KNOW THAT EVERY HUMAN BEING MUST CROSS A VERY NARROW BRIDGE. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IS NOT TO BE OVERCOME BY FEAR. Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav, 1772-1810
Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen: Love and Work, edited by Steve Smith (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1989) ("My dog doesn't worry about the meaning of life. She may worry if she doesn't get her breakfast, but she does sit around worrying about whether she will get fulfilled or liberated or enlightened. As long as she gets some food and a little affection, her life is fine. But we human beings are not like dogs. We have self-centered minds which get us into plenty of trouble. If we do not come to understand the error in the way we think, our self-awareness, which is our greatest blessing, is also our downfall." Id. at 3. "I once said something in the zendo that upset a lot of people: I said, 'To do this practice, we have to give up hope.' Not many were happy about that. But what did I mean? I mean that we have to give up this idea in our heads that somehow, if we could only figure it out, there's some way to have this perfect life that is just right for us. Life is the way it is. And only when we begin to give up those maneuvers does life begin to be more satisfactory." "When I say to give up hope, I don't mean to give up effort...." Id at 13. "Zen is a subtle practice: even as we fight it and resist it and distort it, our concepts about it tend to destroy themselves. And slowly, in spite of ourselves, we begin to be interested in what practice realy is, as opposed to our ideas of what we think it should be. Rhe point of practice is exactly this clashing space in which my desires for my personal immortality, my own glorification, my own control of the universe, clash with what is. This moment occurs frequently in our lives: the moment when we feel irritability, jealousy, excitement--the clash between the way I want it and the way it is. 'I hate her noisy breathing. [I often have this thought during yoga class!] How can I be aware of what is when she does that?' 'How can I practice when the boys next door play rock and roll?' Every moment offers us a wealth of opportunities. Even on the calmest, most uneventful day we get many opportunities to see the clash between what we want and the way it really is." "All good practice aims to make our false dreams conscious, so that there is nothing in our physical and and mental experience that is unknown to us. We need not only know our anger, we need to know our own personal ways of handling our anger. If a reaction is not conscious we can't look at it and turn away from it. Each defensive reaction (and we have one about every five minutes) is practice. If we practice with the thoughts and physical sensations that comprise that reaction, we open to wholeness, or holiness, if you want to call it that. In good practice we are always transforming from being personally centered (caught in our personal reactions) to being more and more a channel for universal energy, this energy that shifts the universe a million times a second. In or phenomenal lives what we see is impermanence, the other side is something else; we won't give it a name. When we practice well we are increasingly a channel for this universal energy, and death loses its sting." Id. at 112-113.).
Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special: Living Zen, with Steve Smith (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993) ("Most of us (myself included at times) are like children: we want something or somebody to give us what a small child wants from its parents. We want to be given peace, attention, comfort, understanding. If our life doesn't give us this we think. 'A few years of Zen practice will do this for me.' No, they won't. That's not what practice is about. Practice is about opening ourselves so that this little 'I' that wants and wants and wants and wants and wants--that wants the whole world to be its parents, really--grows up. Growing up doesn't interest us very much." Id. at 203. I think I may have the following ten letters tattooed onto the tips of my fingers, starting with the thumb on my left hand, and ending with the thumb on my right: JUSTGROWUP. Now, there's a good mantra.).
Tracy Chevalier, Burning Bright: A Novel (New York: Dutton, 2007).
Tracy Chevalier, Falling Angels: A Novel (New York: Dutton, 2001) ("'I know what's happening. I've read about it in books.' 'But you don't know what to do, do you? That's what important, what you do about it. Who cares what it is? "Deeds not words," ain't that what your mum's always saying?'" Id. at 192.).
Tracy Chevalier, The Lady and the Unicorn: A Novel (New York: Dutton, 2004) ("Yet I kept thinking, How could I ever have worried about the doglike lions and fat unicorns and oranges that looked like walnuts when these Ladies were here? They were all of them beautiful, peaceful, content. To stand among them was to be part of their magical, blessed lives. What unicorn would not be seduced by them?" Id. at 233.).
Tracy Chevalier, Remarkable Creatures: A Novel (New York: Plume, 2009, 2010) ("Was it so very obvious that I was not married? Of course it was. For one thing, I had no husband with me, looking after and indulging me. But there was something else about married women that I had noticed, their solid smugness at not having to worry about the course of their future. Married women were set like jelly in a mold, whereas spinsters like me were formless and unpredictable." Id. at 20. "Colonel Birch's amateurism appalled me. For all ... his supposedly robust military constitution ready for all hardship, he was not a scrabbler in the mud in search of specimens. He found his through his wallet, or his charm, or by picking them off others.... [H]e was a collector rather than a hunter, buying his knowledge rather than seeking it with his own eyes and hands...." Id. at 162. "A woman's life is always a compromise." Id. at 269.).
Tracy Chevalier, The Virgin Blue: A Novel (New York: Plume, 1997, 2003) ("It was a funny thing: once you tell your story to others it becomes more like fiction and less like truth. A layer of performance is added to it, removing you further from the real thing." Id. at 226.).
Anita Diamant, Day After Night: A Novel (New York: Scribner, 2009, 2010) ("'Our plan? That was more of a game, a nice little story we old each other, Leonie said. 'Making plans is a game. Life chooses for you.' 'Do you really believe that? That we are like leaves floating on the river, wherever it takes us?' 'That is not a bad thing,' said Leonine. 'It is not a good thing either. That's just how it goes.'" Id. at 92.).
Anita Diamant, Good Harbor: A Novel (New York: Scribner, 2001, 2002) ("The doctor who did the D&C said, 'Don't worry, hon. We'll get you past this and within a year you'll have a healthy baby and forget this ever happened.' After he left, the nurse snorted in disgust. 'What a crock of horse manure,' she'd said, crossing her arms. 'Losing a baby is a heartbreak that you never forget.' Nurse Phyllis Burkey was a woman Joyce remembered with fierce affection. 'It sucks, ' Phyllis Burkey said, 'and don't let anyone try to tell you different.'" Id. at 74.).
Anita Diamant, The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel (New York: Scribner, 2005, 2006).
Anita Diamant, The Red Tent: A Novel (New York: Picador, 1997) ("If you want to understand any woman you must first ask about her mother and then listen carefully. Stories about food show a strong connection. Wistful silences demonstrate unfinished business. The more a daughter knows the details of her mother's life--without flinching or whining--the stronger the daughter." Id. at 2. "'The great mother whom we call Innana is a fierce warrior and Death's bridemaid. The great mother who we call Innana is the center of pleasure, the one who makes women and men turn to one another in the night. The great mother who we call Innana is the queen of the ocean and the patron of the rain.... The great mother whom we all Innana gave a gift to women that is not known among men, and this is the secret of blood. The flow at the dark of the moon, the healing blood of the moon's birth--to men, this is flux and distemper, bother and pain. They imagine we suffer and consider themselves lucky. We do not disabuse them.... in the red ten, the truth is known. In the red tent, where days pass like a gentle stream, as the gift of Innana courses through us, cleansing the body, of last month's death, preparing the body to receive the new month's life, women give thanks--for repose and restoration, for the knowledge that life comes from between our legs, and that life cost blood.'" Id. at 157-158. "I knew that the priests and magicians ... were fools and charlatans for promising to prolong the beauties of life beyond the world we are given. Death is no enemy, but the foundation of gratitude, sympathy, and art. Of all life's pleasures, only love owes no debt to debt." Id. at 320. "There no magic to immortality." Id. at 321.).
Jim Fergus, One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd: A Novel (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1998) ("Today our train has been stopped for several hours while a number of the men aboard indulge in a bit of 'sport'--the shooting of dozens of buffalo from the train windows.... I can't help but think once agin what a foolish, loutish creature is man. Is there another on earth that kills for the pure joy of it?" Id. at 41.).
Jim Fergus, The Wild Girl: The Notebooks of Ned Giles, 1932: A Novel (New York: Hyperion, 2005) ("It is another of my beliefs that our characters are forged at a very young age, and although our circumstances may certainly change dramatically in the course of our lives, our fundamental natures do not. All the self-improvement schemes, the twelve-step programs, the mood-stabilizing medications and therapies later, we are still more or less stuck with ourselves." Id. at 16. "Big Wade says the camera never lies, only the person behind the camera, and that the photographer's sole responsibility is to let the truth be revealed." Id. at 121. "What good then is a photograph if it cannot save a girl's life? And what good then is the truth?" Id. at 126. "The law of the jungle which I learned at a young age, and have been trying to escape ever since, is that we do what we must do to survive." Id. at 250.).
David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri), Mantra Yoga and Primal Sound: Secrets of Seed (Bija) Mantras, with a foreword by Thomas Ashley-Farrand (Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press, 2010).
Lobsang Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life, edited and with a foreword by Nicholas Vreeland, and an afterword by Khyongla Rato & Richard Gere (Boston: Back Back Books, 2001, 2002) ("Nonviolence does not mean that we remain indifferent to a problem. On the contrary, it is important to be fully engaged. However, we must not harm the interests of others. Nonviolence therefore is not merely the absence of violence. It involves a sense of compassion and caring. It is almost a manifestation of compassion. I strongly believe that we must promote such a concept of nonviolence at the level of the family as well as at the national and international levels. Each individual has the ability to contribute to such compassionate nonviolence." Id. at 11. "I do feel that it is important for spiritual practitioners to adopt a stance against strong emotions such as anger, attachment, and jealousy and devote themselves to developing restraint. Instead of allowing ourselves to indulge in occurrences of strong emotions, we should work at decreasing our propensity toward them. If we ask ourselves whether we are happier when angry or when calm, the answer is evident. [T]he troubled mental state that results from afflictive emotions immediately disturbs our inner equilibrium, causing us to feel unsettled and unhappy. In our quest for happiness, our main aim should be to combat these emotions. We achieve this only by applying deliberate and sustain efforts over a long period of time--we Buddhists would say many successive lifetimes." Id. at 75-76. "An open heart is an open mind. A change of heart is a change of mind." Id. at 84. "What is compassion? Compassion is the wish that others be free of suffering. It is by means of compassion that we aspire to attain enlightenment. It is compassion that inspires us to engage in the virtuous practices that lead to Buddhahood. We must therefore devote ourselves to the developing compassion." Id. at 91.).
Michele Hebert, The Tenth Door: An Adventure Through the Jungle of Enlightenment (Austin, TX: Emerald Book Co., 2011) ("There's a lot to be gained from a good Hatha Yoga class..., but Walt's approach was unique. He used asanas not as ends in themselves, but rather as means to greater ends." Id. at 68. "To take a pose without mindful attentiveness is not true Hatha Yoga. To take a pose without monitoring the breath is not true Hatha Yoga. To hold a pose with the mind wandering or whining, thinking all the while, 'I wish it were over, I wish it were over'..., is not yet mastering the practice of Hatha Yoga. Without the right intention and attitude, you can exercise the body in this rudimentary way by moving it this way and that, and this certainly yields some benefits--you become more supple, for example, and your spine strengthens--but for all the good you are doing your spirit, you might as well be walking a treadmill." Id. at 107-108.).
Jamgon Kongtrul, The Great Path of Awakening: The Classic Guide to Lojong, A Tibetan Buddhist Practice for Cultivating the Heart of Compassion (Shambhala Classics), translated from the Tibetan by Ken McLeod (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2005) ("Give up any hope of results. Give up the hope of subduing gods and demons by meditating on mind training, or the hope that you will be considered a good person when you try to help someone who has hurt you. These are hypocritical attitudes. In a word, give up all hope of any result that concerns your welfare, such as the desire for fame, respect, happiness, and comfort in this life, the happiness experienced in the human or god realms in future lives, or the attainment of nirvana for yourself." Id. at 32-33. "Learn to meet three challenges. The first challenge is to recognize disturbing emotions. Then, to overcome them. The final challenge is to cut their continuity. Therefore, you should train to meet these challenges. First, recognize disturbing emotions for what they are as soon as they arise. Then, stop them by taking corrective measures. Finally, be decisive in your attitude that such disturbances will never arise again." Id. at at 39. Those three challenges are rough for me!).
Noelle Perez-Christianes, Sparks of Divinity: The Teachings of B. K. S. Iyengar from 1959 to 1975 (Berkeley, CA: Rodmell Press, 2012) ("I am not a yogi, I am on a path. How can anyone say he arrived?" Id. at 38. "Everybody should live quietly, whether his experiences are happy or sad, whether they are successes or failures. That is contentment." Id. at 46. "The yogi, through certain postures, is supposed to be able to eliminate the cobra's poison, death even. It is symbolism: the yogi eliminates toxins, moral and physical impurities, and does not fear death any longer, that's all." Id. at 50. "Yoga is effort. Only practice is important. The rest of knowledge is only theory." Id. at 57. "People may speak of truth and the essence of life, but inside they are jealous, selfish, and like to save their skin." Id. at 79. "About the Scorpion pose: The yogi, by stamping on his head with his feet, attempts to eradicate the self-destroying emotions and passions. By kicking his head, he seeks to develop humility, calmness, and tolerance and thus be free of ego. The subjugation of ego leads to harmony and happiness." Id. at 80. "During a posture, suffer now, cry later." Id. at 92. "No pain, no gain in life. This one should know. Nothing comes with ease. Of any have that notion, they are wrong." Id. at 99. "Yoga is an individual practice but can also be done in society." Id. at 157. "Yoga becomes spiritual when the mind sees what is taking place. If the mind is not seeing, it is physical yoga." Id at 158. "Humbleness is the art of learning." Id. at 161. "The beginning of humility is to say, 'I know nothing, even about the first pose.'" Id. at 163. "For a wrong done by others, men demand justice, while for that done by themselves, they plead for mercy and forgiveness. The yogi, on the other hand, believes that for a wrong done by himself there should be justice. while for that done by another there should be forgiveness. He knows and teaches others how to live. Always striving to perfect himself, he shows them by his love and compassion how to improve themselves." Id. at 181. "The young, the old, the extremely aged, even the sick and the infirm obtain perfection in yoga by constant practice. Success in yoga is not obtained by the mere theoretical reading of sacred texts. Success is not obtained by wearing the dress of a yogi or a sannyasin, nor by talking about it. Constant practice alone is the secret of success. Verily, there is no doubt about this." Id. at 184.).
Chandra Prasad, Breathe the Sky: A Novel, Inspired by the Life of Amelia Earhart (Deadwood, OR: Wyatt-MacKensie Publishing, 2009) ("A.E. doesn't like to be pressured. She gets enough of that from her husband. Then and there, she decides not to expend effort arguing with Mantz. When she takes off for the trip of her life, Mantz will still be on the ground. She'll be the one at risk. Thus, she should be the sole decision-maker. If her decisions end up to be poor ones, well, she will take responsibility for them. She's always preferred to skip her homework, and get her learning from the trials and errors of life." Id. at 99.).
Chandra Prasad, On Borrowed Wings: A Novel (New York & London: Atria Books, 2007) ("'Do you fly because you're bored with your husband?' someone else wanted to know.' Among the snickers, Amelia let out a hearty laugh. 'I fly because I want to, that's why. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When we fail, our failure must be a challenge to others.'" Id. at 218.).
Chandra Prasad, ed., Mixed: An Anthology of Short Fiction on the Multiracial Experience, with an Introduction by Rebecca Walker (New York & London: Norton, 2006) ("All of us, whether we're conscious of it or not, compartmentalize people so that we can more readily place them along the continuum of what is personally comprehensible." Id. at 7-8. "Just what is the state of the mulatto nation?" "Well, if this collection is any indication, the mulatto nation is still rife with pathos. Even though a few of these short stories suggest the possibility of looking at our plight with an eye toward the glass half full, we're far from arrived. Emotional cruelty, rape, abduction, and excommunication punctuate these pages like poison. Broken friendships, destroyed marriages, and devastated families haunt the space that's left, while alienation, guilt, and especially anger lurk furtively in the subtext. Apparently, even though it's hip to be mixed, it still doesn't feel very good." Id. at 15.).
Swami Rama, Living with the Himalayan Masters (Honesdale, PA: Himalayan Institute, 1978, 1999) ("It is important to make one's life creative and helpful, but before doing so one should make contact with his own potentials deep within by disciplining himself and gaining control over his mind, speech, and action. If discipline such as that taught in the cave monasteries is practiced even for a few years, the flower of life will bloom forever. A person who has gained such self-mastery lives in the world and yet remains above it, unaffected by worldly fetters and problems." Id. at 39. "Fearlessness is also an essential prerequisite for attaining enlightenment. Great are those who are always fearless. To be completely free from all fears is one step on the path of enlightenment." Id. at 48. "Faith and determination, these two are essential rungs on the ladder of enlightenment. Id. at 50. "It is true that the highest of all companionship is the company of the real self. Those who learn to enjoy the real self within are never lonely." Id. at 55. "'Many people confuse attachment with love. But in attachment you become selfish, interested in your own pleasure, and you misuse love. You become possessive and try to gain the objects of your desire. Attachment creates bondage, while love bestows freedom. When yogis speak of non-attachment they are t reaching indifference, but are teaching how to genuinely and selflessly love others, Non-attachment, properly understood, means love....'" Id. at 58. I wonder whether I have ever been in love, or merely in attachment? "A selfish man always things and talks about himself. His selfishness makes him self-centred and miserable.... Those who build boundaries around themselves because of their ego problems invariably create suffering for themselves, but those who try to be constantly aware of their unity with others can remain happy and fearless, enjoying every moment of life. Those who are selfless, humble, and loving are the true benefactor of humanity." Id. at 69-70. "No matter where you live, live cheerfully. This is the mantra. Be cheerful at all times, even of you are behind bars. Anywhere you live, even if you have to go to a hellish place, create heaven there. Remember, my boy, cheerfulness is of your own making. It only requires human effort. You have to create cheerfulness for yourself. Remember this mantra of mine." Id. at 80. I will try to adopt the essence of this as my own mantra.).
John Stevens, Lust for Enlightenment: Buddhism and Sex (Boston & London: Shambhala, 1990) ("The great Zen master Sengai ... had plenty to say about sex. Sengai, too, warned of the dangers of debauchery. He did paintings of profligates ravaged by syphilis and wrote a poem on how to cure blind infatuation with pleasure girls: 'Keep in mind the ensuing autumn chill and the deathly frost form which there is o escape.' But his attitude toward sex was positive. Here is one of his Buddhist poems, which sums up th way many Zen people feel about love: Falling in love is dangerous, / For passion is the source of illusion; / Yet being in love gives life flavor, / And passions themselves / Can bring one to enlightenment." Id. at 108.).
Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, At the Eleventh Hour: The Biography of Sami Rama (Honesdale, PA: Himalayan Institute, 2001) ("'I pray to the Divinity in you, The core of spirituality is to know yourself at every level. You have a body, but you are not the body. You have a mind, but you are not the mind. Both body and mind are given to you as instruments to express the Divinity that shines in you. You are entitled [?] to have all the objects of the world at your disposal. The purpose of worldly prosperity is to make you comfortable. Worldly objects help you free your body and mind form inconveniences. If you learn to use the objects of the world skillfully, body and mind become a source of joy and do not present a barrier to your spiritual growth. But if you do not know how to put your worldly resources in the service of your body and mind, you live a miserable life. When you are deprived of wordily objects, you suffer, and when you are bombarded by wordily objects, you suffer. When you live a balanced life and learn of the art of becoming successful in the world without losing sight of the higher purpose and meaning of life, you become a source of happiness to yourself and others." Id. at 375-376.).
Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Touched By Fire: The Ongoing Journey of a Spiritual Seeker (Honesdale, PA: Himalayan Institute Press, 2005) ("It doesn't matter how we start our quest; what really matters is that we start, and through sustained study, self-reflection, and methodical practice, we continue refining our understanding of the meaning and purpose of life." Id. at 27. "The purpose of education is to unfold our dormant potentials, to help us become productive member of society, and to enable us to gather the tools and means to live happy, healthy, and joyful lives. But modern education is mainly geared toward developing the skills for earning money, for manufacturing, selling, and buying products, and for exploiting our innate desire for power and pleasure so that we can accumulate more and more worldly objects. I have yet to find a school where people can learn not only how to gather the objects of the world, but also to use them as tools and means to achieve true wealth-a healthy body and a joyful mind--and to further reinvest this wealth to find the meaning and purpose of life." Id. at 87. "A person with a pure heart is spontaneously and effortlessly in touch with the Divine within. This inner connection and the purity of this heart allows unconditional love to flow through him. Love supersedes regular laws of nature, including the law of karma that propels the wheel of destiny." Id. at 114. "'People build temples, churches, and mosques for God as though God is homeless and as if his home can be built by helpless people who depend on him. But in truth,' Swamiji continued, 'human beings are living temples of God....' 'Searching for God and being with God means to come in touch with the core of your own being, where the Lord of Life shines in full glory. And in that light you begin to see yourself and the world around you in an entirely different way. This is called enlightenment. When you have achieved that, the world is not a prison, and to be in this world is not a punishment. Taking care of this shrine within you is called puja [worship]. Entering the inner chamber of this shrine systematically is called yoga sadhana [spiritual practice]. Not being caught by the charms and temptations of the world is called overcoming obstacles to spiritual practice. Being in the company of the Lord of Life within is called samadhi [spiritual absorption]." Id. at 164-165 (quoting Swami Rama). "To initiate a true process of self-transformation, first you have to discipline yourself, Discipline means overcoming your carelessness. To start and complete any kind of task, spiritual or mundane, you have to organize your external and internal life. You can do so only when you are not careless. Sloth, inertia, procrastination, and all other negative tendencies receive their nourishment from one main fountain--carelessness." Id. at 216. "'Yoga means union, for it helps you re-establish a harmonious balance among different aspects of your being--body, mind, consciousness, the world within you, and the world outside you. It can help you explore unlimited potentials within yourself and ultimately find meaning and purpose in life here and now.' '...The system of philosophy and practice that can help you find meaning and purpose of life, and not let life go in vain, is called yoga....' 'Nowhere else than in yoga can you find such a simple, straightforward, and effective way of interacting with the world, becoming a healthy and happy person, and enjoying the objects of the world without getting lost in them. Yoga offers you the tools and means to have a successful and productive life without becoming a slave to your own success and productivity. Yoga is a way of self-mastery, for by practicing yoga, you become master of yourself--master of the world within and the world outside you.'" Id. at 191-192 (quoting Swami Rama).).
Kosho Uchiyama, Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice, translated from the Japanese and edited by Tom Wright, Jusho Warner, and Shohaku Okumura (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004) ("When we let go of our conceptions, there is no other possible reality than what is right now; in that sense, what is right now and here is absolute, it's undeniable. Not only that, this undeniable reality is at the same time the reality of life that is fundamentally connected to everything in the universe. This is undeniable reality. The truth to be derived from this is that right now is all-important." "Dwelling here and now in this reality, letting go of all the accidental things that arise in our mind, is what I mean by 'opening the hand of thought'." Id. at 12. "In the Suttanipata, one of the oldest Buddhist sutras, it is written, 'To depend on others is to be unstable.' And it the equally old Dhammapada is the passage, 'The foundation of the self is only the self.'" Id. at 22-23. "It seems to me that we spend all our lives playing with toys. It begins as soon as we are born. The first toy is the nipple of the milk bottle. When we are a little older, we turn to dolls and teddy bears. After that, it's do-it-yourself kits, cameras, and cars. At adolescence, we move on to sex, and then come study and research, competition and sports, along with earnestness in business and perhaps the search for fame. This is all just playing with toys! Right up to our death, we exchange one toy for another, and we end our lives having done nothing by play with toys." "Doing zazen means to actualize the reality of life. Zazen is the self which is only the self of the universe, without any playing with toys. Zazen is like the time just before death, when all the toys have been taken away. Yet, even then, we look around for something to play with, if only for an instant." Id. at 63. Is my yoga practice just another toy? Are am I using it to get closer to reality? "Regarding the question, 'What is a bodhisattva?' you could also define a bodhisattva as one who acts as a true adult. That is, most people in the world act like children.... Today most people who are called adults are only pseudo-adults. Physically, they grow up and become adult, but spiritually too many people never mature into adulthood. They don't behave as adults in their daily lives. A bodhisattva is one who sees the world through adult eyes and whose action are the actions of a true adult." Id. at 126-127. "Furthermore, you have to live out your life as your own responsibility. Ultimately, development and backsliding depend only on you. It really is pointless to say that you became rotten because of your circumstances, or that your education is responsible, or that the blame belongs to somebody else. The fundamental attitude of a practitioner [of the buddhaharma] must be to live out one's own whole self." You can spend your whole life oblivious of what's happening around you, or you can live your whole life with an aware mind. To live blindly is utterly meaningless. Bodhi-mind--or Way mind, or awakening mind--is that mind which constantly reminds you to wake up in the real sense. So, 'realizing that development and backsliding are your responsibility alone, endeavor to practice and develop'." Id. at 165.).
Morigei Ueshba, The Art of Peace (Shambhala Classics), translated from the Japanese and edited by John Stevens (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2002) ("The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then supply the Art to all that you encounter." Id. at 41. "The purpose of the Art of Peace is to fashion sincere human beings; a sincere human beings is one who has unified body and spirit, one who is free of hesitation or doubt, and one who understands the power of words." Id. at 43. "Those who practice the Art of Peace must protect the domain of Mother Nature, the divine reflection of creation, and keep it lovely and fresh. Warriorship gives birth to natural beauty. The subtle techniques of a warrior arise as naturally as the appearance of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Warriorship is none other that the vitality that sustain all life. [] A warrior is always engaged in a life-and-death struggle for peace." Id. at 49. "As soon as you concern yourself with the 'good' and 'bad' of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weakens and defeats you." Id. at 55. That is my Achilles heel. "The Art of Peace does not rely on weapons or brute force to succeed, instead, we put ourselves in tune with the universe, maintain peace in our own realms, nurture life, and prevent death and destruction. The true meaning of the term samurai is one who serve and adheres to the power of love." Id. at 61. "A true warrior is always armed with three things: the radiant sword of pacification; the mirror of bravery, wisdom, and friendship; and the precious jewel of enlightenment." Id. at 66. "Manifest yang / In your right hand, / Balance it with / The yin of your left, / And guide your partner." Id. at 71. "Each day of human life contains joy and anger, pain and pleasure, darkness and light, growth and decay. Each moment is etched with nature's grand design--do not try to deny or oppose the cosmic order of things." Id. at 75. "Be grateful even for hardship, setbacks, and bad people. Dealing with such obstacles is an essential part of training in the Art of Peace." Id. at 76. "We can no longer rely on the eternal teachings of Buddha, Confucius, or Christ. The era of organized religion controlling every aspect of life is over. No single religion has all the answers. Construction of shrine and temple buildings is not enough. Establish yourself as a living buddha image. We all should be transformed into goddesses of compassion or victorious buddhas." Id. at 89.).
Alberto Villoldo, The Four Insights: Wisdom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers (Carlsbad, CA, & New York, NY: Hay House, 2006) ("The wisdom of the Laika consists of four insights, each of which has four practices within it that allow us to move beyond mere understanding to actuality experiencing shifts in perception--thus, helping us to transform ourselves and our world. The insights and their practices are: Insight 1: The Way of the Hero. Practices: Nonjudgment, Nonsuffering, Nonattachment, Beauty. Insight 2: The Way of the Luminous Warrior. Practices: Fearlessness, Nondoing, Certainty, Nonengagement. Insight 3: The Way of the Seer. Practices: Beginner's Mind, Living Consequently, Transparency, Integrity. Insight 4: The Way of he Sage. Practices: Mastering Time, Owning Your Projections, Non-mind, Indigenous Alchemy." Id. at xx. "How many family rituals continue because everyone is convinced that they have to perform them in order to express their love and loyalty to their parents, children, and siblings? How many people spend their lives in meetings that have little practical purpose except to perpetuate the idea that productive individuals attend lots of important meetings? How many students force themselves to choose practical courses of study rather than following their heart's interest? When you banish the ghosts from your table and let go of your stories about what is 'proper,' 'appropriate,' and 'best,' you free yourself to explore the mystery of who you and the other people in your life truly are." Id. at 50-51. "None of your stories are true--they're just scripts you've created. They are not your life, because they keep you living in the past, stuck in a scripted role of misunderstood son, underappreciated artist, or victim of chronic illness. Even the empowering tales you'll learn to spin and use to replace the old, oppressive one will still be mere trail maps. They'll help you navigate through life and climb the mountain, but they're not the mountain itself." Id. at 57.).
B. Allan Wallace, The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind, foreword by Daniel Goleman (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2006).
Ian Whicher, The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana: A Reconsideration of Classical Yoga (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998) ("In its proper and philosophical context, ... Yoga refer to South Asian Indian paths of spiritual emancipation, or self-transcedence, that brings about a transmutation of consciousness culminating in liberation from the confines of egoic identity or worldly existence. Historically speaking, the most significant of all schools of yoga is the system of classical Yoga as propounded by Patanjali. It is also know as the 'perspective of yoga' (yoga-darsana) and is classified among the so-called six darsanas or philosophical traditions of orthodox Brahmanical Hinduism, the other five being Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya, Purva Mimamsa, and Vedanta (Uttara Mimamsa)." Id. at 6-7. "What impels the mind to move in the direction of virtue? It is the presence of rajas. The mind, being a composition of the tripartitie process, can never be without rajas and tamas. It is not, therefore, that in Yoga rajas and tamas are to be negated or abolished; rather, they are to be purified so that their presence as well as their effects (and affects) no longer obstruct the natural illuminating power intrinsic to sattva. In their natural state, rajas and tamas are essential and their measure is ideally sufficient to fulfill the purpose of sattva. When present within the limit of this measure, rajas initiates virtue, and so forth, and tamas imparts stability. What is initially intended by the discipline of Yoga is simply purification of mind so that rajas and tamas my be brought under the power of sattva. As such, sattva is then no longer dominated by the moral and mental processes of rajas and tamas. Vyasa shows .... the subtlety and the superiority of the sattva of consciousness, which functions as a 'bridge' on the 'path' to the untainted consciousness of purusa. The way and the journey in Yoga from a tamasic or rajasic disposition to a sufficiently sattvified one thus involves a highly moral process; it is not, as one scholar put it, an 'a-moral process.' Yoga does not succumb to an antinomian perspective but seeks to integrate, through an embodiment of being, an enlightened consciousness with an affectively and morally matured sense of identity and personhood." Id. at 125-126. "By transcending the normative conventions and obligations of karmic behavior, the yogin acts morally not as an extrinsic response and out of obedience to an external moral code of conduct, but as an intrinsic response and as a matter of natural, purified inclination. The stainless luminosity of pure consciousness is revealed as one's fundamental nature.... By the practice of a detached ethic, the yogin must transcend this ritualistic, self-centered mentality. This does not mean that the yogin loses all orientation for action. Dispassion (detachment) in its highest form... is defined by Vyasa as a 'clarity of knowledge.... It is attachment (and compulsive desire), not action itself, that sets in motion the low of moral causation (karma) by which a person is implicated in samsara. The yogin is said to be attached to neither virtue nor nonvirtue, and is no longer oriented within the egological patterns of thought as in the epistemically distorted condition of samyoga. This does not mean... that the spiritual adept or yogin is free to commit immoral acts, or that the yogin is motivated by selfish concerns." Id. at 284-285.).
