on war

"I was against...on two counts. First, the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hate to see our country be the first to use such a weapon." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower on Hiroshima bombing 8/6/1945

Hiroshima & Nagasaki weren't isolated events but a culmination of American policy to target civilian populations in mass terrorist bombings.

In the constant war that is ego, the target never changes: the other. Only the technologies increase the accuracy and numbers.

The fire of war is always smoldering and re-igniting: gaza and world war two and world war one and previous wars are not separate events.

Great wars are not separate from personal wars are not separate from inner psychological wars. The egoic state of consciousness is war.

The wise response to war is to see through the sides and not take yet another.

The Undivided Pseutra

Where ‘this’ and ‘that’ cease to be opposites,

there lies the pivot of the Way

~Chaung Tzu (tr. Mair)

it’s not so much the world is an illusion

but how that illusion is relentlessly tricking one—

the illusion is division

but the trick convinces one

to put things back together

when of course they aren’t apart—

and by endlessly trying to put together

things which aren’t apart,

one loses focus on the truth:

one is that which is not apart—

the world appears to be

constantly tearing apart

but everyone is attempting to put it

back together in the best way they see fit—

the human illusion has

seven billion points of view—

you are this

and the other is that

but the other is this to itself

and you are that to it—

the mind divides;

this is the function of mind—

one takes a side;

this is identification with mind—

war!

this is one lost in mind—

war is fought in the home,

on the streets,

at work,

and maybe more importantly,

within oneself,

every single second of the day—

one takes sides;

this is identifying with mind—

one sees one side as god;

this is fundamentalism—

one may completely raze any opposing side;

this is evil—

an ego is like an edifice

built from all the sides one takes—

psychology tries to right the sides;

truth reveals the sides aren’t really there—

so absolute truth is unknown

and all one knows of absolute truth is being—

in other words,

is there an unknown?
yes, i am that.

S6 — Calvin on an Island

Island people have a saying: “Nowhere is an island.” Visitors are puzzled when they hear this spoken. After all, they’ve spent much time and money just to reach this paradise in the middle of an ocean.

Calvin was such a one. He went without for fifty weeks just to have his two upon that isle. So when he breathlessly disembarked only to be greeted by an islander conveying this saying, he strongly begged to differ.

The islander just smiled and said, “It makes no difference,” and danced lightly off to greet another. A recent transplant to the island seeing Calvin’s being at variance stopped to offer a more comprehensive reception: “No matter how you slice it, there never is division.”

S5 — Isle of Eyes: A Myth of the Scientific

In the eye of a hurricane, there’s an eye of a needle. In the eye of a needle, there’s an eye of an eye. The island people call this eye a third eye and take their own eyes out whenever it goes seeing. For what it sees is visible to no one.

There was a visitor who called himself an optical magician, prescribing telescopes to those he diagnosed as near-sighted, and microscopes to those he saw as far-sighted. But the island folk, as far as he could see, were neither.

He plucked his own eyes out in a pique of speculation but it left him only sightless. The island people divined no notion why he’d make a scene like that. And so they led him in a starry-eyed procession to a long reflective beach and cast him out to sea.

S4 — Breaking Up Is Hard Nondoing Too

It was early in the process of discovery

I knew the two of us would lose each other.

Paradox is not unknown in love.

At first our paths continued, one upon the other,

but soon we found ourselves in the yellow wood.

It didn’t happen overnight and all our efforts

to maintain separating ways together met

with personal effects like alcohol on my behalf

and a drier kind of melancholy in yours.

You finally had the nerve to call it quits

but even that was met with one more year of trying.

It’s over now; surrendering to that which is

can really be a bitch. But that’s the price.

You said that day you liked the middle class

and I was always making light of it.

That’s forever been the case with me.

It’s just my form of self-assessment.

Even though I’m living now without

the greater luxuries I once afforded,

I’m not exactly third-world poor—

thank my daughter and her Major.

This is the present empire after all.

So I know these fears about security,

but I’ve seen you lately follow them

and then convince yourself you hadn’t.

That’s the way of people though, divided.

The path I’ve taken teaches seeing this,

to recognize such separation for what it is,

to know the false as false. That leaves pure being,

not being this or that. And being tells one all that is—

and That which absolutely isn’t takes one back.

Song-stream 3 — Incident on Sky Mountain

There’s a mountain lofty enough

it takes two days to make the peak.

It rises in the heart of a desert

where nomads pray to any passing mirage.

They’re satisfied to dine on scorpions

while downing barrel cactus juice.

They hallucinate of cubicles

floating in a glass of cabbages and ginger

looking at the rain streak the skylight

hoping they’ve secured the windows

in their newly-leased Honda Civics.

One of them flies out the door to check

but strikes the mountain there instead.

Soon she’s in a globe of berries.

The air is fragrant with exacting freshness.

She sees above the ripples of heat;

there’s not an office in her eye.

Half-way up she finds a halfway house.

It’s an edifice she’s yet to dream.

She’s genially greeted at the door

and welcomed with the latest reality

of living rooms and large flat screens

with twenty-four hour interruptions.

Exhausted with the climb, she wants to stay.

Twenty years later, she’s out to catch a breather

and meets a mad man coming down the mountain.

Maybe it’s a mad woman. He raves or she raves,

“You’ve stopped believing in a personal god,

but you’re still believing in the personal!”

and then turns to return to the sky.

Song-stream 2 — Compassionist Manifesto

Mind apparently divides 

that nonduality 

and wonders why its world is one 

of separation, violence, want, and war.

Even when this unity appears

in shapes love takes—

like justice, hope, equality—

the mind will take control

with judgment and conviction

and an execution of its end

justifying any of its means.

And so it goes…

There’s no arguing

the utmost advocates of civil rights

within the infamous twentieth century:

Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

Nonviolence was their word,

but more importantly the sacrifice of ego

—this identity with mind—

to universal consciousness;

call it Krishna, call it Christ.

You know it when you feel it,

some holistic intuition

that division is completely inauthentic,

that existence is lovingly impersonal,

that love is unconditional

and the personal is conditioned by division

and that’s the way it is.

And even this spontaneous understanding

is usurped by mind

and formed into religion

and fashioned into dogma, rules, belief

and fought in endless wars where

holy ends are justified

by all apocalyptic means.

Stop! There is no end—

there’s only means,

there’s always only here and now

and every action is reflection

of the clarity within.

Our only call is clear our self—

an empty sky
breezes through and does the rest.

Song-stream 1 — Braids of Glass

Consciousness is the sea

and eyes are like the rays of light

looking deep into itself.

Nothing in this universe is like

this universe of yours—

even this blade of grass is different

than this blade of grass you grasp;

only the name remains the same.

Beneath the summer sky, some huckleberry boy is

gliding high above his freshly-cut idyllic turf

as sonic booms of nineteen-fifties’ fear are coloring

his clarity with contrails of his elder’s ghastly white beliefs.

Nothing that we know is ever knowable

but only viruses received from dreams

infected with ancestral viruses.

The mind divides

this universal consciousness to pieces

claiming only one particular to be itself.

Sword-play of war is what must happen next—

until one finally sees that one is absolutely not

this sharp reflection in the mirror.

It’s as if that pure awareness subjectivity of crystalline glass

intends to know itself, and within that big intent, the whole intent

objectifies itself in galaxies of this molecular imagination

evolving in time and space by calling keenly to itself to see—

it always is and is

never not the mirror.

Now knows itself and a blade of grass

isn’t really a blade of grass—

a blade of grass is only

a blade of grass.

new & recycled prophecies 3 — the non-manifesto

there's nothing more

predictable than

attributing one's

division to

another—

the only difference between

the one percent and

the ninety-nine percent

is the greater means to do

what the one-hundred percent

always does—

there’s only a single

divided universe

and it’s the one

called mine—

non-division is

the work and the way of

the zero percent—

non-do it now!

The Zhuangzi (Chaung Tzu) Translation Awards

This is the summer of Zhuangzi. Or Chaung Tzu, in the older Wade-Giles way. Knowing well the idiosyncrasies of translations, I’ve looked at almost all the ones available. It's interesting that the three I chose were not on my radar when I began looking. Also, considering the Zhuangzi itself in regard to wrong and right, this and that, and just seeing, I’m only listing the translations I chose to play with. (Click on the book's image below to see it in Amazon.)

1. And the winner is Victor Mair. His Wandering on the Way has many things going for it. First, Mair is not only a sinologist, but the Chuang Tzu is his favorite Chinese book. So his work is obviously a labor of love. Next, it is the complete Chaung Tzu, and not just the seven Inner Chapters, the ones actually attributed to the actual person, Chuang Tzu, although even that is debatable. Also, as a physical production, the pages are thick and creamy, the print is agreeably readable, the layout is clean and sharp, and the cover is artistic. Furthermore, for what it is, it is relatively inexpensive new, and a bargain can be had used  (my copy is a very-good used Bantam first edition paperback and cost me $5.14 including shipping; it’s also available new for $20.00, discounted to $18.00 at Amazon, plus shipping). There are no footnotes and the annotation is sparse. Mair’s intent is to present the Chuang Tzu as a literary work of wisdom first and foremost and not a philosophical treatise dressed up in a disguise of stories. His translation appears as true to the text as possible while attempting to make it necessarily clear in English. This is a copy to read and savor. And there is a practical glossary of names, places, and terms at the end of the book.

2. The runner-up is Brook Ziporyn and his Zhuangzi: the Essential Writings. Actually, for the purposes of Kindle, it would be the winner, since the Mair is currently not available in that format. This smooth and readable translation is more on the philosophical end of the spectrum, so it’s heavily footnoted. And that can be a good thing. I especially appreciate his concern with the Chinese terms, often referring the reader to the glossary at the back of the book. It’s not the complete Zhuangzi, but it’s not just the Inner Chapters either. There’s a significant selection from the Outer and Miscellaneous Chapters. Maybe most significantly for some is the inclusion of Chinese commentaries as a separate section at the end of the book, including Guo Xiang, who is basically the editor of the Zhuangzi. As a physical production, it’s along the lines of a paperback textbook. My copy is a very-good used paperback which was $10.99, including shipping. It’s available new for $18.00 in paperback discounted to $16.20 on Amazon, including shipping. For Kindle, it’s available at $9.99.

3. Showing at third place is the controversial A. C. Graham and his Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters. It appears he remains true to the text to a fault. Still, in comparing translations, that can be a helpful trait; it sets a base line for the others. Also, he has decided to edit the book, moving sections around, to meet his own scholastic findings. If I were using this as a stand-alone book, that could be problematic. But my use of Graham is more of a reference work than a reading copy. I find his annotations useful. But his arguments for the way of the text are fascinating and convincing. My copy is not the best. It’s the 1987 Harper Collins Mandala edition. The print is incredibly small and the annotation printing is incredibly, even smaller. But it cost only $4.09 including shipping. New, it’s $19.00 discounted at Amazon to $18.05 plus shipping. Again, as a reference work, it does the trick.

So, these are the three translations I am using in reading the Zhuangzi this summer. In total, they cost me $20.22 (it helped that I'd received a gift certificate for Father's Day). They span the gamut from pure enjoyment to deeper study, from the latest academic findings to ancient Chinese commentary, and are useful in triangulating the way.

new & recycled prophecies 2 — substantiation

one who seeks the proof of truth

needs first to seek the proof of one

who seeks the proof—

if you think you were born,

you’ll think you will die—

but you were only told you were born

and no one has told you they died—

when an appearance disappears—

that in which the appearance appears

does not disappear

(originally appeared within the pseutra of revelations)

new & recycled prophecies 1 — mirror of awareness

if not for all reflections

in the mirror,

i wouldn’t know

i was the mirror—

i am the mirror—

i am intent

to know i am the mirror—

i am reflection

that intent conceives

to know i am the mirror—

i am the mirror—

it takes an evolutionary universe
in space-time consciousness

to watchfully reflect

that absolute
awareness

ps5 - mindless

redundancy

float like a butterfly, sting like zhuangzi

being grateful for impracticality

concern with status and inclination for argument reveals one’s inauthenticity

the great usefulness of uselessness

conception

may the light of that wholly intent unfold this revelation

awarify, awarify, awarify

evolution is just another word for awakening

within the mirror's shimmering intent to know itself, it appears to break itself

one can say—awareness of being is the evolutionary human attainment—and—awareness of awareness is being’s evolutionary unfolding—but i won’t

antithesis

theories are useful in deconstructing paradigms—until they form a more perfect paradigm

all misunderstandings are ultimately confusions of definition

all ways are means of deconstruction unless they're turned into a pretty new construction

assert negation including negation of negation

enigmatic

try to tell me something that i can't know

save me from those who want to save me including especially me

the mind tries to remember what emptiness always knows

a paradox doesn’t go over one’s head—it goes through it

dreaming

it's all projection—thirteen ways of looking at a white bird

an alternate state of consciousness is merely a clouded state of consciousness

most projection is a tangled web of misdirection

just clean the lens and project responsibly

irrevocably

one can say there's no one and no one may believe it and thus become one

sooner or later, you have to answer the inner child's endless whys with an "i don't know"

just leave it to be

in the empty kitchen pseutra

tao of absolute—te of intent—ching of being

our coyote—who art the trick—person be they name

fear appears when the unborn is persuaded it’s born and destined to die

even the former vice-president of the united states stands naked and trembles like a newborn

only fear needs to fight fear—compassion sees through it

the infinite is not a barrier but a means of communication

without compassion, paradox is just a joke

it isn’t so because you say it’s so—it’s so and you can’t say it’s so

the unwearable triteness of words

the way is not a fork—and nothing's the matter

space-time is the kitchen—consciousness is the food—absolute intent is the cook

no identity—no merit—no name

in the end, it's both a moot and mute point

for the absolute intent of self-awareness, ten thousand celestial magicians!

trickster’s sonnet (coyote only tricks)

coyote only tricks itself

matter is a nuclear mirage

pull a rabbit from this headlessness!

being lies behind cloud nine

in moonlight, coyote howls its who

no mind, there’s no horatio

curiouser kills the curiouser

being doesn’t need an einstein

coyote dawns it’s not coyote

forgetting is the morning mantra

what a concept: not a concept

consciousness is that divine

coyote rests on this thirteenth line

isologue 1 – the big awareness dream machine

you can't improve the world through politics—the world is politics

if you can't laugh, cry—either way, it’s a fresh breath

just a self-usurping mechanism in the big awareness dream machine—the judge knot

not standing in the happenstance—the impossibility of personal being

concepts that negate concepts are unbelievable—no knowledge is the point of all knowledge

nothing is material but being—truth is easiest to be but impossible to know

you know what you like but you are what you love—self-awareness is just a matter of time

god is a concept by which we measure concepts—god is a concept by which concepts measure concepts

every event is spontaneous and all events are predestined—no event exists

seeing thought as thought is the final revolution—up against the gateless gate

in time awareness of being becomes awareness of awareness in no time—thou art tao

the emperor has no close—inquire within

ps4 - wormwhole

lost in space-time

self-inquiry is the wormhole of awareness

deconstruct ‘yourself’ before you’re lost in its rubble

imagination doesn’t harm 'you'—imagination creates 'you'—being lost in imagination is what hurts

time games

a person is the past—always striving to reach the present—sometime in the future

a person could simply reach the present—by dropping the past—but then there’s no more person

the original fraud of any person is—there appears to be no present—but the gift of the present is—there is no person

opening ceremony

knock three times—first is mechanical happenstance of thought—second is loving coincidence of intent—third is foundational significance of being

i want to tell you there's no you

but who can tell you there's no you

if there's no one there to be a who

nd

insisting on a particular definition is the definition of a person

there’s neither right definition nor wrong definition, neither high definition nor low definition—there’s only no definition

…and even no definition isn't definite

artificial turf

those who cannot recognize the false are condemned to believe they’re it

identification with thought is the original imbalance—anything considered from that position is unbalanced—such is the world’s viewpoint

all the world’s knowledge is a darkened distorted contorted backwards reflection of original wisdom—more at eleven

liku

we are all bubbles being burst

own it and then lose it

leaves of becoming

song of absolute i

we're lost in the beginning of the ending

this wave of fourteen billion years is crashing

in all the tumult you’ve forgotten who you are

you are the only who you always are—

lately i can’t scare myself to death

even nothing isn’t really nothing

what there is—is all within this eye

i am the i that i is being i—

how do you react to things you do which you aren’t doing?

how do you forget i’m who you know i am is doing?

why does the cherry blossom—who am i?

i sing in seeing i am that i am is i

end game

you will never find what you’re looking for outside—until you see there’s nothing outside yourself

when you see there’s nothing outside yourself—you see there’s nobody outside yourself—and compassion happens for every one of them

the greatest tool in seeing through the person is just paying attention to what you take personally

the illusion doesn’t see—what-is sees through the illusion

.

ps3 - manifest destiny

separating from separation

the misconception that i am a separate entity—within this holistic universe—directly leads to the disorders of division and free will

seeing that i am not of this material universe—but i am the consciousness which this universe is within—directly leads to nondual awareness

separating from the material—leads to a temporary disease of division before—dissolving within the immaterial

primary nondual trinity

free will is a quaint misnomer—for that erratic motion between—the push of social conditioning—and the pull of self-awareness

there’s no volition—but there is Intent—which is the evolutionary pull of true Self upon the illusory conceptual self

the 'material' universe of consciousness is—simply a process—by which the light of awareness—becomes aware of itself—through its own Intent

Awareness, Consciousness, Intent—the nondual trinity

processing

the universe is like—the self-created dream-state brain of—Absolute I—whose only function is—self-awareness of Absolute I

and body-mind is like—a most intricate node of That brain—whose only function via its divisional computing is—self-awareness of Absolute I

if one views the world personally one sees—an ignorant violent pointless place—but absolutely one sees—binary computations of self-awareness

intending

there’s an evolutionary process—moved forward by the pull of Intent—and you can’t do—or not do—anything about it—enjoy!

the process is as simple as I being aware of I—the mechanics appear to be as complex as the universe of space-time and beyond all philosophy

what mind views as—spacetime and its in-dwelling universe is—the instantaneous mind-blowing incomprehensible happening of—I knowing I is

finishing

discovering what one isn’t—is the only thing a person can do—and even that is activated by Intent

there's nothing wrong about this maya, samsara, hell—it's just the finishing process of self-awareness—absolute I doesn’t take it personally

among thoughts of doing whatever—there is an intent—some call it love or bliss—i intend to follow it—but there’s a thought of doing whatever

as long as i think i’m a person—i will take things personally—which makes me think i’m a person

one either succumbs to the persuasion of belief—or surrenders to the creativity of love—there’s no actual volition ever involved

the real Secret is to know what you do not know—and not to know what you think you know

when you know you don't know anything—there’s nothing left to know

seeing

the holistic universe is the process of AWARENESS (parent) becoming aware of BEING (child) by its own INTENT (spirit) now

I

to

I Am

to

I Am That I Am

to

I Am That I Am That I

or

I

one never sees the seeing for one is the seeing—see?

ps2 – naked universe

naked truth

at first, one wants to tell everyone—then, one notices no one wants to hear it—last, one realizes there’s nothing to say anyways

naked awareness—clothed in the sheer concept of being—filigreed with inflexible thoughts of sparkling identity

dark truth

when the body runs at peak performance, there is no body

the greatest power in the universe is self-awareness

indescribably pointless—light of universal dna—sees the dark truth

no dissolution, no desolation, no disregard

dark spirit

everybody wants to keep on living and nobody knows exactly why

death assumes the universe goes on without you—it doesn’t

before there was a river—there is that valley spirit

i was so enlightened then—i’m darker than that now

unthinkable spirit

thinking you know is further from the truth

and the ordinary is just another trap

some words are worn too easily

i'm thoroughly unthinkable

unthinkable existence

ordinary is the new extraordinary

the miraculous rises and sets every more than nanosecond—just watch but don’t believe it

the greatest show on earth is the show

grounded wonderful witnessing of constant arising developing unfolding in newfound and never seen patterns in patterns of constant arising

desert existence

it’s not comfort as much as its multifarious ways to enjoy existence—it’s not security as much as its beguiling offer to preserve existence

existence loves existence—not that there’s anything wrong with that

for the mind of existence has divided existence—and existence identifies with a dismembered member of its disremembered undivided self

there is no cactus—there’s only cacti

desert universe

scientists work in the big bang and think it’s matter—religionists work in the big bang and think it matters—the big bang plays in me, no matter

phenomenal powers in the universe reveal mutability of form in space-time—the power of self-awareness reveals immutability beyond space-time

Nisargadatta's "very complicated riddle"

In this spiritual hierarchy, from the grossest to the, subtlest, you are the subtlest. How can this be realized? The very base is that you don't know you are, and suddenly the feeling of "I Amness" appears. The moment it appears you see space, mental space; that subtle, skylike space, stabilize you there. You are that. When you are able to stabilize in that state, you are the space only.

When this space-like identity "I Am" disappears, the space also will disappear, there is no space.

When that space-like "I Am" goes into oblivion, that is the eternal state, nirguna, no form, no beingness. Actually, what did happen there? This message "I Am" was no message. Dealing with this aspect, I cannot talk much because there is no scope to put it into words.

***

It is a very complicated riddle. You have to discard whatever you know, whatever you have read, and have a firm conviction about That about which nobody knows anything. You can't get any information about That, and about That you must have firm conviction. How difficult it is.

Most people reach that state which is, but nobody reaches that state which is not. It is very rarely that one can reach that state. It transcends all knowledge.

Most essential is that knowledge "I Am." Claim it, appropriate it as you own. If that is not there, nothing is. Knowledge of all the stages will be obtained only with the aid of this knowledge "I Am."

From the Absolute no-knowing state, spontaneously, this consciousness "I Am" has appeared -there is no reason, no cause. Spontaneously it has come, with the waking state, deep sleep, the five elemental play, three Gunas, and Prakriti and Purusha. Then it embraces the body as its self and therefore identifies as a male or a female. This "I Amness" has its own love to be: it wants to remain, to perpetuate itself, but it is not eternal.

This passing show may be likened to the following situation: suppose I was well all along, then suddenly I was sick and the doctor gave me medicine. After three days my fever was gone. So this stage of fever for three days is the "I Am" consciousness. Exactly like that -a passing show, a time-bound state. This principle loves to be, and one must not belittle it - it is a very Godly principle. This "I Amness" contains the entire cosmos.

It is said that all this is unreal. When is it certified as unreal? Only when one understands this temporary phase. And in the process of understanding one is in the Absolute and from there recognizes this as a temporary, unreal state.

~from Prior to Consciousness