Silent Illumination. New MJ Awakening Blog July 17, 2019

SILENT ILLUMINATION

“Quiescence refers to the practice of silencing the mind,
and clarity refers to contemplation, illuminating the mind
with the light of awareness.

Hongzhi himself described the “silent sitting” as
thus: ‘Your body sits silently; your mind is quiescent,
unmoving. This is genuine effort in practice. Body and
mind are at complete rest. The mouth is so still that
moss grows around it. Grass sprouts from the tongue.
Do this without ceasing, cleansing the mind until it
gains the clarity of an autumn pool, bright as the moon
illuminating the evening sky.’

In this state, the mind is without form or feature. Power is
present, but its function is to fill the mind with illumination,
like the sun shining everywhere. Hence, Silent llumination
is the practice in which there is nothing moving, but
the mind is bright and illuminating.”

-Ven. Sheng Yen

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Inner STILLNESS… finding out for Yourself. New MJ Awakening Blog March 29, 2019

STILLNESS

To BE completely Still.

The cessation of all inner movement.

No thought.

Dead Still within.

What is that really like?

AM I willing to discover the answer for myself?

Michael Jeffreys

 

p.s. Silence is PRIOR to mind. 　

Am I seeing THIS moment through the mind or Silence? New MJ Awakening Blog February 27, 2019

AM I SEEING THIS MOMENT THROUGH THE MIND’S IMAGES, BELIEFS AND FEARS OR IN SILENCE? (aka, YOU CAN’T DANCE AT TWO WEDDINGS.)

“Your mind has to be truly silent, empty of thoughts and concepts. It has to become a state of receptivity. Complete silence. While you are looking out into whatever happens to be your current scenery with a false ‘knowing’ that you are ‘short of money’ or ‘lacking in health’ or ‘lonely’ or ‘limited’ in some way your mind is busy entertaining belief-images of its own making.

While it’s doing so Spiritual Allness cannot penetrate. It forever wants to. It is forever ready to. It is forever pushing at your consciousness trying to burst through. But your mind is busy with images, fears and schemes of its own making, thereby shutting Spirit out.”

-Paul F. Gorman
(from, The Miracle Self)

 

MICHAEL: What does Silence FEEL like? ❤

Has what’s Silently Observing THIS moment ever moved? New MJ Awakening Blog January 25, 2019

Has what’s Silently Observing THIS moment ever moved?

Michael Jeffreys

If I’m not listening from Silence then I’m not listening. New MJ Awakening Blog January 7, 2019

If I’m not listening from Silence then I’m not listening.

Michael Jeffreys

The Soul has taken so many imaginary journeys… New MJ Awakening Blog July 9, 2018

The Soul has taken so many imaginary journeys… apparent lifetime after lifetime, that it has forgotten how not to journey.

❤

Michael Jeffreys

How old is NOW? New MJ Awakening Blog May 10, 2018

Silently meditating/reflecting on a Koan (a question without a definitive answer) stills/quiets the mind…

How old is NOW?

Where does NOW begin and end?

Michael Jeffreys

Is that one, this imagined persona/character/idea of a separate entity actually, literally, ME?? New MJ Awakening Blog April 27, 2018

The question is not whether or not my character/action figure/persona/sense-of-me has ups and downs throughout its day. Of course it does.

All “human beings” experience the + and – of duality. There is no escaping this. The ocean can be calm one moment and stormy the next… and it doesn’t require “a reason” to change!

So, the only question, ever, is:

Is that one, this imagined persona/character/idea of a separate entity actually, literally, ME??

Or, am I always, come what may, the observer of that one?

This is what must be looked into deeply in one’s own Heart. 

Michael Jeffreys

When it comes to SILENCE, I sell out too soon. New MJ Awakening Blog April 5, 2018

When it comes to SILENCE, I sell out too soon. I never get to her deeper secrets because as soon as ANY thought shows up, I forget all about her. ❤

Michael Jeffreys

The mind is a thought producing machine and this morning I caught it starting-up upon awakening. New MJ Awakening Blog March 23, 2018

Upon awakening this morning, I could feel/hear the mind literally start-up/kick in. You can actually catch it start babbling its nonsense in mid-sentence if you are present enough as you come out of sleep. And if you can hear the mind, you know that it’s not you, because you’re what’s hearing it. Always. Even right now.

And if you say, “Ok mind, I am here and ready to listen, go ahead… go head…” and then you get quiet, it has nothing to say! As a friend said in a recent facebook post, the thing never shuts up, but now, when I become present with it, it has nothing to say!!??

-Michael Jeffreys

p.s. I found that looking at/feeling into this babies’ serene face from presence (no thoughts), takes you right to stillness/peace/serenity…