Falling!

Image by Katenfelix

The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is there’s no ground.

Chogyam Trungpa

 

 

Truth is a Pathless Land

The Dissolution of the Order of the Star

by Jiddu Krishnamurti

Truth is a Pathless land

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in what was then colonial India. In early adolescence, he had a chance encounter with prominent occultist and theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater. Leadbetter and Annie Besant identified him as a “vehicle” for an expected World Teacher. The Order of the Star in the East was founded in 1911 to proclaim the coming of the World Teacher. Krishnamurti was made Head of the Order. On August 2, 1929, the opening day of the annual Star Camp at Ommen, Holland, Krishnamurti repudiated and dissolved the Order before 3000 members. He claimed allegiance to no nationality, caste, religion, or philosophy, and spent the rest of his life traveling the world, speaking to large and small groups and individuals.

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The Art of DE – Do Easy

From An Essay by William Burroughs

It seems counterintuitive – almost iconiclastic – to imagine that William Burroughs would have written self-help essays, but he did. Burroughs (1914-1997) was an American novelist, poet, essayist and performer, as well as a drug addict. In 1943 in New York, he became close to Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, forming the countercultural movement of the Beat Generation. Read more…

“The people are awakening” An Occupy Statement from 1919

Occupy speech from 1919Eugene Debs delivered this Statement to the Federal Court of Cleveland, Ohio on September 18, 1918 after being convicted of violating the Sedition Act, a law passed by Congress to ban anti-war rhetoric. A demonstration supporting Debs on May 1 escalated into a riot. Debs ran for president from prison and received 913,664 write-in votes.

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. Read more…

from The Heart of Understanding

by Thich Nhat Hanh

This is one of the most beautiful teachings ever.

If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. Read more…

Tantric Paintings from the 17th Century Speak to Us Today

Tantra Song is a book which triumphed over a series of barriers. The result is a rare glimpse into an art form in which East and West, the spiritual and the aesthetic, the ancient and the modern converge.

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Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva Way

Chanting the verses from Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life can transform our  limiting attitude that it is all about us and open us to a more spacious understanding of life.

I shall give away fully with no sense of loss

My body, enjoyments and all merits of the three times 
(past, present and future)

To accomplish the work for ALL sentient beings.

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big or small, visible or not, near or far away, already born or yet to be born…

Live in joy…

 

Live in joy, in love
Even among those who hate

Live in joy, in health
Even among the afflicted.

Live in joy, in peace
Even among the troubled.

Look within,
Be still

Free from fear and attachment.
Know the sweet joy of the way.

The Buddha

Random Thoughts About My Buddhist Practice…

Painting by Orlando Leibovitz

  • A moment to moment choice between samsara and nirvana, between bondage and liberation
  • Kensho – a brief experience of enlightenment, a flash…
  • Sartori – enlightenment, infinite space, intuitive and sudden
  • Riding my breath to infinity
  • Look within, be still
  • Everyday is spellbinding
  • Within tears, find hidden laughter       Read more…