Free
Bird
I
AM A FREE BIRD. I have no duties to perform or obligations to
fulfill.
Name and form do not belong to me. I have forgotten the
limitations imposed by knowledge. The eyes see, the ears hear,
but there is no one who is looking, no one who is listening. The
body and the brain are alive and alert, but there is no mind, no
thinker. Thoughts come and go, but they never disturb the peace
that is always present.
Like an actor on the stage, I perform whatever actions are
required of me. Still I know that it is all a play. Who can say
what life is? The body breathing, the senses responding—what
could be more miraculous than this?
In this liberation, there has never been any bondage. I
understand that there is nothing to understand. In this
completeness, there has never been any incompleteness. I know
that I am the One. There are no words to express what I am.
Thought cannot encompass it. Reality cannot be broken into
parts. Therefore, notions of this and that, I and you, are
illusion.
This world appearance is like a ripple on the surface of the
ocean. I feel the depth of that ocean, but I cannot describe it.
The world of form appears, but has no substance. I see no
separation anywhere. I do not know myself or experience myself
as a separate person. I do not know or experience others as
separate persons. I am friendly with everyone, because I do not
feel that others are different from me. I invite everyone into
my own happiness. There is only Oneness there, so how can you
call it love? I do not want anything, nor do I not want
anything. All seems good to me as it is.
My true nature is silence. I sit quietly in my Self. Those who
need me will find me. I know that I will also receive whatever I
need. I have no thoughts about the future. I know that there is
never any moment other than this one.
This life around me is my Self. I meditate on that Self with
devotion. The flame of life is always lit. I am the devotee and
the object of devotion as well. I am both full and empty,
foolish and wise, asleep and awake. I do not understand myself!
I cannot locate myself anywhere in space. I cannot experience
myself at any point in time. I do not exist in any shape or
form, and yet I am. My being is a mystery to me!
I
perceive beauty, but it is not projected by me, nor does it come
to me from outside. Beauty and goodness are in the nature of
existence itself. That is the conclusion I come to.
This human form has its weaknesses and strengths, but I know
that I am not that. Therefore I am not constrained by the body.
I do not conceive of myself as being like this or like that.
Therefore I am not constrained by thought. I never experience a
state in which I am not aware. Therefore I am not constrained by
ignorance. I know that one day this body will fall away and all
knowledge of the world will end. Therefore I am not constrained
by knowledge.
Like a flag flying in the wind that shows that the wind is
there, this world reveals my existence, but I remain unknown.
Is there anything I need to satisfy me? No, I am content with my
Self.
'I' am not enlightened, awakened, or Self-realized. There is no
one to whom those words can be applied.
May all those who seek the Self come to this understanding—that
there is no path that leads to the one who is seeking. May all
those who practice spiritual disciplines come to this
understanding—that there is nothing you can do to become what
you already are. May all seekers everywhere come to the end of
their seeking and live freely in peace and happiness.
I
am a free bird. I have no duties to perform or obligations to
fulfill.
~
Writing:
A Free Bird - Andrew Vernon
Art by: Unknown
Fall
Into the Heart
Q: I have brief glimpses of this realm in moments of
stillness, then I go to work and find myself in an environment
which is neither royal nor peaceful and my serenity immediately
disappears. How can I keep my equanimity permanently?
A: Everything that appears in awareness is nothing other
than awareness, your co-workers, clients, superiors, absolutely
everything, including the premises, the furniture and the
equipment. First understand this intellectually, then verify
that this is so. There comes a moment where this feeling of
intimacy, this benevolent space around you no longer goes away;
you find yourself at home everywhere, even in the packed waiting
room of a train station. You only go out of it when you go into
the past or the future. Do not stay in that hovel. This
immensity awaits you right here, at this very moment. Already
being acquainted with its presence and once having tasted the
harmony underlying appearances, let the perceptions of the
external world and your body sensations unfold freely in your
welcoming awareness until the moment that the background of
plenitude reveals itself spontaneously.
This reversal of perspective is analogous to that which allows
the sudden recognition of an angelic face in a tree in one of
those early twentieth century prints that so delight children.
At first we only see the tree, then informed by a caption under
the picture that an angel is hiding there, we begin a meticulous
examination of the foliage until we finally see the angel which
had always been right there before our eyes. What is important
is to know that there is an angel, where it is hiding and to
have once experienced the process by which the tree
progressively loses its form to the point where the lines of
which appearance is composed begin to appear as such and then
recompose to confide the secret of the image to us. Once the way
is paved, subsequent reversals of perspective are easier and
easier until we see the angel and the tree simultaneously, so to
speak. In the same way, once our true nature has been
recognized, the remaining distinctions between ignorance and
awakening become progressively blurred and yield to the
fundamental suchness of being.
Q: Can you speak to us about the practice of living
intuitively from the heart?
A: Do not be a person, do not be anything. Having
understood that you are no one, you live the truth according to
this knowledge. When the idea or sensation of being a person no
longer bothers you, whether you are thinking or not, whether you
are acting or not, you live the truth from the fullness of the
heart.
Q: At this point, am I in right relationship with myself
and with the world?
A: Oh, yes. You are in right relationship which is that
of inclusion.
The world as well as your body and your mind are
included in your true self. Love is inclusion. Understanding is
an intermediate step, but the final destination, the true
center, is the heart.
Q: Is the heart the place between this branch and the
next, to use the analogy of the monkey?
A: If you agree to let go of the branch you are clinging
to without catching hold of another, you fall into the heart.
You have to accept dying, letting everything you know slip away,
everything you have been taught, everything you possess,
including your life or at least everything that you think at
this stage is your life. This requires daring.
