Gnosis Cafe

The Wisdom Network

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

There is nowhere outside the Buddha mind (by Huang-po)


This pure mind, which is the source of all things, shines forever with the radiance of its own perfection. But most people are not aware of it, and think that mind is just the faculty that sees, hears, feels, and knows.
Blinded by their own sight, hearing, feeling, and knowing, they don't perceive the radiance of the source. If they could eliminate all conceptual thinking, this source would appear, like the sun rising through the empty sky and illuminating the whole universe.
Therefore, you students of the Tao who seek to understand through seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, when your perceptions are cut off, your way to mind will be cut off and you will find nowhere to enter.
Just realize that although mind is manifested in these perceptions, it is neither part of them nor separate from them. You shouldn't try to analyze these perceptions, or think about them at all; but you shouldn't seek the one mind apart from them.
Don't hold on to them or leave them behind or dwell in them or reject them. Above, below, and all around you, all things spontaneously exist, because there is nowhere outside the Buddha mind.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Mahârthamanjarî (by Maheshvarananda)


Only the light of the heart really exists;
in creative activity, it is the agent.
That activity resting in itself is self-consciousness
and its movement unfolds the universe.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

What is God? (by Antonin Gadal)


God is the infinite Light.
The One and the Whole.
He is worshipped under the threefold name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Father is the Absolute Being.
He is the unknown God, inconceivable, intangible.
The disciples ask : Show us the Father !
And Christ answers: “You can see me!”
Man can only see the Father through the Son, in the God-Man, image of his substance, splendor of his glory.
The Father is God veiled in Eternity.
The Son is God visible in time.
The Spirit is God felt in the heart.

Friday, April 21, 2006

The ending of questions (by UG Krishnamurti)


Look, I tried everything to find an answer to my burning obsession: "Is there such a thing as enlightenment at all, or have we all been fooled by abstractions?" That utter frustration and complete failure to answer that question created an intensity.
The first third of my life was spent in India around Theosophists, J. Krishnamurti, yogins, holy men, sages, Ramana Maharshi, the Ramakrishna Order -- in short, all the associations that could benefit a person interested in spiritual matters.
I found out for myself that it was all bogus, there was nothing to it at all.
Totally disillusioned with the whole religious tradition of both the East and the West, I plunged myself into modern psychology, science and, whatever the material world could give me.
I found out for myself that the whole idea of spirit or psyche was false. When I experimented with and studied the material world, I was surprised to find that there was no such thing as matter at all.
Denying the spiritual and material basis of things, I was left with nowhere to turn. I began drifting on my own, unable to find an answer from any source. Then one day the futility of what I was doing dawned upon me, and the question which had obsessed me for almost my entire life got burnt, then disappeared. After that there were no more questions.
The thirst burned itself out without ever satisfying itself.
Not answers, but the ending of questions, is the important thing.
Even though everything got burnt there, still embers remain to express themselves in a natural rhythm. What impacts this expression may have on the society around me is not my concern.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

The essence of religion (by Vimala Thakar)


The essence of religion is the personal discovery of the meaning of life, the meaningof truth. Religion is related to the unconditional, total freedom that truth confers on us. It is a revolution of the whole way of living. Religion moves us from the superficiallayers of existence and encourages us to go deeper to the roots of life. It is an inwardjourney to the depths of our being.

Monday, April 10, 2006

You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo (from "The Gospel of Judas")


One day he was with his disciples in Judea, and he found them gathered together and seated in pious observance. When he [approached] his disciples, [34] gathered together and seated and offering a prayer of thanksgiving over the bread, [he] laughed.
The disciples said to [him], “Master, why are you laughing at [our] prayer of thanksgiving?
We have done what is right.”
He answered and said to them, “I am not laughing at you. are not doing this because of your own will but because it is through this that your god [will be] praised.”
They said, “Master, you are […] the son of our god.”
Jesus said to them, “How do you know me? Truly [I] say to you, no generation of the people that are among you will know me.”

When his disciples heard this, they started getting angry and infuriated and began blaspheming against him in their hearts.
When Jesus observed their lack of [understanding, he said] to them, “Why has this agitation led you to anger? Your god who is within you and […] [35] have provoked you to anger [within] your souls. [Let] any one of you who is [strong enough] among human beings bring out the perfect human and stand before my face.”
They all said, “We have the strength.”
But their spirits did not dare to stand before [him], except for Judas Iscariot.
He was able to stand before him, but he could not look him in the eyes, and he turned his face
away.
Judas [said] to him, “I know who you are and where you have come from. You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo. And I am not worthy to utter the name of the one who has sent you.”
Knowing that Judas was reflecting upon something that was exalted, Jesus said to him,
“Step away from the others and I shall tell you the mysteries of the kingdom. It is possible for you to reach it, but you will grieve a great deal. [36] For someone else will replace you, in order that the twelve [disciples] may again come to completion with their god.”
Judas said, “Master, could it be that my seed is under the control of the rulers?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Come, that I [—two lines missing—], but that you
will grieve much when you see the kingdom and all its generation.”
When he heard this, Judas said to him, “What good is it that I have received it? For
you have set me apart for that generation.”
Jesus answered and said, “You will become the thirteenth, and you will be cursed by
the other generations—and you will come to rule over them. In the last days they will
curse your ascent [47] to the holy [generation].”
Jesus said, “[Come], that I may teach you about [secrets] no person [has] ever seen. For there exists a great and boundless realm, whose extent no generation of angels has seen, [in which] there is [a] great invisible [Spirit],
which no eye of an angel has ever seen,
no thought of the heart has ever comprehended,
and it was never called by any name.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

No Dharma to give (by Rinzai Gigen)


I have no dharma to give. I only cure diseases and undo knots.
Followers of The Way who come from everywhere, try not to depend on anything...
There is no Buddha, no Dharma, no training and no realization.
What are you so hotly chasing?
Putting a head on top of your head, you blind fools.
Your head is right where it should be.

You are everywhere (by Meher Baba)


There is one being—the Universal Being.
You are infinite, you are everywhere.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

"Who am l?" (by Ramana Maharshi)


The mind will merge only by Self-enquiry 'Who am I?' The thought 'Who am l?' will destroy all other thoughts and finally kill itself also. If other thoughts arise, without trying to complete them, one must enquire to whom did this thought arise. What does it matter how many thoughts arise? As each thought arises one must be watchful and ask to whom is this thought occurring. The answer will be 'to me'. If you enquire 'Who am I?' the mind will return to its source (or where it issued from). The thought which arose will also submerge. As you practise like this more and more, the power of the mind to remain as its source is increased.

Samsara/Nirvana (by Poonja)


The Ocean cannot stay alone and so the notion of wave is created.
When waves rise Ocean loses nothing and when waves fall Ocean gains nothing.
Samsara, the illusion, Maya, the play, is the wave on the Ocean of Nirvana.
Waves are not separate from the Ocean,
rays are not separate from the Sun,
You are not separate from Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
This is a reflection of That.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Nothing but the answers... (by UG Krishnamurti)


The questioner is nothing but the answers.
That is really the problem.
We are not ready to accept this answer
because it will put an end to the answers
which we have accepted for ages as the real answers.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Nothing but the Self is (by Karl Renz)


The Self is and nothing but the Self is, and that is Absolute Acceptance which was there forever. That which is the Self-cognition or the realization of the "Self".The Absolute "IS", in the personal as in the impersonal experience, always the Absolute Self and it never has the necessity of any enlightenment.
The Self is ever realized and what appears as consciousness in the realization (implementation of reality) will never realize itself. In that sense there was never any unenlightened one, and consequently, no necessity of enlightenment.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

The Living Word (by Catharose de Petri)


The human being suffers the afflictions of delusion.
He is tormented by unreality.
He lives in time, but time is a fiction, and thus he does not live in the absolute sense.
Yet, buried deep in his microcosm, a tiny spark is left of the Original.
And if that tiny spark has not yet been entirely extinguished, a call can resound in him, like a voice from afar; a call to return to the original nature, which still exists in all its pristine glory, and in which the Spirit can be active, is active.
From: The Living Word, by Catharose de Petri

The Three Temples (by Jan van Rijckenborgh)


The Order has three temples. A temple is a place of work, a place of service in which one works very hard indeed. The first temple is the temple of faith: of insight and self-surrender. The second temple is the temple of hope: of sanctification and re-creation. The third temple is the temple of love: of fulfilment.
In the first temple the old person gives himself up to the Gnosis, to the sanctifying forces of Christ.In the second temple he perishes through the enduristic life, while at the same time the new man, the other one, the immortal one, arises. In the third temple the work is completed and the feast of victory and the feast of entry are celebrated. Every pupil has to pass through these three temples, these three places of work.

From: The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross, Volume I

Monday, March 20, 2006

Not the Doer (by Ramesh Balsekar)


Self-realization or Enlightenment, is nothing more than the deepest possible understanding that there is no individual doer of any action - neither you nor anyone else.
Also you are not the thinker of any thoughts, nor the experiencer of an experience - they happen.
When IT happens, no bright lights are likely to flash in your head!

Unity (1st chapter of "Ellam Ondre")


1. All including the world seen by you and yourself, the seer of the world, is one only.
2. All that you consider as I, you, he, she and it, is one only.
3. What you consider to be sentient beings and what you consider to be insentient, such as earth, air, fire and water is all one.
4. The good which is derived by your considering all as one cannot be had by considering each as separate from the other. Therefore all is one.
5. The knowledge of the unity of all, is good for you and good for others as well. Therefore all is one.
6. He who sees "I am separate," "you are separate," "he is separate" and so on, acts one way to himself and another way to others. He cannot help doing so. The thought "I am separate, others are separate" is the seed from which grows the tree of differing actions in relation to different persons. How can there be any lapse from righteousness for a person who knows the unity of himself with others? As long as the germ of differentiation is there, the tree of differing actions will flourish, even unawares. Therefore give up differentiation. All is one only.
7. Ask: "If in the world all things appear different, how can I consider all as one? Is there any way of gaining this knowledge?" The reply is: "In the same tree we see leaves, flowers, berries and branches, different from one another, yet they are all one because they are all included in the word 'tree'. Their root is the same; their sap is the same. Similarly, all things, all bodies, all organisms are from the same source and activated by a single life principle." Therefore all is one.
8. Oh good man! Is the statement that "All is one," good or evil? Think for yourself. Just as the person will always be righteous who regards himself like others and others like himself, how can any evil attach itself to him who knows himself to be others and the others to be himself? Tell me if there is any better way for obtaining good than the knowledge of unity? Certainly other methods cannot be as good as this one. How can anyone love others more than when knowing them to be himself, to know them in unity-love as unity, for they are truly one.
9. Who can share the mental peace and freshness of the knower of unity? He has no cares. The Good of all is his own good. A mother considers her children's well-being to be her own well-being. Still, her love is not perfect because she thinks she is separate and her children are separate. The love of a Sage, who has realized the unity of all, far excels even the love of a mother. There is no other means of gaining such love than the knowledge of unity. Therefore all is one.
10. Know that the world as a whole is your undecaying body and that you are the everlasting life of the whole world. Tell me if there is any harm in doing so? Who fears to go the harmless way? Be courageous. The Vedas teach this very truth. There is nothing but yourself. All good will be yours. Yea, you become the good itself. All that others gain from you will be good only. Who will work evil to his own body and soul? A remedy is applied if there is an abscess in the body. Even if the remedy is painful, it is meant to do good only. Such will be some of your actions; they will also be for the good of the world. For that reason, you will not be involved in differentiation. I put it briefly: The knower of unity will act as one should. In fact, the knowledge of unity makes him act. He cannot err. In the world, he is God made visible.

All is one.
To read the whole text click on the title

Why are you unhappy? (by Wei Wu Wei)


Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9 percent
Of everything you do
Is for yourself
And there isn't one.

On Authority (by Jiddu Krishnamurti)


If someone has helped you and you make of him your authority, then are you not preventing all further help, not only from him, but from everything about you? Does not help lie about you everywhere? Why look in only one direction? And when you are so enclosed so bound, can any help reach you? But when you are open, there is unending help in all things, from the song of a bird to the call of a human being, from the blade of grass to the immensity of the heavens. The poison and corruption begin when you look to one person as your authority, your guide, your saviour.

On Reality (by Ranjit Maharaj)


If you want to follow a practise, you have to follow someone who is realised. Methods are full of frustrations and give no real satisfaction. Reality has no method. Illusion has many methods, many problems and many concepts. To overcome illusion, or concepts, one should ask, "From where does all this thinking arise?" Thinking is always of other things. To know the thoughtless Reality, no thinking is required. It is where there is no thought. Whatever thing you think of doesn't exist. Everything is He only, and apart from Him there is nothing in the world. Whatever is thought of, makes Him something other than what He is. When thinking ends, what happens? You go to zero.

The Golden Thread (by Lectorium Rosicrucianum)


There exists a golden thread, which leads out of the labyrinth of our broken reality and towards the Truth. The Lectorium Rosicrucianum, or International School of the Golden Rosycross, aims to help seekers find and form a living connection with this shining filament, which is woven of love, wisdom, knowledge (gnosis) and action.
Most importantly, this golden thread is a Path that can actually be walked, a Path shown by all religions in their original form. No Master or Initiate can give the Truth to another. It can only be approached by our own efforts, and by persevering throughout all the obstructions and difficulties we encounter on the way. And it can only be reached through an inner process of transformation called 'soul-rebirth', or 'transfiguration'. A bonafide School points out the Path of transfiguration and teaches its pupils how to follow it.
It is not the I-central self, or personality, that profits from the process of transfiguration as meant here, but the inner, divine Self, which is awakened and enabled to become increasingly active. This has tremendous results for the personality: he or she becomes an instrument, a servant, of another Order, the Divine Order, the 'kingdom not of this world', and in that state is able to stand right in the midst of the world in the service of every human being.