A leading scholar of Basra visited Rabia Basri on her sickbed.
Sitting beside her pillow, he reviled the world.
“You love the world very dearly” Rabia commented
“If you did not love the world, you would not make mention of it so much.
It is always the purchaser who disparages the wares.
If you were done with the world, you would not mention it, either for good or evil.
As it is, you keep mentioning it, because, as the proverb says,
whoever loves a thing mentions it frequently”
"May all beings be happy, and know the cause of happiness."
~Sutra on the Four Immeasurables
What is the cause of happiness? What is the cause of suffering?
My life is a mess. I believe I must strive for a state called "everything is OK." This is suffering.
My life is a mess, and it's OK, because a mess is all there is. This is the end of suffering.
From a mess I came. To a mess I will return. The world is a mess. The cosmos is a hot mess, cooling down. Because a mess is all there is, it is incomparably pure.
We were angels. We longed to be born in this mess. Why? Because only when we collapse into unconditional vulnerability is love possible.
Leaning on my staff, I summon the recluse,
Since ancient times this wild road has lain here.
The cave in the crags is bare of criss-cross beams,
But among these hills is the sound of a singing lute.
One day, Rabia Basri was seen running through the streets of Basra carrying a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other.
When asked what she was doing, she said:
"I want to put out the fires of Hell, and burn down the rewards of Paradise so people worship not from fear of punishment or for the promise of reward but simply for love of God."
Just as water flows under the ground
So those who seek it find it,
Without thought, without end,
Its effective power all-pervasive,
Buddha knowledge is also like this,
Being in creatures’ minds;
If any work on it with diligence,
They will soon find the light of knowledge.
Dear flat rock
Facing the stream
Where the willows are sweeping
Over my wine cup again
If you say that the spring
Has no understanding
Why should it come blowing me
These falling flowers?
Do that which consists in taking no action;
Pursue that which is not meddlesome;
Savor that which has no flavor.
Make the small big and the few many;
Do good to him who has done you an injury.
Lay plans for the accomplishment of the difficult before it becomes difficult;
Make something big by starting with it when small.
Difficult things in the word must needs have their beginnings in the easy;
Big things must needs have their beginnings in the small.
Therefore it is because the sage never attempts to be great that he succeeds in becoming great.
One who makes promises rashly rarely keeps good faith;
One who is in the habit of considering things easy meets with frequent difficulties.
Therefore even the sage treats some things as difficult.
That is why in the end no difficulties can get the better of him.
White snow still lies on the mountain's shadowy side,
Red petals flare on the sunny side of the woods.
A stony spring washes over precious jade,
Delicate fishes are swimming in its depths.
No need of strings, or bamboo instruments,
When mountains and water give forth their pure notes.
Why bother now to whistle or to sing,
When bushy trees are humming mournfully?
Even life-long riches are but one cup of sake;
A life of forty-nine years passed in a dream;
Don’t know what life is, nor death.
Year in, year out – all is a dream.
The people upstairs all practice ballet
Their living room is a bowling alley
Their bedroom is full of conducted tours.
Their radio is louder than yours,
They celebrate week-ends all the week.
When they take a shower, your ceilings leak.
They try to get their parties to mix
By supplying their guests with Pogo sticks,
And when their fun at last abates,
They go to the bathroom on roller skates.
I might love the people upstairs more
If only they lived on another floor.
For no reason it rains,
Whispers of reality.
How lovely it sings,
Drop by drop.
Sitting and lying I listen
With emptied mind.
I don’t need ears,
I don’t need rain.
All Buddhas and all ordinary beings
Are nothing but the one mind.
This mind is
Beginningless and endless,
Unborn and indestructible.
It has no color or shape,
Neither exists not doesn’t exist,
Isn’t old or new, long or short,
Large or small,
Since it transcends all measures,
Limits and comparisons.
It is what you see in front of you.
Start to think about it and
Immediately you are mistaken.
...
05 Sep '19 12:38
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