Be

You might look at ordinary objects and say, "There are no miracles." But in fact, these objects are miraculous - the dandelion, the cloud, the dewdrop, the eyes of a child - for they exist. And that they exist is a miracle, because Being itself is transcendent, breath-taking, eternal.

Just before he died, Buddha's followers asked him for his final teaching. So Buddha merely pointed to a flower. We see the thing-ness of the flower, but the Awakened One was pointing to the Being of the flower. There is a difference between the thing-ness and the Being of a flower.

To the mind that is half-asleep, Being seems abstract. But to the awakened, Being is more solid, more actual, than any thing. The difference between  ignorance and enlightenment is simply this: the ignorant see a world of things, but the enlightened see the Being of things.

This divine Being imparts to creatures a fleeting and apparent existence, so that we behold them and know quite clearly that they are real, whether they be subatomic particles or stars. The Being that imparts a brief and relative existence to these things, must be more actual and solid than any of them. Therefor pure Being, though formless, is more real than any thing which exists.

When you awaken your own Being, you know that you are not an object. As Being, you participate in the Being of all. There cannot possibly be more than one Being, and you are That, I am That, all this is That. Om Tat Sat.

Compared to the lightning-bolt of pure Being that passes through a thing to give it reality, the form of the thing is a mirage.

Pure Being enfolds us, upholds us, births us, and finally receives us in death. Out of the Being we take form, and to the formless Being we return as an offering, just as waves emerge and return to the depth of the sea. At the moment of death, we awaken and rejoice in the boundless majesty of who we truly are. We know our Being as more solid and substantial than the world. But why wait until then? Why not awaken now, dying to form and waking to eternal Being?

Being is the pure generosity of space, birthing atoms and galaxies, gods and men, world upon world, beyond imagining. Yet the marvelous and boundless ocean of Being is simply the space of our own awareness.

Being is always full and complete, in whatever form we might behold it. The wing of a dragonfly might be frail and broken, but its Being is perfect. A dying old man might be yellow and shrunken, with a death rattle in his throat. But his Being is eternal, fresh and vigorous, passing out of that breath into eternity.

Simply Being, you have nothing to fear, for your existence is whole and complete each instant. You require only one commandment: Be.

Being requires no effort, and when you truly Are, doing flows spontaneously from the grace of Being. The only reason we cannot experience this is because we try too hard to exist. Yet existence requires no work: we need only to allow it to Be.

When we become an empty vessel, and the mystery of Being flows through us, decisive action flowers from the heart, without plan or preconception. All great masters have taught this truth: dynamic action through effortless stillness.

The Taoists called it wei wu wei: doing through not-doing. Laotzu said, The way to do is to be. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna taught, One who sees stillness in action and action in stillness, truly sees. Jesus said, Behold the lilies of the field, they neither toil or spin.

One who is established in Being appears to be engaged in dynamic activity, but their inward experience is stillness. Outward action, inward silence: that is the husk and core of life. Seen in true perspective, Being is solid as diamond, while action is like a line drawn on water, ephemeral and dreamlike.

When we observe our past, all that has lead up to this moment, we see how dreamlike it is. As for the present moment, it is gone in a micro-second. As for the future, it does not exist at all. Thus all of our existence - past, present, and future - is a phantasm, a mirage, playing in the still space of eternity. Why not realize the dreamlike fluidity of existence now, while it is happening?

Just as dynamic action occurs in a dream while our head quietly rests on a pillow, so in waking life we may achieve masterful accomplishments while our awareness reposes in the unwavering stillness of Being.

You cannot experience the grace of Being through some other being - neither through Jesus, nor Buddha, nor your Guru. You can only taste the infinite through your own infinite nature.

Please, for the sake of the world, awaken the sheer magnificence of who you are. When your heart consciously resonates with Being, you will send heart-waves throughout creation. Your realize Being not just for you: your Being uplifts the world.

Many creatures exist, but there is only one Existence. Touch the Being in your heart and you touch everyone. Taste the miracle of your own Existence and you see the miraculous nature of all creatures. Even a gnat is holy.