Spiritual statuary isn’t so much meant for our adoration of their beauty, as they are meant to inspire or remind us to find time to turn within in order to rest in timelessness. By consciously abiding in our inherently permanent tranquility, renewal and restoration in wholeness is experienced, and our awareness is clarified.

Whatever we perceive and experience on our journey of spiritual awakening may fascinate, inform, inspire and enrich, and this has value, yet ultimately it is the direct realization of What perceives and experiences that is necessary if we are to be restored to true wholeness. The What (not who) is the undergirding Reality of all individualized presentations in this relative, dualistic, yin-yang life.

The most elaborate, challenging game of hide & seek:

The One individualizes as the many, while the many feeling incomplete, individually and uniquely search for the One .

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Dispassion doesn’t indicate disinterest or uncaring. Dispassion might be thought of as passion from a distance – calmly removed from emotional investment. The sage relates in life compassionately and passionately with keen interest, yet is free of personal preference and self-interest. Inwardly settled and attentively poised in a selfless overview perspective, knowing the permanent wholeness of conditionless contentment, she may fully engage outwardly, performing duties and nurturing relationships, without expectation.

As spiritual practice, she advises that we become acquainted with and learn to live from our changeless core Being, our naturally dispassionate Center, which is the constant, peaceful Observer of fleeting appearances, actions and states of mind. We are to make this perspective our primary orientation, while able to engage fully and contribute skillfully as events emerge and unfold. Accomplishing this, we will know “Stability amidst change,” and this stability represents ultimate freedom.

When consciously established in our permanent core Essence, our changeless Center, we can render useful service, accomplish worthwhile goals, and enjoy our uniquely sanctioned role amidst life’s relative, fluctuating cycles, as an agent of harmony. The sage describes this attainable, spiritually enlightened disposition as “Sky awareness greeting passing clouds.”

The pleasing melodic weave of birds’ morning songs graced the forest as Nathan quietly sat listening. His awareness spontaneously opened to the fullness of Silence beyond listening, above thinker and thought .

Joy arising in the human heart is a Divine flowering .

Many meditate for relaxation and de-stressing, while others practice more intentionally with an emphasis on spiritual knowing/awakening. Regardless of one’s purpose and approach, the practice of meditation is generally life-enriching. Most methods help shift the meditator’s awareness from being thought-sensation oriented, to being the witness, resting alertly, observing presently, dispassionately. In yogic (transcendental) meditation practice, one’s ideal intention and action is complete self-surrender into infinite Consciousness; pure Being .

Engaged in thinking, centered in thought, the yogi sought relief. Elevating attention, his essence became foremost, and formless fulfillment in Being was realized.

 

Master Hu told his students about women carrying full urns of water on their head tops, traveling a considerable distance from the river back to their village. Along the way they discussed many things while adjusting their steps on the uneven rock strewn path, simultaneously enjoying the scenery and wildlife that greeted them. By the time they arrived at their village, not a drop of water had been spilled from the urns, because while navigating, visiting, and taking in the sights, each had maintained continual awareness of their urn and the precious life-giving water therein.

Master Hu then admonished: “Learn to keep constant company with your ground of being (spiritual essence; true Self), which is changeless, timeless and imperishable like the sky, so that regardless of how you are engaged within the changing scenes of this collective mortal dream, you will always be well integrated, moving freely and happily, while enacting your sanctioned role.”

 

When one’s mind is undisturbed like a clear mountain lake – with self-interest absent – life’s sacredness is wholly evident .

 

After months of meditation practice and contemplative study with no discernible insights, young Wu asked his teacher to elaborate on the concept of the “larger true Self,” which had been emphasized as the ultimate realization of spiritual practice.

His master caustically replied, “The one asking cannot know that Self!” Wu sighed and turned to walk away when the master caught his arm, saying, “Wu! Think of the ocean as representative of the larger true Self and the wave as the individual seeking that Self. The ocean is the wave is the ocean. Earnestly ponder this.”

Santosh was devoted to keeping company with the sacred space between thoughts and though his thinking was clear, precise and tempered by discernment, he remained free of becoming a captive of thought .

 

Having exhausted her exploration of mind and senses for meaning and satisfaction, she offered the Lord her feet and hands, trusting that something of value might be accomplished toward elevating the mortal dream experience for all .

Though our paths of spiritual remembrance can differ markedly, each of us will realize the same spiritual destiny .

The Permanent gives birth to the impermanent. The changing arises from the Changeless. Tao is the root of yin and yang. We who play roles of impermanence, as mind-body events, are as waves rippling through an ocean. Our greater reality is the ocean. Our sense of smallness and insularity is only a temporary identity which will eventually be transcended as we awaken to the rediscovery of our changeless, imperishable reality as Spirit .

 

If God is our essential life and core being, why is the search for spiritual fulfillment such an elusive and daunting ordeal?

Hu felt blessed to share the company of trees and birds – a cherished source of inspiration which provided him continual learning. After skillfully trimming several juniper bonsai’s and reverently practicing qigong among them, he departed the garden long before the gates opened to the public, and headed up along the hillside path to master Tang’s tea house, which they had constructed from old growth bamboo decades ago.

The two men greeted each other warmly then took their seats. They shared an enriching visit while sipping Dragon Well tea, then fell silent, enjoying timeless non-separation.

                                                

Every life form expresses and experiences individually and uniquely, yet no form of life expresses and experiences independently; arises independent of its Source. All life forms derive from the same eternal Source abiding as the core being of each individual .