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We liberate energy in ourselves, but it constantly reattaches itself. How are we to liberate it entirely? [...] In such a work all that I call “I” has to be passive. Attention alone — that attention which is so full that the “I” disappears — is required of me. I have to deprive all that I call “I” of the light of my attention and turn it on to that which cannot be conceived.
Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace
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And then I remembered a passage I had read in one of Suzuki's essays. “What is the Dharma-Body of the Buddha?” (“the Dharma-Body of the Buddha” is another way of saying Mind, Suchness, the Void, the Godhead.) The question is asked in a Zen monastery by an earnest and bewildered novice. And [...] the Master answers, “The hedge at the bottom of the garden.” [...] It had been, when I read it, only a vaguely pregnant piece of nonsense. Now it was all as clear as day, as evident as Euclid. Of course the Dharma-Body of the Buddha was the hedge at the bottom of the garden. At the same time, and no less obviously, it was these flowers, it was anything that I — or rather the blessed Not-I, released for a moment from my throttling embrace — cared to look at.
Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception
Jim Newman - Radical Nonduality
Tomorrow, I will continue to be. But you will have to be very attentive to see me. I will be a flower, or a leaf. I will be in these forms and I will say hello to you. If you are attentive enough, you will recognize me, and you may greet me. I will be very happy.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
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In contemplating bacteria that lives on our face, hands, arms, and inside our stomach we reveal one way to comprehend the truth that there is no real line that can be drawn where the person ends and environment begins. Contrary to the view from our level of perception, that there is a clear barrier of skin between us and environment, as we get down to smaller levels, we find that both are composed of the same molecular material, and that all are tied into extremely complex systems; systems which, like the nervous system or human body, are existences in their own right. Similarly, at larger levels beyond our immediate perception, we find that all things are connected. For example, our breath. It turns out that a forest on the other side of the world created this oxygen, carried over the ocean by trade winds, and this oxygen becomes the power in our blood used to move, to build temples and pyramids and homes, and so on. After we breathe out, CO2 continues on in a complex chain of connection infinitely. Contemplating Unity and the boundaries of self is a definite part of ones spiritual and philosophical growth.
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I made a thing.
This is not mine. This I am not. This is not my self. netaṃ mama. nesohamasmi. na meso attā.
It's a quote from the Buddhist Discourses. It's about non-self and usually relates to the five aggregates. It's sort of like that recent thing "you don't have a soul, you are a soul, you have a body" except this goes a little further.
Your body is not your self, it is form, which is impermanent and dependant on the world around you.
Your feelings aren't your self, they are impermanent and dependent on the events that happen around you and your perceptions of them.
Your perceptions are not your self, they are impermanent and dependant on the world around you.
Your volitional formations, or 'will' is not your self, it is impermanent and dependent on your desires and cravings for the things in the world around you and a desire for them to be permanent, which they are not.
Your consciousness is not your self, it is impermanent and dependent on there being a world around you to be aware of and the world around you is form, which is impermanent.
The second part is the same thing but in Pali, the language that the Buddha spoke.
I find the quote really calming, especially when having anxiety or panic attacks. It helps to remove me from the situation and help me look at what's going on from this non-self point of view. If I'm having nausea and it's causing me to panic, I can think about how this body is not mine, not I, not self, and the feeling of nausea is not mine, not I, not self, Then I can meditate on the phenomenon of the nausea and look at it as if it were just signals in a system rather than something that's causing a life threatening situation, which is what the panic is trying to tell me.
I made the script by tracing sections of a Burmese Palm Leaf Pali manuscript from the late 19th century. I really liked how it looked. I formed latin letters out of the shapes. I think it came out looking neat. Then I made a second one where I just put the latin text onto a similar format as the palm leaf.
Suddhipanthaka
Suddhipanthaka was one of Sakyamuni’s most famous disciples. He was dull by birth, unable to remember even his own name. One day Sakyamuni found him crying and asked him kindly, “Why are you so sad?”
Suddhipanthaka lamented, “Why was I born stupid?”
“Cheer up,” said Sakyamuni. “You are aware of your foolishness, but there are many fools who think themselves wise. Being aware of one’s stupidity is next to enlightenment.”
He handed Suddhipanthaka a broom and instructed him to utter just two words while he worked, He was told to simply repeat the two words, “sweep” and “clean” over and over.
Once during those twenty years, Sakyamuni complimented Suddhipanthaka on his persistence and determination. “No matter how many years you keep sweeping, you grow no better at it, and yet that does not cause you to give up. As important as making progress is, persevering in the same endeavor is even more important. It is an admirable trait—one that I do not see in my other disciples.”
In time, Suddhipanthaka realized that dust and dirt accumulated not only where he thought they would, but in places he least expected. He thought, “I knew I was stupid, but there’s no knowing how much more of my stupidity exists in places I don’t even notice.”
In the end Suddhipanthaka attained the enlightenment of an arhat, a very high stage. Besides encountering a great teacher and true teachings, it was his long years of effort and perseverance that was his crowning success.
The practice of ritualized cleaning is related to discarding illusions, ignorance and the Buddhist understanding of ‘nonself’. What we view as our personalities are merely illusions created by our egos: “The characters for ‘human being (人間 Nin Gen)’ in Japanese mean ‘person 人’ and ‘between 間.’ Human being ‘a person in between.’
Thus, I as a human being exist, only through my relations with others—people such as friends, colleagues, and family. As a person, I have certain traits, facial expressions and behaviors, but these arise only through my interaction and connections with other people. This is the Buddhist concept “en” or “interdependence.”
Namo Amida Butsu
Rev. Tatsuya Aoki Bishop of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada
