World of the Absolute

Buddhism claims that present reality is absolute. If you open the eye of the heart, you'll see that samsara is paradise. So there's no need to look elsewhere for the absolute world; simply strive to open the eye.

And once you do, you'll see that a great sun lights all the universes and beyond. If you perceive this correctly, you'll realize that wherever we sit, wherever we stand, wherever we go — everyplace — is the world of the absolute.

Tong Songchol (1912~1993), also SeongCheol, one of the great Zen masters in the last century was also called the Living Buddha of Korea.

BEING IS TRUTH

We are all born with being veiled in obscurity. We may recognize the transparency of being shining in the eyes of an infant, but such being is not conscious of itself. It is veiled in an absence of self-awareness. Infants live in a magical world of unconscious being, while adults live in a world of egocentric separation and denial of being. Rectifying and restoring being to its true dominion and sovereignty is what spiritual awakening makes possible.

The question of being is everything. Nothing could be more important or consequential—nothing where the stakes run so high. To remain unconscious of being is to remain asleep to our own reality and therefore asleep to Reality at large. The choice is simple: awaken to being or sleep an endless sleep.

Adyashanti, THE WAY OF LIBERATION

There Is a Wonderful Game

There is a game we should play,
And it goes like this:

We hold hands and look into each other's eyes
And scan each other's face.

Then I say,
"Now tell me a difference you see between us."

And you might respond,
"Hafiz, your nose is ten times bigger than mine!"

Then I would say
"Yes, my dear, almost ten times!"

But let's keep playing.
Let's go deeper,
Go deeper.
For if we do,
Our spirits will embrace
And interweave.

Our union will be so glorious
That even God
Will not be able to tell us apart.

There is a wonderful game
We should play with everyone
And it goes like this...

Hafiz

I used to know my name

I used to know my name.
Now I don't.
I think a river understands me.

For what does it call itself in that blessed
moment when it starts emptying into the
Infinite Luminous Sea,

and opening every aspect of self wider than
it ever thought possible?

Each drop of itself now running to embrace
and unite with a million new friends.

And you were there, in my union with All,
everyone who will ever see this page.

- Hafiz

SEXUALITY AND CHASTITY (BRAHMACHARYA)

Q: What are the passions?

M: They are the same force that is used in meditation, but diverted into other channels
.
Q: Isn't brahmacharya necessary?

M: Brahmacharya means 'living in Brahman". It has no connection with celibacy as is commonly understood. A real brahmachari finds bliss in Brahman, the same as Self.

Q: But isn't celibacy a requirement for yoga? 

M: Yes, it is. It is one of many aids to realization.

Q: Isn't brahmacharya essential? Can a married person realize the Self?

M: Certainly! married or unmarried, a person can realize the Self because it is here and now. It is only a matter of the fitness of the mind. Have there not been people living with their spouse and family yet attaining realization?

Q: Is it better for reaching salvation to be married or celibate?

M: Whatever you think better. There is no difference. Thoughts must cease and reason disappear. Feeling is the prime factor in meditation, not reason. It ought to come at the right side of the chest, not in the head, because the Heart is there. It must be held tight.

Q: Is marriage a bar to spiritual progress?

M: The householder's life is not a bar, but householders must do their utmost to practice self-control. If a person has a strong desire for the higher life then sexual desire will drop away. When the mind is destroyed the other desires are also destroyed.

Q: How can we root out the sex idea?

M: By rooting out the false idea of the body being the Self. There is no sex in the Self. Be the real Self, then there will be no trouble with sex.

Q: Do you approve of sexual continence?

M:. A true brahmachari is one who dwells in Brahman. In that case there will be no question of desires any more.

If you understand the truth in nature, sexual desire will not arise at all. If you remove the sense of diversity, that which gives sex its power will also be removed.

Q: At Sri Aurobindo's Ashram there is a strict rule that married couples can live there on condition that they abstain from sexual intercourse.

M: What use is that? If it exists in the mind, what use is there in forcing people to abstain?

Conscious Immortality

AWAKENING: ZEN MASTER KUSAN SUNIM

While on a pilgrimage Kusan promised to a dying fellow monk named Popch’un Sunim to assist him after death to find liberation through his own enlightenment.

“I went to stay in a small cabin behind the hermitage.
A young monk brought me my morning and noon meals, since I intended to practice without going down to the main hermitage. However, since I had been so busy, much of the concentration I had developed through my previous
hard practice had dissipated. When I sat, I often dozed, and the practice did not go well. This went on for two
days, leaving me with only six days within which to awaken
in order to ferry Popch'un Sunim across by the ceremony
day.

With so little time left, I could not continue with such
poor practice. I decided to do standing on the toes meditation. So, with the palms of my hands together, I meditated standing on my toes. By meditating in this way,
drowsiness could not interrupt me as it had before. For
days and nights I stood like this. I would only sit to eat my meals when they were brought. Then, once again, with my palms together, I would resume the meditation standing on my toes. In such standing meditation the hardest part is to get over the first two hours. After this, the main difficulties are overcome. Whether sitting, lying, or standing, one s meditation continues unaffected as soon as the mind is settled in concentration. Consequently, I felt neither tiredness nor pain in my legs as I was pursuing this practice.

On the day of the memorial ceremony, around three o'clock in the afternoon, the spirit of Popch’ un Sunim appeared to me. He was wearing a traditional hat, holding a wooden staff and carrying a monk's knapsack on his back. He said, “I came to visit you as it is the forty-ninth day."
I just continued practicing.
Even though it was the forty-ninth day, I did not
go down for the ceremony. As I had not been able to awaken, what would have been the use of going? The monks there performed the ceremony, but I just continued meditating.

On the seventh day of this standing meditation, as it was approaching nine o'clock, the clock made a loud click before striking the hour. Upon hearing that click “One thought turned back." On that occasion I chanted following stanza:

“One single sound: the three thousand worlds are swallowed up.

This fellow appears alone and shouts “Ha"
nine times.

The ticking of the clock is but the all-embracing exposition of the teaching.

Piece by piece the metal and the wood are but the pure Dharma body.”

This was one time when I put effort into my practice in order to ferry a friend across.

Such intense standing practice served to remove the obstructions caused by torpor and restlessness. The effect was
like the experience of a clear sky completely free of clouds.
It instantaneously allowed me to enter and abide at the original place. Thus I was enabled to pass over a very
difficult step. You can only do such continuous standing meditation with the thought, "It doesn't matter it I die.”

It takes much more than just a feeble effort to endure such
practice for seven days. But if you try with a sense of great urgency, then awakening comes about quickly. There are no fixed rules saying that you must spend many decades
before awakening. If you raise a strong resolve and persevere with great effort, the practice will rapidly progress.
If you put little effort into the practice without any sense of urgency, awakening will take immeasurable aeons.

ONLY BE AWARE AND YOUR BEING IS CLEAR IN YOUR AWARENESS

No one can deny his own being. Being is knowledge, i.e., awareness. That awareness implies absence of ignorance.

And yet why should he suffer? Because he thinks he is this or that. That is wrong. “I am” alone is; and not “I am so and so”, or “I am such and such”. When existence is absolute it is right; when it is particularized it is wrong.That is the whole truth.

Does he require a mirror to reveal his own being now? Only be aware, and your being is clear in your awareness.

D.: How is one to know the Self?
M.: “Knowing the Self” means “Being the Self”. Can you say that you do not know the Self? Though you cannot see your own eyes and though not provided with a mirror to look in, do you deny the existence of your eyes? Similarly, you are aware of the Self even though the Self is not objectified. Or, do you deny your Self because it is not objectified? When you say “I cannot know the Self” it means absence in terms of relative knowledge, because you have been so accustomed to relative knowledge that you identify yourself with it. Such wrong identity has forged the difficulty of not knowing the obvious Self because it cannot be objectified; and you ask. “How is one to know the Self?” 

Your duty is to be: and not to be this or that. “I AM that I AM” sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in “BE STILL”.

From Talk 363