Being Water

Look at the example of water, see how water does not fight for itself.  See how it bends and flows, evaporates, and is a total example of non-resistance, non-effort, and non-striving.  And--as the Tao te Ching says, "there is nothing so powerful as water to erode a mountain".   Water's power lies in its total non-trying and it therefore follows the natural way of all things.  Water has no will, nor is it  predetermined...it just is as it is when you find it just like it is. Following the example of water we give up both willfulness and no-will.  We simply abide in the way things are.

On the Nature of Thought

First thoughts have no parents,
but all thoughts bare children.
All the offspring have no souls,
because at first there was no ancestor.
Thoughts arise to describe reality--
but it can't be done.

Thoughts are not trustworthy, and thoughts are also not an enemy.  Thoughts are just thoughts, they come and they go.  They, in and of themselves, have no reality or substance.  All thoughts arise first because we identify ourselves as some person, or some thing.  When we give rise to a single thought, it rises up first from the sense of 'I'.  From 'I' all thinking, conceptualizing, describing, opinions, and evaluations are derived.  Without first having that primary 'I' concept, all thoughts are irrelevant to the individual.  The only importance or significance that we give to thought is the degree to which we identify with what the thoughts are saying, "their stories".  And, actually, the less importance or attachment we give to our thoughts, the less thought runs our lives. When thought is no longer running the life, then one is free from the 'virtual' life, and living in the actuality of things...Reality.

On the other hand, thought is not to be made the enemy, because making thought bad entrenches the thinking even more than identifying with it.  It is only a thought that wants to get rid of another thought.  It is only an identification that sees a particular thought or concept as problematic.  Who you are cannot be determined by a thought, nor can who you are be determined by resisting thought.
It is actually possible to neither identify with thinking nor resist thought- but to simply recognize that thought is thought, it is impermanent, changing and ultimately unreliable.

The Ecstasy of this Moment

Ecstasy is simple, it is when we complicate it by attaching so many expectations and needs on our state that we actually distort the true simple ecstasy that's here now.  Expecting ecstasy is to overlook ecstasy, to wait on it is to postpone its right here right now reality.  Look for nothing to be better, and find that it is better than we could have made it. 
As the 6th Zen patriarch said, The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.
If we don't prefer ecstasy over anything else, we experience the ecstasy of this moment.  Ecstasy can even look like pain.  It can look like sadness. It can look like ecstasy.
Life itself is ecstasy.  Not our notion of ecstasy, that's a fantasy.
One cannot find the ecstasy of the present, one can only be it.  Finding would require that you were separate from it, but to be it is the simplest thing we could ever do.

Green Tea

Awakening is,
my cup of golden green tea
what else?
The Buddha didn't have anything
on my cup of tea--
flower wilts,
green tea strong

Life and Death

Life and death are the same, birth and life are the same.  Birth and death oppose each other, but life opposes nothing.  Life just is, it is all that there is.  It is a great error to think that you were born, or that you'll die.  Just as Life is never born and never dies, so too with you.  The body will die.  The Self that animates it cannot.  The Self and Life are the same. 
The fear of death is based on the assumption that because the body will die, you will die.  If you were aware that you could not die, what fear could touch you?
If we're really serious about discovering the truth of our existence we must look into this matter of life and death.  There is no getting to Nirvana without first holding this great question very dear. 
We must proceed beyond, to stare directly at our unborn essence, and to see that death is an imagination created from a primary imagination: a sense of separate self.
To find this separate self is to clear up the matter of life and death.  To dig down to the root and find out what this self is made of is to look directly at one's true nature. 
In order to live you must first die, and in order to die you must find out what is living.
No birth, no death, no self, no this, no that...only Life.

Reincarnation

As is often the case, words hold within them great truths, but it is our consciousness that must look deeply in order to see what is hidden within the words.  I find this word reincarnation particularly useful to reveal a deeper truth within our experience.  RE:  again  INCARNATION: coming into the flesh
We are all familiar with the traditional definitions of reincarnation...we die, we're reborn over and over until we reach liberation, right?
But that is all theory, very few of us have that direct knowledge.  There is though, a pointing to our actual direct experience right here, right now.  That pointing is to see how we constantly re-identify with our bodies, with our thoughts about our bodies, and the conditions that our bodies live in.  And I'm not just talking about superficial identification, "I strive to be attractive".  I am talking about the constant binding of 'I' with the body.  Our notion of our self is continually tied to the shifting changes of the body. 
In deep sleep, or even during an engaging movie, we temporarily drop the identification with the body, only to reincarnate again by re-identifying the body as 'me'.   We repeat this cycle a nearly infinite number of times until one day we stop and look, "what am I, really?"  If my body changes, and my mind changes, and my conditions change...what is it that does not change? 
To find that out is liberation...
The notion of ourselves as body, as mind, as conditions, is liberated from the bind of 'self'.
The cycle of reincarnation doesn't end in the future, it ends when we finally get interested in finding out what's True.
The Truth  reveals that there is nothing to reincarnate, and that there is only One that itself incarnates as all things... the reincarnation is not yours or mine.
That which believes itself to be in the flesh must find its non-existence to be liberated, and upon liberation realizes Itself to be that which exists infinitely and eternally.

What is Spiritual Awakening?

Spiritual awakening is the realization that this life that we believe is so real and so unchanging is but a dream.  It is the realization that one is not one's body, nor mind, nor circumstances.  It is the realization of what has always been here, and what has never left.  It is a great mystery, beyond description...there is no proof for it, no sign or pathway to it....it is found only right here, right now. 
I may stick out my finger and say there it is, but I will fail....
You may have an experience and say here it is, but you'll lose it....
Spiritual awakening is a moment to moment recognition of the impermanence of all things, the transitory nature of oneself, and the ever present aliveness in the Heart of all beings.

Spiritual awakening is a great paradox, because it happens--and yet it is Here all along.  It must be fought for, strived for....but it is already naturally one's own nature.
Waking up is not about living as any other human being has lived, not Buddha, not Christ.  It is about living as you, just ordinary, simple you.
It is the discovery of the untouched, incorruptible nature of your Self, and the death of everything that you have believed you were.  It is the death of a past and death of a future. 
It is you, It is Here, Now.
What else could you want?

Meditation

Meditation is the discovery of Self.  We sit down to meditate and what we first come in contact with is the huge momentum of everything that we think we are.  This means everything from thoughts and feeling that we had as children up to who we think we are in the present.  But, these thoughts and feelings are always shifting, changing and dying.  Our image of ourselves, and all that we imagine when we say "me" is what immediately arises when we sit down, close our eyes and do this thing called meditate.
Meditation has nothing to do with quieting the mind or stopping thinking, this is the misconception that many people have.  Meditation is about discovery what is presnt regardless of thought.  It is about finding what those thoughts and feelings occur within...what is it that experiences "my" experiences?
To become aware of thought can be very useful, just as becoming aware of emotion can be useful, but if we never stop to find out WHO these thoughts and emotions belong to then we never really get to the core of the matter.
To get to the core of the matter we must begin to be interested in finding out "what is my self"  what am I referring to when I say "I".  Is it just this bag of bones?  Is it my thoughts? Is it how I feel?
These are the questions that our meditation can be an alive investigation into.
Meditation is about discovering that there is no separate self, and to see that all the thoughts and feeling have pointed to an imagination... and in discovering your life imagining, one can find out who one truly is.
We can't talk about what you find there.
That discovery is meditation Itself.

True Support

We can really be a true support for one another when we've given up feeding each other's stories.  When we are supporting the wholeness of one another, and not the division-the division of separate me's and you's with our own life dramas. I cannot support you and at the same time try to change you.
If anything, we support each other to see our own wholeness and that of all beings.  I cannot advise you, or teach you your own wholeness but I can encourage you to discover it for yourself. In that sense we cannot help one another, because we are That which needs no help.  We are the answer before any question arises. 
So I have a very deep trust that not only is the answer within you, but that you can experience even the deepest pains, failures, and grief and remain completely unscathed.  So I will encourage you to fail, to experience your pain directly so that you can see that you are untouched by it all.
You are the indestructible Oneness of all things, what could harm you?
It is only after we have been willing to plunge into the heart of despair that we can discover the true nature of one's Self.  That is our true support to one another, the deep trust and invitation to that realization.  Forever, we expand Self into Self, all separation being seen as illusory.  True support is recognizing the wholeness of each other, not settling for the illusion.

Pleasure and Spaciousness

So many of the people I talk with really believe that they want spiritual awakening, and with a little looking find out that what they're really after is pleasure. We think we want Truth, but what we usually want is to feel better. Which is perfectly normal. However, what I often see is that as soon as one feels better, the desire for Truth (or awakening) suddenly seems unimportant.
It is important that we strive to feel better, but mistaking the desire for spiritual awakening for pleasure is like mistaking a band aid for total health.
Pleasure is great, I encourage it...but to believe that pleasure, or feeling good, will last in the long run is to invite yourself over and over into suffering.
The happiness or fulfillment of awakening is much more like spaciousness. In open space there is a sense of clarity, openness, freedom, and of non-changing.
So let's be very very clear about what it is that we're after...
Do we just want one more good feeling?
One more experience?
Real spaciousness and what is discovered in authentic spiritual awakening is really the end of all that. It is the end of seeking one more good anything. It is the end of the drive to find more, better, or different experiences. This is what the Buddha was talking about when he mentioned Nirvana. Nirvana means 'Extinction' not 'Heavenly Candy Store'.
When we get clear on that, then we can finally shift our focus away from 'me', and what will 'make me feel better' onto real spiritual awakening and real insight. This is the wilingness to bear pain, to bear hardship, to bear suffering without running for a dose of pleasure.
Then, one's life can be used...
And with that comes no greater satisfaction.

No Understanding Needed

To be who you Truly are requires that you understand nothing. All understanding is related to some object or some phenomenon. Learning and understanding can, of course, be tremendously useful, but to find out who you are understanding only gets in the way.
To understand something, there must be an understander. So, to understand one's self requires a someone to understand. This makes two. But clearly there is only one self here, right?

Silence itself reveals you to your Self. It gives a moment of rest to the endless machinations of understanding, and transmits the true power within oneself. A power that empties out all understanding, all notion, all ideas, and leaves one available to live a life filled with happiness, peace, and gratitude. Until the quest to understand is dropped, and I mean fully and completely dropped, we toil in our endeavor to find what can only be found in Silence. When we allow Silence to be the only thing present, it is quite clear that no understanding is needed at all.

Happiness Can't Be Found

How would one go about finding what is only and always already present in one's self naturally?