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 REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....

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Arcturus Descending
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PostSubject: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeMon Apr 30, 2012 10:07 am

"The Snow falls, each flake in its appropriate place."


REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Snow_f10

This is a beautiful saying. It also reminds me of another saying "...and all is right with the world".  We are the snowflakes and where we are - where we are placed - is where we are meant to be for this moment. No one can tell us otherwise.

Have you ever seen a snowflake? They are so exquisite in their form,  so fragile, and within a few seconds of falling on your jacket, they dissolve. We are all like snowflakes, each of us have been formed by the universe in a difference way. And each of us is capable of looking within and of looking at one another and seeing the individual uniqueness which we are.

All we need do is to ....

Surrender...Accept...Trust...Be...

...as does the snowflake as it falls to the ground.

Arcturus Descending


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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeTue May 01, 2012 9:21 am

Kasan, a Zen teacher and monk, was to officiate at a funeral of a famous nobleman. As he stood there waiting for the governor of the province and other lords and ladies to arrive, he noticed that the palms of his hands were sweaty.

The next day he called his disciples together and confessed he was not yet ready to be a true teacher. He explained to them that he still lacked the sameness of bearing before all human beings, whether beggar or king. He was still unable to look through the social roles and conceptual identities and see the sameness of being in every human.  He then left and became the pupil of another master. He returned to his former disciples eight years later, enlightened.

 
REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Homele11

Do we have the capacity to take a good, long and hard look at this homeless man in order to see our own 'sameness', our own equality, with him? Are we capable of looking beyond and beneath the surface of his appearance in order to identify with him?  Were we to  come face to face with this man, would we able to respect and to see the same value within him that we hold within ourselves? At the very least, we might come to sense or to know that that man might possibly be a reflection of our someday selves. Is there value in that? Are we self-conscious and humane enough to utter the words "That Man Is Me"?

Or would our vision and humaneness be less than that of the dog who curls up on his lap - who does see the value of this human being?!  

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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeFri May 04, 2012 10:03 am

From the I Ching

If you are constrained by ties with something, you go along bound up with it.

Possession is a burden, restricting freedom.  


REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Lettin10

I believe that very often it is only in the letting go that we are able to experience the true beauty of something - perhaps seeing it as it was always meant to be - as in the breath of the child releasing the dandelions to soar in wonderful freedom.

Letting go releases being to be able to move in freedom. It enlarges and stretches being - it expands us just as the universe continually expands itself. We are a process.

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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeSat Jun 30, 2012 11:48 am

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.”
― Rumi


REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Souls10

Ah, nothing left to say here. Just to experience the beautiful Silence of the shared Moment.
Ineffable solitude where two become one.

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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeSat Jun 30, 2012 11:56 am

We take refuge in pride because we are afraid to tell the truth to ourselves.
(Kakuzo Okakura)

REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Findin10

False pride keeps us living in darkness. Self-honestly and self-examination is the light which fuels the candle of truth and keeps it burning. It's capable of being an 'eternal' light - it continuously burns as long as we have the courage to face ourselves, in all of our humanness, to look into that mirror with courage and see what it is that is really reflected back to us.  

Then we let go of the shadows on the wall and embrace the reality of who we truly are.  

Arcturus Descending


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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeSat Jun 30, 2012 11:57 am

She did not consciously think, "Ah, today I learned this and that; I gained this much." You do not do it step by step that way, by adding on coatings of varnish, or new paint. When learning becomes you, then it appears as you need it, when you are being you. Sometimes true learning surprises you when it emerges.

(hungliang Al Huang)

REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Emergi10

We are all an incomplete process...an ongoing continually-renewing unconscious to conscious self - who within moments and moments and moments emerge...we are, each of us, an infinite number of butterflies pushing forth from our coccoons - being ever and ever transformed in Moments....

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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeSat Jun 30, 2012 12:08 pm

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet,
nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected
even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky
are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
Dogen


REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Reflec11

At this point, I don't have much to say about this. This scene speaks for itself - so hauntingly beautiful.

Enlightenment is true wisdom - wisdom reflects back the present moment...what IS if we but look out and see it.  It touches everything  creating a beautiful balance and a Nowness - and at the same time - remains whole within itself.

Arcturus Descending


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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeFri Jul 20, 2012 12:57 pm

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.”

REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Miracl12

Every time I have seen such an image, especially in the real physical world, I have no choice but to simply stand and stare and marvel at it.  This, to me, is a miracle, the real miracle, and nature holds so many of these incredible magical happenings.

I am also so reminded of how awesome many human beings are - what a real miracle their lives are...the miracles which they have created of themselves.  Some people have come from the bleakest, darkest and coldest kinds of beginnings - beginnings, the like of which when someone looks at,  must be questioned and marveled at. How is it possible for a human being to have emerged from and been able to transcend such an existence?!  

There is so VERY much in the universe and within nature that may reflect what the human being is within the moment or can become and become and become...but we hardly ever take the time to see and to reflect upon what nature tries to teach in her wisdom and presence.

Nature says "Look and Listen and Marvel" and we, in our ignorance and in such a hurry to be Nowhere, just keep walking on by - and the gift which awaits us in the wings, sadly bows its head and goes on waiting.  

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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeMon Jul 30, 2012 11:26 am

Your Treasure House is in yourself, it contains all you need.
Hui Hai



REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Treasu10

This image brought tears to my eyes. For me, it speaks to the zen quote. One could use any image which appealed to them, drew them into their self or gave them a sense of awakening.  For me, what we have come to treasure - what truly resonates within us, is never lost. Form may become lost but real meaning and essence become a part of something which is greater than that which can be destroyed. Call it spirit or soul, I don't know. But it eventually merges in silent and knowing harmony  -not even so much becoming a part of you but 'being' you.

Like a piece of wood is whittled down, only its significant parts becoming the whole of a living flowing creation - self becomes its own treasure house of experience - its own ongoing flowing creation. What is felt is the Essential Moment. A sense of loss becomes nothingness when self is met with and becomes the harmony of an ever-embracing everything!


I don't know why or how much bearing it has on the above but for some reason this quote by T.S. Eliot (which I had to hunt up to get the exact phrasing) came to my mind:

"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

Something so poignant and beautiful about that. Reminds me of a particular time in my life where I went back and knew the place - and myself - as if for the very first time. Such an amazing and humbling experience. We are all a constanty, taking-shape whittled-down flowing creation.  

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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeMon Aug 06, 2012 3:49 pm

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?”
― D.T. Suzuki

REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Ecstac11


This quote for me is like a journey.  The smallest of things - like the sipping of tea in one's favorite chair, in a lone and quiet moment, experiencing the balm-like warmth of its taste on the lips and its going down - or like the biting into of a juicy and delicious apple which one has just plucked from a tree - as one lays on the ground looking up at the vastness of the blue sky and the rolling of the clouds - can be a moment where breathing almost stops and which leads one from the mundane to the sublime - in an instant! But then again, perhaps these are not perceived as the smallest of things to us.

It is a moment when time and space may stop - no - it does not stop but as it flows and swirls everywhere in harmony,  it allows us to experience such a moment of pure, exhilarating and freeing mindfulness where the spirit or the soul may rise up like a geyser transcending itself.  Do we swallow up everything within this being or are we swallowed up within it?

It becomes like pure ecstacy.

Like this image.  There is nothing mundane about it. It takes us to a place which is almost impossible to put into words - a sacred place, if you will - because it is where your spirit and your heart live, a place where one knows they could happily die, a place where joy has truly no containment large enough to hold it, and yet magically it does, a place where tears become fuller and deeper than the waters before which one finds its self.   It is a place where Eternity stands, blesses you and allows you to enter in...or rather, Eternity rushes into you.

It is Ecstacy in its sheerest poetic flow. It is an almost unbearable happening - but yet it is the most bearable and exquisite happening ever.

The most perfect Aha moment.

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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeWed Aug 15, 2012 12:10 pm

Ride your horse along the edge of a sword; hide yourself in the middle of flames
Zen saying.


REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Morphi10 

REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Morph210


Perhaps I do not understand this – but there is something so warrior-like, so strong and even “urgent” within this appeal to the mind and the spirit.  But is there, in truth, any particular way in which to understand it?

Often in life, we do – we must - for ourselves - ride our horses along the edge of a sword. That “edge” is quite sharp and so it becomes an adventure of sorts to place one’s self in a position where one may risk one’s happiness or emotions for the sake of the wild and meaningful ride. Is it possible though that there is so very much more to be gained in this way than one would if one took the safe uneventful position of leaning toward the smooth and risk-free side of the sword?

Look at it this way. What are swords for if not to experience that rough cutting edge at times? Are they meant to be placed safely away in their scabbards at all times? The question might even be: “Is it possible that, in “reality”,  there is nothing either to gain or lose but solely that the monumental moving experience itself, of leaning so so so  far over the edge as to touch and to feel the sharpness of that sword, becomes its own raison d’ etre? And from that journey – we ourselves eventually learn, thrive and become…

And perhaps what remains to be questioned, examined and seen - within the ever-fluid moment - IS the "reality" and "truth" of what constitutes riding your horse along the edge of a sword. Within the changing of our perceptions, our Wills also change.


“Hide yourself in the middle of flames”… Ah, just thinking about that I can feel the shivers crawling up my spine.  I would say, in actuality, to “BECOME ” the flames. Close your eyes and imagine yourself slowly morphing into a hot, fiery dancing entity.

When we have the capacity to hide ourselves in the middle of those imaginary, spiritual flames, the essence of which surround us and  take us over .... or to Become the Flame, our spirits give way to passion. We become the passion which takes over Everything…we become the heat which destroys what is in the moment, which melts us, so that we may give shape to or take shape and  become what we unknowingly know we are to become…like a Phoenix…though the Phoenix is eternally itself.  

Perhaps we become more the essence of beautiful colored glass as we painstakingly take shape....

Arcturus Descending


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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeMon Jul 01, 2013 4:51 pm

Your True Home is in the Here and Now.
Nhat Hanh



REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Presen11


Stillness Presence Attentiveness.
The self surrounded by its sacred space, a timeless, breathless being.
There is no true existence other than This Present Moment.  
Feel its hearbeat, sense its calm knowing, listen to it, let it speak to you, let it speak from you.
Wrap yourself around the experience of the flowing and ebbing I Am.
The Here and Now gathers all things into itself, the past, the present and the future.
It is alive with mystery, possibility - subdued.
It is Alive with You.

It awaits your Coming Home.

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PostSubject: Re: REVAMPED...Our Reflections of Zen Wisdom ....   REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Icon_minitimeMon Jul 08, 2013 11:48 am

REVAMPED...Our  Reflections of Zen Wisdom .... Silence1


I have decided to observe the spirit of the law, if not its letter, with these words and this image.  Somewhere there must be a zen saying, the essence of which holds an identical meaning.

The language called forth as a result of the inner experience which this emotional/spiritual landscape has revealed, impresses upon us both an empirically profound and poignant truth - albeit perhaps a subjective one to many - and reality.

How often does a magical image such as this - an image of the most serene, unspeakable solitude and "come hither and listen", beckoning darkness - hold the promise of a mystery or of an epiphany soon to come to mind. Also, loneliness itself - a not always so-welcomed mood or experience - if allowed to rise up and flow throughout our beings, to take us over, without being pushed away, can affect the same process and end result.  The windows or the doors to our perception may and Do open up widely, allowing light to come flowing in and our thoughts to give way to an utterance of truth in that transcending moment.  

"Sometimes the words left unspoken are the most important ones that should have been said."

These are words which are both subjectively and objectively true, to my way of thinking - subjectively by way of the inner, sometimes hopeless and futile experience of unretrievable loss.  The butterfly alights upon the shoulder, stays for a beautiful breath-taking moment of time and space and then flies away, never to be experienced again. Objectively, these words are made to be truth and "reality"  through self-awareness and intelligence, the truth of which we have come to know and to understand.  

It has been beautifully and poignantly said that those truths or ideas which come to us (which I will add - [Do No Harm}) which rise up from within us, without having asked for them or without having given them forethought, are the ones which are most important and meaningful to us and the ones which especially ought to be paid the most attention to. They are essential to us.  

It is not always such an easy task to determine, to use our descretion, as to which words ought to be left unspoken and which words ought to or must, at some point or other, become the meaningful spoken word. "To Do No Intentional Harm" must ultimately and reasonably be the beacon by which we guide ourselves to speak our truths and not only our truths but our affirmations and revelations to others, but with awareness of self and other[s], no matter how we must at times fail or fall short.

But again - "Sometimes the words left unspoken ARE the most important ones which should have been said." They become the most important words which affect us but hopefully eventually transform us through our having not spoken them, despite our having not spoken them. The empty spaces drawn from Silence and the Silence of empty spaces create form and life.

Nothing is ever really lost. We must remember this and then guide our future silences and speech accordingly - always with discretion but never with fear.  And sometimes we must use our instinct, intuition and spirit to allow the voice to soar up and out of us.

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