No Such Thing as Suffering

"Just as waves, foam and bubbles are not different from water, so all this
 that has emanated from oneself, is no other than oneself."  ~Ashtavakra Gita

The dream of the world can be very convincing
at times... but only because we believe it is real.
We know what it is to wake up from sleep.
Now it's time to wake up from
 the waking dream!

The great thing about the truth
is that by just hearing it,
it can set you free.
Recognize the truth in 
Candice O'Denver's transmission:

Affliction - 6.28.12 from Balanced View Candice on Vimeo.


"There are no rituals you have to go through.
There are no prayers you have to chant.
You simply have to awaken to your true nature,
Pure Awareness,
Nirvana,
Bliss,
Consciousness.
This is what you are right at this moment.

~from Silence of the Heart by Robert Adams

Squirrels never left paradise.

Just Stop Thinking

Freedom is always available... 

and every squirrel lives this way!

It sounds so easy... just stop thinking for a moment

and allow whatever is happening. Just rest!

Watch this video clip from Barfly.  The bartender 

gives great advice to Charles Bukowski (Mickey Rourke).

Wisdom is everywhere!

 To paraphrase Byron Katie, 

"If you put all your thoughts in a big wicker basket

 and look inside, what do you see?

You see a big basket of....

NOTHING!"

"All evolution is a process of making something

out of nothing."

-George Bernard Shaw

Innocence

Whenever we look at the sweet little faces

 of baby animals, our hearts just melt!  

What is it about innocence that is so attractive? 

  Perhaps it's the authenticity of an action 

without any contrivance that touches our heart!

  Watch this precious prairie dog. He 

beautifully exemplifies innocence!   

  

Mahatma Gandhi has said: 

"The greater our innocence, 

the greater our strength and the swifter 

our victory."

You probably remember the song, "Return to Innocence" by the group Enigma.  They borrowed this song from the Amis  tribe in Taiwan. The author is Difang, an elder that was named a national treasure of Taiwan.  He died in 2002 at 81 years of age. Difang and his wife Igay comprised the
 folk music duet that performed the original chant: 

In innocence you transcend the mind, 
and to transcend the mind is to
become the awakened one,
the enlightened one.


~OSHO

Just Enjoy the Ride

When I came back to Austin from India in 2006, I went to the trail to go for a run.  I had run every day for the last 30 years and thought this day would be like every other. 

But it wasn't.

"It" didn't want to run.  Very much like Forrest Gump in New Mexico with the mesas behind him...  he turned to his followers and said, "I'm tired. I'm gonna go home now."

This song describes this experience perfectly: 

 

Being Nothing... You Are Everything

Have you noticed how abundant the sources of nondual writings, satsangs, books, videos, etc.

that are available today?

Here are a few gems I found...

You live among illusions and in the world of apparitions.

But there is a reality.  You yourself are this reality,

but you don't know this.  

If you awaken to this reality you will see

that you are nothing

and being nothing you are everything.

-Kalu Rinpoche

This is exactly what my baby squirrel has been
 trying to show me all along!

Love is Not Two

When someone we love dies, leaves, moves out of our physical sphere....  we feel a lot of emotion.  Some call it sadness, heartache, grief, depression.

But what if...   it's just love? 

Another flavor of the One?   

Love can't be divided up into parts.

Love is one with everything.

Love includes all circumstances, emotions,

 feelings, and thoughts.

There is nothing that is not love.

Love is what holds the cosmos together.


If you've never seen the movie Griffin and Phoenix, 
I totally recommend seeing this love story.
It is a brilliant example of a couple's realization that love includes everything... 
even death.

 

 For a person who has realized this,

 all the labeling drops away and 

all that's left is love....  

it's all love and it's always been all love.

The only difference is now there's no more attempts to separate something out of the One and compare it, resist it or manipulate it. There's no doer to do any of that! That's why the awakened ones are so radiant! There's just no longer anyone to stop 

all that love shining through!

Not Two

If one could just remember the words, "Not two!"
in the midst of any unpleasant experience,
one could be saved from a lot of confusion and unnecessary struggle.


"Not two" is the meaning of the term 'nondual'.  It means that everything is part of the One... it's all part of the whole.  And to separate something out and label it as bad or something we must get rid of is the path of suffering!

Like Byron Katie says... "when you argue with reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time!"  


Think about it... if it's all part of the One, then you really couldn't get rid of anything because where would you put it? Anything outside of the One is still the One!  


Now if we substitute the term "God" for the One, we would see that God is everything and there is nothing that is not God! Wow! That puts a new spin on things!


No matter what happens, it is all part of God!  That means that there is nothing that is not good!  What we have is nonduality!


It's a great time to be on the planet because people are waking up to this realization all over the globe! It's 2012 and it's time everyone woke up from the dream of duality!  It started back in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve started to view paradise in terms of good and evil!  And we've had war ever since! Let's get on with it! Just a shift in perception to see that without the filter of duality, we are all as we are.... perfect.

All Things are Sacred

Each thing reveals the One,

the One manifests as all things.

To live in this Realization

is not to worry about perfection or non-perfection.

To put your trust in the Heart-Mind is to live 

without separation,

and in this non-duality you are one

with your Life-Source.

                                                                                                                            ~from the Third Zen Patriarch 


What is the One thing?
I call it squirrelove.... see for yourself!

Never underestimate the power of a baby squirrel

to open your heart!

The Trusting Mind

What could be better than love?

Nothing!

Well guess what?

There's nothing but love!

And it's my job to recognize that!

That's what my little friends here

are teaching me.

They are totally vulnerable,

live in the moment, 

and are totally free!

more from Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng-T'san:

" One thing, all things,

move among and intermingle without distinction.

To live in this realization

is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.

To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,

because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.

Words!

The Way is beyond language,

for in it there is

no yesterday

no tomorrow

no today."

  Certainly Seng-T'san must have been 

observing baby squirrels!

The Space of Love

Whatever appears in the moment

is for my awakening!

Seng-ts'an, the Third Chinese Patriarch said: 

"The Great Way is not difficult for those not attached to preferences.

When neither love nor hate arises,

all is clear and undisguised.

Separate by the smallest amount, however,

and you are as far from it as heaven is from earth.

If you wish to know the truth,

then hold to no opinions for or against anything.

To set up what you like against what you dislike

is the disease of the mind."

Even the slightest preference results 

in separation.  If I prefer one moment over another,

one emotional state over another,

one thought over another, or

one set of circumstances over another,

then I have lost my equanimity. 

I have entered the divisive world of comparison!

It's all equal!  It's all God!  It's all love!

If I'm feeling sadness and I label my experience:

"I am missing Bucky",

then I am not being present with myself! 

I have abandoned me!  No wonder I feel sad!

I've left my sweet self and preferred

a different reality with someone else.

In essence, I am saying, "This reality I'm experiencing

with myself isn't good enough!"

And that's the lie!

This reality is perfect.  Who I am, love-awareness, is

perfect with or without someone else present.

My well being is not dependent on anything external.

I am that which includes everything...
The Space of Love!

Every time I think some other place 

is where I want to be...

I miss where I am!

Right here... right now...

I am home!

Can I just rest in this?

 

"When no discriminating attachment arises,

the old mind ceases to exist!"

~3rd Patriarch