Happy Birthday Dalai Lama

Today is the Dalai Lama's 83rd birthday.  I am not a Buddhist,
but I have, for a long time now, felt an unexplained "connection"
to The Buddha and Buddhist Heart Wisdom.  I have
experienced many "mystical moments" with The Buddha energy
in sitting meditation.  In a sense you could say I am a
"Buddha Mystic" :DDDDD

(one of my many self-imposed labels :)

I am also drawn, at times, to the Dalai Lama, to his heart of
compassion, his grandfatherly demeanor, and his innocent,
childlike happiness. His Presence (thru photos and the media) elicits
compassion and innocence in me, and my heart sighs.
There is an inexplicable resonance there, allowing me to feel
my own "Buddha Nature" - that Core Beingness within.

Here's a link about his exile from Tibet in 1959
before the invasion of Tibet by China.

Grace and Blessings - Chuck Surface...

Grace does not hold an abacus in one hand,
Tallying karma,
Or a Rubik’s cube in the other,
Challenging you to “Figure it out.”

Grace knows nothing of such cruelties.

Grace is the power that comes alive
When Attention, wandering in the world,
Turns inward,
In quest for The Heart’s Desire.

From the first awakening of Longing,
To the first turning inward,
through the long, wandering trek,
And the vanishing into Pure Being…

Is not everything the functioning of Grace?

Grace is the power of “Fruitioning”,
Of seed to Blossom,
Of ember to Flame,
Of Longing to Fulfillment.

Grace is the gravity of our own Pure Being,
Pulling “i”,
To its Ultimate Oblivion…
And Benediction.

The Heart’s Longing
And the mind’s Wonder
Arise from Grace,
As Grace.

Is not everything the functioning of Grace?

Grace, as my Heart speaks it,
Is not a “consequence”
Of conditionality,
Of causality.

Do we choose to have a Heart
Drunk with Longing?
Do we choose to have a mind
Moved by Wonder?

It is Grace that calls us,
Grace that moves us,
And Grace that sustains us,
Until we Vanish…

In its welcoming arms.

Chuck Surface

In the Garden of the Beloved

Chuck Surface Facebook

~~~~

Photo:  “The Hand of God” Nebula
by David Malin
From: The Invisible Universe

COPYRIGHT 1999

Malin named it “The Hand of God.”
In it he saw curled fingers formed by the stars
 reaching upward towards the blue.

To me the little magenta figure at the bottom
looks like a man in robes holding out his arms in blessing.
I call it the Cosmic Buddha J
How does the Universe do this -
creating such wonderment in the stars?!
Is it some unseen hand, or a trick of the eye ?
Or Grace…

A wonderful Mystery…

Buddha Light...

I am not a Buddhist, but I LOVE sitting with the Cosmic Buddha in meditation; experiencing the Buddha energy, which for me is a tangible, felt sense of the Loving Joy of the Buddha Heart that makes my Heart smile with Bliss. Some might call me a “Buddha Mystic. ”J  I feel the energy as I write here after spending time in meditation this morning.   It is an energy that is deeply abiding, that knows your Heart, and is recognized as Pure Love and Joy – even making your Heart laugh.

Today is Wesak – the celebration of the historical Buddha’s birth and “enlightenment” (and some say his death as well) when The Buddha’s Presence is more tangibly felt, according to legend.  I feel it…

May you bask in the Presence of the ‘Buddha’s Heart” today – feeling the Joy and Love in your Heart of Hearts that makes your Heart a little Lighter…   _/\_

Cosmic Meditating Monks Mandala...

“We are afloat in a sea of immensity.
The mind has no hope of working
it’s little tricks here.
It is faced with an emptiness
that never began,
and it shrivels in the face of
such grand nonchalance.

And yet inside this egg,
this shell of me-ness,
the immensity continues,
unburdened,
untroubled:
never born,
never dying,
sailing into
luminous night…”

Author Unknown
via: Wonder, Silence, Gratitude

"You are not IN the universe,
you ARE the universe.
You are a focal point
where the universe is
becoming conscious of itself…”

Eckhart Tolle

~*~

This mandala was made with compass, ruler and a template.
I had the vision of this one dancing in my head for some time.
I made the meditating monk template from a photo
in a catalogue of a meditating monk statue…
The piece of black paper came with little white dots on it,
looking like little stars in space, giving the piece a cosmic look .
I just enhanced the dots inside the little meditating figures,
giving them the affect of impermanence,
of formlessness within form;
of *being* the Universe...

Indra's Net of Jewels Mandala...

Why I am drawn to drawing mandalas, I don’t know.  I especially like the precision and symmetry of sacred geometry; how the language of symbols and patterns come together.  It’s a mystery, like the Cosmos itself… I have started working on black paper, and I think I like it. :)

As I was working with this mandala, a net-like image started to evolve.  It brought to mind Indra’s Net of Jewels.  Although I had heard the term before, I really didn’t know what it meant, so I had to look it up.  An article on Indra’s Net has a good explanation for those who aren’t familiar with it. 

Essentially it is a metaphorical symbol attributed to Buddhism and Hinduism/Advaita Vedanta about the interdependence and intereconnectedness of the infinite cosmic matrix of life itself.  Each jewel at an intersection point on the net reflects the essence of all the other jewels, reflecting the same basic nature, mirroring how we each intrinsically reflect and affect each other in a ripple effect in the cosmic network all the time.  

The symbol in the circle in the middle is a variation of the Sanskrit symbol for Aum (OM), which is the primordial sound of the Universe that emanates from an infinite cosmic vibration out of the Void, or Emptiness.  It is basically represents the Absolute, or “God”, or the originating Life Force – however we each call that inherent essence of Being…

~*~

“You must be ready to accept
the possibility that there is a limitless
range of awareness for which we now
have no words;
that awareness can expand beyond
range of your ego, your self,
your familiar identity,
beyond your notions of
space and time,
beyond the differences
which usually separate people
from each other and
from the world around them.”

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

~*~

“Ultimately there is light and love and intelligence
in this Universe.

And we are it.

We carry that within us.

It’s not just something ‘out there.’

It is within us
and this is what
we are trying to
re-connect with -
our original light,
love and intelligence,
which is who we are.

…remember…”

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

(A Tibetan Buddhist nun)

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star...

Sitting in deep Silence in “The Cave” – Awareness flows. By Silence I mean the deep space of Awareness, the space of Existence in which existence exists – The Emptiness, Consciousness, the Primordial Womb of Stillness that is beyond the sense of “me”, beyond the mind of fear and trembling, beyond construct, label and concept. It is the knowing Stillness of ISness. It is the deep space where everything that is, is just allowed to be. It is the space from which life and life experiences spring… It is the space of True Mind, True Nature, The Great Mystery, Love, and Light beyond light… And in this Silence you know yourself as That…

In deep Silence everything exists in suspended animation within deep knowing Awareness – all of it originating from and reflected in Its Emptiness – like some grand reflecting pool. The “me”/body-mind that we believe ourselves to be exists (ephemerally) within this context of this Space of Aware Knowing, like a cloud that exists within the context of the sky-space. The cloud is suspended in the spaciousness of the sky, and is not just an “appearance” appearing *on* it, as if super-imposed on the backdrop of sky, as if the sky were a flat screen, but is actually suspended in the depth of the sky – surrounded by sky-space. During the day the sky *looks* flat, except for the clouds that also appear to be flat against the sky. At night it become obvious that there are many stars suspended *in* space. It becomes obvious that the sky-space has dimension, has substance – has life. Space is literally full of ItSelf. :)

Several years ago my husband and I went to an observatory late at night out in the middle of a forest. We both were awed when we realized that what we can actually see with our naked eyes is only a fraction of the multitude of stars and planets that actually exist in this spacious Space of deep Silence. Deep Space is *alive* with millions and billions of light-generating substance. This realization is enlivening. Nothing is flat. Everything is suspended in Spaciousness. What we see and experience is only the surface. Remembering this now has brought home to me how I live, for the most part, only at the surface of life, at the edge of Reality – unaware of Its depth; unaware of the *Life* that is at the *depths* of Being – just being.

In deep Silence it becomes obvious that life is not a movie against a flat screen. We are not flat “objects against a backdrop of Awareness.” Awareness is not a “backdrop”, not a flat movie screen on which a movie of life is projected. Awareness is alive spaciousness that flows through as Life – a generative Aliveness. Everything is being lived. Life/Awareness/Presence is living ItSelf here *as* this life, *as* this existence, as this “me” – evanescent as it is. Life is not “just this” – in the sense of just what you can taste, touch, smell, see, hear. It is ‘THIS’ – this Alive, Conscious, Awareing Silence - the life blood of “just this.” It is the Intelligent Living Awareing Reality that “just this” is. Do I hear heart giggles echoing in the distance? :)

In the deep Silence, Existence (capital E) sees/knows/recognizes everything as ItSelf. It does not see separate objects floating within itself. Everything that exists is in suspended animation - Life suspended in ItSelf – like the stars, planets and clouds mysteriously suspended in space. And it’s not that Awareness “sees” like some objective distant observer out beyond the universe, but is intimately aware of its own existence, its own expression, as this expression is happening within ItSelf – as Itself - like a hologram – reflected out into Infinity.

In the deep Silence, Pure Awareness has no concept of “duality” or of anything being other than ItSelf. Non-duality and duality are concepts that only exist in the mind, in comparison to each other. Everything always was and is an expression of One Aware Consciousness. No comparison is made in the expression – as the *expression* is not seen as something *separate* from ItSelf. The conceptual framework, the structure through which we *see* becomes confining and needless – except to the mind of course. And yet we continue to play our duality/non-duality game – making distinctions where there are none…

I read recently that after a long period of deep Silence, when the Buddha opened his eyes and saw the morning star on the day of his enlightenment, he realized that he was the star he was seeing – he realized that he was the same pure nature as the star, and that all beings are endowed with this pure, radiant brilliance… A Mystery. We are the stuff of stars. Twinkle, twinkle…

~*~

Photo ~ From The Invisible Universe
by David Malin

~*~



“The Void is a mirror…
Creation is an image…
Man is as the eye of the image,
reflected in the mirror.
The One who is reflected in the image
is hidden in the pupil of the eye.
Thus ‘He’ sees ‘Himself’…

What you see around you is
not other-than-you.
All and everything is the existence
of the One…

See ‘Him’ in everything
as yourself
and the non-existence of yourself.
This is Truth.
There is only the One/Self/Essence…
The reflection of man in the mirror
is the same as that
which is being reflected -
and the words of the image
are the reflected words of
the Real One.”

From the writings of
Sufi Master Ibn’ Arabi
From Grace Is Now