Full moon Osho Zen card........

[sooZen]

Hi Jack...Yes, our Conditioning has a way of interfering with our present...Is the lion awake?

You can pick a card for anyone but i think it may only give you some insight as to your feelings on the matter.


The Source


Zen Tarot Card
The Source

"Zen asks you to come out of the head and go to the basic source.... It is not that Zen is not aware of the uses of energy in the head, but if all the energy is used in the head, you will never become aware of your eternity.... You will never know as an experience what it is to be one with the whole. When the energy is just at the center, pulsating, when it is not moving anywhere, neither in the head nor in the heart, but it is at the very source from where the heart takes it, the head takes it, pulsating at the very source--that is the very meaning of Zazen. Zazen means just sitting at the very source, not moving anywhere, a tremendous force arises, a transformation of energy into light and love, into greater life, into compassion, into creativity. It can take many forms. But first you have to learn how to be at the source. Then the source will decide where your potential is. You can relax at the source, and it will take you to your very potential.

Osho The Zen Manifesto: Freedom from Oneself Chapter 11
Commentary:

When we speak of being "grounded" or "centered" it is this Source we are talking about. When we begin a creative project, it is this Source that we tune in to. This card reminds us that there is a vast reservoir of energy available to us. And that we tap into it not by thinking and planning but by getting grounded, centered, and silent enough to be in contact with the Source. It is within each of us, like a personal, individual sun giving us life and nourishment. Pure energy, pulsating, available, it is ready to give us anything we need to accomplish something, and ready to welcome us back home when we want to rest. So whether you are beginning something new and need inspiration right now, or you've just finished something and want to rest, go to the Source. It's always waiting for you, and you don't even have to step out of your house to find it."


Life is neverending, just transforming...

a felled tree
becomes firewood
ashes to ashes

Nate (my Downs son) doesn't want to die but is reaching an understanding that it happens to all living things... and he remembers his past life as a warrior. He talks about that. Who am i to say he is wrong. I am pretty sure he wasn't a Down's warrior but he is now...

[sooZen]

March 1, a new month of 2006




"Zen Tarot Card
Moment To Moment

The past is no more and the future is not yet: both are unnecessarily moving in directions which don't exist. One used to exist, but no longer exists, and one has not even started to exist. The only right person is one who lives moment to moment, whose arrow is directed to the moment, who is always here and now; wherever he is, his whole consciousness, his whole being, is involved in the reality of here and in the reality of now. That's the only right direction. Only such a man can enter into the golden gate. The present is the golden gate. Here-now is the golden gate. ...And you can be in the present only if you are not ambitious--no accomplishment, no desire to achieve power, money, prestige, even enlightenment, because all ambition leads you into the future. Only a non-ambitious man can remain in the present. A man who wants to be in the present has not to think, has just to see and enter the gate. Experience will come, but experience has not to be premeditated.

Osho The Great Zen Master Ta Hui Chapter 37
Commentary:

As this figure moves across the stones, he steps lightly and non-seriously, and at the same time absolutely balanced and alert. Behind the swirling, ever-changing waters we can see the shapes of buildings; there appears to be a city in the background. The man is in the marketplace but at the same time outside of it, maintaining his balance and able to watch it from above. This card challenges us to move away from our preoccupations with other spaces and other times, and stay alert to what is happening in the here and now. Life is a great ocean in which you can play if you drop all your judgments, your preferences and the attachment to the details of your long-term plans. Be available to what comes your way, as it comes. And don't worry if you stumble or fall; just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, have a good laugh, and carry on."

I shall carry on...in this moment... Hah!

[stilltrucking]

Can I pick another card?

Osho Zen Tarot
64. Politics
Try Again

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Politics


Anybody who can be a good pretender, a hypocrite, will become your leader politically, will become your priest religiously. All that he needs is hypocrisy, all that he needs is cunningness, all that he needs is a facade to hide behind. Your politicians live double lives, your priests live double lives--one from the front door, the other from the back door. And the back-door life is their real life. Those front-door smiles are just false, those faces looking so innocent are just cultivated. If you want to see the reality of the politician you will have to see him from his back door. There he is in his nudity, as he is, and so is the priest. These two kinds of cunning people have dominated humanity. And they found out very early on that if you want to dominate humanity, make it weak, make it feel guilty, make it feel unworthy. Destroy its dignity, take all glory away from it, humiliate it. And they have found such subtle ways of humiliation that they don't come in the picture at all; they leave it to you to humiliate yourself, to destroy yourself. They have taught you a kind of slow suicide.

Osho The White Lotus Chapter 10



Commentary:

Do you recognize this man? All but the most innocent and sincere of us have a politician lurking somewhere in our minds. In fact, the mind is political. Its very nature is to plan and scheme and try to manipulate situations and people so that it can get what it wants. Here, the mind is represented by the snake, covered with clouds and "speaking with a forked tongue". But the important thing to realize about this card is that both faces are false. The sweet, innocent, "trust me" face is a mask, and the evil, toxic, "I'll have my way with you" face is a mask, too. Politicians don't have real faces. The whole game is a lie. Take a good look at yourself to see if you have been playing this game. What you see might be painful, but not as painful as continuing to play. It doesn't serve anybody's interest in the end, least of all yours. Whatever you might achieve in this way will just turn to dust in your hands.

[sooZen]

Sure Jack..there is no right or wrong when it comes to the cards. Heck, pick another, pick your nose, pick up sticks.

although, I think that card may resonate somewhere...

[stilltrucking]

you bet it does SooZen I am one glib son of a bitch. Livei got nothing on me.

Thinking about jota and his poem he wrote about the sound of levi's foot steps coming down a gravel path. I sure would love to hear jota's foot steps. I hope is doing okay. Nobody seems to have heard from him I suppose I will have to go over to litchicks and see if he has been posting there.

[sooZen]

Jota is still posting poetry, I found one he recently posted there.

"Litchicks"? O well...no commento.

My Osho card today:

5. No-Thingness


"Zen Tarot Card
No-Thingness

Buddha has chosen one of the really very potential words - shunyata. The English word, the English equivalent, "nothingness", is not such a beautiful word. That's why I would like to make it "no-thingness" - because the nothing is not just nothing, it is all. It is vibrant with all possibilities. It is potential, absolute potential. It is unmanifest yet, but it contains all.

In the beginning is nature, in the end is nature, so why in the middle do you make so much fuss? Why, in the middle, becoming so worried, so anxious, so ambitious - why create such despair? Nothingness to nothingness is the whole journey.

Osho Take it Easy, Volume 1 Chapter 5
Commentary:

Being "in the gap" can be disorienting and even scary. Nothing to hold on to, no sense of direction, not even a hint of what choices and possibilities might lie ahead. But it was just this state of pure potential that existed before the universe was created.

All you can do now is to relax into this no-thingness...fall into this silence between the words...watch this gap between the outgoing and incoming breath. And treasure each empty moment of the experience. Something sacred is about to be born."

something...no thing.

[stilltrucking]

here i sit here and i am late for work

no time to pick a card

but

on the bit about middleness, thinking about Sam Yang private ego

I posted something about the ying yang symbol and ven diagrams

there is a middleness between the ying side and yang side, where the two sides touch there is an area where the ink colors bleed over into each other, no distinct line in nature. My Dalai Lama Happiness book reads about not objectivying sensory data, ying yang symbols, crosses, stars of david, national flags, pictures of god, phenomenologicaly thinking these are all data in our field of visual sensation. Bunch of two bit words trucker's slang for Zen. We westerners love to complicate things, even no-things.

sh*t i a really late.
got dam lazy boss of mine.

[stilltrucking]

Finally got to pick a card.. Had something to do with travell. A dam good joke. There must be some got dam advantage to being single. I been having guilt trips about my desire to drive down to the coast by myself, not with my sister her husband and my nephew. Some solitude on a beach would be life affirming for me right now.

Where the heck is hester, has she abondoned this string?

[sooZen]

Hester, i'm sure, is where she needs to be.

here is my card for today:

36. Flowering


Zen Tarot Card
Flowering

"Zen wants you living, living in abundance, living in totality, living intensely - not at the minimum as Christianity wants you, but at the maximum, overflowing.

Your life should reach to others. Your blissfulness, your benediction, your ecstasy should not be contained within you like a seed. It should open like a flower and spread its fragrance to all and sundry - not only to the friends but to the strangers too.

This is real compassion, this is real love: sharing your enlightenment, sharing your dance of the beyond.

Osho Christianity, the Deadliest Poison and Zen… Chapter 5
Commentary:

The Queen of Rainbows is like a fantastic plant that has reached the apex of its flowering and its colors. She is very sexual, very alive, and full of possibilities. She snaps her fingers to the music of love, and her zodiac necklace is placed in a way that Venus lies over her heart. The sleeves of her garment contain an abundance of seeds, and as the wind blows the seeds will be scattered to take root where they may. She is not concerned whether they land on the soil or on the rocks - she is just spreading them everywhere in sheer celebration of life and love. Flowers fall on her from above, in harmony with her own flowering, and the waters of emotion swirl playfully beneath the flower on which she sits.

You might feel like a garden of flowers right now, showered with blessings from everywhere. Welcome the bees, invite the birds to drink your nectar. Spread your joy around for all to share."

Hah! I am in bud, bud.

Now, it's Showtime!...so gotta run.

Remember Jack, a serious man takes life way too seriously.

[Artguy]

15 showing....take another card??? or knock to the dealer???

[stilltrucking]

Sounds like I got a friend at OSHO who I can count on. I like the image but I am two tired to post it. I must be exhausted



I dont have a superstitious bone in my body, I am ordinary.

Osho Zen Tarot46. Exhaustion
Try Again

Exhaustion

A man who lives through conscience becomes hard. A man who lives through consciousness remains soft. Why?--because a man who has some ideas about how to live, naturally becomes hard. He has continuously to carry his character around himself. That character is like an armor; his protection, his security; his whole life is invested in that character. And he always reacts to situations through the character, not directly. If you ask him a question, his answer is ready-made. That is the sign of a hard person--he is dull, stupid, mechanical. He may be a good computer, but he is not a man. You do something and he reacts in a well- established way. His reaction is predictable; he is a robot. The real man acts spontaneously. If you ask him a question, your question gets a response, not a reaction. He opens his heart to your question, exposes himself to your question, responds to it....Osho Take it Easy, Volume 1 Chapter 13 Commentary:This is the portrait of one whose whole life energy has been depleted in his efforts to keep fueling the enormous and ridiculous machine of self-importance and productivity. He has been so busy "keeping it all together" and "making sure everything runs smoothly", that he has forgotten to really rest. No doubt he can't allow himself to be playful. To abandon his duty for a trip to the beach could mean the whole structure might come tumbling down. The message of this card is not just about being a workaholic, though. It is about all the ways in which we set up safe but unnatural routines for ourselves and, by doing so, keep the chaotic and spontaneous away from our doors. Life isn't a business to be managed, it's a mystery to be lived. It's time to tear up the time-card, break out of the factory, and take a little trip into the uncharted. Your work can flow more smoothly from a relaxed state of mind.

[sooZen]

Artguy...I don't know. I can't count.

Jack, I have gotten that exhaustion card frequently myself. I do know the feeling...and usually (or maybe always) it is of my own creation and not the best thing I create.

I almost never post the image although, I guess I should take the time and effort as they are so much a part of the whole. I am html illiterate though and would rather be 'doing' other things than playing around with this contraption...

Here is my card in this early morning before the birds wake:

78. Maturity


Zen Tarot Card
Maturity

"The distinction between the grasses and the blossoms is the same as between you not knowing that you are a buddha, and the moment you know that you are a buddha. In fact, there is no way to be otherwise. Buddha is completely blossomed, fully opened. His lotuses, his petals, have come to a completion.... Certainly, to be full of spring yourself is far more beautiful than the autumn dew falling on the lotus leaves. That is one of the most beautiful things to watch: when autumn dew falls on the lotus leaves and shine in the morning sun like real pearls. But of course it is a momentary experience. As the sun rises, the autumn dew starts evaporating.... This temporary beauty cannot be compared, certainly, with an eternal spring in your being. You look back as far as you can and it has always been there. You look forward as much as you can, and you will be surprised: it is your very being. Wherever you are it will be there, and the flowers will continue to shower on you. This is spiritual spring.

Osho No Mind: The Flowers of Eternity Chapter 5
Commentary:

This figure stands alone, silent and yet alert. The inner being is filled with flowers--that carry the quality of springtime and regenerate wherever he goes. This inner flowering and the wholeness that he feels affords the possibility of unlimited movement. He can move in any direction--within and without it makes no difference as his joy and and maturity cannot be diminished by externals. He has come to a time of centeredness and expansiveness--the white glow around the figure is his protection and his light. All of life's experiences have brought him to this time of perfection. When you draw this card, know well this moment carries a gift--for hard work well done. Your base is solid now and success and good fortune are yours for they are the outcome of what has already been experienced within."

aHah!

We (the mtmynded one and myself) are leaving on Wednesday for a long awaited and anticipated working vacation. Never in our 34 years together have we had a real family vacation. (and I can write it off on my taxes if I do a couple of trunk shows and besides, I love what I do and do it as often as I can.)

He worries that he won't have a moment (or the hours it takes) for his Sunday Streams...I worry that he won't be able to keep up with me. Hah! (Not really. "Who, me worry?"...Alfred E. Newman)

Then my partner in the crime of creation, Jan and myself will be in San Antone the first weekend of April for the "Starving Artists" show on the riverwalk area.

Jack, I know you had said elsewhere that you didn't really want to meet the Studio Eight-ers in person but you are welcome to come by my tent and say 'howdy' (or just check me out from a distance. ) I will be in Maverick Plaza (fittingly) near the waffle cakes stand (not so fittingly.)

Packing awaits.

Keep smiling...it works.

[stilltrucking]

I am getting sick and tired of coincidences


My card too.
Osho Zen Tarot
78. Maturity
Try Again

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Maturity


I like the cards a lot, the images are beautiful. I was reading over the replies I have made and the one last week about the guilt fellings over trip to the coast hit me as a real whinny post by me. I thought it was pretty synchornous that my card mentioned a trip to the beach.

The solution is my motorcycle, I can cruise on down with that. My poor little sister could use a vacation too.

I promised my mother I would look after her. But she has a husband too. I wish I could write more about my family but I just cant figure out how to do it. Change the names I suppose. A sister of a friend..

talk at you tomorrow I hope

Thinking about the time KD and I were posting to each other on litkicks and you went to flames and started farting in the wind

I though it must have to do with something I said that was just plain wrong. As much as I harrassed jamelah and j, I don't think I hit on any high school kids.

Thank heaven for little sisters
Big sisters too.

[sooZen]

I don't believe there are "co-wink-a-dinks" (Popeye) just syncronicities.

Just found out that my Dad is not well and my vacation plans are changed but go, I must...

My card today:

11. Breakthrough


Zen Tarot Card
Breakthrough

"To transform breakdowns into breakthroughs is the whole function of a master. The psychotherapist simply patches you up. That is his function. He is not there to transform you. You need a meta-psychology, the psychology of the buddhas.

It is the greatest adventure in life to go through a breakdown consciously. It is the greatest risk because there is no guarantee that the breakdown will become a breakthrough. It does become, but these things cannot be guaranteed. Your chaos is very ancient - for many, many lives you have been in chaos. It is thick and dense. It is almost a universe in itself. So when you enter into it with your small capacity, of course there is danger. But without facing this danger nobody has ever become integrated, nobody has ever become an individual, indivisible.

Zen, or meditation, is the method which will help you to go through the chaos, through the dark night of the soul, balanced, disciplined, alert. The dawn is not far away, but before you can reach the dawn, the dark night has to be passed through. And as the dawn comes closer, the night will become darker.

Osho Walking in Zen, Sitting in Zen Chapter 1
Commentary:

The predominance of red in this card indicates at a glance that its subject is energy, power and strength. The brilliant glow emanates from the solar plexus, or center of power on the figure, and the posture is one of exuberance and determination.

All of us occasionally reach a point when "enough is enough." At such times it seems we must do something, anything, even if it later turns out to be a mistake, to throw off the burdens and restrictions that are limiting us. If we don't, they threaten to suffocate and cripple our very life energy itself.

If you are now feeling that "enough is enough," allow yourself to take the risk of shattering the old patterns and limitations that have kept your energy from flowing. In doing so you will be amazed at the vitality and empowerment this Breakthrough can bring to your life."

It is time...

See you down the road Jack... Adios amigo and "Happy Trails until we meet again..." (Roy Rogers and Dale Evans)

[stilltrucking]

040906 15:54 cdt

XX
Beyond Illusion


"This is the only distinction between the dream and the real: reality allows you to doubt, and the dream does not allow you to doubt...."