Darkness
has been given as
a nightshirt to sleep in.
Remember how human beings
were composed from water and dust
for blood and flesh with oily resins heated
in fire to make a skeleton. Then the soul, the divine
light, was breathed into human shapes. The work now is
to help our bodies become pure light. It may look like
this is not happening. But in a cocoon every bit
of worm-dissolving slime becomes silk.
As we take in light, each part
of us turns to
silk.
We
made the night
a darkness, but we bring
shining dawnlight out of that.
In the same way the mound of your
grave will bloom with resurrection. Sufis
and those on the path of the heart use darkness
to go within. During the night vigil the universe
is theirs. With all the kings and sultans and
their learned counselors asleep, everyone
is unemployed, except those wakeful
few and the divine
presence.
sing in the dark and try to forgive
In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing.
About the dark times.
—Bertolt Brecht
There will be prayer, too,
but to a different god,
and dread will lurk
in the songs we sing.
Doom in the timpani
no matter what the tune,
the tune a variation
on the theme of doom.
We will sing in the dark
and try to forgive
and try not to dwell
on the lives we lived.
The music we play
will be a funeral song,
the poetry we speak,
that ancient tool
we used to believe
was the vital spark,
or if not the spark,
will be the match we strike
again and again
in the darkest dark.
decide now to be free
You
have to decide
right now to be free
once and for all. Everyone who
has found freedom in this lifetime has
had to make this decision. Now is the time
to have a direct introduction to this moment.
This moment is free of time, of mind, of any notions.
When one abides as the Self, some divine power
takes charge of one’s life. All actions then take
place spontaneously, and are performed
very efficiently, without any
mental effort or
activity.
you must realize what is at stake here
You must realize
that what is at stake here
does not reside in words and phrases:
it is like sparks from struck flint, like the brilliance
of flashing lightning. However you mange to deal
with this, you cannot get around losing
your body and life.
roads for entering the path
Bodhidharma taught:
There are many roads for entering the Path,
but in essence they do not go beyond two kinds: one is
entering through inner truth, and the other is
entering through
practice.
Entering through inner truth
means using the Teachings to awaken to the source.
It means deep belief that living beings both ordinary and
sage share one and the same reality-nature; it is just
because of the false covering of alien dust
that it is not manifested.
If you abandon the false and return to the real,
concentrate your attention and gaze like a wall, then there
is no self and others, and ordinary and sage are equal. Firmly abiding
and unmoving, you no longer fall into the verbal teachings. This is
tacit accord with the real inner truth: without discrimination,
it is still and nameless. This is called “entering
through inner truth.”
Entering through practice
refers to the Four Practices — all other practices
are contained within these. What are the Four Practices?
First, the practice of repaying wrongs. Second, the practice of
going along with the causal nexus. Third, the practice of
not seeking anything. Fourth, the practice of
according with the Dharma.
What is the practice of repaying wrongs?
When receiving suffering, a practitioner who cultivates
the Path should think to himself: “During countless ages past I
have abandoned the root and pursued the branches, flowing into the
various states of being, and giving rise to much rancor and hatred —
the transgression, the harm done, has been limitless. Though I do
not transgress now, this suffering is a disaster left over
from former lives — the results of evil deeds have
ripened. This suffering is not something
given by gods or humans.”
You should willingly endure the suffering
without anger or complaint. The sutra says: “Encountering
suffering, one is not concerned. Why? Because one is conscious of the
basic root.” When this attitude toward suffering is born, you are in
accord with inner truth, and even as you experience wrongs,
you advance on the Path. Thus it is called
“the practice of repaying wrongs.”
Second is the practice
of going along with the causal nexus.
Sentient beings have no selves, but are trans formed
in a manner causally linked to their deeds. They receive both
suffering and happiness — both are born from causal conditions.
If we get good rewards, glory and fame and the like, this is brought
about by past causes. We receive them now, but when the causal nexus
is ended, they will not be there — how can we rejoice? Gain and loss
follow the causal nexus: Mind is neither augmented nor
diminished. If the wind of joy at gain and sorrow at
loss does not stir, you deeply accord with the
Path. Thus it is called “the practice
of going along with the
causal nexus.”
Third, the practice of not seeking anything.
Worldly people are always deluded, craving everything,
becoming attached everywhere. This is called “seeking.” The wise
awaken to the real. Using inner truth, they reach the conventional
world. Pacifying mind without contrived activity, changing
shape as they go, the myriad states of being are thereby
emptied, and there is nothing wished
for to take joy in.
Along with this, the darkness
of “meritorious deeds” contrived based
on dualistic views is forever banished. Dwell for long
in the triple world?— it is like a house on fire. All who have bodies
suffer — who can find peace? When this is completely comprehended,
thoughts of the various states of being cease and there is no seeking.
The sutra says: “All who seek, suffer. If there is no seeking,
only then is there bliss.” Thus we know that not seeking
anything is truly
a practice of the Path.
Fourth, the practice of according
with the Dharma. The Dharma, the Teaching of Reality,
is based on the inner truth of the inherent purity of all things’
true identity. By this inner truth the multitude of forms are all empty:
there is no defilement, no attachment, no this, no that. The sutra
says: “The Dharma has no sentient beings, because it is
detached from the impurity of sen tient beings.
The Dharma has no self, because it is
de tached from the impurity
of self.”
If the wise can believe
and understand with certainty this inner truth,
they ought to practice in accord with the Dharma. The body
of the Dharma is not stingy with the physical body and life. This is
practicing giving: let there be no stinginess or holding back in the heart.
Realizing that the one receiving the gift, the giver, and the gift itself
are all empty, you don’t depend on them or get attached to them.
They are just used to get rid of impurities, and embrace
and transform sentient beings, without
grasping
at forms.
This is benefiting oneself
and also being able to benefit others,
and being able to adorn the Path of Enlightenment.
Since the perfection of giving is thus, so are the other five
(the perfection of morality, patient endurance, energetic progress,
meditation, and wisdom). To practice the six perfections to
remove false thinking, and yet to have nothing that
is practiced — this is the practice of
according with the Dharma.
Records of the Teachers and Students of the Lanka