Archive for June, 2008
Monday, June 30th, 2008
Nondualism
Coming down the Mountain of Spirit we find that the ego has lost its grip on everything, including its own ability to manage itself. Sometimes, it is helpful to recognize this realization as “ego fully seen.” In stories like The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Wizard of Oz, both the emperor and the wizard are [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 9 - Confluence by Michael McAlister
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
One as All and All as One
As man moves towards spiritual freedom, he moves also towards oneness.
—Aurobindo
Before a person studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and waters are not waters; after enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters.
—Zen saying
Things are [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 9 - Confluence by Michael McAlister
Saturday, June 28th, 2008
Chapter 9—Confluence
Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma see no Dharma in everyday actions; they have not yet discovered that there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.
—Eihei Dogen
The purpose of Zen is the perfection of character.
—Yamada Roshi
When clarity and commitment create enough cracks in the walls of ego’s defenses, Spirit starts to [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 9 - Confluence, Fundamentalism by Michael McAlister
Friday, June 27th, 2008
Teachers
So why is it that so many seemingly enlightened masters get into so much trouble? If someone Awakens, we might imagine that he or she is beyond all of the bad stuff. Unfortunately, this isn’t true. I guess the answers to these and other questions about harmful choices made by teachers depend on what we [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 8 - Commitment by Michael McAlister
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Unhooked
Choosing to become intimate with Awareness requires a constancy of both attention and intention. Neither the attention, nor the intention, is a fixed entity, and yet they can easily become attachments if we aren’t careful. On the other hand, if we don’t get hooked by them, they can be seen as manifestations of surrender supported [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 8 - Commitment by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
No Shortcuts
I’ve mentioned that I began my meditation practice asking teachers if there might be a shortcut to any of this work. The answers I got all came down to what I’ve so often repeated in these pages: simply practice a deep surrender into stillness and then let your activity consciously arise from this place. The [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 8 - Commitment by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
Choice
Grapes want to turn into wine.
—Rumi
When making your choice in life, don’t neglect to live.
—Samuel Johnson
When we begin to commit ourselves to integrating the teaching into our lives, we become clearer about how we can consciously choose the ways in which to meet each situation we face. For example, we know that our preoccupation with [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 8 - Commitment by Michael McAlister
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
The Vows
It took me years to commit formally to a practice. Something about me just thought that the whole idea of taking vows and committing to a way of living was merely window dressing to mask the seriousness of one’s practice. So I chose to sample a bit here, a bit there, read a little of [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 8 - Commitment by Michael McAlister
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
Appropriate Responses
The Chinese Master Yunmen referred to the most profound Buddhist teachings as simply being “an appropriate response” to the circumstances of our lives. Any time we see egolessness in action, we are looking at an appropriate response. Whenever we can watch someone act without wanting anything in return for his or her action, we are [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 8 - Commitment by Michael McAlister
Saturday, June 21st, 2008
Showing Up
Only a Buddha with a Buddha realizes enlightenment.
—Lotus Sutra
All real living is meeting.
—Martin Buber
When I see that I am nothing, that is wisdom. When I see that I am everything, that is love. And between these two, my life flows.
—Nisargadatta Maharaj
When there is a meeting among beings grounded in the commitment not to harm, Spirit [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 8 - Commitment, Writing by Michael McAlister
Friday, June 20th, 2008
Chapter 8 – Commitment
The only difference between us is that I am aware of my natural state, while you are bemused… We discover it by being earnest, by searching, enquiring, questioning daily and hourly, by giving one’s life to this discovery.
—Nisargadatta Maharaj
Those who enter the gates of heaven are not beings who have no passions or who have [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 8 - Commitment by Michael McAlister
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
No Preferences
“Whenever you feel a judgment arise in your awareness, you are feeling the ego’s energetic pull,” the Zen teacher said to a group of us in the meditation hall.
It was late in the afternoon and I was tired, worried that I might fall asleep during this lady’s talk. I wasn’t bored with what she was [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 7 - Clarity by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
No Complaints
My first day of kindergarten was interesting. I wasn’t yet five years old, and as my parents began to leave me in my new classroom, I noticed that my mother was crying. Why in the world would she do that? I wondered. As time progressed, so too did the depths of our dinner conversations, and [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 7 - Clarity by Michael McAlister
Monday, June 16th, 2008
No Judgment
Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.
—Nagarjuna
Among the great things to be found among us, the Being of Nothingness is the greatest.
—Leonardo da Vinci
Descending the Mountain means that we are able to engage each moment in life from an unattached position of discriminating awareness rather than from a [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 7 - Clarity by Michael McAlister
Sunday, June 15th, 2008
Nothing Personal
As we come off the Mountain of Spirit, we recognize how little about us needs to be defended. This is because we have begun to build lives out of our realization of Emptiness. This Emptiness is the Source of everything. This Source, once again, is totally still and gives birth to all that moves. It [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 7 - Clarity by Michael McAlister
Saturday, June 14th, 2008
No Division
When we let an unattached intention of peace for self and others inform our actions, we naturally and effortlessly become helpful. On the other hand, letting our actions come from a place other than one of nonattachment is the work of ego. This activity will inevitably show up as some form of unconsciousness that feeds [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 7 - Clarity by Michael McAlister
Friday, June 13th, 2008
Intention
To find, know, and possess the Divine existence, consciousness and nature and to live in it for the Divine is our true aim and the one perfection to which we must aspire.
—Aurobindo
The most important thing is to find out what the most important thing is.
—Shunryu Suzuki
What is it that truly drives us?
Uncovering the radically honest [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 7 - Clarity by Michael McAlister
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
Chapter 7 — Clarity
Do not divert your love from visible things. But go on loving what is good, simple and ordinary; animals and things and flowers and keep the balance true.
—Rainer Maria Rilke
In the heaven which receives most of His light have I been; and have seen things which whoso descends from there has neither knowledge nor power [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 7 - Clarity by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
Part Three – The Return
Living in the world after we have seen the view from the summit is something we cultivate carefully. It is both an integration of the timeless into the boundary of time and an integration of the Absolute with all that is limited.
No Comments » - Posted in Part III: The Return by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
The Deepest Inquiry
As we learn to stop moving, we come to the realization that there is a largely unfamiliar part of us that has never and will never move at all. Re-familiarizing ourselves with this space is an amazing, often tear-filled homecoming into grace. The mystery is that we are individually and collectively each quite homesick for [...]
