🅼Week 2020-44: On Mysticism

"All things began in order, so shall they end, and so shall they begin again; according to the ordainer of order and mystical mathematics of the city of heaven." (Sir Thomas Browne, "The Garden of Cyrus", 1658)

"Although we gladly acknowledge Nature's mysterious encheiresis, her faculty of creating and furthering life, and, without being mystics, admit the existence of ultimate limits to our explorations, we are nevertheless convinced that man, if he is serious about it, cannot desist from the attempt to keep encroaching upon the region of the unexplorable. In the end, of course, he has to give up and willingly concede his defeat." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1832)

"Mysticism is the realisation of God, of the Universal Self. It is attained either as a realisation of God outside the Mystic, or within himself. In the first case, it is usually reached from within a religion, by exceptionally intense love and devotion, accompanied by purity of life, for only the pure in heart shall see God." (Annie Besant, "The Basis of Morality", 1915)

"The true Mystic, realising God, has no need of any Scriptures, for he has touched the source whence all Scriptures flow." (Annie Besant, "The Basis of Morality", 1915)

"We are constantly hatching an enormous number of false ideas, conceits, Utopias, mystical explanations, suspicions, and megalomaniacal fantasies, which disappear when brought into contact with other people." (Jean Piaget, "Le jugement et le raisonnement chez l'enfant" ["Judgment and Reasoning in the Child"], 1924)

"Life, this anti-entropy, ceaselessly reloaded with energy, is a climbing force, toward order amidst chaos, toward light, among the darkness of the indefinite, toward the mystic dream of Love, between the fire which devours itself and the silence of the Cold. Such a Nature does not accept abdication, nor skepticism." (Albert Claude, [Nobel lecture] 1974) 

"Whenever the Eastern mystics express their knowledge in words - be it with the help of myths, symbols, poetic images or paradoxical statements-they are well aware of the limitations imposed by language and 'linear' thinking. Modern physics has come to take exactly the same attitude with regard to its verbal models and theories. They, too, are only approximate and necessarily inaccurate. They are the counterparts of the Eastern myths, symbols and poetic images, and it is at this level that I shall draw the parallels. The same idea about matter is conveyed, for example, to the Hindu by the cosmic dance of the god Shiva as to the physicist by certain aspects of quantum field theory. Both the dancing god and the physical theory are creations of the mind: models to describe their authors' intuition of reality."   (Fritjof Capra, "The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism", 1975)

🅼Week 2020-43: On Mirrors

"The mind has five different names. The first is called the 'activating mind', for, without being aware of it, it breaks the equilibrium of mind by the force of ignorance. The second is called the 'evolving mind', for it emerges contingent upon the agitated mind as the subject that perceives incorrectly. The third is called the 'reproducing mind', for it reproduces the entire world of objects as a bright mirror reproduces all material images. When confronted with the objects of the five senses, it reproduces them at once. It arises spontaneously at all times and exists forever reproducing the world of objects in front of the subject. The fourth is called the 'analytical mind', for it differentiates what is defiled and what is undefiled. The fifth is called the 'continuing mind', for it is united with deluded thoughts and continues uninterrupted." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"Bodhi is fundamentally without any tree;
The bright mirror also has no stand.
Fundamentally there is not a single thing - 
Where could any dust be collected?" (Huineng, 661)

"There is no Bodhi tree,
Nor stand of a mirror bright.
Since all is void,
Where can the dust alight" (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"The body is a Bodhi tree, 
And the mind a standing mirror bright.
At all times polish it diligently, 
And let no dust alight." (Shenxiu, 706)

"With love you don’t bargain. There, the choice is not yours. Love is a mirror, it reflects only your essence, if you have the courage to look in its face." (Jalal al-Din Rumi, 13th century) 

"It is because a mirror has no commitment to any image that it can clearly and accurately reflect any image before it.  The mind of a warrior is like a mirror in that it has no commitment to any outcome and is free to let form and purpose result on the spot, according to the situation." (Yagyu Munenori, "A Hereditary Book on the Art of War", 1632)

"It has been said that the highest wisdom lies in detachment, or, in words of Chuang-tzu: 'The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror; it grasps nothing; it refuses nothing; it receives, but does not keep.' In short, it is to be detached from both past and future and to live in the eternal NOW. For in truth neither past nor future have any existence apart from this NOW; by themselves they are illusions. Life exists only at this very moment, and in this moment it is infinite and eternal. For the present moment is infinitely small; before we can measure it, it has gone, and yet it persists for ever." (Alan Watts,"Become What You Are", 1944)

"Learn to see that it is not things that bother us, that we go out to bother them. See the world as a mirror. It is all a reflection of the mind. When you know this, you can grow in every moment, and every experience reveals truth and brings understanding." (Ajahn Chah, [in  Jack Kornfield & Paul Breiter (Eds)," A Still Forest Pool: The Insight Meditation of Achan Chah", 1985)

"What we learn from looking into ‘the mirror’ can be very useful on the path, but first it has to become part of our general experience and not remain separate from it. For if we don’t inte- grate the understanding and compassion that is awakened, we are merely putting on another mask." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"The teacher serves as a mirror but also encourages your ability to trust in yourself. You begin to trust in your basic goodness instead of identifying with your neurosis. There’s a shift of allegiance. Then the obstacles begin to seem temporary, and what’s permanent is the wisdom. To the degree that you become intimate with your neurosis - not acting-out and not repressing - to that degree you discover your wisdom." (Pema Chödron, [interview] 1999)

"All the verbal teachings point to the inherent nature of the immediate mirroring awareness. As long as this is not affected by anything, existent or otherwise, it is your guide. It can shine through all realms, whether they exist or not." (Pai-chang)

"But if a mirror ever makes you sad you should know that it does not know you," (Sant Kabir Das)

"Sunlight is one and the same wherever it falls; but only a bright surface like that of water, or of a mirror reflects it fully. So is the light Divine. It falls equally and impartially on all hearts, but the pure and pious hearts of holy men receive and reflect that light well." (Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita)

🅸Week 2020-42: On Ignorance

"Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it." (Sophocles, cca. 5th century BC)

"Ignorance does not exist apart from enlightenment; therefore, it cannot be destroyed [because one cannot destroy something which does not really exist], and yet it cannot not be destroyed [insofar as it remains]. This is like the relationship that exists between the water of the ocean [i.e., enlightenment] and its waves [i.e., modes of mind] stirred by the wind [i.e., ignorance]. Water and wind are inseparable; but water is not mobile by nature, and if the wind stops the movement ceases. But the wet nature remains undestroyed. Likewise, man's Mind, pure in its own nature, is stirred by the wind of ignorance. Both Mind and ignorance have no particular forms of their own and they are inseparable. Yet Mind is not mobile by nature, and if ignorance ceases, then the continuity of deluded activities ceases. But the essential nature of wisdom [i.e., the essence of Mind, like the wet nature of the water] remains undestroyed." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"The essence of all things is one and the same, perfectly calm and tranquil, and shows no sign of 'becoming'; ignorance, however, is in its blindness and delusion oblivious of Enlightenment, and, on that account, cannot recognize truthfully all those conditions, differences, and activities which characterize the phenomena of the Universe." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"The Mind, though pure in its self-nature from the beginning, is accompanied by ignorance. Being defiled by ignorance, a defiled state of Mind comes into being. But, though defiled, the Mind itself is eternal and immutable. Only the Enlightened Ones are able to understand what this means. What is called the essential nature of Mind is always beyond thoughts. It is, therefore, defined as 'immutable'. When the one World of Reality is yet to be realized, the Mind is mutable and is not in perfect unity with Suchness. Suddenly, a deluded thought arises; this state is called ignorance." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"The mind has five different names. The first is called the 'activating mind', for, without being aware of it, it breaks the equilibrium of mind by the force of ignorance. The second is called the 'evolving mind', for it emerges contingent upon the agitated mind as the subject that perceives incorrectly. The third is called the 'reproducing mind', for it reproduces the entire world of objects as a bright mirror reproduces all material images. When confronted with the objects of the five senses, it reproduces them at once. It arises spontaneously at all times and exists forever reproducing the world of objects in front of the subject. The fourth is called the 'analytical mind', for it differentiates what is defiled and what is undefiled. The fifth is called the 'continuing mind', for it is united with deluded thoughts and continues uninterrupted." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion." (Bodhidharma, cca. 6th century)

"As one lamp serves to dispel a thousand years of darkness, so one flash of wisdom destroys ten thousand years of ignorance." (Dajian Huineng, cca 7th century)

"The wisdom of the ignorant somewhat resembles the instinct of animals; it is diffused in but a very narrow sphere, but within the circle it acts with vigor, uniformity, and success." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

"Meditate upon the Knowledge and Bliss Eternal, and you will also have bliss. The Bliss indeed is eternal, only it is covered and obscured by ignorance. The less your attachment is towards the senses, the more will be your love towards God." (Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, cca. 1886)

"Knowledge leads to unity, and Ignorance to diversity." (Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, cca. 1886)

"Meditate upon the Knowledge and Bliss Eternal, and you will also have bliss. The Bliss indeed is eternal, only it is covered and obscured by ignorance. The less your attachment is towards the senses, the more will be your love towards God." (Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, cca. 1886)

"All knowledge, secular or spiritual, is in the human mind. In many cases it is not discovered but remains covered, and when the covering is being slowly taken off, we say, "We are learning." The advance of knowledge is made by the advance of this process of uncovering. The person from whom this veil is being lifted is the knowing person, the person upon whom it lies thick is ignorant, and the one from whom it has entirely gone is all-knowing." (Swami Vivekananda, 1895)

"Next to spiritual comes intellectual help; the gift of knowledge is a far higher gift... because the real life of man consists of knowledge; ignorance is death, knowledge is life." (Swami Vivekananda, "Karma-Yoga", 1896

"Strength, strength it is that we want so much in this life, for what we call sin and sorrow have all one cause, and that is our weakness. With weakness comes ignorance, and with ignorance comes misery." (Swami Vivekananda, "Reason and Religion". [lecture], 1896)

"Meditate upon the Knowledge and Bliss Eternal, and you will also have bliss. The Bliss indeed is eternal, only it is covered and obscured by ignorance. The less your attachment is towards the senses, the more will be your love towards God." (Sri Ramakrishna, 1916)

"The way of yoga followed here has a different purpose from others, - for its aim is not only to rise out of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life in Matter." (Sri Aurobindo, "Lights on Yoga", 1935)

"Much that we hug today as knowledge is ignorance pure and simple. It makes the mind wander and even reduces it to a vacuity." (Mahatma Gandhi, "The Gandhi Sutras", 1949)

"Wisdom is the best guide and faith is the best companion. One must try to escape from the darkness of ignorance and suffering, and seek the light of Enlightenment." (Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, "The Teaching of Buddha", 1966) [attributed to Dalai Lama] 

"All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact: Be - don't try to become. Within these two words - being and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance." (Osho [Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh], "The Book of Wisdom", 1983)

"[...] whatever we see inside ourselves as bad arises from ignorance, which can and must be transformed into wisdom. When we begin to turn our mind inward and purify what we find there, the way will have been found, and all external situations will automatically become easier to deal with in a useful, positive way." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance." (Anthony de Mello, "One Minute Wisdom", 1988)

"Because we all share this small planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity. We are dependent on each other in so many ways, that we can no longer live in isolated communities and ignore what is happening outside those communities, and we must share the good fortune that we enjoy." (Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama], [Nobel lecture] 1989)

"A prerequisite to progress on the path is to realize that you are ignorant." (Sheng Yen, "Song of Mind: Wisdom from the Zen Classic Xin Ming", 2004)

"We must ask the question, 'What is actually going to do us good? What can we do that will actually be of benefit to ourselves?' Certainly, it is obvious that to callously and selfishly ignore the welfare of others and attempt to achieve our own well-being does not really help us. In fact, it harms us." (Gyalwa Karmapa,"Traveling the Path of Compassion: A Commentary on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva", 2009)

"It is as true for individuals as it is for the world itself: everything comes in waves. If you ride the waves of change, you succeed. If you ignore them, you fail. When the wave is down, most people resist it by trying to go up. When the wave goes up, you should go up with it. When it comes down, you go down." (Koichi Tohei)

"The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance." (Confucius [attributed])

"Virtual immortality is the deepest ignorance of mankind. [...] On one hand, your so called ‘science’ has developed immensely over these years getting people closer and on the other hand, man-made technology has also developed enormous ignorance." (Mahavatar Babaji)

🅼Week 2020-41: On Mistakes

"A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake." (Confucius, "Lunyu" ["The Analects"], [compilation] cca. 5th century BC) 

"Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes." (Confucius, "Lunyu" ["The Analects"], [compilation] cca. 5th century BC)

"Failure is an opportunity.

If you blame someone else,

there is no end to the blame.

Therefore the Master

fulfills her own obligations

and corrects her own mistakes.

She does what she needs to do

and demands nothing of others." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca 400 BC)

"Strategy is different from other things in that if you mistake the Way even a little you will become bewildered and fall into bad ways." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"It is not good to settle into a set of opinions. It is a mistake to put forth effort and obtain some understanding and then stop at that. At first putting forth great effort to be sure that you have grasped the basics, then practicing so that they may come to fruition is something that will never stop for your whole lifetime. Do not rely on following the degree of understanding that you have discovered, but simply think, 'This is not enough.'" (Yamamoto Tsunetomo, "Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai", cca. 1716)

"It is said that one should not hesitate to correct himself when he has made a mistake. If he corrects himself without the least bit of delay, his mistakes will disappear." (Yamamoto Tsunetomo, "Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai", cca. 1716)

"Students mistakenly affirm their present circumstance as if it was proof of their enlightenment. Because of this, the number of those who fall into the evil group of deluded people is not small." (Torei Enji, "Shumon Mujinto Ron" ["The Inexhaustible Lamp"], cca. 1800)

"Because zazen is training to realize the One Mind of yourself, it is a mistake to set up an aim outside of yourself [...] Not setting up an aim is the true aim." (Kawajiri Hogin, "Zazen no Shokei" ["The Shortcut to Zazen"], 1904)

"They take trouble to create something called 'emptiness' which they regard as separate from their own being. They aspire to this idea of emptiness, and in addition, they try to be empty of mental activity again and again. Thus, their deluded knowledge will keep on increasing so much that it will impede their becoming empty even if they wait for one hundred years. Even if they succeed in becoming empty in this way, it will be to no avail. It is mistaken to believe that to become empty is satori. If to become empty meant satori (enlightenment), human beings would be enlightened every time they wake up in the morning because they become empty every night during their sleep." (Kawajiri Hogin, "Zazen no Shokei" ["The Shortcut to Zazen"], 1904)

"To begin with, most people who practice zazen consciously try to make themselves empty. This is a grave mistake because you have thoughts about becoming empty, and it is futile to sit however long you may try to do so. For instance, suppose there is a bowl of rice. However long you may stare at it wishing it to become empty, the rice will never disappear. And the more you think of some clever way to make it disappear, the harder will it become for you to do so. While you keep on staring at it anticipating its disappearance with increasing impatience, evening will come. On the contrary, however, if you eat the rice right away according to the Dharma instead of wondering whether you should get rid of it or not, it will disappear as quickly as you wish. The same is true of zazen. As long as you are conscious of your wish to be empty, you will never succeed in becoming empty." (Kawajiri Hogin, "Zazen no Shokei" ["The Shortcut to Zazen"], 1904)

"Experience is the name everyone gives to his mistakes." (Elbert G Hubbard, "The Roycraft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams", 1923)

"God alone fully understands what each one of us needs; we make mistakes continually and pray for things which would be harmful to us if we received them. Afterwards we see our mistakes and realize that God is good and wise in not giving us these things, even though we plead ever so earnestly for them." (Ole Hallesby, "Fra bønnens verden" ["Prayer"], 1931)

"A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war: wide-awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. Going to knowledge or going to war in any other manner is a mistake, and whoever makes it might never live to regret it." (Carlos Castaneda, "The Teachings of Don Juan", 1968)

"Aikido, though praised as a healthful system of self-defense techniques, would be nothing apart from the laws of the great universe. The martial way begins and ends with courtesy, itself an attitude of thankfulness to and reverence for nature. To be mistaken on this basic point is to make of the martial arts no more than weapons of injury and death." (Koichi Tohei, "Book of Ki: Co-ordinating Mind and Body in Daily Life", 1976)

"You must learn to allow patience and stillness to take over from anxiety and frantic activity for the sake of doing something, Between martial artists of the first rank, there is room for only one mistake. Before an exchange of blows, several minutes may be spent in controlled patience and planning while each man respectfully observes his opponent, studying his position or stance, watching, getting ideas, and charging his energy. When one man thinks he is going to attack, his opponent may quickly change his stance. If he has overreacted, his opponent makes a note of it. This is a weakness which he will later attempt to use to his advantage." (Jim Lau)  [in Joe Hyams's, "Zen in the Martial Arts", 1979] 

"Since we have no systematic way to avoid all the inconsistencies of commonsense logic, each person must find his own way by building a private collection of 'cognitive censors' to suppress the kinds of mistakes he has discovered in the past." (Marvin Minsky, "Jokes and their Relation to the Cognitive Unconscious", 1980)

"Intelligence takes chances with limited data in an arena where mistakes are not only possible but also necessary." (Frank Herbert, "Chapterhouse: Dune", 1985)

"The mistake is that we expect to find happiness outside our- selves, failing to realise that it can only come from within." (Akong Tulku Rinpoche, "Taming the Tiger: Tibetan Teachings for Improving Daily Life", 1987)

"This is the most important thing the humans have taught me. The thing they're teaching us right now. You see, they are all strangers to each other. They live out their entire lives, never truly understanding one another, only making guesses, making mistakes, distorting, deceiving, misunderstanding each other. And yet, though they're permanently strangers, they choose sometimes to trust each other, care for each other so completely that they gladly die to let the other live - that they gladly change themselves to make the other person happy.” (Orson Scott Card, "The Abyss", 1989)

"Most people are searching for happiness. They're looking for it. They're trying to find it in someone or something outside of themselves. That's a fundamental mistake. Happiness is something that you are, and it comes from the way you think." (Wayne Dyer, "Staying on the Path: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition", 2009)

"Another attitude to karma is that it is connected with rebirth, life after death - which is pure blind faith. That approach brings a certain amount of psychological comfort: this is not the only life, but there are a lot more to come; other situations will come up so you don’t have to feel fatalistic any more. That kind of attitude to karma is not dealing with the root of the karmic situation but is purely trying to play games with it or else trying to use karma as a comforter. It is based on distrust in oneself. Knowing that you are making mistakes, you think that even if you do make mistakes, you can afford to correct them, because you have a long, long time, endless time to do so." (Chögyam Trungpa, "Transcending Madness The Experience of the Six Bardos", 2010)

"Don't mistake a solution method for a problem definition - especially if it’s your own solution method." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"We mistakenly believe that our welfare, our wellbeing, is utterly independent from the well-being of others. Based on that, we have decided my welfare alone is important and the welfare of others is unimportant." (Gyalwa Karmapa, 2013)