PEACE LOVE YOGA: Buddha Memorial Center, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Burnt To Ash

"All Inquiry is meant for one purpose; to take you experientially into the unknown as efficiently as possible. Once you get there, simply be still because inquiry has delivered you to its destination. The rest is up to Grace. Do not hold onto any knowledge that comes your way. Even the greatest revelations much not be clung to, or you will end up with a head full of memories and a heart empty of substance. The truth is ever new, existing only in the now. The highest truth is beyond knowledge and experience. It is beyond time and space, and beyond beingness, consciousness, and oneness. Just remember that all direct path techniques are meant simply to undermine, to cut away, the one who is performing them. No matter what spiritual path you've walked or what teachings you've followed, they must lead you back to no path and no teaching. A true teaching is like a blazing fire that consumes the itself. The teaching must not only consume you, but consume itself as well. All must be burned to ash, and then the ash must be burned. The, and only then, is the Ultimate realized. True Enlightenment destroys enlightenment. As long as you can refer back to yourself and say, 'I'm enlightened', you not. Enlightenment is authentic only when there is no one left to be enlightened. Even to say 'I am nobody', is one too many. There's a point when you intuitively realize that to be Free you have to give up your attachment to Freedom. You have to quit asking yourself: Is it still there? Am I okay? You have to decide to never look over your shoulder again to see if you're free or if others know you're free. You just have to let yourself burn there - no matter what. This isn't something I can help you with. I can tell you what you need to do, but you have to do it. In the beginning, teachers can help a lot. But the deeper you go, all they can do is point, and clarify, and tell you what you need to do. Only you can take this step. Nobody can push you in to this place."

- Adyashanti

No Expectations

A spirit that lives in this world

and does not wear the shirt of love,

such an existence is a deep disgrace.

Be foolishly in love,

because love is all there is.

There is no way into presence

except through a love exchange.

If someone asks, But what is love?

answer, Dissolving the will.

True freedom comes to those

who have escaped the questions

of freewill and fate.

Love is an emperor.

The two worlds play across him.

He barely notices their tumbling game.

Love and lover live in eternity.

Other desires are substitutes

for that way of being.

How long do you lay embracing a corpse?

Love rather the soul, which cannot be held.

Anything born in spring dies in the fall,

but love is not seasonal.

With wine pressed from grapes,

expect a hangover.

But this love path has no expectations.

You are uneasy riding the body?

Dismount. Travel lighter.

Wings will be given.

Be clear like a mirror

reflecting nothing.

Be clean of pictures and the worry

that comes with images.

Gaze into what is not ashamed

or afraid of any truth.

Contain all human faces in your own

without any judgement of them.

Be pure emptiness.

What is inside that? you ask.

Silence is all I can say.

Lovers have some secrets

that they keep.

(Rumi)

26.7.12

Exactly a week ago I had the opportunity to visit The Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan on our celebratory moon day off. I took a fair amount of pictures as you can see. Stunning, peaceful, massive, are just a few words that come to mind in remembrance. However, I couldn't help but take amusement in the fact there was a Starbucks in the main pavilion. Buddha likes his coffee too! If ever in Taiwan this place is a must see for your travel list. The complex stretches out beyond the main entrance. Be prepared to do a fair share of walking. I enjoyed this fact. In each pagoda there were various Buddhist themes to take in or little shops to wonder around. I really appreciated the fact the center catered to people of all ages, especially families. There is even a side area for children to enjoy. Through out the center the nuns hosted many of the various sites on the grounds. I didn't see any monks though. Not sure why that is. Below I have a further description posted in regards to the site.

From the brochure:

"The Buddha Memorial Center, situated at Dashu District, Kaohsiung City, is built on 100 hectares of land, and houses the Buddha's tooth relic that was presented to Venerable Master Hsing Yun by the Tibetan Lama, Kunga Dorje Rinpoche, who had kept the relic in his safekeeping for 30 years. The Kunga Dorje Rinpoche was touched by the efforts of Fo Guang Shan, an active propagation center of Humanistic Buddhism. Construction of the Buddha Memorial Center commenced in 2003 and took nine years to complete. The building is made possible with the support of thousands of temples and millions on benefactores. It comprises eight pagodas in the front, a big Buddha stature in the rear, the Vulture Peak in the south, and the Jetvana Grove in the north. It encompasses traditional and modern features which fulfills the functional needs of culture, education, and spiritual practice.

The main buildings are laid out along a central axis from east to west in the following order: the Front Hall, the Eight Pagadas, the Grand Photo Terrace, the Bodhi Wisdom Concourse, The Main Hall and the Fo Guang Big Buddha.

Like a Buddhist university, the Buddha Memorial Center aims to offer spiritual refreshment and bring harmony to society by means of culture and art."