Reclusland

“Teachers say, ‘Now meditate,’ then one sits down and one may think that one should imagine emptiness. That is not what is meant. What is meant is don’t wander, don’t wander. Hearing the word meditate, it sounds like one has to do something. But there is not even as much as a dust mote to do as an act of meditation. It’s just like space here — a totally inconcrete openness. Try to imagine that, imagine space. Can you imagine space? You can imagine it is empty, but that is a thought. Does that thought help anything? To meditate on a thing means bringing that to mind, but can you bring space to mind? Okay, space is empty. To keep that in mind is another thought. But without thinking anything, meditate on space. Can you? Isn’t it better to leave it unimagined? Unmeditated? That is why it is said:

The supreme meditation is to not meditate.
The supreme training is to keep nothing in mind.

While resting free of anything to imagine, like space, do not be distracted for even one instant. The one who trains like that can truly be called a ‘space yogi’. A yogi is an individual who connects with that which is naturally so. Space means that which always is. Remain without imagining anything at all, not meditating on anything. Once you start to meditate on space, it becomes an imitation. Simply allow the space to not wander. Remain undistracted. There is no impetus for any thoughts to reoccur. A thought is a mental way of formulating something — in other words, our attention formulates a thought. The thought doesn’t come from anywhere else. If we don’t think, where would a thought come from? In the basic space that is unimaginable, remain undistractedly. Let your indescribable awareness remain undistracted in the naked state of basic space. It doesn’t have to be imagined, because this basic space that is utterly naked is our own nature already. You don’t have to imagine that this is so.”

(via It’s All Dhamma)

A deaf man was instructed by a local wealthy individual to visit an invalid, and he said to himself, “Being deaf, how will I understand what the sick man is going to say to me?” He did not, out of pride, want the sick man to know that he was deaf, so he had no escape but to make the best of the situation, and he decided to read the invalid’s lips – though this was not one of his skills.  He also decided to rehearse what the invalid was likely to say to him.  All this seemed a very good plan to solve his difficulty.

He would say, “How are you, my suffering friend?”

And he conjectured that the invalid would say, “I’m fine”, or “I’m quite well, thank you.”

He would then say, “Thank God, what medicine have you been taking?”

And the invalid would say, “Some sherbet,” or “A special concoction of good food.”

Then the deaf man planned to answer, “May you enjoy better health, and who is your doctor?”

And the invalid would reply with the name.  Then the deaf man planned to congratulate the invalid on his choice of doctor and say that for sure such a man would bring him good health.

So, well rehearsed in this way, the deaf man set out to see the invalid, and on arrival at his house, started his conversation.

“How are you?” he asked.

“I am at the point of death,” replied the invalid.

“Thank God,” cried the deaf man, at which the patient growled angrily, saying to himself, “Why does this idiot sound so happy at my discomfort? He must hate me.”

“And what medicine have you taken?” asked the deaf man.

“Poison,” he said.

“May it do you good and improve your health!” exclaimed the deaf man, at which the invalid began to rage inside himself.

“And which doctor is attending you?” asked the deaf man.

“The Angel of Death is coming, get out of my house, you idiot!”

“Oh, this doctor is the best, his presence will be a great blessing,” said the deaf man, and left the house happily, believing himself to have achieved his purpose completely.

The invalid was convinced that the man had been sent to curse him and was now an enemy for life, his mind discovering a hundred abusive words and curses that he planned to send to the deaf man and his master.  Though he had been too weak to utter his fury loud enough for the deaf man to hear, he now lay upon his bed weaker than ever before, his body and mind consumed  with anger and exhaustion.

Many are they who tend to the poor,

Many who visit the sick.

But they go with the purpose of saving themselves,

And achieve but their own peace of mind,

Their own hearts approved by devotion.

In this is the falseness of piety, for pure is foul,

And kindness attack,

a fire of resentment has kindled.

(from The Illustrated Rumi)

“People in our culture like to plan. But in reality, you do step one and the universe responds by offering up new conditions, and then you respond to the new conditions that arise—which have nothing to do with what you knew about when you planned your steps—and then the universe responds again.”

(via Parabola Magazine)