Abandon Every Idea About Enlightenment

 
In order to be successful in your quest for Freedom, it is imperative  that you unconditionally abandon every idea that you have about Enlightenment.  As long as you think that Enlightenment is something that can be understood by the mind, the cycle of blindly perpetuating your own ignorance will never cease.

from "Enlightenment is a Secret"  By Andrew Cohen

  

Q & A

     Emperor Wu of Liang asked the great teacher Bodhidharma, "What is the ultimate meaning of the holy truths?" Bodhidharma replied, "Empty, without holiness." 

'The emperor said, "Who is in my presence? Bodhidharma answered, "Don't know."

From: Kensho - The Heart of Zen,  Ed. Thomas Cleary

Discrimination

 

All that you are attached to, all that you Love, all that you know, someday will be gone.

Knowing this, and that the world is your mind which you create, play in, and suffer from, is known as discrimination.

Discriminate between the real and the unreal. The known is unreal and will come and go so stay with the Unknown, the Unchanging Truth.

All which appears and disappears is not real, and no nectar will come from it so don't cling to it, and once you let go do not turn back to it. Stay as Eternity in your own Being.

Papaji  'The Truth Is'

 

SO WHAT IS THERE TO REALIZE?

 

Peonies bloom on peony trees. A cat doesn't become a chicken. Tulips are tulips, not roses. Why can't we realize this true fact? That to be me is great. I don't have to be anyone but me. I am blooming as I am in my life, just as a peony blooms on a peony tree. Further, a beautiful peony flower does not worry about when it will wilt and fall to the ground. It does not compete with the flower next to it; rather it blooms with its whole self.

Sensie Ogui from "Zen Shin Talks"

 

Believe

 

Acquire the courage to believe in yourself. Many of the things that you have been taught were at one time the radical ideas of individuals who had the courage to believe what their own hearts and minds told them was true, rather than accept the common beliefs of their day.

Ching Ning Chu

 

Through Love

 

Through Love all that is bitter will sweet
Through Love all that is copper will be gold.
Through Love all dregs will turn to purest wine
Through Love all pain will turn to medicine.
Through Love the dead will all become alive.
Through Love the king will turn into a slave!

Translated by Annemarie Schimmel, 'Look! This is Love'

 

You

 

The whole world is you yet you keep thinking there is something else.

Hsueh-Feng

 

Listen to your Heart

 

If you want to love, take the time to listen to your heart.  In most ancient and wise cultures it is a regular practice for people to talk to their heart.  There are rituals, stories, and meditative skills in every spiritual tradition that awaken the voice of the heart.  To live wisely, this practice is essential, because our heart is the source of our connection to and intimacy with all of life.  And life is love.  This mysterious quality of love is all around us, as real as gravity. Yet how often we forget about love..

Jack Kornfield