Saturday, March 25, 2006

Rumi.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Thanks to "Warriorette" for putting the next four pics up on her Flickr page.

If the print is too small, just click on 'em.

Rumi 4 Posted by Picasa

Rumi 3 Posted by Picasa

Rumi 2 Posted by Picasa

Rumi 1 Posted by Picasa

Message from "az"

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Our beloved Maulana Sheikh Nazim spoke about the total solar eclipse of 2006 March 29, & asked his followers to give charity/sadaqa in big amount -he was specific about the charity to be 'real big'- and also March 29 would be the last Wednesday of the month safer of the islamic lunar calendar. he warned us not to look at the sky -the dangers of looking at the sun during the solar eclipse could cause major eye damage and possible blindness! Eye damage can occur rapidly, without any pain, since there are no nerves in the eyes, or more surprisingly the loss of eye light or blindness could happen even after many years at an instant!
Maulana Sheikh Nazim asked his followers to say 'astaghfirullah/I ask Allah forgiveness' as much as possible.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Concentrate on aligning your will with Allah's here and now,and don't magnify little problems.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.


'Accord with My purposes this moment, and then rest assured that I will help you keep your future moments similarly aligned with My will'

The Seal of Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alahi wa sallam peace be upon him, imparted this good advice to mankind 'If you awaken in the morning and find that you are lacking nothing in the way of material sustenance, and that you and your family are in good health, then don't burden yourself with worry'.
The Holy Prophet advises us not to make problems for ourselves. If there are immediate and pressing problems, that is another story but so many 'problems' in people's minds are not problems at all except in their minds. They are only 'projected problems' which may or may not ever materialize. This is the affliction of the twentieth century man: anxiety, or suffering inflicted upon oneself over the possibility of future suffering. As a result of this neurotic anxiety people may suffer intensely over a long period of time, although none of what they fear ever materializes This is the epitome of foolishness!
We are shouldering weekly, monthly and yearly burdens each day. Why carry such baggage when you may walk unburdened and find all that you need awaiting your arrival at each station of your journey? You only exist here and now! Tomorrow's 'you' is only a fantasy, as you can't even know if you'll live that long. By inventing so many problems for yourself you are only making yourself ill. Is this advice of the Prophet not enough evidence of his adherence to a way that leads man to felicity?
Allah Almighty doesn't want His servants to suffer needless self-inflicted misery, and He says: 'Oh My servants, don't load heavy burdens on yourselves by worrying about the future. Just bring yourselves in line with My will; accord with My purposes this moment, and then rest assured that I will help you keep your future moments similarly aligned with My will'.
Perhaps you may understand my point from the following example: When a new railway track is laid, before a locomotive and train are ever sent over it, a two-wheeled cart is first drawn over it to check whether the tracks have been laid straight. In the same way, if you can align your will to that of your Lord's even for one moment, without carrying a heavy burden, you may be sure that your way is right, and that, even should times get rough, and so many burdens be coupled to your locomotive, your track is straight and true and you will pass along it smoothly and safely. A solution to this moment's problem is the solution to next year's derailment.
When I am here in western countries I daily encounter people carrying the weight of anticipated problems, It is so difficult in the modern world to escape from having this perspective and to concentrate on the moment in order to put it right. With tens of thousands of problems in front of you all at once, how should a solution seem possible?
I often see people running into the mosque, saying the obligatory prayers quickly and running out. Sometimes I ask them 'What's the rush?' Then they nervously look at their watches and say 'We have tarried in the mosque too long already. We have so many things to do today!' I reply 'It is laudable to be industrious and to look after your affairs well, but who would look after your affairs were you to drop dead here and now?'
I am not encouraging people to spend their whole days in the mosque, but only trying to remind people who are not only running after their sustenance, but leaping, head over heels after ambitious all-encompassing undertakings that it is impossible to 'master the world', and destructive to devote so much energy to their attempt, and with so much abandon.. First of all, the world already has a Master, and addressing Him humbly and with presence of mind (not hurriedly) in your prayers is even more instrumental in attaining your sustenance than rushing through the city. Secondly, far from attending to your affairs more efficiently by running, you are only likely to have a heart attack and die young!
Don't live in a world of great big-time schemes, for such schemes will not save you from trouble, but entangle you in itself even further. Simplify your problems so that the solutions may be simple, also don't regard your problems with a magnifying glass so that they are out of perspective! That habit will destroy you physically and spiritually.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Tawhid, Junayd.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

The truest and highest stage of worship is to see God face to face, and to receive his guidance from his own mouth. Those who attain this highest stage, choose for themselves whatever God chooses for them. Their entire characters are transformed by God. They are God's friends; so they no longer discriminate between people, but regard all people as friends. Wherever they go, they go from God; wherever they arrive, they arrive at God. Whatever they do, they do for God; whatever service they perform, they perform it in God. The self has been truly annihilated.-Junayd, "Tawhid"

Thursday, March 16, 2006

...Not like any other thing."

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

What a tiring and boring thing the rampaging mind is! .. sticking us in duality even as we try to explain the "highest spiritual realities" ... "Wa lam yaqun lahu qufuwan ahdad."

And He is not like any other thing.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Latest Sohbet from Maulana Sheikh Nazim.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here's the latest sohbet from Maulana Sheikh Nazim, sent by Khairya to Naqshbandi group "Sufi Village." (She keeps pretty close to the original language .. so bear with it !)

Maulana Scheikh Nazim's sohbet from 19.2.2006
”O our Lord- save our souls!“
Meded, ya Sultanu-l Anbiya, Meded, ya Sultanu-l Awliya, Meded, ya Rijalallah! Audhu bi-llahi mina shaitani rajim, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, La haula wa la quwatta illa bi-llahi-l ‘Aliyu-l ‘Adhim.
As-salamu alaikum!
It is a short association and we are trying to follow the ways of holy people. And who is living on earth- billions of people are living- they are two kinds of people: Holy ones and unholy ones. I was once passing through Switzerland on my way from London to Cyprus. There is a famous monastery St.Nicolaus (von der Flüe), always (when) I am passing, his spirituality was asking me to come closer and he was taking familiarity from my spirituality. I was passing and coming there, stopping and visiting the monastery and his tomb also. Once I was there, just I visited and (I was) coming out, a person (was) coming and he said that: “I am priest of this monastery” and I was addressing to him: “Your holiness.” He said to me: “I am not a holy one. If you are saying ‘holiness’, holiness inside, buried there, but I am ordinary priest, I am not holy one.” I said to him: “What about (the) Pope?” “He is not also a holy one; he is also a person that (is being) appointed by some group of religious people (that) we are saying ‘Cardinals’ (for them). (‘His) Holiness’ that is a grant and blessing from Heavens. Whom they are appointed by someones on earth, they are not holy ones. (‘His) Holiness’ is a rank that (is) granted from Heavens to the Lord of Heavens’ servants.” I said: “What you are speaking, it is true. When they are appointed by governments, they can’t be holy ones.” To be ‘(His) Holiness’ that is something belongs to Heavens; that is not a reward or such a thing that people may give to anyone. Yes, I may dress (something that looks) like (the) dress of Popes or Saints- their clothes is holy clothes, as we are looking- but inside, no. Don’t think (that) if a person (is) dressing what dresses (a) holy man, (he is) going to be (a) holy one, no! Clothes we are understanding, but not that person. We are speaking on that point that people must know (that) some of them are holy ones, and mostly they are ordinary people. For example: Can’t be a person King, (even) if he is going to dress (a) Kings dressing; (and) even (if he is) putting on his head a crown, he is not going to be a King, no. But now (this imagination is) through whole nations and people are not asking who is holy one or not. They are not understanding what is (the) mission of (the) holy ones. People now (are) going to be (all) on the same line that their mission (is) to work for Dunya. Who (is) working for Dunya, he is not a holy one, no. Who (is) working for his Lord, he is holy one. Holy one is a clean person, (there is) no dirtiness on them for Dunya, no, but who (is) working for Dunya, they are all of them just going to be dirty from Dunya. You may say: there is a pond; who is swimming in that pond, (in a) clean one, he is clean, but who (is) falling in(to) a dirty pond, he should be dirty. Dunya is dirty and we are not created for Dunya, no, we are created for the Lords servanthood. Who (is) choosing to be (the) servant of his Lord, his life is clean and he is reaching through his cleanliness his Lords divine Presence. (That is for the) clean ones. Who (is) choosing Dunya, all of them (are) just coming in(to) a dirty pond and they should be left through that dirty place. It is so clear, so clear! All Prophets that came, that have been sent- they are all of them chosen ones- they were saying (the) same thing. Don’t think (that) Adam a.s. was saying other words than what we say now. Don’t think (that) Noah a.s. was calling his people to another station. Don’t think (that) Abraham a.s. and his sons, grandsons and (the) lines of Prophets through (the) 12 tribes (of Israel)- thousands of Prophets-, don’t think (that) they were calling people to Dunya, no, but they were calling them to be for their Creator, the Lord of Heavens: “Come and be servants for your Lord Allah Almighty!” (And) Shaitan (is also) calling people: “No, you must try… you must run after Dunya and you must try to enjoy your physical being with so many things from Dunya!” Shaitans’ calling (is) that! (And) all Prophets just called. Now we are living in a time (where) there is a Muslim world (and) there is a Non-Muslim world; Non-Muslim world means: Christian world and then Jewish world- that they are also Book-given people (people of the book), all of them- and (then) there are so many millions or billions (of) people, (that) they are never taking care or (who are) never interesting in Holy Books and (in) following some ‘ways from old time(s)‘. And now the representatives of (the) Muslim world, the representatives of (the) Non-Muslim world, the representatives of (the) Christians, the representatives of (the) Jewish faith- all of them (are) never getting a power for defeating Satan from people. Satans power (is) coming over their powers! They are in such a way that their faith (is) not enough for defending Truth and the Lord of Heavens sent all Prophets and their real inheritors, (as) defenders of Truth. And Truth (is) coming from Heavens. Truth is not from earth; the Balance of Truth (is) coming from Heavens. Every balance that they are doing now- nations and their religious people-, their balance (is) from earth, (and) therefore they are not able to make (a) defence or to be defenders of Truth. They are following their egoistic interests; they are interesting only for Dunya and can’t be able to be defenders of Truth first of all that we must do our defence to make people to believe in (the) Lord of Heavens, their Creator. And secondly we must do our defence for defending that: “O people, take your true ways according (to the) Rules of Heavens that just had been sent through His chosen people, honoured people, that they are Prophets!” (But) we are not saying: “How we are going to be defenders of Truth?” (and) therefore Truth- now (among) perhaps 6 billion people- you can’t find even one million people to be real defenders for Truth. That means: all our destinations through wrong heads (in the hands of people) that are not knowing (anything about the) true destination of mankind; and we are accepting them and following them and (so) we are going to be defenders for Shaitan, defenders for shaitanic ideas. Now people (are) defenders of satanic ideas and works and activities, that what they are doing (is) carrying heavenly Cursing on earth! What do you think (about) now, today, through East and West, from North to South? You think heavenly Blessings (is) coming on earth or Cursing coming? Cursing (is) coming, because we are not defenders of Truth, (we are) not following (the) Prophets and their real inheritors. That is it, nothing else! People (are) running to do this, to do that, to stop this…(Then they are) stopping that and beginning another cursing there, coming another… Every day and night another kind of cursing (is) coming, unexpected…unexpected… until they are saying: “O our Lord, save ourselves!” If a ship (is) going to sink, (it is) giving (an) announcement: “SOS…SOS…SOS!“ (They are) calling. What does it mean SOS? “O people, we are going to die, save our souls!” Not your souls! (If they were) saying: “SOB, SOB, SOB“ it is better, because people can’t say, ordinary people can’t say ‘souls‘. (Therefore they) may say: “(SOB- Save our) bodies, without (the) souls.” Why not sending- they are sending that announcement through 4 directions- (and) calling: “O people, we are in a dangerous position. (The) ocean (is) going to swallow our ships and ourselves! Please, quickly reach to ourselves and save our bodies, not souls!” Why (they are) not saying (this)? These people, 21st century people, why (they are) not sending their announcement: “O our Lord, save our souls?” Why not saying? People (are) running through (the) streets, Muslim people, for a nonsense person drawing. That is (the) Islamic way? No! Why (they are) not going to (their) mosque and saying: “O our Lord, You said, You promised for Your beloved servant that You are going to be Guarantor for him! Please, send us armies from Heavens, as You did some time (ago as) we are believing. Send (them to) us to destroy their technology, their nuclear weapons, send (them to) us to destroy their whole nuclear bombs!” Why not saying? (Instead they are) on streets, burning cloth (flags)! That is Islam that saying our Prophet and our Holy Book? Written in such a way? Allah knows! Therefore I am saying that I heard a punishment is coming for the inhabitants of this world: One punishment for (the) Non-Muslims, seven punishments for (the) Muslims, because they lost their way! Keep yourself! Run and ask (for) holy ones! One holy one may shelter you, but 1ooo regiments cannot shelter you. That is the head of crises and that is its treatment. May Allah forgive me… Therefore ? coming, I am saying: “O our Lord, send us Your Sultan!” Sultan means who has heavenly Power! I was in Damascus at the end of the Second War- no one was born from you- and the French forces were bombarding from Mezza; it was a center of army, protected with everything. They were bombarding Damascus and we looked and saw that one shell (was) coming on S.Yahya, Yahyas tomb. Just appeared a hand, taking that shell and throwing (it) away. And I was also looking (and seeing that) in Homs, (a) famous place in Syria (already in the) time of (the) Christians and after (the) Christians (in the time of the) Muslims. They were bombarding from Kel’a, (a) sheltered place, and (the) army (was) there and (they were) bombarding. I was in S.Khalid ibn Walids mosque- (may) Allah bless him- (and there was) also coming a shell (and it was also) passing! And they were taking as their target to destroy that holy tomb of Prophets people, S.Khalid ibn Walid r.A. Only one piece (was) coming on (the) minaret and (it was) falling down. I was there. That shell (also) passed away! We have power! We are not weak people! Now- we are weak people, but (the) inheritors of (the) Prophets have such power! But people are not believing in holy ones. They are finished… Therefore every day one punishment on (the) Islamic world coming, coming, coming… May Allah forgive us and bless you for the honour of the most honoured one in His divine Presence S.Muhammad sws, Fatiha.

Rabita/Muraqaba .. connecting to and through, the Sheikh.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Someone, a good friend,who is muslim and also a member of th Subud group, was asking me recently about taking a Sheikh as they are wanting to practice a "real" Islam and not a heavily Wahhabi influenced one.

Here is a wonderful talk (the best thing I have ever seen from Sheikh Efendi on the subject.) sent to me in an e.mail from "az"may Allah bless him eternally and bless and protect and raise our Sheikh's station for ever amin. (Fatiha):

Allah Almighty is ordering His servants to follow the steps of His friends, and to be with them. Therefore we should be like neighbors with blessed people with our physical body. Then we may be closer through our hearts.
If a pipe does not connect to a tap there will be no water from the tap; spring water may reach to you through pipes. You must have pipes so that the tap can give water. Likewise all the Prophets, and Sayyidina Muhammad alaihi salaam peace be upon them are carrying heavenly streams and mercy to our hearts. Therefore we must always keep connection to their holy and pure hearts in order to recieve wisdom from heavens; you may reach to them and drink from their grand mercy streams. Without the saints/awliya, it is not possible to reach to this. You simply cannot reach to it. Allah Almighty made the awliya to be His mercy springs. The one who reaches to them is going to be alive and be a real living person. Those who reaching to awliya, will reach to ever lasting life. How can we reach to Allah? This is so difficult. But to reach to His representative is to be with Allah.
If a person does not reach to the awliya, it is difficult to reach to blessings. There are common blessings which reach everyone, to even unbelievers.. if not, they wouldn’t exist. But if you want to get much closer, you need another kind of blessing. The person who is heedless looses his expensive life and wastes his precious time. As for an authorized person, it is not important for him outwardly, but in reality, he is always with his sheikh. He has a kind of telephone to his sheikh, to see what news he may benefit from. This has nothing to do with our own will, but it is the will of the sheikh who is taking from the presence of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam peace be upon him. The sheikh is always with the presence of the Prophet Muhammad whose reality is always with Allah.
The servant who is asking to reach to the Divine Presence of Allah Almighty, of the Prophet Muhammad and of the sheikh, must always keep his observation/muraqaba/attentive observation, or watchfulness, on the sheikh. You should always observe your sheikh, as he is always looking after you. He never leaves you. To observe means to know, that the sheikh is always with you, and that he is always watching you. The follower/murid is never alone.
Say 'Ya Allah', 'Don’t leave me alone with my ego'. When the murid is not with his sheikh, he will be with his ego, and with the satan, and the ego has millions of tricks to play on you. When the murid keeps observation of the sheikh --for one minute, a while, or as much as he can do-- the sheikh will be with him, and in every situation, he will support him. The observation brings the support/medad. If you are cutting off, then the sheikh’s support is cut off. The sheikh supports the one who is walking on the way to Allah.. as a car fills up its tank at a petrol station before moving on. A real authorized person, has such a station to make you to reach to Allah Almighty. He is also taking from the presence of his sheikh, who is taking from the presence of the holy Prophet Muhammad who receives from the presence of Allah Almighty. If you cut this connection off, you will be left alone, and be like a tape recorder with finished batteries. Instead if you have support through a cable, it will never cut off, or become less. Always it will continue and go on.
For how long do you want to stay with your ego? To observe the sheikh is one of the most important things, so that you can always be with the sheikh, and so that you may be able reach to the presence of the holy Prophet Muhammad. Then you will be able to observe the Prophet Muhammad, and you may see that the eye of the Prophet Muhammad is looking at you, and that you come to know the meaning of the Quranic verse which says that the holy Prophet is among you, he is not absent. If there is no observation/muraqaba, you will never see or feel anything.
Muraqaba makes the servant to hear things from the sheikh, and he will see and watch events and things also. Then you may see 'the reality of the sheikh' whose power is surrounding the whole world -if he is a true one. There are no borders.. No! Not if the responsibility has been given to him, officially, by the holy Prophet. His power is always present, in every place, on the land and in the Oceans. Wherever you go he is present.
When you have a good connection, at first you will hear -like a kind of divine telephone to the sheikh- and he will show you the way by what he tells you. After this, when the murid becomes higher in his maqam/station, he will begin 'to see' also the sheikh who is directing him with words. This is the highest level from the muraqaba of the murid, until the murid climbs up to the observation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad whom he will first hear until he gets higher and then he will see the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
Of this state, the greatest of the holy ones used to say 'If we are not looking at the holy Prophet Muhammad even for the blink of an eye, and if he is cut off from being directly in front of us, we would not count ourselves as being muslims anymore'. This is because if a man is with his ego he is not a believer -no iman/faith. Until he is with Allah Almighty, the holy Prophet Muhammad, and the other Prophets, he will be cut off, and there will be nothing else to serve accept his ego. He would have made himself to be a servant of his ego until they will say of him 'Did you see the one who made his own ego to be his God' the Holy Quran. This person will no longer separate what is allowed or forbidden. He will say 'I am free, and that which I want to do, I will do'.
Therefore, the observation of the sheikh by the murid, is the most important thing for his improvement on the way, and if not, his diesel or petrol will finish, and he will stand on the way without moving. When he insists that he doesn’t want to think about his sheikh, he will be left there.
These are some sensitive points which satan and his supporters have interfered with to cheat the ones who are on the way. They say that it is making partners with Allah -shirk- when one observes the sheikh. It cannot be and is not shirk or unbelief. It is only that these people have no understanding about how to obtain a ‘true state’. Muraqaba is for one on the way, and it is to be done always until he reaches to the Divine Presence. Then he will be from one of those who have reached, and there will be nothing left in him of the worries of the world or of the hereafter. He will be in permanency.
This is a very precise and heavy lecture, and no one else in this time from the authorized people may speak about this except our Grandsheikh’s representative. Tariqat/path is to have adab/good manners, and is for guiding people to the highest level of adab. Becoming a true murid means being an accepted one in the Prophet Muhammad’s sallallahu alaihi wa sallam peace be upon him presence, and in the Divine Presence. 'O Allah, give Your most beloved servant more majesty and honor'. Who does not make dhikr/zikr has no divine light, and the person who has no light is blind.. so the veils cannot be taken away.

True humility.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

The Sheikh has said,"In order to be with everything, one must become nothing. Like the drop which falls in the ocean .. then, where is the drop and where is the ocean.?"
He has also said,"When one great sufi asked Allah how he may be with Him, he recieved the reply "Step on your ego and come."
As the Sheikh has also said, "So simple, ... but so difficult!"

The Violet. A symbol of humility. Posted by Picasa

Being.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Friday 10th March. 2006. Yawm al Jumaa.
17.16.Hrs. Orgiva.

It’s a long time since I’ve just sat and written in a Word Document. Written, one might say, for myself, or to myself perhaps for my own benefit (although at another stage or time, what I write here, could be beneficial to others) “ojala” que fuese asi.

It’s about what one’s looking for, as usual, or as always, and, as always, the core mystic works have the answer/s. It really doesn’t seem to matter wether one calls it “The Vacio” (or The Void) or Brahman, or God or Allah .. or The Essence .. nomenclature is not important at this stage .. all that is important is not even “finding” it .. for there is no place or space where what I am looking for exists, it is not in space to be found nor in time either .. beyond all dualities and concepts one can only either “be” it/It .. or not, as sura 112 says “He is not like any other thing.” It is something to be lived and experienced not something to be talked about .. and yet it is an object of desire, (which desire perhaps blocks the very obtaining of it.) To know Him is to be Him ..(or It) .. He is one’s true self .. so one has to get rid of, or put aside the false self or ego in order to find Him or It.

As Nisargadatta, so perspicaciously says;


There is no such state as seeing the real. Who is to see what? You can only be the real, which you are, anyhow. The problem is not mental. Abandon false ideas, that is all. There is no need of true ideas. There aren't any.

(italics mine)

Thursday, March 02, 2006

That text at last! (Wonderful translation.)

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

The Secret of the Golden Flower - The Chinese Classic book of Life Lu Yan


The Celestial Mind .

Naturalness is called the Way. The Way has no name or form; it is just the essence, just the primal spirit. Essence and life are invisible, so they are associated with sky and light. Since ancient times, those who realized spiritual immortality all communicated their teaching verbally, transmitting it from individual to individual.
In obedience to a directive, I am acting as a guide to liberation. Herein we will bring light to the source message of the golden flower of absolute unity. The absolute unity refers to what cannot be surpassed. There are very many alchemical teachings, but all of them make temporary use of effort to arrive at effortlessness; they are not teachings of total transcendence and direct penetration. The doctrine transmitted here brings up working with essence and does not fall into a secondary method. That is the best thing about it.
The golden flower is light. What color is light? It is symbolized by the golden flower, which in Chinese characters also conceals the words one light within. This is absolutely unified real energy of celestial immortals.
The whole work of turning the light around uses the method of reversal. The beauties of the highest heavens and the marvels of the sublimest realms are all within the heart; this is where the perfectly open and aware spirit concentrates. Confucians call it the open center, Buddhists call it the pedestal of awareness, Taoists call it the ancestral earth, the mysterious pass, the primal opening.
The celestial mind is like a house; the light is the master of the house. Therefore, once you turn the light around, the energies throughout the body all rise. Just turn the light around; this is the unexcelled sublime truth.
The light is easily stirred and hard to stabilize. When you have turned it around for a long time, the light crystallizes. This is the natural spiritual body, and it steadies the spirit. This is what the Mind Seal Scripture refers to as "silently paying court" and "soaring upward."
The transmutations of spiritual illumination are all guided by mind.
The Original Spirit and the Conscious Spirit
From the point of view of the universe, people are like mayflies; but from the point of view of the Way, even the universe is as an evanescent reflection. Only the true essence of the original spirit transcends the primal organization and is above it.
Vitality and energy degenerate along with the universe, but the original spirit is still there; this is the infinite. The production of the universe all derives from this. If learners can just preserve the original spirit, they live transcendentally outside of yin and yang. They are not within the three realms.
This is possible only by seeing essence. This is what is called the original face. What is most wondrous is when the light has crystallized in a spiritual body, gradually becoming consciously effective, and is on the verge of moving into action. This is the secret that has not been transmitted in a thousand ages.
Turning the Light Around and keeping to the Center
Turning the light around is not turning around the light of one body, but turning around the very energy of Creation. It is not stopping random imagination only temporarily; it is truly emptying routine compulsion for all time. Usually people wind up pursuing objects and come at age in conformity with life, never once looking back. Just observe deeply, and when your breath grows quiet you then become accurately aware. This is application of the method of reversal.
The light is neither inside nor outside the self. Mountains, rivers, sun, moon, and the whole earth are this light, so it is not only in the self. All the operations of intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom are also this light, so it is not outside the self. The light of heaven and earth fills the universe; the light of one individual also naturally extends through the heavens and covers the earth. Therefore, once you turn the light around, everything in the world is turned around.
The light rays are concentrated upward into the eyes; this is the great key of the human body. You should reflect on this. If you do not sit quietly each day, this light flows and whirls, stopping who knows where. If you can sit quietly for a while, all time-ten thousand ages, a thousand lifetimes-is penetrated from this. All phenomena revert to stillness. Truly inconceivable is this sublime truth.
Nevertheless, the actual practice goes from shallow to deep, from crude to fine. Throughout, it is best to be consistent. The practice is one from beginning to end, but its quality during the process can be known only by oneself. One winds up at the point where "heaven is open, earth is broad, and all things are just as they are."
What has been communicated through successive sages is not beyond reversed gazing. Confucians call it " reaching toward knowledge." Buddhists call it "observing mind." Taoists call it "inner observation."
The essential teaching is summarized above; as for the rest, matters of entering and exiting stillness, the prelude and the aftermath, one should use the book Small Stopping and Seeing as a touchstone.
The words focus on the center are most sublime. The center is omnipresent; the whole universe is within it. This indicates the mechanism of Creation; you focus on this to enter the gate, that is all. To focus means to focus on this as a hint, not to become rigidly fixated. The meaning of the word focus has life to it; it is very subtle.
The terms stopping and seeing basically cannot be separated. They mean concentration and insight. Hereafter, whenever thoughts arise, you don't need to sit still as before, but you should investigate this thought: where is it? Where does this come from? Where does it disappear? Push this inquiry on and on over and over until you realize it cannot be grasped; then you will see where the thought arises. You don't need to seek out the point of arising any more. "Having looked for my mind, I realize it cannot be grasped."
This is correct seeing; whatever is contrary to this is false seeing. Once you reach this ungraspability, then as before you continuously practice stopping and continue it by seeing; practice seeing and continue it by stopping. This is the twin cultivation of stopping and seeing. This is turning the light around.
The turning around is stopping, the light is seeing. Stopping without seeing is call turning around without light; seeing without stopping is called having light without turning it around. Remember this.
- Taken from "Secret of the Golden Flower" Translated by Thomas Cleary(1991)