Posts Tagged ‘Adi Shankara’

Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”

“When no one’s a “doer”
nothing’s undone.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  
Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” 
~ Lao-Tzu
“Tao is now,
Tao is one,
Tao is doer,
Tao will be done.
Tao will be done,
So let Tao do it.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Tao and Zen
are NOW,
not then.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“What has been is what will be,
and what has been done
is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.”
~ Ecclesiastes 1:9




Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”

Ron’s Introduction to Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”

Dear Friends,

I’m gratefully beginning my 90th New Year happier than ever before in this precious human lifetime, with something I’ve always wanted – “Nothing”.

So with this posting I’ve decided to share with you Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”, hoping they’ll help you to also enjoy such heart-felt happiness, and Divine peace of mind that passes understanding.

Before and since launching the SillySutras website I’ve often enjoyed, and sometimes composed epigrammatic and enigmatic sutras, rhymes and quotes about the idea of “nothing”, which leave their interpretation to the reader or listener.

For example, I’ve valued the pithy non-duality teachings of the Taoist and Zen Buddhist non-duality spiritual traditions. Those teachings inspired my composition of the following “Nothings” verses during my ten year post-retirement reclusive period.

For our heart-felt happiness, I’ve posted above and hereafter some of my favorite Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”. May they help us enjoy a supremely HAPPY NOTHINGS NEW YEAR!!


Nothings

Nothing is old,
if nothing is new.

Nothing is false,
if nothing is true.

Nothing’s undone,
if there’s nothing to do.




Ron’s audio recitation of “Nothings”

Listen to




Sutras, Rhymes, and Quotes about “Nothing”

THINKING MAKES IT SO

“There is nothing either good or bad,
but thinking makes it so.”
~ Shakespeare – Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2


Nothing is false
And nothing is true
Nothing is old
And nothing is new’
But thinking makes it so.

NOTHING IS NEW

“What has been is what will be,
and what has been done
is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.”
~ Ecclesiastes 1:9


Everything’s NOW,
so nothing’s new.
Discovering is but uncovering
timeless Truth –
ever NOW!

MUCH ADO ABOUT “NOTHING”

Essence of everyone
is no-one.
Essence of everything
is nothing.
So when anyone’s disturbed
about anything,
it’s much ado about nothing.

REALITY IS NEVER NOTHING

In this world of permanent impermanence,
Nothing is really ‘real’.
Everything’s only ego-mind illusion;
It’s maya or samsara,
Like a mental mirage.

But for Buddhists, beyond maya or samsara
Ultimate Reality is never nothing
It’s only ever imminent EMPTINESS.

DOING

When no one’s a “doer”,
nothing’s undone.

UNDOING

There’s nothing to do
but undo,
until we’re through and undone.
Then, when nothing’s undone
there’s nothing to do,
but to BE –
free and
ONE!

THE WHOLE TRUTH

“Nothing exists except the Self. ….
I know that I am the Self, whose nature is eternal joy.
I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing that is separate from me.”
~ Adi Shankara – Crest-Jewel of Discrimination


We’re whole,
we’re whole,
we’re whole!
Nothing ever
can dissever our soul.

SURRENDER, FORGIVE, LET GO

We have nothing to surrender
but the idea that
we’re someone,
with something
to surrender.

We have nothing to forgive
but the idea that
we’re someone,
with something
to forgive.

We have nothing to let go
but the idea that
we’re someone,
with something
to let go.

The more we know we’re no one,
the more we’re seen as someone.

THERE’S NOTHING TO SAY

There’s nothing to say,
but words point the way.
So, elevate your spiritual
“lexi-consciousness.”

WE’VE NOTHING TO FEAR

“The only thing we have to fear is…fear itself.”
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt


We’ve nothing to fear but fright;
fright which hides our light.

But just beyond our darkest fright
shines our brightest light –
the light of Eternal Life;
the light of of timeless LOVE.

NOTHING IS IMMUTABLE

In this ever-changing space/time world
nothing is immutable,
but much is ever inscrutable –
Divine Mystery.

WE’VE NOTHING MORE TO BE

In silence sweet
we shall meet
the thrill of ecstasy.
and thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
we’ve nothing more to be.

NOTHING IS CERTAIN

“There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
~ Albert Einstein


Nothing is certain but uncertainty.
Everything is possible
when nothing is inevitable.

THERE’S NOTHING TO DO

There’s nothing to do,
nothing to say,
or nothing to know;
but just to let go,
and ‘go with the flow’.

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings


Invocation

May the above New Year’s “Nothings”
Rekindle our ever expanding realization
of THAT timeless Truth beyond words,
to which they point but cannot say –

That all that is, was, or ever can BE
is the Eternal Light of Divine Love – NOW!

‘Til then, may we enjoy a supremely
HAPPY NOTHINGS NEW YEAR!!



And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Honoring Nature
~ Quotes and Video

“One touch of nature
makes the whole world kin.”
~ William Shakespeare
“Nature is our nature;
Honoring Nature is honoring Self.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings




Introduction

Dear Friends,


In this critical era of worldwide violence and turmoil, our amazingly beautiful planet is imminently and insanely threatened (by immensely destructive technologies) with possible human caused omnicidal nuclear or climate catastrophe, ending Earth life as we’ve known it.

Therefore we must urgently awaken humanity’s instinctive primal awareness that Nature is our nature; that Nature knows best and will have its Way; that we are not dependent upon exploitation of our precious planet or its lifeforms, but interdependent with it and all life thereon; that we can no longer unsustainably exploit Nature and others without dire consequences; that we must honor – not desecrate – Nature.

The following profound “Nature” quotation collection and beautiful “Creation Calling” embedded video are offered to help awaken our minds and open our hearts to realization of Humankind’s urgent need to avert calamity by Honoring Nature, NOW!

And so shall it be!

Ron Rattner


Honoring Nature ~ Quotation Collection

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
~ William Shakespeare

But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish of the sea inform you.  
Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
~ Job 12:7-9

“Look deep into nature, and then
you will understand everything better.”
~ Albert Einstein

“The entire world we apprehend through our senses
is no more than a tiny fragment in the vastness of Nature.”
~ Max Planck

“Human subtlety will never devise an invention
more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature;
because in her inventions nothing is lacking,
and nothing is superfluous.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”
“All art, all education, can be merely a supplement to nature.”
~ Aristotle

“If one truly loves nature one finds beauty everywhere.”
~ Vincent Van Gogh

“In nature we never see anything isolated,
but everything in connection with something else
which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.”
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Every particular in nature,
a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time
is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Lose yourself in nature and find peace.”
“Nature is made to conspire with spirit to emancipate us.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature.”
~ Rachel Carson

“It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth
and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility.”
~ Rachel Carson

“When we pay attention to nature’s music,
we find that everything on the Earth contributes to its harmony.”
~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.”
~ Frank Lloyd Wright

“Nature is the living, visible garment of God.”
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity;
so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.”
~ Henry David Thoreau

“Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”
~ Albert Einstein


“Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things,
man will not himself find peace.”

~ Albert Schweitzer


“There are no passengers on spaceship earth.
We are all crew.”
~ Marshall McLuhan

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors;
we borrow it from our children”
~ Chief Seattle


“Ultimately, the decision to save the environment
must come from the human heart,
[from] a genuine sense of universal responsibility
that is based on love, compassion and clear awareness.”

~ Dalai Lama


“Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister,
Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us,
and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs”

“This sister now cries out to us
because of the harm we have inflicted on her
by our irresponsible use and abuse
of the goods with which God has endowed her.”

~ Pope Francis – Climate encyclical message

“Nature is neither pleasant nor painful.
It is all intelligence and beauty.
Pain and pleasure are in the mind.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Deviation from Nature is deviation from happiness.”
~ Samuel Johnson

“Each thing tends to move towards its own nature.
I always desire happiness which is my true nature.
My nature is never a burden to me.
Happiness is never a burden to me, whilst sorrow is.”
~ Adi Shankara

“Because after all, you ARE a symptom of nature.
You . . . grow out of this physical universe
in exactly the same way an apple grows off an apple tree.”

~ Alan Watts

“I thank you God for this most amazing day,
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees,
and for the blue dream of sky
and for everything which is natural,
which is infinite, which is yes.”
~ e. e. cummings

“I see trees of green, red roses too.
I see them bloom for me and you.
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue and clouds of white.
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night.
And I think to myself what a wonderful world”
~ Louis Armstrong


Honoring Nature ~ Creation Calls — are you listening?




Invocation

May Humankind Awaken NOW
from our long-inculcated illusion
of separation from Nature. 

So Awakened,
may we deeply realize that Nature is our nature;
that what we unsustainably do to Nature
we do to ourselves; and
that it is our responsibility
to honor, cherish and preserve
Earth-life as we’ve known it.

And so Awakened,
may we urgently honor
Nature’s uniquely precious ecology and environment,
with a “genuine sense of universal responsibility
that is based on love, compassion and clear awareness.


And so shall it be!
!

Ron Rattner