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Post by Smithee on Dec 9, 2012 15:32:14 GMT 10
The disciples never quite resigned themselves to the Master’s teaching that one had to “do” nothing to change or be enlightened.
“What can you DO to dispel darkness?” he would say. “Darkness is the absence of light. Evil, the absence of awareness. What does one DO to an absence?”
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Post by Smithee on Dec 10, 2012 13:46:49 GMT 10
When someone expressed her hatred for the oppressors of her country, the Master replied, “Never allow anyone to drag you down so low as to make you hate them.”
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Post by Smithee on Dec 11, 2012 7:47:12 GMT 10
“Everyone knows I am fearless,” said the Governor, “but I confess to the fear of one thing: death. What is death?”
“How should I know?” said the Master.
“But you are an enlightened Master!”
“Maybe. But not a dead one yet.”
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Post by Smithee on Dec 12, 2012 11:41:34 GMT 10
When some of his disciples spoke in praise of a well-known religious leader, the Master held his peace.
When asked about this later, he said, “The man wields power over others - he is no religious leader.”
“What then is a religious leader’s function?”
“To inspire, not to legislate,” said the Master. “To awaken, not coerce.”
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Post by Smithee on Dec 13, 2012 8:50:30 GMT 10
“What sort of penance shall I do, given the enormity of my crimes?”
“Understand the ignorance that caused them,” said the Master.
Later he added, “It is thus you will understand and forgive both others and yourself and stop calling for the revenge you refer to as punishment or penance.”
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Post by Smithee on Dec 14, 2012 8:44:02 GMT 10
A business executive asked what the Master thought was the secret of successful living.
Said the Master, “Make one person happy each day.”
As an afterthought he added, “Even if that person is yourself.”
A minute passed and he said, “Especially if that person is yourself.”
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Post by Smithee on Dec 15, 2012 12:30:27 GMT 10
Once, in the course of a talk he gave, the Master quoted from an ancient poet.
A young woman came up later to say she would rather he had quoted from the Scriptures.
“Did that pagan author whom you quoted really know God?” she said.
“Young woman,” said the Master severely, “If you think that God is the author of the book you call the scriptures, I would have you know he is also the author of a much earlier work called Creation.”
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Post by Smithee on Dec 16, 2012 10:57:50 GMT 10
A philosopher who couldn’t quite grasp what the Master meant by Awareness, asked him to define it.
“It cannot be defined,” said the Master.
“Is it thought?”
“Not concepts and reflections,” said the Master, “but the kind of thought you exercise in moments of great danger when your brain stoips dead - or in moments of great inspiration.”
“And what kind of thinking is that?”
“Thinking with your body-brain-being,” said the Master.
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Post by Smithee on Dec 17, 2012 9:16:20 GMT 10
When a dictator came to power the Master was arrested in the act of distributing leaflets at the street corner in defiance of censorship regulations.
At headquarters his knapsack proved to contain nothing more harmful than black sheets of paper.
“What does this mean?” the police demanded.
The Master smiled and replied, “The people know what it means.”
The story became well known throughout the country, so the local priests weren’t one bit amused when, years later, the Master was found distributing blank sheets of paper within the temple precincts.
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Post by Smithee on Dec 18, 2012 8:20:06 GMT 10
The Master clearly advocated “thought-free”, “knowledge-less” contemplation as a means to know Reality.
“How can one know reality without knowledge?” a disciple asked.
“The way one knows music,” said the Master.
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