In my former days of bitter poverty
every night I counted other people’s wealth
Today I thought and thought then thought it through
everyone really must make their own
I dug and found a hidden treasure
a crystal pearl completely pure
Even if that blue-eyed foreigner of great ability
wanted to buy it secretly and take it away
I would immediately tell him that
this pearl has no price
– Han Shan
Who is thy wife? Who is thy son?
The ways of this world are strange indeed.
Whose art thou? Whence art thou come?
Vast is thy ignorance, my beloved.
Therefore ponder these things and worship the
Lord.
Behold the folly of Man:
In childhood busy with his toys,
In youth bewitched by love,
In age bowed down with cares–
And always unmindful of the Lord!
The hours fly, the seasons roll, life ebbs,
But the breeze of hope blows continually in his
heart.
When the body is wrinkled, when the hair turns grey,
When the gums are toothless, and the old man’s staff
Shakes like a reed beneath his weight,
The cup of his desire is still full.
Thy son may bring thee suffering,
Thy wealth is no assurance of heaven:
Therefore be not vain of thy wealth,
Or of thy family, or of thy youth–
All are fleeting, all must change.
Know this and be free.
Enter the joy of the Lord.
– Shankara
Reflect deeply on how these aggregates,
Which are impure and lack real essence,
Do not remain once they have arisen,
But perish from one moment to the next.
All the civilizations and societies of the past,
Met with only destruction in the end,
And so will those of today and ages yet to come.
However much one understands the flaws
Of this conditioned saṃsāric world,
One will also understand the unconditioned,
Nirvana’s supreme and refreshing peace.
– (excerpts from)
Wheel of Analysis and Meditation
That Thoroughly Purifies Mental Activity,
Mipham Nampar Gyalwa, 1891.
Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive.
Jump into experience while you are alive!
Think … and think … while you are alive.
What you call ‘salvation’ belongs to the time before death.
If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive,
do you think the ghosts will do it after?
The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten – that is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death.
– Kabir, tr. Robert Bly
If a man is crossing a river
And an empty boat collides with his own skiff,
Even though he be a bad-tempered man
He will not become very angry.
But if he sees a man in the boat,
He will shout at him to steer clear.
If the shout is not heard, he will shout again,
And yet again, and begin cursing.
If you can empty your own boat
Crossing the river of the world,
No one will oppose you,
No one will seek to harm you.
– The Way of Chuang Tzu, Thomas Merton
I sought a goal the existence of which I had become convinced was highly probable. I succeeded in finding this Goal, and now I KNOW and can say to all others: IT was ABSOLUTELY WORTH ANYTHING THAT IT MAY COST, AND IMMEASURABLY MORE.
– Franklin Merrell-Wolff
Once you realize that whatever appears before you cannot be yourself, and cannot say “I am”, you are free of all your “persons” and their demands. The sense “I am” is your own. You cannot part with it, but you can impart it to anything, as in saying: I am young. I am rich, etc.
But such self-identifications are patently false and the cause of bondage.
– Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
It is like a frayed rope snapping. Yours is the work at the strands. The break is bound to happen. It can be delayed, but not prevented.
– Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Whoever makes all his tasks one task, God will help him in his other concerns.
– Muhammad
Can’t tweet now, praying to the vacuous nothing that is in charge of all reality.
– @jakuman