"After asana & pranayama are perfect, pratyahara, sense control [the fifth limb of ashtanga yoga], follows. The first four limbs are external exercises: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama. The last four are internal, and they automatically follow when the first four are mastered. Pratyahara means that anywhere you look, you see God. Good mind control gives that capacity, so that when you look, everything you see is Atman (the God within). Then for you the world is colored by God. Whatever you see, you identify it with your Atman. The scriptures say that a true yogi's mind is so absorbed in the lotus feet of the Lord that nothing distracts him, no matter what happens in the external world."

~ Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

The most valuable of yoga postures is to stand unshaken in calm inner serenity amidst the crash of breaking worlds.

~ Paramhansa Yogananda, "Autobiography of a Yogi"

If you think seriously about the true meaning of spiritual practices, it has to do with the development and training of your mental state, attitudes, and psychological and emotional state and well-being. You should not confine your understanding of spiritual practice to terms of some physical activities or verbal activities, like doing recitations of prayers and chanting. If your understanding of spiritual practice is limited to only these activities, then, of course, you will need a specific time, a separate allotted time to do your practice - because you can't go around doing your daily chores, like cooking and so on, while reciting mantras.   That could be quite annoying to people around you. However, if you understand spiritual practice in its true sense, then you can use all twenty-four hours of your day for your practice. True spirituality is a mental attitude that you can practice at any time.

'The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living'

by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler

"How do we use what is at our disposal, the body, mind and prana, to lead us back to what is unchanging?"

How can we utilize the material aspect to draw us towards source?

Practice.

How do we experience silence within?

Practice.

How do we make the leap from the manifest to the unmanifest?

Practice."

~ Manorama

"Cultivate a yogic perspective and yoga will be at your disposal at all times."

~ Manorama

10 Tips for Serious Seekers

Number 10: Make a decision and carry it out.

Why is this ability important? Because if you’re serious about having a shot at enlightenment, somewhere along the way you’re going to have to commit to it. And if a person who follows through on commitments makes a commitment to discover Truth at all costs, there’s a good chance something will happen.

Number 9: Get your house in order.

Mental and physical circumstances have a direct effect on the amount of time and energy available for the search, so it’s an advantage to stay healthy and maintain a clean, well-ordered life. Tend to the clutter of your circumstances and mind. Arrange your life for clear thinking. Invariably this involves a movement towards simplicity—both physical and mental.

Number 8: Back away from untruth.

As seekers we think we’re taking dead aim on Truth, and that as we proceed on the path we become ever more spiritual and get closer to our goal. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. The best we can do is recognize untruths and discard them. In the yogic tradition they say neti, neti—“not this, not this.”

Number 7: Doubt everything.

Why? Because the single biggest obstacle to a final Realization is thinking you already know most of what’s going on. We cling to a paradigm of supposed knowledge into which we require ultimate Truth to fit, then wonder why nothing happens.  

Stop thinking you know. Return to the child-like state of wonder, unknowing, mystery. Have only questions, never answers. If an answer comes, question it. Return to unknowing. Only an empty cup can be filled. In a state of complete unknowing, one look reveals All.

Number 6: Keep your head on it.

Just keep thinking about this stuff rather than something else. The beauty of this is that it can be done anywhere, anytime—no matter what your body might be engaged in. Keeping spiritual matters in the forefront of your mind connects you with a universal and easily observable principle, which is that it is in the area of your greatest interest and activity that providence lends a hand.

Number 5: Look under every rock.

Throughout history, in every part of the world, everyone who has ever awakened to the true nature of Reality reports the same thing: The person you think yourself to be does not exist—there is no world, there are no people.

Buddha saw this as step one. “First of all,” he said, “First of all understand that the world has no substance whatever. Then let the mind fight it out with the mind.”

Number 4: Re-traverse the ray of projection.

Re-traverse the ray from Manifested Mind to Unmanifested Mind. Look back into what you’re looking out of.

Number 3: Life gives you all the koans you need.

The normal course of your daily existence will provide endless organic problems and opportunities for self-inquiry. Your fastest road to Truth is straight through the circumstances that naturally befall you—eyes wide, mind open, heart grateful. Don’t turn your back on a path that has been tailored specifically for you in favor of an imperfect idealization of what you think a spiritual path should be.

Number 2: Make your whole life a prayer.

True prayer is to enter into an ongoing relationship with the highest power you can imagine and hold it accountable for anything and everything in your life. Thank it when you feel grateful, curse it when you feel wronged, but never doubt for an instant that you are helpless without it. Trust it, become its instrument, but let it know in no uncertain terms what you want.

Number 1: Between-ness.

Simply stated, Between-ness is a way of holding your head so that a desire becomes manifest in your life. “If you hold your head between two thoughts,” he said “you can perform miracles. Thought, no-thought, creation.”   In other words, let it happen, don’t force it.

~ Richard Rose

Translated by Bart Marshall

Read entire article at:

http://tatfoundation.org/forum2009-09a.htm

"Yoga practices are about honoring manifestation in such a way that manifestation leads us back to source."

~ Manorama

“If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been due more to patient attention, than to any other talent”

~ Isaac Newton

"Do your practice and all is coming."

~ Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

"If we practice the science of yoga, which is useful to the entire human community and which yields happiness both here and hereafter - if we practice it without fail, we will then attain physical, mental, and spiritual happiness, and our minds will flood towards the Self."

~ Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

"Keep your desire turning back within and be patient. Allow the fulfillment to come to you. Gently resist the temptation to chase your dreams into the world. Pursue them in your heart until they disappear into the Self, then leave them there. It may take a little self-discipline--be simple, be kind, stay rested. Attend to your own inner health and happiness. Happiness radiates like a fragrance from a flower and draws all good things towards you. Allow your love to nourish yourself as well as others. Do not strain after your needs of life--it is sufficient to be quietly alert and aware of them.  In this way life proceeds more naturally, effortlessly. Life is here to enjoy."

~ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

“The disciples's attempt to purify the heart is like the person ordered

to uproot a tree. However much he reflects and struggles to do so, he

is unable. So he says to himself, "I'll wait until I'm more powerful

and then uproot it." But the longer he waits and leaves the tree to

grow, the larger and stronger it becomes while he only becomes weaker,

and its uprooting becomes more difficult.”

Abu 'Uthman al-Maghribi

as collected by James Fadiman & Robert Frager

In studying ourselves,

we find the harmony

that is our total existence.

We do not make harmony.

We do not achieve it or gain it.

It is there all the time.

Here we are, in the midst of this perfect way,

and our practice is simply to realize it and then

to actualize it

in our everyday life.

~ Maezumi Roshi

“You really do not need to know many things,

but you definitely need to practice what you know.”

~ Swami Rama

The Art of Joyful Living – pg. 47

Joy is the gold we mine on the spiritual path, but that path traverses all sorts of uncertain and difficult terrains.

For guidance along this path, turn to the spiritual teachings of Hanukkah, Christmas, winter solstice, and the lesser-known December holidays.  You probably didn't know that December 8 is Rohatsu, which commemorates the day in 566 BCE when the Buddha attained enlightenment. Like Mary and Joseph who found no welcome at the inn, and birthed the baby Jesus in a manger, and like the Maccabees who reclaimed the desecrated temple and lit the miraculous light of Hanukkah, the Buddha awakened his joy after a long struggle, under the Bodhi tree, alone and hungry. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan Father writes, "Truth and goodness are not always found at the top, but often on the edge and at the bottom.  Not in the center of empire, but in the backwaters of Bethlehem."  Let the stories of the season help you find friendship, sanctuary, and light in the darkest month of the year.

~ Elizabeth Lesser

Work with the Five Forces. The Five Forces are:

Be intense, be committed.

Familiarization - get used to doing and being what you want to do and to be.

Cultivate the white seeds, not the black ones.

Turn totally away from all your ego trips.

Dedicate all the merits of what you do for the benefit of others.

Practice these Five Forces and you are ready for death at any moment.

From TRAINING THE MIND by Chgyam Trungpa, 1993 by Diana Mukpo.

Extracted from http://www.theflow.org

The Watchful Eye

The watchful eye

catches every movement

the inner -

and the outer…

It sees all -

with resolute

detachment

and cares not

for outcome

or results.

The watchful eye

does not dictate

or direct –

it merely watches

movement of energy

and acts as a compass

with its arrow pointing

towards center.

With practice

the watchful eye

continues to build strength

until it keeps it's focus

forever on the Real;

then

all effort dissolves -

and even the need for

the watchful eye

completely disappears.

~ Nirmala

Dalai Lama

Dharma Quote of the Week

Who is the supreme friend always helpful in times of need? Mindfulness of the spiritual instructions learned through study and contemplation.

--The Seventh Dalai Lama

Ordinary friends desert us when we fall on hard times or become an inconvenience in their lives. Others simply disappear into their own destinies. Even our spiritual teachers eventually die and leave us behind.

Our practice of the Dharma, however, that has been cultivated by means of study, contemplation and meditation, is the one sure anchor that keeps our ship stable when the seas become choppy. In fact, the more difficult the situation we encounter, the more helpful it is to us.

When the Buddha had become very old and was preparing to pass away, several of his disciples were overcome with grief. They asked him, "What will we do after you are gone?" He replied, "Whenever you rely upon my teachings, at that time I am there with you."

The Second Dalai Lama wrote, "When we know how to rely on the Dharma, we are able to be happy in every situation. Where could one find a more trustworthy and reliable friend?"

--from Gems of Wisdom from the Seventh Dalai Lama

by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications

Awakening Only Begins a Process

One of Buddhism's best-known maps of awakening comes from the Theravada tradition of the Elders of Southeast Asia. The

Elders' map describes enlightenment as four progressive stages of "Noble Understanding," each of which brings a new level of freedom. The initial stage is called "Entering the Stream." Stream entry occurs when we have our first taste of the absolute freedom of enlightenment, a freedom of the heart beyond all the changing conditions of the world.

But even though we have seen the truth, the Elders say, further purification remains necessary for us to transform our character and embody this new understanding in our life. Thus begins the journey from stream entry to the second stage, "Returning Again."  Through a deep process, often requiring many years, we discover and release the coarsest habits of grasping and aversion that re-create our fearful and limited sense of self. Attaining the second stage requires a continual and heartfelt attention to the suffering that comes when we cling to our desires and fears, to our ideas and ideals. As these forces of human life are understood, they lose their hold on us. Finally, in a deep realization, the strongest forces of desire, grasping, anger, and fear significantly drop away. We fulfill the second stage.

The third stage the Elders call " Non- Returning." In this we are irrevocably released from any remaining desire, grasping, anger, and fear, nevermore to return to their sway. The very few who progress to this third stage do so through a long process of abiding in profound calm and emptiness. When wisdom grows, the subtle movements of clinging in the heart are abandoned the moment they arise. At this stage we rest in freedom and the reality of the present, and the heart's deep peace is rarely disturbed.

Finally comes the fourth and most extraordinary stage, called "Great Awakening," in which the last traces of subtle clinging

even to joy, freedom, and meditation itself-fall away. Now without the slightest identification with self, we are freed

from the vestiges of pride, judgment, restlessness, and separation that veil pure being. The radiance of our true nature shines unhindered throughout our life.

From: 'After the Ecstasy, the Laundry'

by Jack Kornfield

Commentary on the topic of Awakening Only Begins a Process

Most masters agree that after the first illumination, there can still arise periods of fear, confusion, loss of spiritual bearings, and unskillful conduct. No matter how compelling the vision, how profound the initial sense of freedom and grace, a process of maturation must follow. Over the years I have not seen a single Westerner for whom this was not true, and it seems to be true for most Asian teachers as well. If we fail to acknowledge this truth, we simply fool ourselves. When a proud mother once announced to Mullah Nasruddin, "My son has finished his studies," Nasruddin replied., "No doubt God will send him more." It is like that for us all.  

~ Gill Eardly

from a discussion on allspirit website http://groups.yahoo.com/group/allspirit/message/5279

titled Awakening Only Begins a Process

posted by Terry Murphy from an excerpt of Jack Kornfield's book, "After the Ectasay, the Laundry"

"Everything, if properly understood, is the doorway in."

~ Manorama

From: 'A Gradual Awakening'

As we begin to awaken, we see within us something opening like a flower. We notice that something is displacing our image

of how things are. We discover we're not so bent on always knowing who we are. It's the experience that seems to matter

most, the being, that we find of value. It seems as we let go of possessing experience and just let experience unfold, the flower opens more and more, the heart opens more and more. And we somehow feel that everything will be all right that things are working out just as they are supposed to. It's painful sometimes, it's ecstatic sometimes; but somehow it's always perfect. As we penetrate deeper and deeper, it is evident that it is the clarity of the seeing that nurtures our opening, while the object observed matters little.

We can't imagine how we ever could have missed seeing the perfection in the first place, or how we could ever lose it again. How could we ever again be blind to the simple, easy, natural, perfect way things are?  Experience is simply experience itself. And if looking into that flower we see a moment of greed or selfishness or fear, we see it within the context of that perfection, within that clarity, and it's like another petal in the flower. We see that it's all natural. Our selfishness doesn't make us feel separate. We see how naturally we're selfish, but there's no self-condemnation. We see it as just how it is. Perfect. No need to be separate because of it. Full of self-forgiveness, full of letting go, full of understanding. It is there, but it's not us. It's just more stuff. There's room in us for all of it.

So at last we are becoming who we always wanted to be, free of much of the guarded self-imagery and neediness that caused so much discomfort in the past. But we see that even this "wonderful me" must be let go of. The being we have become is still separate, though healthier. There's still that subtle "someone" experiencing it all and wanting to keep it opening. There's someone who hasn't altogether merged, hasn't disappeared; still someone looking at the perfection of things. It's then we realize that the flower must die for the fruit to be born.

We recognize that the flower exists on just a subtler level of mind, and that perfection, too, is a concept of how things are and can become a subtle separation which allows for "someone" to watch the perfection of it all. We see that we must let the flower be so it may fall away and leave the fruit.

There is no description possible of the fruit because no matter how we try to describe it, we're still describing the flower. The fruit doesn't exist in mind, in language. Mind gives form to the flower, but clinging to form and mind must be relinquished for the fruit to be revealed, for our original face to come forth.

This fruit, fully ripened in beings like Christ and Buddha, has no seeds, nothing to be reborn, no desires to create karma, no thirst for satisfaction. This fruit does not perish, but remains as an offering for all who come after.

~ Stephen Levine

THE WARRIOR

By Hafiz

The warriors tame

The beasts in their past

So that the night's hoofs

Can no longer break the jeweled vision

In the heart.

The intelligent and the brave

Open every closet in the future and evict

All the mind's ghosts who have the bad habit

Of barfing everywhere.

For a long time the Universe

Has been germinating in your spine.

But only a pir* has the talent,

The courage to slay

The past-giant, the future anxieties.

The warrior

Wisely sits in a circle

With other men

Gathering the strength to unmask

Himself.

Then

Sits, giving,

Like a great illumined planet on

The Earth.

*Persian: Saint

'The Gift - Poems by Hafiz The Great Sufi Master'

Translations by Daniel Ladinsky

Arkana, New York, 1999 p135

“The desire to find the self will be surely fulfilled, provided you want nothing else.   But you must be honest with yourself and really want nothing else. If in the meantime you want many other things and are engaged in their pursuit, your main purpose may be delayed until you grow wiser and cease being torn between contradictory urges.   Go within, without swerving, without ever looking outward.”

~  Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

From “I AM THAT”

Mind is Restlessness Itself - Chapter 34

“Practice is not about experiencing some kind of ecstasy.  Practice throws us right into the heart of the fire, right into the situation with the child in the river, because that’s where the diamond is formed, under the pressure, in the midst of the heat.”

Roshi, Jakusho Kwong

When I inhale, I don’t dwell upon things.

When I exhale,

I don’t pursue the thoughts.

Thus I breathe the sutra,

As-it-is-ness.

Hundreds of thousands of millions of times.

~ Hannyatara Dai Osho

“When you begin to study Zen, you may think you go beyond thoughts and feelings, but the truth is that you become more and more human.   It’s like with fear and anger; You feel them through and through, and because you do feel them in this way, you don’t dwell on them and aren’t caught by them.  In this practice you’re able to experience the whole spectrum of human emotions by experiencing them, and therefore you can let them go.  It’s a great misunderstanding to think that feelings are somehow forbidden.  We let them come, and we are with them, and also we let them go.” 

~ Roshi, Jakusho Kwong

From: No Beginning, No End: The Intimate Heart of Zen

 “If we are thoroughly, intimately present in each thing we do, if we do each thing through and through, as Roshi often said, then all of our activities have the possibility of including everything. You will find the stick in the fan and the fan in the stick. You will find the roshi in your sitting and you will find yourself in the roshi, or in the mountain, or in the garden.”

Roshi, Jakusho Kwong (2007). No Beginning, No End: The Intimate Heart of Zen (p. 218). Harmony.

* Rōshi - is a Japanese honorific title used in Zen Buddhism that literally means "old teacher" or "elder master" and usually denotes the person who gives spiritual guidance to a Zen sangha

Practice Principles

"Caught in the self-centered dream,

Only suffering.

Holding to self-centered thoughts,

Exactly the dream.

Each moment, life as it is,

the only teacher.

Being just this moment,

compassion's way."

~ Charlotte Joko Beck

The Real Practice

We sell ourselves a ticket on the spiritual cruise line, hoping to sail away from our problems. What ultimately happens is that we cruise right into our problems, rather than away from them.  That is what the yogic practice does – it heightens awareness.  All that is hidden, all that you’ve avoided, all unresolved issues, are brought forth until you have sifted through them and discarded everything that is not of the Self. The yogic practice is fierce in this way.  It doesn’t bend and mold itself for your comfort, rather it presents you with the truth at all times. 

The journey towards Self realization is no easy task.   It asks that we step into the fire and not away from it; that our hearts remain soft and accepting rather than hard and rejecting; that we soften to change rather than force it; that we challenge and question everything our mind tries to sell us; that we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and open; that we cultivate compassion for ourselves and for all beings and that we have acceptance of our very own humanity.  It asks for our constant presence and awareness.  For this, the practice requires a discipline that is supple yet fiercely strong;  a steadiness and determination beyond all desires.   Showing up is half the battle – staying and working through whatever arises is the real practice. 

~ Nirmala

Influenced by the teachings of Manorama and Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati

"In the light of the sun, in the light of the moon, and in the light of the stars there is no discrimination. The light within you has the power of discrimination. You can use that light to see the darkest corners of your inner chamber. For that you do not need outer guidance. The purpose of a guide, guru, or teacher is to introduce you to that light."

~ Swami Rama

YOUR PRACTICE IS A STATEMENT, NOT A QUESTION

In the practice of meditation, questions arise on the basis of trying to secure your basic ground as ego. If there is no ego-oriented question, there are no other questions. Instead, your practice is a statement, somewhat. It is extremely direct and deliberate. You are actually doing something. You are getting into this process without making sure that what you’re doing is okay. Things are actually taking place, almost of their own accord, very simply and directly. That is meditation.

~ Chogyam Trungpa

"The whole game of renunciation and purification is an experiment - an experiment in how quickly we can extricate ourselves from being attached to our desire systems. Notice that it isn't a question of getting rid of desires - that's a misunderstanding. Trust me, the desires will stay around! We're just loosening their hold on us, getting clear enough of them so we can see them in some sort of context."

From 'Paths to God: Living The Bhagavad Gita' by Ram Dass