Listen

Listening for you is all I do these days.
Secretly going about my work ... eyes open ... heart full.
When I stop ... even for a moment ... I hear you.
How clever to be so close yet so buried within the world around me.
But it's no secret anymore. My heart's ear tickles with delight the moment I listen ...
And I hear This glistening brilliantly within me and outside too.
This life lives itself ... wakes up each morning ... moves and touches the unity everywhere.
Who is this that breathes each breath?
Who is this that listens for You ... looks out for You?
Trace this back in.
It's a direct link ... a direct road ... there's nothing more immediate.
Ask this one question with your heart and the work is done.
Listening is a deep mystery ... a profound secret that eludes most,
yet continually awakens those who stumble through its doorway.
The wonder of the world awaits the Lover ...
Listen my friend ... listen as you've never done before.
And notice who is listening ... and who is hearing.
Listen ... listen ... listen

You Are This!

We are often walking along the shores of Truth and Love ... feeling the splash of the great ocean's waves, the coolness, the freshness ... and it opens our hearts to an old familiar longing, this yearning that seems never to be quenched. We've come to see that this ocean of Truth and Love is who and what we really are, and as the waters lap at our feet and the immediacy of the water calms and soothes our minds ... we look out at the vast expanse, wondering ... I am That. Yet, the pull continues. The whispers taunt. The endless sound pierces our ears and our hearts ... I know it's This ... I am This.
So what does it take to make that final leap where all straddling between the appearance of two worlds ends?
My heart knows the answer, but my mind forgets ... or maybe it will never truly know, not as the heart does anyway. My heart whispers: Simply Be and See from This that you are.
The waters splashing at the heels of the mind will continue to splash as long as there are feet to meet the water's edge. But that Vastness, always already is. Your heart knows this, has always known this, eternally knows this. Simply be here in this heart-knowing. The mind will relax when you allow it to. Don't feed it fragments any more...simply be who and where you are...already always are. This Vast and Eternal You is here...let it in, let it enter you deeply, let it flood you completely...You are This , just as you are...simply accept it.

Could You be a Master for a Day?

Could you be a Master for a day? What about today? What would it take to be a Master today? That Master already dwells within you ... right now, just where you are, exactly as you are ... if you allow for "who you really are" to come to the fore, the Master Within you will be here.
The journey between the confines of the "little me" ... that one we believe creates all our troubles, to that Master Consciousness that we believe we have to work at to become, is not as far as we imagine. In fact, when we realise just what it is that creates the gap between the two "the shift" takes place.
If the Master is here, then the Master is here.
If we identify ourselves with "little me" believing that the only way to Mastery is to fix "me"... change "me" ... enlighten "me" ... we will never allow for the Master Within to come to the fore.
This takes a shift in understanding, which only takes place once we've "seen through" the "self" we think we are and realised the "Self" that we really are.
This shift cannot be willed, forced, co-erced, created, affirmed ... it can only be "allowed" ... By simply allowing that which is Aware and Awake to be here ... That will flood into every moment of our life.
So ... to be a Master for a day ... why not begin by working gently with one small step ... Be a Master for a moment ... This moment.
Try it ... deep breath in ... look ... listen ... allow ... For this moment simply be.
Look through your own eyes ... feel the Presence ... be the Presence.
One breath in ... at the top of the breath ... open and allow ...
"The Master is here."
Feel it ... know it ... be it.
This is truth for this moment ... practice this many moments in your day ... especially when the challenges arrive. Instead of immediately moving into "little me" by default, practice this. Deep breath in ... look ... listen ... allow. Feel it ... know it ... be it.
So ... one "Masterful Moment" followed by another, then another ... practice this. Then see how your day works out ... Many "Masterful Moments" strung together in one day creates a "Masterful Day" ... Many "Masterful Days"creates a "Masterful Life ". So try it ... be Master for a day.

See Through The One Who Sees

"He who binds to himself a joy

does the winged life destroy.

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

lives in eternity's sun rise."

William Blake

Each moment is pure ... sacred ... real ... true. Not the moment just passed, not the moment yet to be, these are phantasies stuck in time ... no, only this very moment.

Have you noticed how this moment is the only thing that truly satisfies? Have you noticed how we subtly cling to the "good" moment and "flee" the "bad". Both are imposters.

In truth, this moment as it is, is neither good or bad ... it's just this moment. If we stay true and clear within this moment, nothing compares to it ... as it is, the living waters of Loving Truth crash through our being ... revitalising with ever-freshness ... ever-newness ... with "This-is-It-as-It-isness" ... for the very first time every time.

Yet, it's so tempting for the mind to continue trying to hold it, or flee it.

Take note:

Be here ... now ...

look ... listen ... allow ...

It only takes an instant and you're here, absolutely present and free ... right now , how and where you are.

Take note:

Your mind will try to claim this, hold it, keep it, know it ... but as soon as it does, the moment is gone. The mind cannot hold it ... it's absolutely unholdable.

Why?

Because This ... this moment is this moment ... alive with pulsating presence. When the mind tries to take hold, it's immediately a snapshot, a memory. It's extremely subtle but it's the past masquarading as the present again ... and if you look carefully, all the juice has left it.

The joy of the moment is only experienced in this moment now.

Take note:

Deep breath in ... look ... listen ... allow...

In an instant you are here ... now. This moment is totally fresh, new, thrilling with beingness. Stay present. Don't be tempted to cling or flee ... be here.

Ah ... this moment ... evernew ... everfresh.

Do you notice ... if you don't think about it, it simply is, just as it is.

Life is simply living ...

You are simply being ...

What ... nowhere to go? Absolutely nowhere, this is It! All of it too ... not just some of it, or part of it ... This is it!

Okay, one more time ...

Take note:

Deep breath in ... look ... listen ... allow ...

You are here ... instantly!

No yesterday, no tomorrow.

No last moment one moment ago even ... only this. This is it.

Look ... listen ... allow ...

This is it ... everfresh ... evernew ... always already here.

"One instant in eternity;

eternity is the now.

When you see through this one instant,

you see through the one who sees."

Wu-Men

That Placeless Place

There's a place where the sun forever shines ...
Do you know it?
There's a place where who you truly are is always constant ...
Have you seen it?
There's a place that whispers a magical Hum...
Can you hear it?
There's a place that allows, simply allows for all that is ... to be as it is...
Can you be it?
Beyond the thought
Beyond the emotion
Beyond any birthed notion of "something"
There is This ...
This placeless place.
Call it what you will, but don't seek it. Let it simply reveal Itself.
You cannot go there.
Going creates distance.
Simply allow It to be seen, to be known, to be felt.
How?
Ah ... Already gone too far. "How" cannot take you there. How does not qualify as a way ...
There is no path. Only allowing for what is, to be. Any movement towards it is in fact a movement away.
The Call simply calls.
When you hear It, was it because you listened?
No ... you heard because you were open ... ready ... willing ... available.
This is all that's being asked of you: Be willing to let It come into view. When It does, this placeless place will be real, true and lasting.
Ideas will still come and go. Feelings will continue to arise and be felt but this placeless place will have made itself seen and known.
No turning back now. No more forgetting ... no remembering even. Simply the allowing for This that always already is ... always already was ... always already will be, to be. Simply allow.

The Spirit in Me IS the Spirit in You

"The Spirit in me is the Spirit in you."
Seeing is one thing, being is another. Seeing is subject/object ... duality. Being is non-dual ... when the seer and the seen become one, only This remains ... only Thee, only God ... and It just is.
When we look at another and see them ... what are we actually seeing? What is it that's being perceived as a "them"?
If we stop for a moment and drink this question in, we'll eventually meet our own reflection ... me looking at myself ... well, all that I believe myself to be or not to be. This reflection that swims around in the mirror of our minds, this you/me that we either like or dislike, that we either love or hate ... if we stop long enough to look deeply into the eyes, into the very heart of this mirror image looking back at us ... what do we find?
There'll be a moment when the flow reverses itself as the looking becomes a flow that moves back in ... deeper and deeper back in. If we are daring enough, courageous enough to keep allowing for this inner flow to continue, we'll reach a place where no "me" exists ... subject/object ceases to take place and seer and seen merge into being. No form exists here, no boundaries ... simply the awareness that life is ... life simply is. There's not even a flicker of thought that diminishes the presence of Eternal Vastness, the All and Everything in it ... there's not even a semblence of thought that whispers "I Am This" ... even this is distant and removed from the truth of It ... yet is still a part of It.
Spirit simply is, and as we allow the flow of our attention to return to the world , we still find a "me" sitting here writing these notes, and a "you" sitting there reading these words. And, it's real enough, it's all solid enough but it's not the whole truth is it?
One breath in ... tracing back the flow of attention back into its source ... one breath in is all it takes and here it is ... just as it is: The Spirit in me is the Spirit in you.

Simply This ... Simply Love

Today I've entered the secret ... this marvel of awakening that takes place every day ... every day without exception.

I wake up into this body and with it, this world. And all around me ... the world rejoices in full celebration. Sometimes loud and furious, sometimes gentle, soft and sweet ... each day in a completely new way, yet each and every day here it is ... we wake up together in the world ... me and all my creatures.

Sitting here, I raise my head to the greatest brother of all, as it shines its morning light filled glory on all and everything equally.

"Here I am," it shimmers in delight.
"Let there be light ... let there be love."

Silently whispering its heartfelt connection to all life, I too am grateful for its presence ... this that brings life to all life.

As I breathe in, head tilted up towards Brother Sun, its gentle warm rays caressing my face ... simply loving. And this is here for every one and every thing ... how miraculous ... how profoundly miraculous.

I partake of this secret mystery ... this co-awakening every day. Looking up, out and in, all I see is the love that God gifts us with through this creation ... me and all my creatures ... thank you for today.

You don't have to do
anything to be
who you are
I love you as
you are ...
No ... it's closer
and deeper than that,
I love you.
No ... even deeper ...
I love ...
No ... deeper, still deeper ...
this is it ... in one word: love.
Breathe this one word in, trace it back to its true heartfelt meaning ...
back in to its source,
to love itself and you have it all ...
You are free as you are
pure, whole, clear and complete.
As you breathe in,
say it: love.
As you pause,
allow it: love.
As you breathe out,
share it: love.
It's simply this, simply love.

Watch Carefully

"Liberation is never of the person, it is always from the person."
Nisagardatta Maharaj


Watch carefully:
Who are you spending time with today? Most of us don't know it, but if we look closely we'll find that most of our days are spent with phantoms. Most of our time is filled with fears and desires ... thoughts and feelings that have absolutely nothing to do with what is true and real.
Watch carefully:
Who are your companions today? Do you wander around in unconscious corners chasing shards of flickering light, all the while secretly yearning to be in the full sun? Do you preoccupy yourself in fear-based moments of "what might be" ... anxiously awaiting some imagined outcome that never arrives?
Watch carefully:
Each thought is a doorway. Do you move into these uninvited realms of fear and desire or do you catch these imposters before they take shape, masquerading as truth?
Truth is never far away. What is real doesn't take time to reach ... it's staring you in the face. What is true and real is here ... nowhere else ... never anywhere else ... always already here.
Watch carefully:

Who is this "you" that spins in this self-created dream of time?
See if you can actually locate this "you" you believe yourself to be ... let alone your fleeting yet constant companions.
Your challenge today is to see what's really happening within your consciousness. Be aware. Be present to whatever arises but, see if you can be awake enough to choose to stay present ... It's all up to you. Who are you spending time with today?

Shhh... No More Words

One glimpse and I'm gone

This heart heaves

Silence enters

And I'm only ears again

This precious gift

Listening closely ...

Feeling sweetly ...

This nearness ... Your nearnesss

dumbfounds me into oblivion

The bubble explodes into the crash

of the Infinite Ocean ...

All here ... all now

This isYou ...

Let this be as it is.

. . .

Rumi says: "Don't hide. The sight of your face is a blessing."

We are constantly in flux and play in the manifested world. Yet this life we live, just as it is, is God playing, loving, enjoying through us ... in us ... around us ... as us.

We don't need to go too far to see it as the miraculous interplay between Creator and created. Everywhere we look ... God is in it ... God is it.

"The sight of your face is a blessing," Rumi whispers. God's face is the manifested world and every creature in it. This is it ... this is God in full bloom.

Take one breath ... close your eyes as you do ... open them again. Wherever you land ... God is here. It's this close ... it's this immediate ... it's this true and real.

Even before we look ... the very breath in as it's being breathed is God's sweet embrace. Do it ... feel it ... let its sweetness and directness be felt ... be seen ... be tasted. How delicate, how exquisite, how intensely and profoundly immediate. God is loving you as your very breath. Absolutely miraculous!

Stop for a moment. Examine this miracle closely... no, not with your thinking but with your heart. Examine this breath ... right now ... fall into your heart and simply feel the immediacy.

God is here ... "I am here" is whispering as the very breath as it breathes itself into existence.

William Blake said: "Eternity is in love with the works of time." There's no separation here ... being is becoming and becoming is being. And what are these works of time? Look around you ... look within you. This is it ... the miracle of creation is God's love in expression. You are this. I am this. We are all this ... there's only this ... already, always only this.

"No more words. Hear only the voice within." This is Rumi's invitation to leap into the Silence. And as you do, this Master of Silence whispers in the hushed tones of the lover and beloved ...

"Remember, as you sink into the Silence, remember, as you listen to the voice within, as you take all these initiations that this poem has given you, remember all the initiations of the deepest secrets and scrub them out, because they have taken you to the place where you can now plunge ... remember, remember, the first thing he said was, we are beyond words."

"Shh ... No more words.

Hear only the voice within."

The Way Love Works

Do you ever get that deep feeling of deep pain in the belly, often connected with a situation with another Soul, one that has left this deeply uncomfortable disturbance in your gut? We know that it's connected to the person and the event, possibly even seeing clearly a transgression that's taken place by ourselves. But, if you stay with the sensation rather than try to flee it, there's much to learn and, as importantly, much to resolve.
Staying with the discomfort of the painful sensation can at first trigger thoughts, images and feelings relating to the event. If we stay with the sensation without going into the thinking and emotionalising about it, but simply staying with the sensation, we can allow ourselves to deepen into the subtle layers of it. By simply allowing it to exist, we allow it to slowly but surely dissipate, not only within ourselves but also within the other. And, this also brings with it immediate karmic resolution. This sensation can actually act as a point of transition from one state of consciousness to another, without leaving any karmic residue or overtones that would require revisiting and resolving into balance at a later time.
By simply sitting with the sensation we are plugging into the Universal consciousness that allows for both parties to clarify, realise, deepen and come into peace - without any karma being created.
And, it's also bigger than this. It's not just two people clarifying and resolving and learning but the consciousness itself is doing so. This means that others who would also encounter a similar exchange would be given a greater opportunity to clarify and resolve the energy within themselves.
We are not alone. We are all in it together. One gets hurt, we all do. One awakens, we all do. One finds peace and joy, we all do. This is the way love works.
Love and be loved.

The Soundless Sound is the Sacred Ground

We can allow for the Unstruck Sound ... the Soundless Sound to be the ground of Being. Allowing thought to exist ... allowing images to come forth ... allowing feelings to be felt ... allowing for what is, to simply be as it is.
In allowing for This to simply be - that Silence that sits behind and embraces and supports all and everything - a great love is witnessed. This great love is the Knowing of the Divine that informs and inspires us at every turn.
Honour this ground of perfect, pure, pristine Beingness that is sweet, clear and everpresent ... This is who you are. Let it embrace you as It embraces all of life.

As I sit ... look out/in ... a few moments as I settle ... the birds singing ... the wind blows gently across my face ... it builds and swirls ... a truck rumbles down a road in the distance ... a faint smell of something lovely cooking ... the sun warms me ... the distant hills glisten peacefully as they embrace me ... all the trees so at peace ... all this ... vast, beautiful, perfectly at peace ... life ... in joyful presence.
What I am looking at is what is looking ... all this I am and more ... what a gift. All this loving, peaceful surrenderedness ... all as far as the eyes can see and beyond in infinite concentric circles ... as far as the ears can hear, touch, smell ... and more, and deep deep beyond.
To have this instrument to reflect back into, all this that I am ... and this is only the physical ... the same for each inner region. Infinite, endless and eternal realms of feeling, of thought, of memory, of intuitive arising ... of Light, of Sound ... of God's love.
If all is simply a degree of expression of this Divine Love ... this I am ... this you are ... this is all there really is.
How much of this eternal truth are we ready or willing to embrace?
To the degree that you are prepared to honour and accept your Eternal Vastness ... to this very degree will It express and reveal Itself in your world.
Honour the "forever already/always" that shines within you right now and you are already always free.

Love and Be Loved

This mooring ... yes, the word typed itself as I tried to type the word "morning", secretly slipping in the extra "o" in place of the "n". But even a typo has something to offer when we are open to this infinite expanse of divine meaning and mysterious purpose we co-exist in. The dictionary describes the word "mooring" as: "a tract of open, rolling wasteland, usually covered with heather and often marshy' ... hmmmm ... A second definition is: "to secure a ship to a pier or buoy." Or "a place where a ship is moored." This is what it feels like when Eternal Vastness begins to make Itself felt ... somewhat like mooring a boat to shore after a sojourn in the cosmic ocean.
And even in our mistakes we can uncover a hidden truth.
So let's try again:
This morning as I sat outside and breathed in, I felt the gentle tug to soften, open up and listen ... this is what I heard:

I am new to the path.

I don't know.

I really don't know a thing.

I invite You to open me up

to what is true

right now.

Where I am right now ...

this step here ...

is true and real ... just so.

You brought me this far...

You brought me to This.

My heart is grateful

My mind is empty

And ... I don't know.

What if this is it?

Just as it is.

Not the next step

But this one.

What if I dared to stop ...

look ... listen ...

Open up to This ...

To You.

Just here?

If I dare to pull back enough

and not follow my mind's

impulse to know,

I can simply breathe and be happy.

Not in knowing anything

in particular.

But in simply knowing

that here, in This

I am always already happy.

If this breath is

all I have ...

this one breath, this breath

being breathed right now ...

If this is true

If this is so

then this is the

only place I can ever find you.

So, what could possibly

be better, purer, clearer,

more available and

more real

than this ... this moment

now?

Why would I even look

to the next

breath?

That next breath is not ...

This breath is.

Do I dare

to meet You here?

This can be done,

this must be done.

But do I dare

do it now?

Don't go past it.

Don't ignore it.

Don't even seek it.

It's much closer than all of that.

You'll never find it ...

not until

this point,

this breath, this moment,

is embraced by

your "not knowing a thing about it".

This is how willing ...

how open you have to be.

The embrace is a

stripping back ...

an emptying of anything and everything ...

what remains is This.

A single breath

A single look

A single transparent

unified touch ...

A you/me moment

that is simply this:

No you, no me

Only This.

So, I am new to the path

I don't know a thing.

Yet I thrill to your embrace ... this embrace of Not Knowing.

My heart quivers

in response to the

gift of Your touch.

As I feel it

I simply allow ...

open up further and allow.

Let Heaven swallow

me up whole.

What is left?

The sun rises ...

the sun shines ...

the crow caws ...

the traffic whistles and hums ...

the bamboo sways in rhythm with the breeze ...

a dove coos ...

a jet rumbles

sweetly overhead.

The world is alive

and it sings to this

moment ...

as this moment.

Do I dare to "step in step"

and meet It ...

be met by It ...

Be swept up in Its embrace?

The sun's rays fully appear

as I ask this question ...

In response,

it bathes my face in its warmth.

My heart simply feels ...

feels what?

Yes, it's true:

God's love.

And I can say it

because my heart whispers it to me.

In not knowing a thing

I know only this:

God loves.

It's the gift that each

moment brings ...

Stop ... feel ... look ...

listen.

This is God's love.

Embrace It and be embraced ...

My pen stops ... waiting in silence and stillness ...

listening for the next word to drop in ...

The pen simply meets the page trusting the next word will arrive as it does ...

In not knowing, I can trust ... relax ...

listen ...

watch for ...

allow for

the sweet embrace

to be appreciated completely

in this moment.

Love and be loved.

After I write these words I seamlessly move into my day. I open a package that's just arrived. It's a book for review for our newspaper Innerself from one of our columnists. I tear open the envelope, open the book and the very first words that greet me are from Kabir:

"Behold but One in all things;

it is the second that leads you astray."

Is This Not Obvious?

If you cannot find truth where you are ...
Where else do you expect to find it?
Dogen

Realization requires a knowing that sits above and before our mind. Often, it's our very own cleverness that keeps us out of the profundity of This, this just-as-it-isness. We are in fact already seeing from truth, as truth ... because it's what we really are ... but we've allowed and continue to allow clever thinking to obscure what is always already here. Our thinking about not yet arrived, not yet ready, not yet good enough ... awake enough ... aware enough, this thinking is the very barrier that keeps us from the direct perception of what already is. It is a matter of simplifying things ... making room in our heads to allow for what is present to be "seen" beyond our heads.

Someone once said that "Success is a refined study of the obvious."
This could also be said about realization, because the obvious is so immediate, so already-always-here and exactly why it's so easily missed or overlooked. Our minds are always seeking one step away from this direct knowing ... pre-thought ... pre-feeling.

We mustn't get too clever as we can too easily box ourselves in.

This moment is clear, here and immediate.

The mind can't grasp it, but that doesn't make it any less clear or immediate. This is it ... not our mind's perception of the moment as that's already a construct and already in the past, but the direct knowing of the One who sees and knows, already aware of what is, with or without the mind's participation. All that the mind is doing is translating what is already seen and known. "Seen the moment you look, free the moment it's seen," said Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.

I love Ken Wilber's description of this direct perception ... this One Taste. He writes:
"It's not quite right to describe One Taste as a "consciousness" or an "awareness", that's a little too heady, too cognitive. It's more like a Feeling of Being: it is the simple, present feeling of existence.

"But it's quite different from all other feelings or experiences, because this simple Feeling of Being does not come and go. It is not in time at all, though time flows through it, as one of the many textures of its own sensation. The simple Feeling of Being is not an experience - it is a vast Openess in which all experiences come and go, an infinite spaciousness in which all perceptions move, a great Spirit in which the forms of its own play arise, remain a bit, and pass ... The simple Feeling of Being, which is the simple feeling of existence, is the simple feeling of One Taste.

"Is this not obvious?" Wilber challengingly asks. "Aren't you already aware of existing? Don't you already feel the simple Feeling of Being? Don't you already possess this immediate gateway to ultimate Spirit, which is nothing other than the simple Feeling of Being? You have this simple feeling now, don't you? And you have it now, don't you? And now, yes?

"And don't you already realize that this Feeling is Spirit itself? Godhead Itself? Emptiness itself? Spirit does not pop into existence: it is the only thing that is constant in your experience - and that is the simple Feeling of Being itself, a subtle, constant, background awareness that, if you look very closely, very carefully, you will realize you have had since the Big Bang and before - not because you existed way back when, but because you truly exist prior to time, in this timeless moment, whose feeling is the simple Feeling of Being: now, and now, and always and forever now.

"You feel the simple Feeling of Being? Who is not already enlightened?"

Wilber uses intelligence to express what is beyond mind intelligence ... beyond language ... yet here it is ... so blaringly obvious ... this simple Feeling of Being.

Taste this. It's clear, pure, direct and obvious ... let the words open a doorway into Eternal Vastness. Words can do this because even words are part of the One Taste ... taste it, savour it, enjoy it ... It is This.

Peace It Together

"Peace it together..." reads the bumper sticker. Why does the mind so enjoy these little devices of insight? Just like a Kong-an or its better known Japanese counterpart, the Koan, it gives us an opportunity to explore, expand, embrace and enlighten... this is insight.

A joke can do the same. Humour is often an awakening call, a Zen hit on the shoulders. Words can and do often hold us captive in their invisible conceptual cages but they can also set us free. In words we can lose ourselves but in words we can also find ourselves. In an instant we are transported from where we are to the other side of the universe and back again... "You are the Eternal Vastness" ... how much of This can your mind hold?

"Peace it together"... In an instant I see John Lennon crusading in the sixties singing "Give Peace a Chance" coupled with the Beatles singing "Come Together" and am shown the profound truth that only in unity, in true unity beyond the opposing conflicts of dualistic thinking can we ever hope to find real and lasting peace. And, doing so individually, we hook in collectively, as in the Buddhist declaration:

May all beings be happy
May all beings become enlightened
May all beings find peace

For the good of all..."Peace it together." There is nothing that isn't unified anyway... even our ignorance and conflicted notion of separation is a wave in the ocean of unity. There's no escaping this blatant, blaringly obvious truth. Take a few deep breaths, go within, stop, look, listen... who is there? No, not the "Me" that's always so evident... go a little past that... soften, open, expand and go deeper... who is there? Keep going... don't look for a "me" in there. Just allow for "what-is" to surface, to become available ... to be seen. In this you will discover not a sign of the me that you believe yourself to be. Keep going... deeper... Keep looking... but don't look back, you won't get lost. Don't worry, the little me will return... just keep going deeper... What do you see?

Ah... thought settles. Calm is what's here... yes, peace... that's a good word for it! And, are you alone in this peace?... You're not separate but there is still this uniqueness .. this Presence... this "I AMness"...

But are you alone?

Well, there's no other... there's only one yet, all others are included in this... how to say it... Oh... "Peace it together" that's it.
And all is just as it is, exactly as it should be... nothing to add, nothing to remove, nothing to change.

The great sages shared their insight and knowing in words, hinting & pointing out This that each and every one of us already is. This that we're so desparately seeking, we already are. This... this ordinary life, just as it is. Nothing new ever discovered, no matter how far back we go, every sage only ever discovers or realises This... the same This that we are all swimming in together.

Dogen said:
If you cannot find truth where you already are... where else do you expect to find it?
Any time is this time. Every moment is this moment. There's only ever This... vast, radiant, eternal... This is it... and, oh so ordinary... extraordinarily ordinary.

Zen Master Buson said:
Nobly, the great priest deposits his daily stool in the bleak winter fields.
Could it be more ordinary than this? Buson could see... really see that no matter what it is, if it is, it's surely This.

Another insight shared in words:
If you understand - things are as they are.
If you don't understand - things are as they are.

Once again, only words, yet more than words... words not only pointing to, but away from. It's all about dropping out of where the words land and looking into the words' source. Where do words come from? We are so immersed in words, our heads are usually very full of them, even in our silence our thoughts ramble on and on and on...

Go beyond words into This that always is. The purpose of words is to mirror back their essential emptiness, the wordless... the unspoken, just like life itself.

And here we are...
You... Me and This...
Can we dare to "Peace it together"?

The Five Instructions

Elevate your experience and remain wide open like the sky...

Expand your mindfulness and remain pervasive like the earth...

Steady your attention and remain unshakeable like a mountain...

Brighten your awareness and remain shining like a flame...

Clear your thought-free wakefulness and remain lucid like a diamond...

These words from 16th century Tibetan lama, Dakpo Tashi Namgyal point directly to our own divine nature. To sit in This ... from This ... as This ... The View is revealed. This view is the pure, clear, natural state of all beings. When we come back in to This ... life is perfect, just as it is.

The first instruction: "Elevate your experience and remain wide open like the sky ..." is to be elevated into the Eternal Vastness. From here, all and everything is witnessed in complete clarity and surrender. We know nothing yet we Know all things.
To Know without knowing. We look out from this elevated view and nothing but Presence in Pure Being is witnessed. This is the vast and eternal clarity of who and what we really are, always have been and always will be. This is the Truth of Now.

"Expand your mindfulness and remain pervasive like the earth ..." To be pervasive like the earth is to awaken to the beyondness yet natural hereness of our infinite nature.
As This, we are nothing, yet we are everything and as both nothing and everything we are eternally present in all places and beyond place. This that we are gives birth to place.
This is the abode of the Eternal Vastness, the "Hereness" of our eternal presence.
"I Am Here" ... where else can we possibly be? Always, forever, already here. And, wherever we place our attention - there/here we are.

"Steady your attention and remain unshakeable like a mountain ..." For This that we are, to become our constant felt reality we are to allow for the simple instruction to be "unshakeable attention ... like a mountain ..." This allows for the Eternal Vastness to become a constant in our lives, moment by moment.
By moving into this unshakeableness "like a mountain", nothing will ever throw us, as all will be embraced and welcomed as part of its own kingdom. This mode of being can be reached in an instant. It's closer than our heartbeat and never more than a breath away. With clear intent, one breath will realize this position, it's as simple as breathing in and knowing that in this moment we are absolutely free ... and able to be all that we truly are, making ourselves available to the Eternal Vastness completely. And if it can be done in one moment, it is done! If we can realize ourselves even in one breath ... we have realized ourselves! As Thich Nhat Hanh said, if we touch enlightenment even for a single moment we are enlightened in that moment and, we know beyond a shadow of doubt who and what we are as the Eternal Vastness ... "unshakeable like a mountain ..."

"Brighten your awareness and remain shining like a flame." To know once and forget however is not enough, for we are to Know, really know in each and every moment. This requires a willingness to live in our depths ... to live in the full clarity of our own effulgence. We are to light our own way, to carry or become our own lamps, as the Buddha said.
In moving into This that eternally shines through us, to move back into the One that breathes life into all life, we are to bring in the "Bright" that is our own true nature. And by giving loving care and attention to the Light that awakens all, without and within, we allow for its brightness to expand into the deep fire of love that's always burning as the Eternal Flame.
"Shine like a flame..." raises us to our source and also brings the freshness of daylight ... the clarity of sunshine, into all the dark hidden places that we neglect to acknowledge. As we shine bright like a flame, nothing escapes us ... all that's been created is seen and released, allowing for life to live and breathe unhindered, unobstucted, unobscured. Be the Eternal Flame that you already really are.

"Clear your thought-free wakefulness and become lucid like a diamond ..." Beyond all thought and even in thought ... or, as thought, our "thought-free wakefulness" always, forever is. This is who and what we truly are. The instruction here is not to remove thought but to clarify what is really going on within our own consciousness .... what is right here before us now. We don't need to transcend thought or elliminate thought but to discover, to realize that who and what we truly are is this "Thought-free wakefulness" that allows for everything, including thought, to be.
So many struggle with their own minds, trying desperately to clear their heads of all the thoughts, believing this will lead to the liberation they are seeking.
What's really being asked of us here is to clarify our awareness by realizing how truly free we already are and have always been. Thought is not the enemy ... come back to the deep clarity of your own "thought-free wakefulness" and you are already, always eternally free ... with thought or without it.
This is the last thought ... the final thought that leads to liberation: No longer believe in any thought and you are free ... "Become lucid like a diamond."