Become like a hollow bamboo

Relax the body completely.

Let the mind remain in its unformed state.

Become like a hollow bamboo

so that everything flows through.

Will Johnson 'The Song of Mahamudra'

We think we see but we don't

I need to talk about words and concepts because I must explain to you why it is, when we look at a tree, we really don't see. We think we do, but we don't. When we look at a person, we really don't see that person, we only think we do. What we're seeing is something that we fixed in our mind. We get an impression and we hold on to that impression, and we keep looking at a person through that impression. And we do this with almost everything. If you understand that, you will understand the loveliness and beauty of being aware of everything around you. Because reality is there; "God," whatever that is, is there. It's all there.

Awareness

When the sage points to the moon, all the idiot sees is the finger.
Jean Guiton, a very pious and orthodox French writer, adds a terrifying comment: "We often use the finger to gouge the eyes out." Isn't that terrible? Awareness, awareness, awareness! In awareness is healing; in awareness is truth; in awareness is salvation; in awareness is spirituality; in awareness is growth; in awareness is love; in awareness is awakening. Awareness.

Anthony De Mello in "Awareness" page 102

We don't want to live with what we actually are

So, can you and I, live with what we actually are? Being dull, envious, fearful,thinking that we have tremendous affection when we have not, getting easily hurt, flattered, bored, can we live with these actualities, neither accepting nor denying, but observing, living with them without becoming morbid, depressed or elated? Then you will find that one of the major reasons for fear is that we don't want to live with what we are.

Krishnamurti, Saanen, 5th Public Talk 18th July 1967

Comparison

Comparison prevents perception.

Krishnamurti

Acceptance

Time marches on, bringing change to our lives. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Some of it is welcome, some harder to take. True contentment and happiness come in accepting the people and events around us and learning to flourish in our place on this spinning planet.

Gillian Stokes

A serene wisdom

Who everywhere is free from all ties, who neither rejoices nor sorrows if fortune is good or is ill, his is a serene wisdom.

Bhagavad Gita

Intelligent men learn from their own mistakes; Wise men learn from the mistakes of others.

Sorrows

Most of the sorrows on the earth humans cause for themselves.

Jack Kornfield in "Buddha's Little Instruction Book"

Your Mission

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:
If you're alive, it isn't.

Richard Bach in "Illusions The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah"

A Blessing

The love and affection of heaven be to you,
The love and affection of the saints be to you,
The love and affection of the angels be to you,
The love and affection of the sun be to you,
The love and affection of the moon be to you,
Each day and night of your lives,
To keep you from haters, to keep you from harmers,
To keep you from oppressors.

from the Carmina Gadelica

You teach best what you most need to learn.

Richard Bach

Tomorrow means things depart

Don't torture yourself standing watch over things,
accomplishments or states of mind
you want to still possess tomorrow.
It doesn't work that way.
Tomorrow means things depart.
Time and elements wash them away
just as they came, with abundance,
as the future stands by watching.

Neil Douglas-Klotz "Blessings of the Cosmos" page 14

Translation of Matthew 6:34 from the Aramaic

Stop Wanting

The very desire to be free or to be enlightened will be the desire that prevents your freedom.

Achaan Chah

To know God

If you want to know God, then turn your face toward your friend, and don't look away.

Rumi

Open the window in the centre of your chest and let spirit move in and out.

Rumi

All is cyclical

In moments of darkness and pain
remember all is cyclical.
Sit quietly behind your wooden door:
Spring will come again.

Ching-Yuen

To Really Know

To really know. That is, to be transformed by what one knows.

Anthony De Mello

Alignment is an ongoing process

Alignment is not a static condition that we seek to create and then maintain. It is an ongoing process that may change from moment to moment. Relaxation is not a static gesture. It too is an ongoing process. The body continues to let go of tension and yield to the appearance of  new areas of sensation that continually present themselves.

Will Johnston in "The Posture of Meditation" page 56

Let Others Be

Do not find fault with others. If they behave wrongly there is no need to make yourself suffer. If you point out to them what is correct and they do not practice accordingly, leave it at that.

Jack Kornfield and Paul Breiter in "A Still Forest Pool" page 68

Cultivate sensitivity through solitude

For the total development of the human being, solitude as a means of cultivating sensitivity becomes a necessity. One has to know what it is to be alone, what it is to meditate, what it is to die; and the implications of solitude, of meditation, of death, can be known only by seeking them out. These implications cannot be taught, they must be learnt. One can indicate, but learning by what is indicated is not the experiencing of solitude or meditation. To experience what is solitude and what is meditation, one must be in a state of inquiry; only a mind that is in a state of inquiry is capable of learning. But when inquiry is suppressed by previous knowledge, or by the authority and experience of another, then learning becomes mere imitation, and imitation causes a human being to repeat what is learnt without experiencing it.

Krishnamurti in "Life Ahead" Page 14

Just let go

Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect any praise or reward. If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom. Your struggles with the world will have come to an end.

from "A Still Forest Pool" by Jack Kornfield and Paul Breiter page 73

The bottom of the sea is calm

Even in the middle of a hurricane, the bottom of the sea is calm. As the storm rages and the winds howl, the deep waters sway in gentle rhythm, a light movement of fish and plant life. Below there is no storm.

Wayne Muller

Happiness

Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.

Thomas Merton

A balanced posture generates alert awareness

A balanced posture requires very little effort to sustain and allows the major muscles of the body to relax. This relatively small expenditure of energy, coupled with the phenomenon of relaxation, produces a distinct feeling tone of softness, ease, and vibratory flow. It also generates a natural condition of alert awareness. This dual condition of comfort in the body and relaxed alertness in the mind is the fruit of balance.

Will Johnson in "The posture of Meditation" page 20

No self, no problem.

The Enquiry Principle

It is the notion that movement education works best when it fosters curiosity. Thus, movement work imples that the teacher doesn't assume to know the experience of the student. The teacher is himself pursuing a path of inquiry supported by genuine curiosity. This allows for the possibility that the student/client will do something new, will innovate: another way of describing the experience of self-organization.

Kevin Frank & Caryn McHose