Taking control of your own destiny.
The Invitation, by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
It
doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you
ache for,
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It
doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk
looking like a fool for love,
for your dream, for the adventure of
being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring
your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own
sorrow,
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become
shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
I want to know if you
can sit with pain, mine or your own,
without moving to hide it or fade
it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or
your own,
if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy
fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to be
careful,
to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.
It
doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to
know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself;
if you can
bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul;
if you
can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if
you can see beauty even when it's not pretty,
every day, and if you can
source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you
can live with failure, yours and mine,
and still stand on the edge of
the lake and shout
to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
It
doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair,
weary and bruised to the bone,
and do what needs to be done to feed the
children.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to
be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or
what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you,
from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
Deep down you are searching for it everywhere, in your relationships with others, in your career, in your accumulations of possessions, but you will not find it there, nor will you find everlasting peace in such things.
Jesus said (Matthew 5:4) "Blessed are they that mourn (suffer): for they shall be comforted." For without your suffering you would never be compelled to seek relief from suffering. The Buddha proclaimed all of existence is dukkha, suffering. What the Buddha calls dukkha- is this misery, incompleteness, suffering, unease, both physical and mental discomfort. It is because of this incompleteness that you remain unfulfilled, not whole, always seeking yourself.
The good news message of a Buddha, a Christ, a Bodhisattva (an Enlightened Being) is that we can transcend this suffering, right here, right now. Both Buddha and Jesus know Moksa (मोक) – liberation, salvation.
Unless and until you experience this very same Liberation of a Buddha, you will continue to suffer. No amount of fame, wealth, or possessions will ever conquer your thirst. Recall Jesus said, once you drink from my well you will never thirst again. The well Jesus speaks of is symbolic for the surrender of the ego.
And how does one surrender the ego? You have to remain silent, in a deep Samadhi, a Zen-like meditation. Remain so silent that there is not a single flicker of thought, not a single movement of mind, only then can you hear a Jesus, a Buddha. Only then can you understand and come to know true peace which is your birthright.
Jesus said: (Matthew 13:45) "the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. (46) When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” Meditation is this “pearl” Jesus speaks of. Meditation is needed to give you a break from the world, a break from the outside. For a few minutes just look inward, inside. It is here the transformation starts. It is here where you will find the eternal treasury you seek.
You can live the illusion that you are your career, your possession, that you possess a spouse, children, a house, and so forth, but these are all illusions. Sooner or later the dream will go away. You can possess only yourself because your true-Buddha nature will never desert you. It is eternal. It is always there, awaiting your return. The goal, the purpose of this very life is to find you, awaken to your original Buddha nature, to seek the union of self and Godhead: to be One with All.
Jesus said: (Thomas: 70) “If you have gained this within you, what you have will save you. If you do not have this in [you], what you do not have in you [will] kill you.”
All sentient beings inherently possess Buddha Nature. Buddha never represses anything; instead, a Buddha experiences everything fully. His duality has disappeared. Not two, living in a choice-less awareness, a Buddha is One with All. Buddha, Jesus, the Zen Master are our spiritual guide leader, those who will assist each of us along our journey to our own self-awakening, Enlightenment.
Life is short! No one knows the moment of death. Wake Up! You are your own goal and you have to work diligently to achieve yourself, nothing else is worthwhile. Quit wasting your time on that which is not going to endure. Hence begin your meditation this very moment and start living a life free from sorrow, free from sickness, and free from pain.
Once you become Enlightened and realize who you truly are, all dis-ease of both body and mind will disappear.
- DAITO ZENEI
THE INVITATION-
Meditation is the route to that knowing. It is the methodology of the science of awareness. The beauty of the inner science is that it enables whoever wants to explore and to experiment within, to do so alone. This eliminates dependence on an outer authority, the need to be affiliated with any organization and the obligation to accept a certain ideology. Once you understand the steps, you walk the walk in your own, individual way.
But what is meditation exactly? And how to get started?