This short post is an excerpt from a recent skype conversation.

Do not blame anyone else or any outside situation for your perceived lack of progress on your spiritual path. There is no assignment of fault, other than your wish to find the right words that will someday set you free.

Try not to feel so bad, though. There is certainly no lack of trying on your part. But what has your conformity and adherence to the words of others done for you? If you are in a frustrated state of mind, how did you arrive there? Is it due to your hope for liberation through conformity?

Everything coming into your life, whether helpful or harmful, teaches. And this teaching is unique and personal to where you stand at any given moment. It can never happen again, to anyone else, at any time, in the way it is happening to you now.

Your teaching is constantly with you, but why can’t you see it?

What is with you when your mother dies, when your spouse leaves you for another, when your child has to undergo surgery, or when lose your job? The only thing consistently present is you, and how you come up against the world around you. That is the greatest teacher of all, and the only spiritual teaching you’ll ever need.

Your own salvation will not come through acceptance of hand-me-downs and conformity. It is far more simple than any of that…

Our lives ebb and surge, retreat and advance, from the first breath, until our lives abate, falling into nothingness.

Some never truly live until their life is finished.

In life, one lives as the description, as the word, desperately seeking the proper punctuation to complete itself gracefully…

…a dream, searching for a dream-less state.

In death, one gives over everything freely, with no hope or expectation of return. It is compassion beyond thought. It is life beyond measure…

…a being, with no need to be anything.

Will you ever know the truth of death in life? Or will you wait until you are forced screaming, feeble and frail, into that final darkness?

Why wait?

The dream of the turtle is over, and life has already begun…

To sit, truly alone, is deeper than any experience; more powerful than any drug.

But can you do it?

Can you stand apart from your creations?

Can you leave the safety of your house and live without a roof or without walls?

Can you look past the prized possession, even for a second, to see if it truly exists at all?

Can you walk, devoid of your desire to conquer and destroy?

Only you will see this through to the end. You and no one else.

The beast rears its ugly head in communion with other beasts, but in solitude, it has no place to hide. It dies in the presence of nothing, and flowers spring up from its corpse.

There is no loneliness in solitude. Only alone-ness…

…and flowers.

This is just a quick note to remind everyone that my friend Tom Stine is holding a live online satsang on June 20th. The details are available on Tom’s site here: Live Satsang Online.

For those of you unfamiliar with this concept of satsang, Tom explains it well:

If you’ve never been to a satsang before, let me give you a brief overview of what it is and how I plan to do it. The word satsang means “coming together to talk about the truth.” Pretty straightforward. The format will be pretty straightforward, too: I will talk for about 20-45 minutes, and then I will answer questions and dialogue with anyone who wishes to speak with me.

It is sure to be a fine experience for those attending, and this will be Tom’s first satsang, so head over there and show him your support. I was planning on attending, but I will be in the mountains again for four days and won’t return until the 21st.

I’m happy Tom was able to finally get this off the ground, as I think he’s been planning something like this for some time.

Break a leg, Tom.

Takuin sat upstairs at the house in Toyama. Just sitting…looking. In those moments, he was the center of the unfolding universe. Every facet of life was contained within that small space.

It was all very simple…sitting and sitting, seeing shoji windows, moving outward in all directions, touching everything that has been, or ever will be.

But in sitting, one must be careful…

Takuin heard a loud thump on the window, shaking the shoji panes. He opened them to find a small bird on the sill. It had smashed into the window and landed on its back. Its head was twisted to one side; its breathing labored. He sat with this bird, watching its little chest move quickly up and down and its little eyes blinking.

A great deal of time passed. Eventually, its breathing slowed but did not stop. Still on its back, the bird moved its head into a forward position.

Suddenly, the bird sprang upright, but did not attempt to fly away. It looked at Takuin, and he looked at it.

They sat together for some time.

Occasionally, the bird would test its wings, curl its little toes, and give a little chirp attracting others of its own kind. But they did not stay for very long. Takuin and the little bird were alone together, watching and breathing.

It took a few small steps, each time looking back at Takuin. It took another step, then hopped onto the shingles of the roof below the window sill. It hopped again and looked back. Hopped again and looked back. Then it was gone.

Later that day, as Takuin went about his business in Toyama, he saw a small group of birds like the one on the window sill. They seemed very loud, and more excited than usual…

After returning to Tokyo, and just as Takuin was about to open his front door, he looked down and saw the bent feather of a crow in front of the door. It looked as if someone placed it there on purpose, at a precise angle.

Akiko said it was a message from the little bird…

Question for May 10th, 2010 from Anjali:

Is there a linear progression towards enlightenment? Can a person who seems most unlikely to get enlightened or uncover peace actually get enlightened or uncover peace one fine day, in spite of himself or herself?

I’d like to answer this in an audio post…sometimes a question does things to the mind that the fingers cannot handle well.

I really do enjoy these audio posts. And although I have not done many, I will do more in the future. If you have any suggestions on how to make them better, or any input at all, please do not hesitate to speak up. I am always happy to hear your suggestions and constructive criticisms.

(Note: For those reading this post through RSS or Email subscriptions, if you cannot see the audio player below, please click through to the post itself to listen.)

Listen below…

The heart beats. The blood moves. The lungs breathe.

Of that I am certain.

The beat of the heart is felt as a body-rippling pulse, not necessarily situated in a single location. One doesn’t feel it as rhythmic ‘beats’, but as a flowing movement.

The wave of the blood is felt as something energized, as if it carries electricity. It is constricted by spatial limitations, but those same limitations bring sensitivity to the organism.

The wind of the lungs is spiritus of the phenomenal. A beautiful combination of two physical elements, it inhales clarity and exhales confusion. One must dig deep to breathe fully.

Takuin is a limited creation, but its reach goes far beyond the physical. The beat of the heart is not merely confined to the chest, nor the blood to the veins, nor the breath to the lungs.

It can touch beyond the known, but only for an instant…an instant that never truly ends.

Never slowing, growing tired, or resisting the natural movement of life. It flows and flows and will continue to do so, until it doesn’t.

In the end, not a trace will remain.

A recent message from a reader and a friend. I thought it might be nice to share with all of you.

Takuin,

Please read this poem by Tagore. You might like it.

Upagupta

Upagupta, the disciple of Buddha, lay sleep in
the dust by the city wall of Mathura.
Lamps were all out, doors were all shut, and
stars were all hidden by the murky sky of August.
Whose feet were those tinkling with anklets,
touching his breast of a sudden?
He woke up startled, and a light from a woman’s
lamp fell on his forgiving eyes.
It was dancing girl, starred with jewels,
Wearing a pale blue mantle, drunk with the wine
of her youth.
She lowered her lamp and saw young face
austerely beautiful.
“Forgive me, young ascetic,” said the woman,
“Graciously come to my house. The dusty earth
is not fit bed for you.”
The young ascetic answered, “Woman,
go on your way;
When the time is ripe I will come to you.”
Suddenly the black night showed its teeth
in a flash of lightening.
The storm growled from the corner of the sky, and
The woman trembled in fear of some unknown danger.

A year has not yet passed.
It was evening of a day in April,
in spring season.
The branches of the way side trees were full of blossom.
Gay notes of a flute came floating in the
warm spring air from a far.
The citizens had gone to the woods for the
festival of flowers.
From the mid sky gazed the full moon on the
shadows of the silent town.
The young ascetic was walking along the lonely street,
While overhead the love-sick koels uttered from the
mango branches their sleepless plaint.
Upagupta passed through the city gates, and
stood at the base of the rampart.
Was that a woman lying at his feet in the
shadow of the mango grove?
Struck with black pestilence, her body
spotted with sores of small-pox,
She had been hurriedly removed from the town
To avoid her poisonous contagion.
The ascetic sat by her side, took her head
on his knees,
And moistened her lips with water, and
smeared her body with sandal balm.
“Who are you, merciful one?” asked the woman.
“The time, at last, has come to visit you, and
I am here,” replied the young ascetic.

If you are going to smell a flower, use your nose, not your mind.

These things you seek are not missing, nor are they malicious in their elusiveness. They want to be discovered.

It is quite like sitting in the audience of a game show, watching yourself as the contestant. The small you – the contestant – struggles with the content of the show, while the real you, the true you, sits in the audience, desperately wanting to yell out the answer.

But that is against the rules…

If you feel frustrated, over worked, effort-ed out, or just tired of your searching, take a moment to listen for the answer. Don’t try to find the answer that suits you. Just listen, even if it is something you do not want to hear.

Truly listen to what arises. Even if what arises is gibberish. It is all there to teach you something.

Don’t think about how wonderful it will be to smell the flower. Just smell the damn thing.

It is all there for you, in every moment.

Question of the Week: What is Enlightenment?

I’ve been reading your site for a short time now, and I’ve got a question. I havn’t yet found anywhere on this site any real description of what enlightenment is. So, what is enlightenment? What the hell is this thing everyone seems to be looking for?

The words and phrasing of what it may or may not be are really irrelevant. However, I do realize people need to have mental constructs. It makes them feel they can really ‘deal’ with something if they can first know it. Then, based on what is known, they can make some move toward it in order to own it. But this probably doesn’t help with your question.

Irrelevancy aside, let’s see if we can come up with an answer in ten words or less, just to keep it simple

Enlightenment is limitless expansion within a limited field.

The limited field is this physical world we all live within. And the limitless expansion…well, I will leave that for you to see on your own.