Behind My Hand

Who knows  Speaks not Who speaks  Knows not.  - Lao Tzu George Harrison

From Talk 548 The creation is said to have an origin. How? Like a tree and the seed from which it has grown. How was the seed produced? From a similar tree. Where is the end to the series of questions? Therefore one must know one’s Self before the world is known. - Ramana Maharshi This quote is a wonderful koan.  Which came first the chicken or the egg.

Brahman is other than the universe. Brahman is not other than the universe. Note: bhedābheda - a seeming contradiction which serves as an interesting koan. “Different and the same.”

Ancient pool,  A frog jumps in, [the sound of splashing water] - Basho —- —- —- Ego sinks,  into the Self. Who hears the sound? - MWright

यतः वाचः अप्राप्य मनसा सह निवर्तन्ते।  ब्रह्मणः आनन्दं विद्वान् कुतश्चन न बिभेति। yataḥ vācaḥ aprāpya manasā saha nivartante |  brahmaṇaḥ ānandaṁ vidvān kutaścana na bibheti | (Taittiriya upanishad 11.9.1) (quoted in Talk 317) From whence, unreachable, words are turned away along with the mind. One who knows that bliss of Brahman is never afraid of anything.  --- --- --- Ramana Maharshi, in Talk 146: "Reality is simply the loss of the ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity. Because the ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and Reality will shine forth by itself. This is the direct method."

Nāmarūpa An old Zen monk wrote the word “mind” on the gate, on the window, and on the wall of his retreat. A visiting monk commented, "Surely the gate should have the word “gate” written on it, the window should have the word “window” on it, and the wall should have the word “wall” on it.” A third monk, however, said, "Ha! Surely, all three, gate, window and wall, appear without recourse to labelling.” —- —- —- "A visitor said: “The Supreme Spirit (Brahman) is Real. The world (jagat) is illusion,” is the stock phrase of Sri Sankaracharya. Yet others say, “The world is reality”. Which is true? Ramana Maharshi: Both statements are true. They refer to different stages of development and are spoken from different points of view. The aspirant (abhyasi) starts with the definition, that which is real exists always; then he eliminates the world as unreal because it is changing. It cannot be real; ‘not this, not this!’ The seeker ultimately reaches the Self and there find...

Master Bashō said to his disciples, "If you have the staff, I will give it to you. If you have no staff, I will take it away from you!" Ramana Maharshi said, “There is no gaining of anything new. All that is required is to rid the Self of ignorance. This ignorance is the identification of the Self with the non-Self.” (Talk 125)

When asked, “What is Buddha?” Bashō replied, “This mind is not Buddha.” When asked again, “What is Buddha?” This time, Bashō replied, “This mind is Buddha.” What mind? “The sea is not aware of its wave. Similarly the Self is not aware of its ego.” (Ramana Maharshi in Talk 47) “If the enquiry is made whether mind exists, it will be found that mind does not exist. That is control of mind. Otherwise, if the mind is taken to exist and one seeks to control it, it amounts to mind controlling the mind, just like a thief turning out to be a policeman to catch the thief, i.e., himself. Mind persists in that way alone, but eludes itself.””(Talk 43)

One night an opportunist thief wandered into Ryōkan's secluded but unlocked hut. Ryokan, while appearing to be sound asleep, watched the thief from his bed. Having searched and found nothing of value, the thief removed the single blanket which Ryokan used to fend off the autumn cold. Ryokan lay motionless. The thief took flight with the old blanket. Ryokan shivered and rose from his bed. At this very moment the light of the full moon broke through the clouds. Ryokan said, “Oh! He left it behind. What a shame! If only he could have seen this enchanting moon. Ramana Maharshi tells a story about King Janaka, in Talk 328: “”I have now found the robber (namely the mind) who has been robbing me of my ‘I’-ness. I will instantly kill this thief.” The perturbation owing to thoughts appears to rob the Self of its peace. The perturbation is the mind. When that ceases the mind is said to take flight. The Self remains as the undisturbed substratum .”

Huineng, the sixth patriarch, overheard two monks arguing about a flag in the courtyard. The first declared, “The flag is moving.” The other disagreed and said, “No, it is the wind that is moving.” Huineng immediately countered, “Neither wind nor flag is moving. It is mind that is moving.” “Elimination of drisya [the seen] means elimination of separate identities of the subject and object. The object is unreal. All drisya (including ego) is the object. Eliminating the unreal, the Reality survives.” (Ramana Maharshi in Talk 25)

A monk approached Zen Master Yakusan with a problem. Master Yakusan told him to wait until the evening session. At the end of the evening session, Master Yakusan said, "will the monk who approached me, earlier today, regarding a problem with practice, come forward.” As soon as the monk came forward Yakusan barged past him, without a word, and retired to his room. Zen like Vichara deals in immediacy. Eagerness to practice... “must be equal to that of a man kept under water trying to rise up to the surface for his life.” (Ramana Maharshi in Talk 28) Waiting is not a valid option.

Q. What is the use of yoga-practice? Is it for personal use or universal benefit? M.: Yoga means union of two entities. What are they? Enquire. Use or benefit is in relation to some centre. What is it? Enquire. Ramana Maharshi - Talk 507 

Talk 38. When one of the present attendants came the first time to Bhagavan, he asked: “What is the way for liberation?” Maharshi replied: “The way already taken leads to liberation.”

Vichara is a way of life. It has absolutely nothing to do with sitting still with a quiet mind.

To attain Zen enlightenment, it is not necessary to give up family life, quit your job, become a vegetarian, practice asceticism, and flee to a quiet place, then go into a ghost cave of dead Zen to entertain subjective imaginings. - Zen Essence, The Science of Freedom, Thomas Cleary, 1989; p. 56

“The universe and the body are both simultaneously revealed to me. I have no right to say that the body is mine and the universe is not mine because both are revealed to me.”  Swami Virajananda