Like a shadow

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. " ~ Buddha

Freedom and love

"Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom." ~ J. Krishnamurti

Mask of ideas

"Do not repeat after me words that you do not understand. Do not merely put on a mask of my ideas, for it will be an illusion and you will thereby deceive yourself." ~ J. Krishnamurti

Healed people heal

"Hurt people hurt and healed people heal." ~ Gil Fronsdal

Without judgement

“The highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgement." ~ J. Krishnamurti

Still mind

"To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still." ~ J. Krishnamurti

Restless mind

“Maala Pherat Jug Bhaya, Mita Na Man Ka Pher
Kar Ka Manka Chhor De, Man Ka Manka Pher” ~ Kabir

Eons have passed whirling rosary, restless remains the mind
Give up the beads of rosary and rotate the beads of mind

Law, order and society

Lao Tzu became very famous, a wise man, and he was without doubt one of the wisest men ever. The emperor of China asked him very humbly to become his chief of the supreme court, because nobody could guide the country's laws better than he could. He tried to persuade the emperor, "I am not the right man," but the emperor was insistent.

Lao Tzu said, "If you don't listen to me... just one day in the court and you will be convinced that I am not the right man, because the system is wrong. Out of humbleness I was not saying the truth to you. Either I can exist or your law and order and your society can exist. So... let us try it."

The first day a thief who had stolen almost half the treasures of the richest man in the capital was brought into the court. Lao Tzu listened to the case and then he said that the thief and the richest man should both go to jail for six months.

The rich man said, "What are you saying? I have been stolen from, I have been robbed—what kind of justice is this, that you are sending me to jail for the same amount of time as the thief?"

Lao Tzu said, "I am certainly being unfair to the thief. Your need to be in jail is greater, because you have collected so much money to yourself, deprived so many people of money... thousands of people are downtrodden and you are collecting and collecting money. For what? Your very greed is creating these thieves. You are responsible.
The first crime is yours."

Stop having opinions

Don't search for truth, simply stop having opinions

Enlightenment is not an opinion, but a state achieved through the absence of all opinions. It is not an idea, but an awareness of the consciousness that experiences all ideas.
This consciousness is vast and limitless, like a clear blue sky, and ideas are clouds that pass across the sky. When we focus on the clouds, we miss seeing the base that holds them all.

Within

As in the within, so in the without! As your thoughts, as your feelings, so will be your world. What is the point in pointing figures outside and crying? It’s like cleaning the bottle from outside, while it is dirty inside. There is no outside world as such – it’s just the reflection of your inner world. Let the evil within disappear, and see how it evaporates, bit by bit, from the world outside too.
Excerpted from ‘Frozen Thoughts’ Vol. 10: Issue 2 (August, 2010)

Heaven and hell

The old monk sat by the side of the road. With his eyes closed, his legs crossed and his hands folded in his lap, he sat. In deep meditation, he sat.
Suddenly his zazen was interrupted by the harsh and demanding voice of a samurai warrior. "Old man! Teach me about heaven and hell!"
At first, as though he had not heard, there was no perceptible response from the monk. But gradually he began to open his eyes, the faintest hint of a smile playing around the corners of his mouth as the samurai stood there, waiting impatiently, growing more and more agitated with each passing second.
"You wish to know the secrets of heaven and hell?" replied the monk at last. "You who are so unkempt. You whose hands and feet are covered with dirt. You whose hair is uncombed, whose breath is foul, whose sword is all rusty and neglected. You who are ugly and whose mother dresses you funny. You would ask me of heaven and hell?"
The samurai uttered a vile curse. He drew his sword and raised it high above his head. His face turned to crimson and the veins on his neck stood out in bold relief as he prepared to sever the monk's head from its shoulders.
"That is hell," said the old monk gently, just as the sword began its descent. In that fraction of a second, the samurai was overcome with amazement, awe, compassion and love for this gentle being who had dared to risk his very life to give him such a teaching. He stopped his sword in mid-flight and his eyes filled with grateful tears.
"And at," said the monk, "is heaven."

Effortless

Once Buddha was travelling with a few of his followers. While they were passing a lake, Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty, please get me some water from the lake.” The disciple walked up to the lake. At that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy and turbid.

The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake. The disciple went back, and found that the water was still muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same. After sometime, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back.

This time, the disciple found the mud had settled down, and the water was clean and clear. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water and then he looked up at the disciple and said,” See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be, and the mud settled down on its own – and you have clear water. Your mind is like that too! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time…. it will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.” Having ‘Peace of Mind’ is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process.

Good to man

“If only we can be as good to man as we are to god, no prophet or messiah would ever be required to visit this planet.

In fact, prophets and messiahs became so because they were as good to man, as they were to god.”
Excerpted from ‘Frozen Thoughts’ Vol. 10: Issue 1 (June, 2010)

Giving and forgiving

Man keeps getting and forgetting and Nature, like the divine, keeps giving and forgiving. We have taken more from society that what we have given. To redeem ourselves from our karmic indebtedness, we should work to leave behind a peaceful world for posterity.
Excerpted from ‘Frozen Thoughts’ Vol. 10: Issue 1 (June, 2010)

There are no secrets

The secret is ‘There are no secrets’.
Eventually, everybody will know it.

When you have nothing to hide,
you have nothing to avoid.
When you have nothing to avoid,
you have nothing to hide.

Excerpted from ‘Frozen Thoughts’ Vol. 10: Issue 1 (June, 2010)

Act Before Its Late

Zazen Wasan

From the beginning, all beings are Buddha;
Like water and ice, without water no ice,
Outside us, no Buddhas.
How near the Truth, yet how far we seek!
Like one in water crying, "I thirst",
Like the son of a rich man
Wandering poor on this earth,
We endlessly circle the Six Worlds.
From dark path to dark path
We've wandered in darkness.
How can we be free from the wheel of Samsara?

The Perfection of freedom is Zazen-Samadhi,
Beyond exaltation, beyond all our praises,
The pure Mahayana.
Observing the precepts, repentance and giving,
The countless good deeds, and the Way of Right Living,
All flow from this Zen.
Even one meditation extinguishes evil;
It purifies karma, dissolving obstruction.
Then where are the dark paths to lead us astray?
The Pure Lotus Land is not far away.
Hearing this Truth, heart humble and grateful,
To praise and embrace it, to practice its wisdom,
Brings unending blessings, brings mountains of merit.

But if we turn directly, and prove our True Nature,
That true Self is no-self,
Our own Self is no-self,
We stand beyond ego and past clever words.
Then the gate to the oneness of cause-and-effect is thrown open:
Not two, and not three,
Straight ahead runs the Way.
Now our form is no-form,
So in coming and going we never leave home.
Now our thought is no-thought,
So our dancing and songs are the voice of the Dharma.
How bright and transparent the moonlight of Wisdom!
What is there outside us, what is there we lack?
Nirvana is openly shown to our eyes.
This earth where we stand is the Pure Lotus Land,
And this very body, the body of Buddha!
('Zazen Wasan' - Song of Zazen by Hakuin)

They pay for their conduct

“Kabira Teri Jhompri Gal Katiyan Ke Paas
Jo Karenge So Bharenge Tu Kyon Bhayo Udaas” ~ Kabir

O Kabir! Your hut is next to the butcher’s bay
Why do you feel down? For their conduct they only shall pay

Nirvana is right here

“At this moment, is there anything lacking? Nirvana is right here now before our eyes. This place is the lotus land. This body now is the Buddha.” ~ Hakuin

Right time

“Dheere Dheere Re Mana, Dheere Sub Kutch Hoye
Mali Seenche So Ghara, Ritu Aaye Phal Hoye” ~ Kabir

Slowly, slowly O mind, everything happens in own pace
Gardner may water a hundred buckets; fruit comes only in its season