SepticPen ...

Brownie, our dog, sat looking up the tree; ears cocked, and tail tensely wagging. He
was attending to a monkey. Just one thing filled his consciousness: the monkey. No
thought disturbed his total concentration, no worry for tomorrow. Brownie was the
nearest thing to Contemplation I have ever seen.You may have experienced some of this yourself when you were totally absorbed watching a cat at play.

Here is a formula for Contemplation, as good as any 1 know: Be totally in the present.
Drop every thought of the future, drop every thought of the past, drop every image and
abstraction, and come into the present. Contemplation will arise!

After years of training, the disciple begged his Master to bring him to Enlightenment.
The Master led him to a bamboo grove and said, “See that bamboo, how tall it is ?
See that other one there, how short it is?”
And the disciple was enlightened.

They say Buddha practiced every form of asceticism known to the India of his times,
in an effort to attain enlightenment. In vain. One day he sat under a bodhi tree and enlightenment occurred. He passed on the secret of enlightenment to his disciples in
words that must seem strange to the uninitiated: “When you draw in a deep breath, oh
monks, be aware that you are drawing in a deep breath. And when you draw in a shallow
breath, oh monks, be aware that you are draw-ing in a shallow breath. And when you
draw in a medium-sized breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a medium-
sized breath.” Awareness. Attention. Absorption.

This kind of absorption one sees in little children. They are close to the Kingdom.

"
"Master what is the difference between a Epicurean hedonist a Zen Buddhist.?" Asked a student.


"There is none. The Zen Buddhist knows it, the Epicurean hedonist does not know it. That is the only difference, otherwise there is none." Replied the Master

Between the enlightened person[like a zen master] and the unenlightened person[like a zen student] there is no difference at all, not even a single inch's difference. The enlightened person knows it , the unenlightened person does not know about it -- that's all.
The unenlightened person believes in the distance, in the difference , hence he creates it. The enlightened person has come to know that there is no difference. the belief has disappeared.
"

Surrendering is the greatest act of all human endeavors. what does it mean to surrender? no efforts in any direction at all.... phew! when i got that answer i knew its way too much for humble souls like me to apply. then one person taught me that to surrender means to have no resistance to life.

No resistance = Surrendering.
Now that seems more doable.

If u are in any physical pain, surrender to it, do not resist it.


Recently i had a throat surgery and the post-operative pain was too much for me to handle. I started trying out all the practices that learned through Buddhism , Advaita, etc etc. things never improved. the pain was till too much for me to bear, also since i couldn't administer pain-killers because they may cause bleading to my operative wound , things just got worse. i gradually with out even my own notice slipped into depression, the pain kept troubling me every moment. i couldnt even sleep .

Initially i tried making an effort to convince myself that the body is experiencing the pain, i am just an observer. i tried this practice very intesely but to no avail, the pain just kept rushing into my head and distubing my peace of mind. thats when i had realized that i was intorduced to practises of overcomming psychological pain, but never once had i learned to handle physical pain. and this was the Time i need it the most.


i was introduced to the Blue Buddha or the Medicine Buddha Mantra and a friend of mine asked me to recite it and concentrate my awareness on my presence and less on the pain. again may be due to my humble efforts and also since i had made soo little progess , and my practice was still very unexperienced ... i dunno things never imroved the pain was still unbearable.


one early morning even before sunrise, the pain woke me up. i juts lay there on my bed, the pain was there too like a loyal friend who never betrays you. i wished i had never had this kind of pain. I wished i was all right. i began thinking of the time when this pain wasn't there.


that's when it happened. that's when i noticed that i was making efforts in all directions to get rid of the pain.!!! i was making efforts in evry possible direction, then i remember thta to surrender means to stop efforts in all diretions. thast i when i realised i am gona just stop all this. again a thought came to my mind, a deep innervoice tellin me "resist nothing"... and i did. i just lay there, not resisting pain, not resisting anything.


firstly i surrendered my body, i just lay there, i dint bother to breathe until there was a need to . if there was a need to inhale i inhaled. if there was a need to exhale i exhaled. if there was a need for me to adjust my arm , i did it. i dint resist anything. Then i slowly started surrendering in the mental plane. i surrendered my will to think. i surrenderd my wil to wish to be something else. i surrendered my need to complai about his situation. i surrendered also any need to falsely praise what i was doing. i surrendered my need to talk to myslef. i surrendered to life, and i did not reisst anything. total surrender. thast when i realized the pain was existing, and so was i. but i dint need to do anythign to it, and it ceased to do anything for me! i had finally learned something of incomprehenssible measure from my experience, i had finally learned to surrender.