Hearing a thought of
"Everyday life is no other
than Nirvana" and being
jerked inside of your
head where you see a
vision of your face
before your parents were
born and then being
jerked so that you see
the world in front of
you and it looks so
beautiful that you jump
out of your chair with
a great feeling of
exhilaration and then
you sense door after
door in your mind opening
up, unlocking countless
rooms, and this happens
after your first attempt
at meditation without
any teacher having
taught you how and
without any drugs being
involved, is enlightenment
and also the beginning
of schizophrenia. No shit.
This happened to me.
II
Heating up a can of wax
beans is also enlighten-
ment.
III
Sitting in a chair when
it is exactly eight
o'clock and the thought
pops into your head
of "Laundry" is also
enlightenment.
IV
I think all composers of
music compose in the
same way, except for
differences in their
procedures, like Mozart
composing on a billiard table,
or John Cage throwing dice,
or Beethoven writing
in a notebook, or me
not knowing a thing
about how it sounds.
V
Improvisers compose,
perform and are an
audience all at the
same time. They all
know what they are
doing. There are only
different degrees
of knowledge.
VI
Another kind of
enlightenment that I
experienced was when
I wrote down the
word "Another" and had
an intentional thought
of writing a poem, and
then had an unintentional
thought of recording
music, and then
it occurred to me to roll
cigarettes, because that
was the right thing to
do at that time, for me.
VII
My mother said that she
thought there was no
such thing as enlightenment.
John Cage wrote:
enlightenment equals
no enlightenment.
Buddha said that there
was no such thing as
enlightenment and then
he said...Ahh, but there is
such a thing as enlightenment.
I say everything is
enlightenment.
Samu Sunim taught that
the first thought was
the enlightened thought
and the second thought
was the Buddha thought,
so, obviously, every thought
is enlightened.
VIII
Haju Sunim had an experience
that her teacher said
was her enlightenment.
She looked at the moon
and couldn't tell if she
was the moon or if the
moon was her.
IX
A friend practiced
meditation for the
first time, and I
noticed that he looked
a little more crumpled
and depressed. I thought
that was due to his
enlightenment. Of course,
he was already enlightened,
because he is a nice
guy, which is possibly
better than enlight-
enment.
X
A Zen master saw a
radiant, loving light
and came out of his
meditation, crying, and
so decided to teach Zen.
An illiterate mental
patient who I know, who
thought he was the
reincarnation of Cain,
told me he saw a bright,
white light. My brother
had a near-death
experience and saw
a bright white light.
I have never seen a
bright, white light
except for electric lights,
and the computer, etc.
IX
I once had an experience
where I was sitting on
a chair on a patio, and
everything disappeared
completely, including me,
and it was not like you
might think, like that I
saw a void or anything,
because I wasn't there to
see anything. The emptiness
didn't exist. It was like
there wasn't anything.
I don't know how I knew
anything about it, except
briefly after it happened
I was back sitting on
a chair on the patio, and
my forty year old headache
was gone, and I jumped up
and started dancing. My
sister came out and
joined me and my headache
came back. I knew
that time existed
before the disappearance
and that time existed
after the experience,
but I perceived afterward
that there was no time
or space during
the disappearance.
XII
Bob Dylan said "Don't think
twice, it's alright" and
I always wondered what
that meant. So just now
I had a thought to
have a bologna sandwich
and I didn't have another
thought. So then I had
another thought of
"Oh, I get it!, it's alright!".
XIII
A friend was walking
in a park with a lady
who practiced yoga. They
were picking flowers
and my friend woke up.
The lady said, "That must
be satori". He told me
it was like a big room.
XIIII
One way to think of in, is
inside the body/mind. One way
to think of out is outside
the body/mind. They are both
out. One way to think of in
is down toward the center
of the earth. Another way
to think of out, is up towards
outer space. They are both
out. One way to think of in,
is inside of your house.
One way to think of out, is
outside of your house. They
are both out. One way to
think of in, is inside of
that universe. There
probably is no outside of
the universe. One way to
think of out is out there
in the universe. We are
all inside of the universe.
The universe is everyday,
ordinary life.
I suggest giving
freely to anyone, if it
will help them.
END
No comments:
Post a Comment