reality, dukkha, and being well

things are not as they seem,
“nor are they otherwise”  / Lankavatara Sutra

nothing is other than arising and ceasing;
nothing is as it seems, nor is it otherwise

when reality is what it seems to us to be,
dukkha is our wanting it to be otherwise

reality is not as it seems,
nor is it otherwise

wanting anything is dukkha,
and being well is wanting nothing,
letting go of wanting anything

being well is being on the eightfold path,
doing no more than need be done
to simply be and let be,
wanting nothing

being well is a fourfold process:

  • seeing dukkha as wanting anything
  • sensing it as it arises and letting it be
  • noticing that it ceases when it is let be
  • being on the path where it can be let be
be well

* * *

be well, want nothing

want nothing, be well

May all be well, “pervading the world with a mind imbued with
loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.”

# # # #

notes

Posted

nothing is as it seems


nothing is as it seems


the marks of existence – anicca, dukkha, and anatta – and the interdependent web

anicca [uh-NIK-uh] … no being is not changing

dukkha [DOO-k(h)uh] … no being is not wanting

anatta [un-uh(t)-TAH] … no being is not depending

* * *

nothing is not changing

nothing is not wanting

nothing is not depending

* * *

nothing is other than
the interdependent web
of all being

no one is

identities and entities
are in the mind

only in the mind is anyone
or anything other than
the interdependent web
of all being

only in the mind is anyone
or anything other than
this timeless present:

endless flux and nothing
depending on nothing

nothing is other than this

no one is

nothing is as it seems

# # #

notes




Posted

dukkha: a mark of existence

Questioner: Is it not our duty to be patriots?
Ramana Maharshi: Your duty is to be, and not to be this or that.

* * *

nothing is other than
the interdependent web
of all existence

no one is

nothing depends on nothing,
and nothing does not change

what is thought of as dukkha arises and ceases:
it arises with wanting and ceases with being

dukkha ceases with being that is simply being
and letting be … and doing no more
than need be done to be and let be

dukkha ceases with seeing that no one is other
than the interdependent web of all existence;
that nothing is; that all other entities are in the mind



“An awe-filled agnosticism is perhaps the better part of wisdom,”
says Rev Dr Marilyn Sewell of when one is, as she puts it,
“entering the ground of the infinite with the powers of a finite mind.”

# # #

notes

Posted

thanksgiving/giving thanks

(image CC BY-SA)

let the unknowable be as it is,
and give thanks to all being for being