Meditation on a Mountain
I do so love these words of a centering meditation:
flower fresh
mountain strong
reflecting water calm
Innocent and open, strong and resilient, peaceful and walking in beauty, this is a beautiful place to restore myself to. I though about this one morning as I looked out my window and watched the wild wind whip through a tree. I thought of the turbulence in my life. My eyes scanned from the frantic leaves down to the trunk of the tree that stood strong and motionless amid the fury. I thought that I want to be strong in the wind like the trunk, but yet I do not want to be stagnant and not move. But then, I thought, what if the stillness, the turbulence, the flying free, the sitting still, was all I could see because it was all that I was accustomed to see. What if I was the mountain, towering above the sky, roots deep into the earth, but all that my eyes would see is the surface of the mountain; the trees, the sunshine, the wind, the snow? What if most of my days until now were spend roaming around the surface and never in exploring the depths of all that I was? So in my silence, I entered the mountain.
I began my journey within the vision I knew. I saw the trees, the snow, the squirrels that scurry along the branches. I started beside a tree top and slowly descended, I felt the gentle breeze and the suns rays shining between the branches. Down, down, to the base of the tree where the rocks met the snow and the pine needles on the surface. I then submerged below the ground into darkness. With the cold and dark, anxiety pumped through my veins, I could hear my heart beat in my ears. I breathe deep to accept and not judge. I am somewhere between me and what other’s perceive to be me. Oh God, did I really give so many people this much power over me? I cannot feel where one begins and the other ends. Like a storm in my consciousness with interlaced stratified clouds of screams of desperation and silent knowing, I feel them moving in and out of me, out of what I think is me. I continue to descend.
Lower, down. I think I hear, drops of water sliding between layers of rock. I know I have passed beneath the surface of the earth. The drops slow as they cool, and then harden into ice. Ice that threatens to split the rock. But I am the rock, I quiet myself, I accept. I stiffen, freeze and split. The pain is so excruciating as layers break away. I fear I am losing all myself. Is this what death is? When will it end? I shutter, I shake and then I am still. I am lighter, but I am more expansive. I am still existing, but all of what I thought was me is no longer in my perception. My thoughts seem to echo in my head as if my own voice is calling me from all the directions around me. I descend further into the music, ringing through crystalline caverns. The deeper I go, the more I sense that so many crystals were really one.
Lower, down. I think I see the warm glow of the heart of the earth, where all matter is dissolved into one. Effortlessly, I melt. I am a sea of warm ambrosia, glowing, flowing, knowing. I am nothing, but I am everything. Every once in a while this truth will explode to the surface, where I had seemed to live so much of my life. But here, deep inside of me, is all there is. No matter where I run or where I seek, there I am, there I always was. My heart is home in the core, love lives in the heart, this is where I belong, this is who I am. There is no “I,” there is only all.
I open my eyes. I observe again the surface of the mountain. But I am not there.
Smile.
Flower fresh.
What is easy for you?
In what ways are you a rebel?
How do you define power?
In physics "power" is energy per unit time, or the rate work is performed, or the flow of energy over a duration. So it could be focused awareness and energy that can sustain over time, transcends over time to perform great work. The more focused and pure the energy, the greater the power, the greater the works.
I'll try to think of a shorter word in the future, but for now I would like to call it aware-energy-sustaining-great-works.
What is your preferred contemplative time?
What worry would you like to let go of?
Tuesday Evening - Rumi
Remember me.
I will be with you in the grave
on the night you leave behind
your shop and your family.
When you hear my soft voice
echoing in your tomb,
you will realize
that you were never hidden from my eyes.
I am the pure awareness within your heart,
with you during joy and celebration,
suffering and despair.
On that strange and fateful night
you will hear a familiar voice --
you'll be rescued from the fangs of snakes
and the searing sting of scorpions.
The euphoria of love will sweep over your grave;
it will bring wine and friends, candles and food.
When the light of realization dawns,
shouting and upheaval
will rise up from the graves!
The dust of ages will be stirred
by the cities of ecstasy,
by the banging of drums,
by the clamor of revolt!
Dead bodies will tear off their shrouds
and stuff their ears in fright--
What use are the senses and the ears
before the blast of that Trumpet?
Look and you will see my form
whether you are looking at yourself
or toward that noise and confusion.
Don't be blurry-eyed,
See me clearly-
See my beauty without the old eyes of delusion.
Beware! Beware!
Don't mistake me for this human form.
The soul is not obscured by forms.
Even if it were wrapped in a hundred folds of felt
the rays of the soul's light
would still shine through.
Beat the drum,
Follow the minstrels of the city.
It's a day of renewal
when every young man
walks boldly on the path of love.
Had everyone sought God
Instead of crumbs and copper coins
They would not be sitting on the edge of the moat
in darkness and regret.
What kind of gossip-house
have you opened in our city?
Close your lips
and shine on the world
like loving sunlight.
Shine like the Sun of Tabriz rising in the East.
Shine like the star of victory.
Shine like the whole universe is yours!
-Rumi
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Can you now remember
what the mind worked so hard to forsake?
Are you living? Are you dead?
Are you none of these?
you lie so still upon the ground
I look upon you and smile
breathe once more, you will see
sing for your suffering
dance for your despair
you are the sword's razor edge
tested in flames
coming home
the strain of madness
can hold you no more
the fire, nothing more to consume
your lover is here
to kiss your wounds
and pour the sweet wine
Awake, awareness practiced perfect
to hear the whispers of soul
the winds of ten directions
amidst the concrete cacophony
amidst the seduction of sound and fury
in courageous awareness of awareness
awakening falls like a plum from the tree
living death, the illusion of separation
castle walls, prison cells
running, hiding from devils
running from ourselves
still, there is a moment of choice
can you see for who you are?
or do you still desire your torment?
ripe plum, open, what you once thought were eyes
and the fading nightmares fall away
beautiful butterfly, they were your cocoon
you can still see and be of form
but need one, you do not
let it not possess you, but serve you
and the knowledge of who you are
light, dark
being, nothingness
Your heartbeat, echoes over canyons
melody of the way
harmony with souls that seek
the rhythm of lovers
who love, and die, and love again
So many choose the false
through choice or ignorance
crippled terror in asylums of mind
yearning hearts buried alive
why bother to speak?
words can no longer express
cry, laugh
moan in delight
dance in sweet silence
Oh, the brilliant light becomes you
another great light in the heavens
your light, draws the darkness awake
someone calls your name
- Sajan
Monday Evening - Lao Tsu
then become quiet.
Open yourself
to heaven and earth
and be like the forces of nature:
when the wind blows
there is only the wind;
when it rains
there is only rain;
when the clouds pass
the sun promises to shine.
If you open yourself to insight
you are one with insight
and you can use it completely.
Open yourself to heaven and earth
then trust your natural resonses;
and everything will fall into place
- Lao Tsu
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if your message
will not fit a bottle
then let it fill the ocean
Speak
and let your voice be thunder
Cry
and let it fall like rain
release it all
until there is nothing
and there you are
Beyond the echo of your heartbeat
there you always were
only now
you see
your hear
Beyond knowingness
you know
you feel
Silent
madness of mind
be wild
be yourself
be
- Sajan

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