SepticPen ...

1.The Sun rises , the dawn breaks
2.The Sun sets, the dusk fades
3.The wind blows,for us to hear
4.What is heard?... By whom is it heard?... what does the hearing?

A disciple said to the Zen master Hogen. "When I was studying with my previous Master I got some insight into what Zen is all about."

"So what is this insight you have?" asked Hogen.

"When I asked the master who Buddha was(by which of course, I mean Reality), he said .'Ping-ting comes for fire'"

"That was a fine reply," said Hogen,"but i fear you may have got it wrong. Tell me what meaning you gave to his words."

"Well,"said the disciple,"Ping-ting is the god of fire.Now to say that the god of ire comes for fire is as absurd as to have me , whose true nature is really Buddha , ask who the Buddha is. How can one who is actually ,even though unconsciously,the Buddha, formulate a question regarding the Buddha?"

"Ah, ah!" said Hogen. "Exactly what i feared! You're completely off the mark. Now you ask me."

"Very well. Who is Buddha?"

"Ping-ting comes for fire." said Hogen

I came across an old journal, in which i used to capture a few lines of what i paid attention to each day. I had completely forgotten it existed. I started reading it , and i was surprised as to why or when i wrote it?... i find it somewhat appropriate to read every time i feel like i need a glimpse of what i should look at.

I have taken up the task of continuing the work, one day at a time. meanwhile i think it might be nice to post the old entries one by one....

I have decided to call the series of post "The Awakening of Silence" cause most of this work deals with the topic of silence and meditation etc , and also i feel like i am drawn into that beautiful silence every time i read a verse.
Try reading it one at a time and give some attention to the space that clears up in you.

Please do let me know if it was of any help to you.

'Brief is the life of men
The wise man should not take delight therein.
Let him act as if his head were burning
For there is no way whereby death comes not.' --Samyutta Nikaya(Buddhist Scriputre) I:108


"Think of your many years of procrastination; how repeatedly granted you were of further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realize the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then , to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again." -- Meditations of Marcus Aurelius II:4


"Why are we here? What are we doing here?", these were the first two questions that arose in my mind as i read my first 'Spiritual' book . I was 13 years old when i read it. Unlike many of you , that spiritual book was 'A Brief History of Time' by Stephen Hawking. It was , to be frank with you, the first book i had actually read. I mean i had read comics before and i was forced to read my School textbooks. but this was the first book which i picked up and read out of a shear innocent curiosity and interest.

A Brief History of Time is a book about the universe, its vastness , and man's humble effort to conquer it through his laws and equations.It is not so much that it is a spiritual book in the conventional sense, but i did have a very powerful spiritual experience by reading it. It was through this book that i was introduced to a powerful meditation . As i was reading about the far outer reaches of space and this universe whose size has only been able to be introduced to us through this book, I couldn't help but be filled with awe and wonder.



I started imagining our position in space, i look at my house slowly i started zooming out until i could see my whole block,then my city then my state, then my country and then earth , the solar system and so on and so forth .... until a point when earth was not even visible anymore.Then a startling revelation occurred to me...
Our 'lifestory' was all so small,All our problems seemed soo trivial and unimportant.


This little existence of ours is nothing compared to the immense timescale with which things happen in the universe.

"Letting go all else, cling to the following truths. Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant: all the rest of his life is either past and gone,or not yet revealed.This mortal life is a little thing, lived in a little corner of the earth; and little , too, is the succession of fast-perishing little men who have no knowledge even of their own selves, much less of one long dead and gone." -- Meditations of Marcus Aurelius III:10

"The water drop on the lotus leaf trembles.
So too if life, precious and unstable.
Know it to be in the grip of disease and anxiety,
and smitten with sorrow." -- Bhaja Govindam of Sri Shankara [Verse 4]


"Who are you? Who am I? Who is my mother, and who is my father?Reflect on this.
You will then realize that the world and its cares are but the cares and anxieties of a dream, and you will be able then to free yourself from that dream." -- Bhaja Govindam of Sri Shankara [verse 23]

--Feel free to leave your valuable comments on this post
-- If you have come across more verses which deal with the above theme please let me know, and i will add it to this post. I always try to incorporate (relatively unknown)materials from all forms of philosophies, religions, and practices to make these themes universally appealing.

I reached the auditorium just in time and couldn't hear the Introduction to the talk. "The Seekers these days are definitely just looking for something to add to their FaceBook profiles so that their friends think they are interesting...." - so began a spiritual talk given by a 18-year-old vibrant young man a few days back, which i attended. A person next to me quietly commented to me "Doesn't HE have a facebook profile???"Four monks decided to go into silence for a month.They started out well enough but after the first day one monk said. "I wonder if I locked the door of my cell at the monastery before we set out."