chapter 53, Spontaneity"

Be the grass, grow back when you are trod upon.

Charmaine Aserappa

Liberation

Liberation, I guess, is everybody getting what they think they want, without knowing the whole truth. Or in other words, liberation finally amounts to being free from things we don't like in order to be enslaved by things we approve of.

Robert Fulghum in "All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten" page 106

Tradition

Tradition implies authority, conformity, imitation, following. 

Krishnamurti Saanen 4th Public Dialogue 3rd August 1974

The religious man

The religious man is not concerned with society at all, because society is based on acquisitiveness, envy, greed, ambition, fear.

...the truly religious man is totally outside of society, because he is not ambitious, he has no envy, he is not following any ritual, dogma or belief;

Krishnamurti Madras 2nd Public Talk 15th January 1956

Gravity

I look at nature and reflect on the existence in it of a force so silent and invisible that human beings were not aware of it till lately; and yet so mighty that the world is moved by it: the force of gravity.
Because of it the bird flies in the sky, mountains are held in place, leaves flutter to the ground,planets are kept in orbit.
There is no better symbol of God's power and presence.

Anthony de Mello in "Wellsprings" page 58

God's smile

Today a picture for you. I am sorry but I don't know who the photographer was so I am unable give them the credit.

Hell

A deluded mind is hell.

Bodhidarma

Self-knowledge

Self-knowledge cannot be gathered through anybody, through any book, through any confession, psychology, or psychoanalyst. It has to be found by yourself, because it is your life.

Krishnamurti

Osho's three steps of awareness

There are three steps of awareness.

First, become aware of your body - walking, chopping wood, or carrying water from the well. Be watchful, be alert, aware, conscious. Don't go on doing things like a zombie, like a somnambulist, a sleepwalker.

When you have become aware of your body and its actions then move deeper - to your mind and its activity, thoughts, imagination, projections... As you become more aware, there is no energy available for thoughts; they die out. When you are 100 percent aware, the mind becomes absolutely silent.

The third step: to become aware of feelings, moods, emotions.

Osho in "Maturity" pages 179 - 181