The mind-mirror is clear, so there are no obstacles.
Its brilliance illuminates the universe
To the depths and in every grain of sand.
Multitudinous things of the cosmos
Are all reflected in the mind,
And this full clarity is beyond inner and outer.
~Yongjia Xuanjue (永嘉玄覺 , 665-713),
from “Song of Enlightenment”(证道歌), trans. by Robert Aitken, Roshi
(Photo by Alex Greenshpun)
From the story of Lila in Yoga Vasistha:
Saraswati said: …There is no essential difference between the experiences of this world and those of another - all this being thought-forms in the infinite consciousness. They are like two waves in the same ocean. Since these worlds were never created, they will never cease to be: such is the law. Their real nature is consciousness.
…This world and this creation is nothing but memory and dream.
(Photo taken by me)
Mirror Pond on Mount Taibo in Shanxi
The water and my mind have both settled down
Into perfect stillness.
Sun and moon shine bright in it.
At night I see in the surface
The enormous face of my old familiar moon.
I don’t think you’ve ever met the source of this reflection.
All shrillness fades into the sound of silence.
But now and then a puff of mist floats across the mirror.
It confuses me a little
But not enough to make me forget to forget my cares.
~Master Xu-Yun (虛雲大師, 1840-1959)
(Photo by vadlen)
Everything happens in Consciousness without any effort by any supposed individual entity, precisely as a mirror reflects the objects around it without any intention. A flight of birds is reflected in the water of the lake, but the birds do not intend to make a reflection, nor does the water intend to reflect the flight of the birds.
… When the mind ceases to entertain any notion of doership or non-doership, all action becomes non-action.
~Ramesh Balsekar, The Final Truth
(Photo by Andris Eglitis)
“I could give you no advice but this: to go into yourself and to explore the depths where your life wells forth.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke, from: Letters to a Young Poet
(Photo by Plenair)
My daily activities are not unusual,
I’m just naturally in harmony with them.
Grasping nothing, discarding nothing…
Supernatural power and marvelous activity -
Drawing water and carrying firewood.
~Layman Pang-Yun (龐蘊居士, 740-808)
(Photo: by Patrick Zephyr)
“Serenity” by Marina Sorokina
Know for certain that you yourself are God,
The supreme Self, the eye of the eye,
Which the eye cannot see.
You are the essence of speech,
Which speech cannot express.
You are the hearer of hearing,
Which the ear cannot hear.
You are the life of life,
Who does not need the life force to love.
Recognize that you are the light of the mind,
Which the mind cannot know.
~Rama Tirth
(Photo: by Evgeny Nelichov)
In the orchard a Sufi inclined his face Sufi fashion upon his knee,
and sank deeply into mystical absorption.
A rude man nearby became annoyed:
“Why are you sleeping?” he exclaimed.
Look at the vines, behold the trees and the signs of God’s mercy.
Pay attention to the Lord’s command:
Look ye and turn your face toward these signs of His mercy.”
The Sufi replied, “O heedless one, the true signs are within the heart:
that which is external is only the sign of the signs.”
The real orchard and vineyards are within the very essence of the soul:
the reflection upon that which is external
is like a reflection in running water.
In the water only a reflected image of the orchard
quivers with the water’s subtle movement.
The real orchards and fruit flourish within the heart:
the reflection of their beauty
falls upon the water and earth of this world.
If this world were not merely the reflection
of that delectable cypress, the heart of the saint, then God would not have called it the abode of deception.
Oh happy is the one who has died before death,
for he has become acquainted with the origin of this vineyard.
~Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi
Translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski
(Photo: by Anuchit Sundarakiti)
Morning of kintyakuta by Kouji Tomihisa
The mirror does nothing, it simply reflects. Your consciousness is only a mirror. Neither do you come, nor do you go. Things come and go. You become young, you become old; you are alive, you are dead. All these states are simply reflections in an eternal pool of consciousness.
(Photo: “In the eye of the beholder” by Bibi Veth)
William Neill (www.williamneill.com)
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