cannot be thought, caught, or sought by understanding

For silence is not God, nor speaking; 

fasting is not God, nor eating; 

solitude is not God, nor company; 

nor any other pair of opposites.

  He is hidden between them, 

and cannot be found by anything your soul does, 

but only by the love of your heart.  

He cannot be known by reason, 

he cannot be thought, caught, 

or sought by understanding.  

But he can be loved and 

chosen by the true, loving will of your heart.

~ the cloud of unknowing

the singing bowl

Begin the song exactly where you are.
Remain within the world of which you're made.
Call nothing common in the earth or air.

Accept it all and let it be for good.
Start with the very breath you breathe in now,
This moment's pulse, this rhythm in your blood

And listen to it, ringing soft and low.
Stay with the music, words will come in time.
Slow down your breathing. Keep it deep and slow.

Become an open singing bowl, whose chime
Is richness out of emptiness,
And timelessness resounding into time.

And when the heart is full of quietness
Begin the Song exactly where you are.

 

 

 

 

 

~ Malcolm Guite
art by Joyce Huntington
with thanks to whiskey river

 

 

you can go

There is a place you can go

where you are quiet,

a place of water and the light

on the water. Trees are there,

leaves, and the light

on leaves moved by air.

Birds, singing, move

among leaves, in leaf shadow.

After many years you have come

to no thought of these,

but they are themselves

your thoughts. There seems to be

little to say, less and less.

Here they are. Here you are.

Here as though gone.

None of us stays, but in the hush

where each leaf in the speech

of leaves is sufficient syllable

the passing light finds out

surpassing freedom of its way.

~ Wendell Berry

from Sabbaths 1998, VII

karma and reinforcing mental pathways

understanding karma has to do with the quality of mind in the very moment of action. 

When we experience a mind state of love, there comes naturally, along with it,

 a feeling of openness and love that is its immediate fruit; similarly, 

when there are moments of greed or hatred, in addition to whatever future results 

will come, we also experience the painful energies that arise with those states.

 Our direct awareness of how the karmic law is working in each moment 

can be a strong motivation to develop skillful states of mind that create happiness

 for us in the moment, as well as produce the fruit of well-being in the future.


Another dimension of the law of karma helps in understanding 

how individual personalities develop. While it is true that there is no enduring entity, 

no unchanging self that can be called “I,” it is also quite obvious that each of us

 is a uniquely changing and recognizable pattern of elements. This comes about

 because each of us has in our own way, both consciously and unconsciously,

 cultivated different mind states. If we cultivate lovingkindness, we experience 

its taste in the moment and at the same time are strengthening it as a force

 in the mind, making it easier for it to arise again. When we are angry, 

we experience the suffering of that anger as present karma and are also strengthening 

that particular pattern of mind. Just as we condition our bodies in different ways 

through exercise or lack of it, so we also condition our minds. Every mind state, 

thought, or emotion that we experience repeatedly becomes stronger 

and more habituated. Who we are as personalities is a collection of all

 the tendencies of mind that have been developed, the particular energy

 configurations we have cultivated


We tend not to pay attention to this conditioning factor of our experience, 

thinking instead that once an experience has passed it is gone without residue or result. 

That would be like dropping a stone in water without creating any ripples. 

Each mind state that we experience further conditions and strengthens it.



People sometimes wonder whether reflecting upon the law of karma 

will lead to feelings of guilt for past unwholesome actions. Guilt is a

 manifestation of condemnation or aversion toward oneself, which does not

 understand the changing transformative quality of mind. It solidifies a sense

 of self by being nonforgiving. Understanding the law of karma leads us

 to reflect wisely on the skillfulness or unskillfulness of our actions.

 In the infinite time of our births, through all the realms of existence, 

we have done so many different kinds of actions, wholesome and unwholesome.

 In view of karmic law, guilt is an inappropriate feeling, and a rather useless burden. 

It simply creates more unwholesome results. Coming to an understanding

 of karma is the basis for a very straightforward development of the wisdom

 to know whether our actions will lead to happiness and freedom,

 or to further suffering. When we understand this, it allows us to take responsibility

 for past actions with an attitude of compassion, appreciating that a particular act

 may have been unwholesome or harmful, and strongly determining

 not to repeat it. Guilt is a manifestation of condemnation, wisdom an expression

 of sensitivity and forgiveness. . 



.

~ Joseph Goldstein
from Cause and Effect - Reflecting on the law of karma 

printed in Tricycle

 .

beyond words

There’s a language beyond words. Silence creates the space for it. 

Sometimes when we feel powerless to speak words that are meaningful, 

when we have to back off into unknowing and helplessness,

 but remain in the situation, silence creates the space 

that’s needed for a deeper happening to occur. 

But often, initially, that silence is uneasy. 

It begins “as a small frightened thing”

 and only slowly grows 

into the kind of warmth 

that dissolves tension.

~ Ron Rolheiser

from  The Healing Place of Silence

art by Alfredo Ramos Martinez

 

silence is for me a fount of healing

Silence is for me a fount of healing
 which makes my life worth living. 

Talking is often a torment for me, 

and I need many days of silence 
to recover from the futility of words.

~ C. G. Jung

essential points

~ Joseph Goldstein

 

the long lesson

Again I resume the long

lesson:  how small a thing

can be pleasing, how little

in this hard world it takes

to satisfy the mind

and bring it to its rest.

Within the ongoing havoc

the woods this morning is

almost unnaturally still.

Through stalled air, unshadowed

light, a few leaves fall

of their own weight.

The sky

is gray.  It begins in mist

almost at the ground

and rises forever.  The trees

rise in silence almost

natural, but not quite,

almost eternal, but

not quite.

What more did I

think I wanted?  Here is

what has always been.

Here is what will always

be.  Even in me,

the  Maker of all this

returns in rest, even

to the slightest of His works,

a yellow leaf slowly

falling, and is pleased.

~ Wendell Berry

a pastime

For more than five years, I maintained myself this solely
 by the labor of my hands, and I found, that by working
 about six weeks a year, I could meet all the expenses of living.

In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience,
 that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship
 but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely...
It is not necessary that a man should earn his living 
by the sweat of his brow, unless he sweats easier than I do.

Some are "industrious," and appear to love labor for its own sake, 
or perhaps because it keeps them out of worse mischief; to such
 I have at present nothing to say.  Those who would not know 
what to do with more leisure than they now enjoy, 
I might advise to work twice as hard as they do - work till they pay 
for themselves, and get their free papers.  For myself I have found
 that the occupation of a day laborer was the most independent of any, 
especially as it required only thirty or forty days in a year to support one. 


The laborer's day ends with the going down of the sun,
 and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen pursuit,
 independent of his labor; but his employer, who speculates from
 month to month, has no respite from one end of the year to another.

~ Henry David Thoreau

from Walden, 'Economy,' 1854

art by Roderick Maclver

a wisp of cloud

Fixed ideas are like a wisp of cloud or smoke, 

but nonetheless people find themselves blocked or captured by these.

 You would laugh if you saw someone tripped by a cloud,

 or if someone claimed that they were imprisoned by the air. 

But, in fact, people are endlessly being trapped by things

 no more substantial than air or clouds. 

They make a wall with their mind, and then it imprisons them.

 Inherently, there is no wall or anything to trip over. 

These things are mirages 

they've created from the thoughts they gave rise to.

 Do not insist upon your own fixed ideas.

 Your persistence is your own narrow mind.

 If your mind is broad, it can easily embrace the entire world. 

However, if your mind is narrow, 

even a needle cannot enter.

 

 

 You have to keep letting go of your stubbornness, 

and always be deeply respectful of all life and things. 

 This is also how to become a free person. 

Always be humble. Be humble. 

The fragrance of your broad and generous mind
 will warm others’ hearts.

~  Zen Master Daehaeng

behind apparent opposites

Four sets of contrasting conditions that all of us are subject to

 at one point or another in our lives. The cultivation of equanimity

 involves looking deeply at our relationship to these eight conditions in life.

The first set is praise and blame. 

In the moment of being praised, can we be aware of our reactions?

 We may discover that we push praise away automatically, 

be­cause of discomfort, or that we take it in too much and find ourselves

 dependent on receiving more. In the moment of being blamed,

 can we be aware of our reactions? We may discover that our reactions

 include trying to justify our actions, blaming ourselves, or blaming

 the person who blamed us. We may im­mediately think the person is right.

 We may immediately think the person is wrong.

Of course we will probably feel badly when blamed.

 The question is: Can we be mindful of feeling badly

 rather than allowing ourselves to get lost in it?

 Can we be aware of the reaction instead of caught in the story about it?

 If it is use­ful information, can we learn from it?

 If it is not useful, can we let it go?

 Can we see that praise and blame are often

 out of our control?

The second is the arena of gain and loss.

 What is our relationship to gain? Is gain always positive? 

What is our relationship to loss? Is loss always negative? 

When we reflect on past experiences is it ever true that what we thought 

at the time was a gain was actually a loss and that what we thought was a loss

 turned out to be a gain? In attaching to having gained something,

 is there as well the fear that it will be lost? In attaching to having succeeded

 in something, is there as well the fear of failure?

In any culture there are fixed ideas of what it means to be successful

 and what it means to fail, of what it means to gain and what it means to lose.

 When we cling to models of success, we set ourselves up for disappointment. 

To question these models is to find an inner freedom that emerges 

out of understanding and is not based on models. 

In non-attachment we allow for wis­dom to emerge. 

We see that gain and loss are a natural part of the flux of life. 

The third set is the need to become aware of our relationship to pleasure and pain, 

  What is the result of running after pleasure and pushing away pain?

 Can we become more aware of the suffering inherent in the pursuit of pleasure

 and in the avoidance of pain? Or is it possible to experience pleasure 

fully without clinging to it and trying to make it last?

 In the moment of experi­encing something painful can we open to the pain

 without trying to get rid of it?

To experience liberation in relation­ship to these, we need to understand

 their changing nature. Understanding that both pleasure and pain 

arise and pass away, and seeing that both are often out of our control, 

we learn not to cling to either; and in non-clinging there is freedom. 

We open to pleasure and pain, 

yet are not overwhelmed by desire or aversion.

The last set is fame and disrepute.

 Do we need to be seen by others when we do something we think worthy? 

What is our reaction to being misjudged? 

What is our re­lationship to status?

 Being aware of our relationship to fame and disrepute

 allows us to be free from dependency on the opinions of others.

 We to learn how to see their insubstantiality of each condition. 

Through being mindful we become more aware of the impermanence of both.

 We see the conditional nature of fame, and that lasting peace and hap­piness

 doesn’t come through being fa­mous. We see that disrepute is tempo­rary, 

and need not bring lasting unhap­piness. The more balanced we can be

 in relationship to these, the more we free ourselves from having to be seen

 by others in any particular way. When no longer swayed by changing tides

 of fame or disrepute, we discover a peace 

that doesn’t depend on how others see us.

If we can remember more and more to bring mindfulness to these occasions

 as they arise in our daily life, we can begin to see the suffering of attachment.

 We can begin to see the essential emptiness and impermanence of conditions.

 In meditation practice we may not like what arises, and yet it is the willingness

 to stay with what is happening that brings liberation.

 The less attached we are to comfort, 

the more at ease we are within ourselves

 and within this world. 

This doesn’t mean that we have to be passive par­ticipants in life. 

If it’s hot we can open the windows. But in the many times when we cannot 

change or control our experiences, can we find an inner refuge?

 This inner refuge is the capacity to be equanimous.

 

 

 

~  Narayan Liebenson

from the Insight Journal

Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

 

 

 

equanimity

The Buddha described a mind filled with equanimity as
 “abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility, and without ill-will.”

The English word “equanimity” translates two separate Pali words
 used by the Buddha, upekkha and tatramajjhattata. Upekkha,
 the more common term, means “to look over” and refers to the equanimity 
that arises from the power of observation—the ability to see 
without being caught by what we see. When well developed,
 such power gives rise to a great sense of peace.

Upekkha can also refer to the spaciousness that comes from seeing
 a bigger picture. Colloquially, in India the word was sometimes used to mean
 “to see with patience.” We might understand this as “seeing with understanding.” 
For example, when we know not to take offensive words personally,
 we are less likely to react to what was said. And by not reacting 
there is greater possibility to respond from wisdom and compassion.
 This form of equanimity is sometimes compared to grandmotherly love.
 The grandmother clearly loves her grandchildren but, 
thanks to her experience with her own children, 
is less likely to be caught up in the drama of the grandchildren’s lives.

Still more qualities of equanimity are revealed by the term tatramajjhattata,
 a long compound made of simple Pali words. Tatra, meaning “there,”
 sometimes refers to “all these things.” Majjha means “middle,”
 and tata means “to stand or to pose.” Put together, the word becomes
 “to stand in the middle of all this.” As a form of equanimity,
 this “being in the middle” refers to balance, to remaining centered 
in the middle of whatever is happening. This form of balance
 comes from some inner strength or stability. The strong presence
 of inner calm, well-being, confidence, vitality, or integrity
 can keep us upright, like ballast keeps a ship upright in strong winds.
. As inner strength develops, for example, from the accumulation 
of mindfulness in the ordinary moments of life, equanimity follows.

As a solid mass of rock
Is not stirred by the wind,
So a sage is not moved
By praise and blame.
As a deep lake
Is clear and undisturbed,
So a sage becomes clear
Upon hearing the Dharma.
Virtuous people always let go.
They don’t prattle about pleasures and desires.
Touched by happiness and then by suffering,
The sage shows no sign of being elated or depressed.
 

—Dhammapada 81-83

~ Tricycle Magazine Winter 2005
art by Amy Ruppel

our curriculum

If you’re involved with relationship with parents or children, 

instead of saying, "I can’t do spiritual practices because

 I have children," you say,

 "My children are my spiritual practice." 

If you’re traveling a lot, your traveling becomes your yoga.

You start to use your life as your curriculum for coming to God. 

You use the things that are on your plate, that are presented to you.

 So that relationships, economics, psychodynamics—

all of these become grist for the mill of awakening.

 They all are part of your curriculum.

 

 

 

~ Ram Dass

 

 

 

craving - aversion -> pain and sorrow

Every craving is tied to a definite object, 

and it takes this object to spark the craving itself, 

thus providing an aim for it. Craving is determined

 by the definitely given thing it seeks, just as a movement

 is set by the goal toward which it moves.

 For, as Augustine writes, love is

 "Once we have the object our desire ends, unless we are threatened

 with its loss. In that case the desire to have turns into a fear of losing."

So long as we desire temporal things, 

we are constantly under this threat, 

and our fear of losing always corresponds to our desire to have. 

Temporal goods originate and perish independently of man,

 who is tied to them by his desire. Constantly bound by craving

 and fear to a future full of uncertainties, we strip each

 present moment of its calm, its intrinsic import, 

which we are unable to enjoy. And so,

 the future destroys the present.

The present is not determined by the future as such… 

but by certain events which we hope for or fear from the future,

 and which we accordingly crave and pursue, or shun and avoid. 

Happiness consists in possession, in having and holding our good,

 and even more in being sure of not losing it.

 Sorrow consists in having lost our good and in enduring this loss.

 However, for Augustine the happiness of having 

is not contrasted by sorrow but by fear of losing.

 The trouble with human happiness is that it is constantly beset by fear.

 It is not the lack of possessing 

but the safety of possession that is at stake.

A love that seeks anything safe and disposable on earth 

is constantly frustrated, because everything is doomed to die.

 In this frustration love turns about and its object becomes a negation, 

so that nothing is to be desired except freedom from fear.

 Such fearlessness exists only in the complete calm 

that can no longer be shaken by events expected of the future.

Even if things should last, human life does not. 

We lose it daily. As we live the years pass through us 

and they wear us out into nothingness. It seems that only

 the present is real, for “things past and things to come are not”;

 but how can the present (which I cannot measure) be real

 since it has no “space”? Life is always either no more or not yet.

 Like time, life “comes from what is not yet, passes through what is

 without space, and disappears into what is no longer.” 

Can life be said to exist at all? Still the fact is that man 

does measure time. Perhaps man possesses a “space” 

where time can be conserved long enough to be measured,

 and would not this “space,” which man carries with himself, 

transcend both life and time?




~ Hannah Arendt 

from Love and Saint Augustine

 with thanks to brainpickings