“A soldier came to Hakuin and asked "Is there really a paradise and a hell?"
"Who are you?" inquired Hakuin.
"I am a samurai," the warrior replied.
"You, a samurai!" exclaimed Hakuin. "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar!"
The soldier became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued. "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably as dull as your head!"
As the soldier drew his sword Hakuin remarked "Here open the gates of hell!"
At these words, the samurai, perceiving the discipline of the master, sheathed his sword and bowed.
"Here open the gates of paradise," said Hakuin”
~ Hakuin Ekaku
@GatelessGate
"Who are you?" inquired Hakuin.
"I am a samurai," the warrior replied.
"You, a samurai!" exclaimed Hakuin. "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar!"
The soldier became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued. "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably as dull as your head!"
As the soldier drew his sword Hakuin remarked "Here open the gates of hell!"
At these words, the samurai, perceiving the discipline of the master, sheathed his sword and bowed.
"Here open the gates of paradise," said Hakuin”
~ Hakuin Ekaku
@GatelessGate
Gateless Gate
Karma @GatelessGate
It is not in fact a law, because there is nobody behind it as a lawgiver. On the contrary, it is intrinsic to existence itself. It is the very nature of life: whatsoever you sow, you reap.
--The Wisdom of the Sands, V.1, Chapter Two
~OSHO
@GatelessGate
--The Wisdom of the Sands, V.1, Chapter Two
~OSHO
@GatelessGate
Things can be copyrighted, thoughts cannot be copyrighted, and certainly meditations cannot be copyrighted. They are not things of the marketplace. You don't understand what meditation is. It is nobody's belonging, possession. You cannot have any copyright. Perhaps if your country gives you trademarks and copyrights on things like meditation, then it will be good to have a copyright on stupidity. That will help the whole world to be relieved... Only you will be stupid and nobody else can be stupid; it will be illegal.
~OSHO
@GatelessGate
~OSHO
@GatelessGate
A STREAM, FROM ITS SOURCE IN FAR-OFF MOUNTAINS, PASSING THROUGH EVERY KIND AND DESCRIPTION OF COUNTRYSIDE, AT LAST REACHED THE SANDS OF THE DESERT. JUST AS IT HAD CROSSED EVERY OTHER BARRIER, THE STREAM TRIED TO CROSS THIS ONE, BUT IT FOUND THAT AS FAST AS HE RAN INTO THE SAND, ITS WATERS DISAPPEARED.
IT WAS CONVINCED, HOWEVER, THAT ITS DESTINY WAS TO CROSS THIS DESERT, AND YET THERE WAS NO WAY. NOW A HIDDEN VOICE, COMING FROM THE DESERT ITSELF, WHISPERED: “THE WIND CROSSES THAT DESERT, AND SO CAN THE STREAM.”
THE STREAM OBJECTED THAT IT WAS DASHING ITSELF AGAINST THE SAND, AND ONLY GETTING ABSORBED: THAT THE WIND COULD FLY, AND THAT THIS WAS WHY IT COULD CROSS A DESERT.
“BY HURTLING IN YOUR OWN ACCUSTOMED WAY YOU CANNOT GET ACROSS. YOU WILL EITHER DISAPPEAR OR BECOME A MARSH. YOU MUST ALLOW THE WIND TO CARRY YOU OVER, TO YOUR DESTINATION.”
‘BUT HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?’
“BY ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE ABSORBED IN THE WIND.”
THIS IDEA WAS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO THE STREAM. AFTER ALL, IT HAD NEVER BEEN ABSORBED BEFORE. IT DID NOT WANT TO LOSE ITS INDIVIDUALITY. AND, ONCE HAVING LOST IT, HOW WAS ONE TO KNOW THAT IT COULD EVER BE REGAINED?
“THE WIND,” SAID THE SAND, “PERFORMS THIS FUNCTION. IT TAKES UP WATER, CARRIES IT OVER THE DESERT, AND THEN LETS IT FALL AGAIN. FALLING AS RAIN, THE WATER AGAIN BECOMES A RIVER.”
“HOW CAN I KNOW THAT THIS IS TRUE?”
“IT IS SO, AND IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IT, YOU CANNOT BECOME MORE THAN A QUAGMIRE, AND EVEN THAT COULD TAKE MANY, MANY YEARS; AND IT CERTAINLY IS NOT THE SAME AS A STREAM.”
“BUT CAN I NOT REMAIN THE SAME STREAM THAT I AM TODAY?”
“YOU CANNOT IN EITHER CASE REMAIN SO,” THE WHISPER SAID. “YOU’RE ESSENTIAL PART IS CARRIED AWAY AND FORMS A STREAM AGAIN. YOU ARE CALLED WHAT YOU ARE EVEN TODAY BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHICH PART OF YOU IS THE ESSENTIAL ONE.”
WHEN HE HEARD THIS, CERTAIN ECHOES BEGAN TO ARISE IN THE THOUGHTS OF THE STREAM. DIMLY, HE REMEMBERED THE STATE IN WHICH HE – OR SOME PART OF HIM, WAS IT? – HAD BEEN HELD IN THE ARMS OF A WIND. HE ALSO REMEMBERED – OR DID HE? – THAT THIS WAS THE REAL THING, NOT NECESSARILY THE OBVIOUS THING, TO DO.
AND THE STREAM RAISED HIS VAPOR INTO THE WELCOMING ARMS OF THE WIND, WHICH GENTLY AND EASILY BORE IT UPWARDS AND ALONG, LETTING IT FALL SOFTLY AS SOON AS THEY REACHED THE ROOF OF A MOUNTAIN, MANY, MANY MILES AWAY. AND BECAUSE HE HAD HAD HIS DOUBTS THE STREAM WAS ABLE TO REMEMBER AND RECORD MORE STRONGLY IN HIS MIND THE DETAILS OF THE EXPERIENCE. HE REFLECTED, “YES, NOW I HAVE LEARNED MY TRUE IDENTITY.”
THE STREAM WAS LEARNING. BUT THE SANDS WHISPERED: “WE KNOW BECAUSE WE SEE IT HAPPEN DAY AFTER DAY: AND BECAUSE WE, THE SANDS, EXTEND FROM THE RIVERSIDE ALL THE WAY TO THE MOUNTAIN.”
AND THAT IS WHY IT IS SAID THAT THE WAY IN WHICH THE STREAM OF LIFE IS TO CONTINUE ON ITS JOURNEY IS WRITTEN IN THE SANDS.
@GatelessGate
IT WAS CONVINCED, HOWEVER, THAT ITS DESTINY WAS TO CROSS THIS DESERT, AND YET THERE WAS NO WAY. NOW A HIDDEN VOICE, COMING FROM THE DESERT ITSELF, WHISPERED: “THE WIND CROSSES THAT DESERT, AND SO CAN THE STREAM.”
THE STREAM OBJECTED THAT IT WAS DASHING ITSELF AGAINST THE SAND, AND ONLY GETTING ABSORBED: THAT THE WIND COULD FLY, AND THAT THIS WAS WHY IT COULD CROSS A DESERT.
“BY HURTLING IN YOUR OWN ACCUSTOMED WAY YOU CANNOT GET ACROSS. YOU WILL EITHER DISAPPEAR OR BECOME A MARSH. YOU MUST ALLOW THE WIND TO CARRY YOU OVER, TO YOUR DESTINATION.”
‘BUT HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?’
“BY ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE ABSORBED IN THE WIND.”
THIS IDEA WAS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO THE STREAM. AFTER ALL, IT HAD NEVER BEEN ABSORBED BEFORE. IT DID NOT WANT TO LOSE ITS INDIVIDUALITY. AND, ONCE HAVING LOST IT, HOW WAS ONE TO KNOW THAT IT COULD EVER BE REGAINED?
“THE WIND,” SAID THE SAND, “PERFORMS THIS FUNCTION. IT TAKES UP WATER, CARRIES IT OVER THE DESERT, AND THEN LETS IT FALL AGAIN. FALLING AS RAIN, THE WATER AGAIN BECOMES A RIVER.”
“HOW CAN I KNOW THAT THIS IS TRUE?”
“IT IS SO, AND IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IT, YOU CANNOT BECOME MORE THAN A QUAGMIRE, AND EVEN THAT COULD TAKE MANY, MANY YEARS; AND IT CERTAINLY IS NOT THE SAME AS A STREAM.”
“BUT CAN I NOT REMAIN THE SAME STREAM THAT I AM TODAY?”
“YOU CANNOT IN EITHER CASE REMAIN SO,” THE WHISPER SAID. “YOU’RE ESSENTIAL PART IS CARRIED AWAY AND FORMS A STREAM AGAIN. YOU ARE CALLED WHAT YOU ARE EVEN TODAY BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHICH PART OF YOU IS THE ESSENTIAL ONE.”
WHEN HE HEARD THIS, CERTAIN ECHOES BEGAN TO ARISE IN THE THOUGHTS OF THE STREAM. DIMLY, HE REMEMBERED THE STATE IN WHICH HE – OR SOME PART OF HIM, WAS IT? – HAD BEEN HELD IN THE ARMS OF A WIND. HE ALSO REMEMBERED – OR DID HE? – THAT THIS WAS THE REAL THING, NOT NECESSARILY THE OBVIOUS THING, TO DO.
AND THE STREAM RAISED HIS VAPOR INTO THE WELCOMING ARMS OF THE WIND, WHICH GENTLY AND EASILY BORE IT UPWARDS AND ALONG, LETTING IT FALL SOFTLY AS SOON AS THEY REACHED THE ROOF OF A MOUNTAIN, MANY, MANY MILES AWAY. AND BECAUSE HE HAD HAD HIS DOUBTS THE STREAM WAS ABLE TO REMEMBER AND RECORD MORE STRONGLY IN HIS MIND THE DETAILS OF THE EXPERIENCE. HE REFLECTED, “YES, NOW I HAVE LEARNED MY TRUE IDENTITY.”
THE STREAM WAS LEARNING. BUT THE SANDS WHISPERED: “WE KNOW BECAUSE WE SEE IT HAPPEN DAY AFTER DAY: AND BECAUSE WE, THE SANDS, EXTEND FROM THE RIVERSIDE ALL THE WAY TO THE MOUNTAIN.”
AND THAT IS WHY IT IS SAID THAT THE WAY IN WHICH THE STREAM OF LIFE IS TO CONTINUE ON ITS JOURNEY IS WRITTEN IN THE SANDS.
@GatelessGate
You will receive everything you need when you stop asking for what you do not need.
~Nisargadatta Maharaj
@GatelessGate
~Nisargadatta Maharaj
@GatelessGate
To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.
~Eckhart Tolle
@GatelessGate
~Eckhart Tolle
@GatelessGate
Life is not a static phenomenon. It is a flux, a riverlike flux; it needs constant change. It needs moment-to-moment awareness; otherwise you will be left behind.
~OSHO
@GatelessGate
~OSHO
@GatelessGate
To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.
~Lao Tzu
@GatelessGate
~Lao Tzu
@GatelessGate
Just be a witness. Don't think, 'I am sad.' Just know, 'There is sadness around me, there is joy around me. I am confronting a certain emotion or a certain mood.' But you are always far away: a watcher on the hills, and everything else is going on in the valley. This is one of the ways vipassana can be done.
~OSHO on Vipassana
@GatelessGate
~OSHO on Vipassana
@GatelessGate
Gateless Gate
I. The Search for the Bull In the pasture of this world, I endlessly push aside the tall grasses in search of the bull. Following unnamed rivers, lost upon the interpenetrating paths of distant mountains, My strength failing and my vitality exhausted, I cannot…
The bull never has been lost. What need is there to search? Only because of separation from my true nature, I fail to find him. In the confusion of the senses I lose even his tracks. Far from home, I see many crossroads, but which way is the right one I know not. Greed and fear, good and bad, entangle me.
~The Ten Bulls of Zen
@GatelessGate
~The Ten Bulls of Zen
@GatelessGate