“He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.” — Lao Tzu

He who speaks reflects his consciousness of reality. He who knows does not speak as reality is beyond individual consciousness.

He who speaks is in the now. He cannot grasp the now, as a hand cannot grasp itself.

He who knows does not speak as the noisy now can only be known by observation from the silent space outside the now.

He who describes the now does not know; for descriptions are static, while the now is an everchanging flow.

Words are like the precise space inside a square. The endless and everchanging now is like the imprecise space inside a circle (a function of the transcendental number, π (pi)). A circle cannot be squared.

Descriptions are empty, as what’s described is now no longer.

He who speaks is an actor in the play of life. For actors, the play is a drama.

He who knows is the audience. For the audience, the play is a divine comedy. He who laughs cannot speak.

He who knows delights in watching the play; an experience he cares not interrupt by speaking which would transition him into an actor.

Like speaking: “As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it.” — Lao Tzu

With one eye, we can see.

With two eyes, we have depth perception.

With one mind, we have a view.

With many minds, we have perspective.

Very few things affect us. What we think things are affects us.

How do you know whether you are seeing something through your eyes or mind?

The book with blank pages is only empty if that’s what we see.

Without a different perspective we have no perspective.

God is everywhere the self is not.

The Way to awakening is not to take your self seriously.

The way to begin is not to take me seriously.

Life is a play; a drama for the actors and a comedy for the audience.

People are the actors and God is the audience.

We can always choose our role, as an actor or as God.

Those who are enlightened enlight others. Yet, everyone enlights the enlightened.

Seven thousand miles away is 14 hours away by way of flying. Yet, someone 10 feet away is often many years away in different ways; too far away for us to hear each other.

God is in plain sight, just hidden behind the self.

When we are present in the now, we are absent-minded of being in the now.

All things are constantly changing, yet there is nothing new under the sun.

Always the best time in life can only be now.

“There are no facts, just interpretations.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Every thing is temporarily unique and forever the same.

Something we see and can’t identify is fascinating, until we give it an identity. Once identified, it becomes a noun and we relegate it to our peripheral vision.

Life is a game of hide and seek. We win by finding the soul before the soul finds us.

All we see in the now are reflections of light. When the now disappears, all that remains is light.

Time cannot be saved or spent.

However fast a river runs, it’s always in the same place.

Ultimate truth is difficult to find. When it appears it’s followed by laughter.

When we are one with the universe, we miss nothing until we see it.

If we experience something as we have once before, we haven’t experienced it.

Any description without uncertainty is an illusion.

When we don’t forget from where we came we know where we are going.

Those who can’t distinguish between someone loving themselves and selfishness are selfish.

What you see outside your self looks different when you are outside your self.

How can the soul appear to transition into an infinite number of things?

If life is a test, those with more answers than questions are sure to fail.

When seeing something not unique, we are seeing it with our mind.

When the past is real, the present is an illusion.

We can’t open our eyes if we don’t know they are closed.

When we are the person we once were, we are nothing.

Until we know we know nothing, we know nothing.

What was once and is no longer, never was.

No thing is perfect but nothing is perfect.

Loving certain people, but not all people, is sentimental. Loving all people is practical.

Enlightenment is simple: one is one with the light. Yet, it seems very complicated to the unenlightened who can’t agree on what it is.

Focusing on what it is, instead of observing the now, keeps them unenlightened.

Those who love you, help keep you alive. Those you love are the reason you are alive.

As everyone describes the same thing differently, how can you understand anything unless you understand everyone?

All things are two things, a reflection of light and a shadow.

The sun creates the light, the thing creates the shadow.

What happens when we die?

What happens when we die!

When we die we transition from “Who” we are when we are alive (in the now) to “What” we are in the time before and after the now.

The “Who” is the self, our identity in the now.

The “What” is transcendental. The “What” is God. In the Bible, God self-describes: “I am what…”.

The “Who” is an expression of the “What”. Every thing in the now is a manifestation of God.

As the “Who” exists only in the now, the “Who” is finite.

Those who view themselves as solely a “Who” die when they are no longer in the now.

As the “What” is forever and at times in the form of a “Who”, the “What” is eternal.

Those that know they are a “Who” and the “What” never die. They just constantly transition forever.

Sleeping is a state of consciousness based on the illusion of knowledge.

Awakening is the realization we don’t know anything.

Enlightenment is knowing nothing.

When we understand all is One, is 1 + 1 = 1?

The mind can grasp enlightenment as easily as a hand can grasp itself.

How can the now be eternally unchanged, yet the now that’s now is different than the now before now and the now after the now?

As each of us describes the same thing differently, is the same thing the same thing?

Are the brightest those who reflect the brightest light or those who emit light which reflects from everything around them?

When the mind lights the road ahead, day turns into night.

The foundation of wisdom is knowing you know nothing.

“Some things are too important to be taken seriously.” — Oscar Wilde

You find the soul when you lose your self.

When the self is absent, we are present.

Once you know nothing, there is nothing else you need to know.

We transform the now into words, the words become the now.

The senses connect us to reality and the mind disconnects us from reality.

Every thing, but the Everything, creates duality.

An enlightened man loves every thing equally; though some things he likes and some things he doesn’t.

Truth is difficult to describe, but is identified by the sound of laughter.

There is no time, just space. Every thing that was, is and will be happens at the same time but in different spaces.

The memories we hold onto are real, until we open our hand and see there is nothing there.

A wise man may appear foolish being uncertain of every thing, but only a fool is certain of any thing.

The mind cannot see, it can only compare.

To the curious mind, awareness of its ignorance is bliss.

Life is a test to which we are given the answer before taking the test. We always have a choice: we can remember the answer or take the test seriously.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus

You are in harmony with the world when you know who you are.

You are harmony when you know what you are.

“Enlightenment is like everyday consciousness, but two inches above the ground.” — D.T. Suzuki

Enlightenment is proverbially described as “being one with everything.” It is a state associated with the dissolution of the illusory self, transcending duality and realizing our oneness with the Everything.

Consciousness is consciousness. The consciousness of enlightenment is not different from the self’s consciousness in the now.

Describing enlightenment as being two inches above the ground seems the antithesis of enlightenment, as it implies separation/duality. No! Two inches above the ground implies enlightenment is transcendental, beyond our conventional understanding of the material world with forces like gravity.

The “ground” represents the now. When we are on the ground, we are in the now. Through the consciousness of the self, we experience the now as a duality: the self and all that is not the self.

The consciousness of enlightenment is experiencing the now two inches above the ground. When we distance ourselves from the now, we can observe the now and come to know the now. Knowing the now, we realize we create the now; we are the now and not a part of the now.

This realization can occur through meditation. The now is breathing. We observe the now when we are in the space between exhale and inhale. In this space, we realize we are the consciousness that creates the now and in so doing we become the now.

What do we see everywhere but rarely notice?

Light.

Things we see are not things, just light reflecting off things.

What we don’t see, the essence of all things, is also light. All things are energy slowed by the speed of light squared. (Energy is mass times the speed of light squared (E = MC²). Reformulated, mass is energy divided by the spend of light squared (M = E/C²).)

All things, outside and inside, are light.

Perceiving things otherwise, as solid or distinct from other things, is an illusion.

As all things are light, all things are enlightening.

When you see things as things are, what are you?

At the moment our senses awaken us, the mind puts us to sleep.

What separates people is not space but time.

When we categorize others, we don’t know what they or we are.

To the eyes, every thing is unique because the eyes have no memory.

When you love everyone, it feels like everyone loves you.

Certainty makes us comfortable with reality because it’s not reality.

As enlightenment is so simple and obvious, it’s funny (as in odd) that some people don’t get it.

It’s actually funny when someone tries to explain it; like pointing their finger at the sun, yet the listener keeps looking at their finger.

Awakened, we don’t recognize any thing we see. Enlightened, there are no things, just light.

To the eyes, every thing is beautiful. To the mind, few things are beautiful.

Awakening is the realization that our memories are just dreams.

We move forward by walking backward, experiencing things only after they’ve passed.

Our eyes see things horizontally, but our mind sees things vertically.

As the hand cannot grasp itself, how can the mind grasp itself?

Once you know what you are is not your self, what else do you need to know?

“Where does a thought go when it’s forgotten?” — Sigmund Freud

“The most dangerous thing of all is habit.” — Kotzker Rebbe

Can you be enlightened if you are not enlightening?

“More important than writing is erasing.” — Kotzker Rebbe

“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” — Lao Tzu

Eureka! All There Is Is Is.

Eureka means “I have found it.” Yet, there is nothing to be found as all there is is being and becoming; the Everything that is eternal and everchanging.

Acronym: EATIII (pronounced as “80”)

“8” is the symbol of infinity (∞) drawn vertically, reflecting the human form. Graphically, it has no beginning nor end; an endless knot constantly twisting and turning in different directions.

“8” is human consciousness; infinite in time and everchanging as it is manifesting in the now.

“0” is a hole with two separate sides, inside and outside. However, their separateness is an illusion as they are interdependent; one cannot exist without the other. Together they are a whole, not a hole.

“0” is our experience of the now: an illusion of separate things that are actually one thing.

“80” is one thing that is not a static thing; just eternal consciousness that is everchanging as it creates the now.

Time is like water, drink it or it evaporates.

Before and after the now, there is no time.

The now comes and goes in an instant, yet the now is eternal.

Where is time?

The light we see disappears in an instant. The light itself is forever.

When you know what you are, you always appreciate who you are.

Everything is in the now. Yet, when you miss something in the now, something is missing: you.

You are what you are forever. Who you are is subject to change.

What is your Way:

Earth, fire, air or water?

Earth is physical.

Fire is emotional.

Air is conceptual.

Water is practical.

Rock, paper, or scissors?

Rock is nature.

Paper is civilization

Scissors is technology.

Red, yellow or blue?

Red is emotional.

Yellow is intuitive..

Blue is conceptual.

Knife, fork or spoon?

The soul and the self are complimentary. The soul emits energy. The self absorbs energy. What then happens with the energy?

The self that thinks it knows, only knows illusions.

“Speech and silence are one and the same.” — Fuketsu Ensho

“Whoever gets angry, it is as if he worshipped idols” — Zohar 1:27b

Getting angry at some one or thing presumes it has an independent existence, like an idol. That denies the existence of God which is the interconnected oneness of every thing.

Love your self to escape from your self.

The devil is in the details.

Without details, all things are one thing: God.

We see “its” everywhere and rarely notice “is”, though all there is is is.

There are two types of vision, foveal and peripheral.

Foveal vision is when our eyes focus and we mentally create static images of seemingly independent things (“its”). However, the “its” are illusions as all things are interdependent.

Peripheral vision is unfocused, where all things are one undifferentiated thing. This is reality; an ambiguous and fluid thing that is beyond description, other than that it is what it is whatever it is.

We rarely notice reality, other than sensing relative changing motions within it. For example, when we are in a car and someone in a car next to us turns to look at us; we notice this change in motion and look back at them.

While 99% of our visual field is peripheral vision, we think the world is what we see via foveal vision.

The mind easily convinces us of the illusion that we can square a circle.

It’s impossible to construct a square with the same area as a given circle.

The space inside a circle is the product of multiplying the squared radius of the circle and π (pi)

π is a transcendental number; an infinite, non-repeating decimal expansion. That means the knowable space inside a circle is imprecise.

The space inside a square is precise.

As an imprecise space cannot precisely fill a precise space, a circle cannot be squared.

Transcendental numbers arise naturally in exponential growth and decay processes. They are used extensively in calculus, probability, and mathematical analysis.

Transcendental is also the nature of the universe; infinite expansion and everchanging.

The mind is a square and the universe is a circle.

The mind convinces us of the illusion that we know the universe. Yet, the universe is transcendental. It cannot be precisely known.

How were my parents and I born at the same time?

When I was born on Earth, my parents were born somewhere 25 light years from Earth.

I am time.

An “enlightened master” with many students is a powerful illusion.

Enlightenment is realization every thing is essentially light.

What is calmer, the sea or me?

When we can’t identify what we are seeing, we are experiencing reality.

How can the now be infinitesimally small, yet contain an infinite number of things?

Is that so?

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. One day, her parents discovered she was pregnant.

This angered her parents, especially as she refused to tell them who got her pregnant. Eventually, she told them Hakuin was the father.

Furious, the parents told everyone in the community what Hakuin had done and confronted the master.

“Is that so?” was all he said.

After the child was born, the parents gave it to Hakuin. By then, he had lost his reputation as a righteous man, but that did not trouble him. He accepted the child and took very good care of it as if it was his.

A year later, the baby’s mother could no longer hold back the truth. She told her parents the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.

The girl’s parents immediately went to Hakuin. They asked for forgiveness and to have the child back.

Hakuin willingly gave them the child and all he said was: “Is that so?”

“Is that so?” encourages self-reflection and the questioning of assumptions we hold without doubts.

“Is that so?” Hakuin asks the girl’s parents to question their initial certainty that Hakuin fathered their daughter’s baby and their later certainty that he did not. Ultimately, no one knows who fathered the baby; even the mother might not know.

“Is that so?” simply suggests we consider things from many perspectives. This is the essence of wisdom.

Wisdom is knowing that perceived truths change (like the girl’s claim as to who fathered her baby) and that, ultimately, no thing is truly knowable.

The girl’s parents lack wisdom.

They also lack compassion as they carelessly ruin Hakuin’s reputation.

Hakuin, a man of wisdom and compassion, knows what he is and is unfazed by who others think he is.

Embodying  wisdom and compassion, we gracefully accept what comes our way and make the best of it.

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

The Pope: “It depends on the size of the pin.”

The Zen master: “What’s a pin?”

“Does a dog have Buddha nature?”

This is the first and perhaps most famous of 48 Zen koans compiled in the early 13th century in “The Gateless Gate.”

To the question, the Zen Master Zhaozhou responded: “Mu.”

Mu means “nothing.”

A dog is a dog. Buddha nature, the innate potential for enlightenment, is a concept. Two seemingly independent things in the now.

Yet, all things before and after the now are one thing: nothing, mu.

What is it now?*

One day, a Zen master with a clay pot on a wooden table before him asked several students: “What is this?”

Some said it was a clay pot. Another said that it was an artifact. Another said it was an assemblage of clay and wood. Soon there were other perspectives as well. A lively debate ensued, while the Zen master shook his head and laughed.

One student approached the table and threw the pot to the ground, shattering it into many pieces. An audible silence enveloped the room, until the student asked: “What is it now?”

Silence again filled the room. Some students were shocked and others embarrassed by the aggressive arrogance of the student who shattered their master’s clay pot. Then the silence was shattered by laughter from the Zen master and the student.

The Zen master and student laughed as they recognized the other students were like the blind men in the “Ten Men and the Elephant” parable. Each certain of a their individual identification of the pot and the collective view that breaking the pot was disrespectful.

A pot is a pot, temporarily. All things are ever-changing. The pot cannot be described, as it is different now than it was in the now upon which the description is based. Those who know it can only say that it is what it is whatever it is.

*Courtesy of Bill Wisher.

Does a rock have consciousness?

Consciousness generally refers to the state of being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts, feelings, and sensations. It is the subjective experience of being alive and having a sense of self as separate from that which is not one’s self. However, what exactly is consciousness has been long debated by philosophers, theologians, linguists, and scientists and no consensus has emerged.

While a rock is a rock, what is a rock?

Is a rock an independent thing or something given agency by our consciousness?

If a rock is an independent thing, it may have consciousness that is beyond our general understanding of consciousness.

Alternatively, if a rock is an illusion created by our mind, a rock does not have consciousness.

Every thing in the now is interdependent and interconnected. That is, every thing is not a thing, but a facet of one ever-changing thing, the Everything. Things in the now that appear independent, like a rock, are illusions created by the mind.

As a rock is an illusion, it does not have consciousness.

If we don’t recognize our consciousness has created the things in the Everything, we have the consciousness of a rock.

Who are you?

I am a mountain range. I am the sea.

I am the Everything, but not specifically me.

I am everchanging, that’s what I be,

not who you think you see.

I am what I am. There’s nothing else to me.

“A man of wisdom delights at water” — Confucius

Water is like the universe: one thing and yet many things.

As it’s everchanging, describing water is beyond the grasp of words; other than that it is what it is whatever it is.

Water manifests different shapes (clouds, rivers, oceans) and forms (vapor, liquid, and ice).

Water is interdependent, as a wave cannot be a wave without the sea.

Water is interconnected, from cloud to rain to river to sea.

As drops of water, we fear not rain over us. Together as a flood, water reigns over us.

On water we effortlessly float or panic and sink.

While essential to life, water also brings drowning and death.

Sound travels four times faster and further in water than air, though we can’t hear what someone is saying underwater.

Water is odorless and tasteless, yet present in everything that smells and tastes.

Though colorless in a glass, water has a bluish hue when it gathers in the ocean.

Water in lakes and oceans seems impassable, but the easiest path between places is by boat over water.

Still water is dead-silent. Moving water is alive with sounds.

In a pond, still water is clear and turbulent water opaque.

Seeing ourselves and surroundings in a reflecting pond, we don’t notice the water.

Water is impossible to grasp, but easily captured in cupped hands.

Water is weak, flowing to places of least resistance; unlike fire which destroys all in its way. Yet, water easily extinguishes fire.

While not hard like stone, high-pressure water cuts stone like it’s butter.

A quart of water weighs more than a quart of ice; as water expands when it freezes, unlike most materials which contract when transitioning from liquid to solid.

Water symbolizes the cycle of life. Water is born as rain, lives in the oceans and disappears as vapor, forming clouds for its rebirth.

Life is a glass of sparkling water. We are bubbles that arise out of nowhere; each making its individual way to the top of the glass. When we reach the top, we seem to disappear. We don’t disappear, we become one with everything which is what we were from the beginning.

Water is what it is whatever it is, but how we see it is a reflection of who we are. A man of wisdom sees water variously. That’s the essence of wisdom.

Now is forever. Everything else is out of time.

“What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

The sound of one hand clapping is the sound of one hand clapping. It is what it is whatever it is.

“The child is father of the man.” — William Wordsworth

Both those who think they are rich or poor are poor.

In the past and future are an infinite number of things. The now is only one thing.

The way forward is clear when looking backward from the end of days.

“There is nothing new under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes

Every thing is in constant change and thus superficially new. Hence, nothing is new as newness doesn’t differentiate one thing from another.

There is nothing new as all things are interdependent. All things are one thing: the now. The now is not old or new. The now is just the now.

There is nothing new as there is no thing. All there is is is, a flow.

As light is the essence of all things, nothing is new as the essence of all things is unchanged.

“Growing old, man’s sight worsens, but this allow him to see more.” Jewish proverb

The now is always the same, always new.

“Man plans, God laughs.” — Jewish proverb

“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” — Linji Yixuan

In the now, there is only one thing: the Everything.

The Everything is manifested as an infinite number of seemingly independent things.

Yet, as all things are interdependent, essentially all things are one thing.

Thinking of things (like the Buddha) as independent is an illusion.

Illusionary things create duality, the thing and all that is not the thing.

On the road to enlightenment, we need to vanquish all illusions to realize the oneness of the Everything.

“There is only one mind to which we are all connected. But that mind has its own mind.” — Simon Stark

“You already are what you want to become.” —  Thich Nhat Hahn

Love is selfless. But when the self expresses love, that’s selfish.