All of the Above

The sea this morning .

This morning I walked outside and saw a kestrel hovering over the dune , the sea is calm and a lone trawler drifts near the shore , a light sparkling like a luminous beacon . Within my heart is an open space which reflects the world and I feel like I am kissing this open mirror which is reflecting everything . It is moments like this where I can see the easyness of this direct reflection of Self , and that the mind can be like a restless ocean waving up and down with the images of people and events that have taken place recently .

A true friend.

These impressions can stir up the thoughts that are gross in that they depict the stories of 'you' and 'other' . I wander, how it is happening , and the mirror has no say in it . The pure reflection just is and the mind in its nature is waving in images and pictures which I can grab hold of or just let pass .People say "Oh let it go ! it's just the past " and yet I cannot ignore it . I can also choose not to place too much attention on these images which invest in holding .

Honesty.

Honesty is one of the qualities that I like to have with others and I have been finding lately that certain people (certainly most people that I have befriended) have not been clear with this , I find that I can not help but read their faces and their actions . Like a mirror can reflect ,it can also reveal the lines in the image of the other.Once I sat in a peaceful park a few years ago and an old man came up to me and looked into my eyes , he smiled and I smiled back , not wanting anything . Then he suddenly grabed me and started to pull me up . I had to push him away because I could not see what he was seeing . Obviously he wanted to possess what was'nt in his warped mind , the space of quietness.If you see from an innocent space you cannot imagine what others are saying or thinking , but as someone said to me lately maybe I am abit 'naieve'. This pure screen of mirrorness is not involved at all and yet there is like a need for me to be aware of situations like this . It is similar to seeing a truck tearing down the road towards a little puppy which I can reach out and remove . If I ignore the puppy it will be pulverised , yet I can reach out and pick it up and take it back to the mother under the tree .

Seeing Mirrorlike

One of the early teachings I received was from a Tantric master who was teaching about honesty , and I have been reminded of that way when I see this situation . The mind is dishonest because it is perverted in its way and emotionalism can rule in place of honesty .Also the mind is not the enemy because we cannot kill the mind with the mind . It can be used as a tool , but it can also wander like an aimless dreamer and it can shift and move like a good manipulator . With this is the dishonesty and it manifests in different shapes and forms .Being polite but not saying really what's going on is a way that it plays it's game . It is then that the classic analogy about the mind in the masters household comes up , and that is why meditators have been meditating ;in order to replace that disorder and show the mind that the master is present also . Like a teacher entering

Sri Yantra

a classroom full of rowdy students the prescence of the master or teacher makes them sit still . I see how this mind can play like this when some days it is turbulantly wandering aimlessly . Wandering aimlessly is not the problem but letting it get to you is . Once again I wandered into the Sauna and observed a ghost appearing before my eyes and this ghost tried to convince me of its reality .Seeing clearly that there is no body to control all of this, definitely destroys the idea that you are the choppy mind and it's contents , yet the habit to grab hold of thoughts can still be there in its habit form . A ghostly habit form which makes up the feeling of your individuality , if you keep looking at the ghost the ghostliness is seen .Could you be a ghost?? I have observed this a thousand times in a thousand ways and some times a spark of 'aha!' comes and other times it's so quiet, it's a feather floating. This is seeing the same spark floating up in a thousandth way .As the Zen saying goes , " This , This aThousand times This!!!".

The crystal is you, who is looking.

"Just as a transparent crystal takes on the lines of it's Background, but is in no way changed thereby,and just as the unchanging moon on being reflected on undulating (wavelike)surfaces appears agitated, so is it with You, the all prevading."

Hastamalaka Stotra

Which leads me to the topic of the mirror like space which is one of my portals. The closest depiction of this is a picture a friend in Tiruvannamalai showed me painted by M C Escher , I was very pleased to be shown this picture .It demonstrates this portal closely , but you must see from behind Escher's eyes to become Escher .Someone told me once "But what about the space between the crystal and the eyes of the holder? " some people over analyse! I can see from a mirror like space , the body in this space , including space itself and others are included.This sensation is very similar to gazing into a mirror and finding that you are no longer the observer or the observed but rather an undefined prescence.There is a joy when seeing this infinite clear openess. Because it ( and clearly it is not an object; because it is who you are) includes ALL OF THE ABOVE !