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(Source: aquaticwonder)
Ambalatthika-rahulovada Sutta: Instructions to Rahula at Mango Stone
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha, at the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels’ Feeding Ground.
At that time Ven. Rahula was staying at the Mango Stone. Then the Blessed One, arising from his seclusion in the late afternoon, went to where Ven. Rahula was staying at the Mango Stone. Ven. Rahula saw him coming from afar and, on seeing him, set out a seat & water for washing the feet. The Blessed One sat down on the seat set out and, having sat down, washed his feet. Ven. Rahula, bowing down to the Blessed One, sat to one side.
(Source: familybuddhism.com)
Despite the metal exoskeleton required for them to survive on this planet, they were seeking the same oneness that we were seeking.
(Source: lazyyogi)
The Need to be “Right”
For example, even such a seemingly trivial and “normal” thing as the compulsive need to be right in an argument and make the other person wrong—defending the mental position with which you have identified—is due to the fear of death.
If you identify with a mental position, then if you are wrong, your mind-based sense of self is seriously threatened with annihilation. So you as the ego cannot afford to be wrong. To be wrong is to die. Wars have been fought over this, and countless relationships have broken down.
Once you have disidentified from your mind, whether you are right or wrong makes no difference to your sense of self at all, so the forcefully compulsive and deeply unconscious need to be right, which is a form of violence, will no longer be there.
You can state clearly and firmly how you feel or what you think, but there will be no aggressiveness or defensiveness about it. Your sense of self is then derived from a deeper and truer place within yourself, not from the mind.
Eckhart Tolle
The Symptoms of Samsara
I have been asked by many people throughout these past few years a very difficult question: “Why is spirituality important?”
For the longest time I did not know how to answer that. I didn’t know how to explain it. All my life I had been seeking something and when I found the path, there it was. There was nothing else for me.
But in time I have come to understand a little of how to express why all of this is absolutely necessary.
The reason why the spiritual path is necessary is because we have forgotten our true Self. You can observe this forgetfulness as the two symptoms of Samsara: separation and restlessness.
Firstly, we see ourselves as separate and disconnected. The biggest plight of the modern humanity is this feeling of being so separated despite the surge in connectivity. On top of that, the mind labels and dissects everything it comes across. All of humanity operates within the illusion of separation. It is the foundation for all desires and the premise for all individual identities.
Because of this illusion of separation, we all grow restless. It is the restlessness of desire. In truth, this restlessness is nothing other than the urge to return to the whole, the quivering of the drop edging back toward the ocean.
But our restlessness tricks us. It makes us think we should be there instead of here; it convinces us that we should be X instead of Y; it criticizes us that we should have done that instead of this. It is this restlessness that meditation allows to dissipate.
When all of this is not only understood but seen through direct observation, then it will be clear why the spiritual path is necessary. It is necessary not because it is the religious path, or the moral path, or the True path, but rather because we have forgotten what is Here.
And when you realized you have forgotten, the only thing left for you to do is awaken.
Namaste, pilgrims.
People hear you on the level you speak to them from. Speak from your heart, and they will hear with theirs.
Marianne Williamson (via venuschild)
(I’ve found this to be true)
(Source: robotindisguise)
(Source: l-i-g-h-t-l-e-a-k-s)
If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.
Every Minute Zen
Zen students are with their masters at least ten years before they presume to teach others. Nan-in was visited by Tenno, who, having passed his apprenticeship, had become a teacher. The day happened to be rainy, so Tenno wore wooden clogs and carried an umbrella. After greeting him Nan-in remarked: “I suppose you left your wodden clogs in the vestibule. I want to know if your umbrella is on the right or left side of the clogs.” Tenno, confused, had no instant answer. He realized that he was unable to carry his Zen every minute. He became Nan-in’s pupil, and he studied six more years to accomplish his every-minute Zen.
(Source: connipti0n)
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