We Are The Sky

Understanding and love aren’t two separate things, they’re just one. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Woman’s nudity is wiser than the philosopher’s teachings.

- Max Ernst

Shiva dancing, Pattadakal, Karnataka, photo by Kevin Standage 

The world's most beautiful animal. | mihirwildmahajan

“We Indians know about silence. We are not afraid of it. In fact, for us, silence is more powerful than words. Our elders were trained in the ways of silence, and they handed over this knowledge to us. Observe, listen, and then act, they would tell us. That was the manner of living. With you, it is just the opposite. You learn by talking. You reward the children that talk the most at school. In your parties, you all try to talk at the same time. In your work, you are always having meetings in which everybody interrupts everybody and all talk five, ten or a hundred times. And you call that ‘solving a problem’. When you are in a room and there is silence, you get nervous. You must fill the space with sounds. So you talk compulsorily, even before you know what you are going to say. White people love to discuss. They don’t even allow the other person to finish a sentence. They always interrupt. For us Indians, this looks like bad manners or even stupidity. If you start talking, I’m not going to interrupt you. I will listen. Maybe I’ll stop listening if I don’t like what you are saying, but I won’t interrupt you. When you finish speaking, I’ll make up my mind about what you said, but I will not tell you I don’t agree unless it is important. Otherwise, I’ll just keep quiet and I’ll go away. You have told me all I need to know. There is no more to be said. But this is not enough for the majority of white people. People should regard their words as seeds. They should sow them, and then allow them to grow in silence. Our elders taught us that the earth is always talking to us, but we should keep silent in order to hear her. There are many voices besides ours. Many voices…”

—

Ella Deloria

http://instagram.com/abbie_mellie/

"Before enlightenment, no one can rely on strength. Enlightenment comes across by itself, and enlightenment can only be helped by a ray of enlightened power." Dogen Zenji

[Dogen Zenji (19 January 1200 - 22 September 1253) was a Japanese monk, writer, poet, philosopher and Zen master, and the founder of the Soto sect in Japan.]

Being lost and being enlightened are like two sides of the same coin, in fact they are one and the same. So you don't have to be in panic to seek enlightenment, but when you are lost, you should just be lost. 

You may try the hardest to “enlightenment, enlightenment” and think, for example, that we must do Zazen sitting meditation, read Buddhist scriptures, and so on.

But it is a force beyond enlightenment. Enlightenment comes to you far beyond enlightenment. In other words, Dogen teaches us that enlightenment has nothing to do with the efforts we make to try our hardest to find a way to become enlightened. Enlightenment comes one day out of the blue. So if you are lost now, then do not hesitate to be lost. Not ‘more lost’, but ‘firmly lost’. 

It's okay to be ‘just lost.’ Just think so and just be lost.