Daily Signet

As the bodhisattva walks down the trail, he begins leaving the “ways” of his self (a former life) along the path much like a pilgrim divests himself of possessions along the path. This is only the beginning though, something more is required and yet, there is no guidance forthcoming from others or the Divine. “Stand in this complete darkness,” the bodhisattva is told. Here is a black void where all light is extinguished long before it ever reaches the center. “You are alone, naked, without any thing.” There is no hope here. There is no love here.  In fact, he is told there is no need—whatsoever—for him. “Remove and discard every opinion, achievement, need, desire, etc. from yourself.” 

This is done in the same way you would remove bricks from the walls of a building, one brick at a time, one level at a time until the bodhisattva stands naked in this void, without protective walls, alone. There are no words of encouragement nor is he told that everything will be okay. It is at this point of total surrender and a complete removal of every thing, he finally dies and of course, awakens in the bath of love and acceptance that is Nirvana.  He is quite content to stay in this place; however, he is told he must return. Grace enables him to see indiscernible patterns and shapes—potentials of the future. He returns understanding his choice and a feeling of responsibility to those shapes and patterns and other bodhisattvas and the Divine.

…In Christuman, as with the bodhisattvas, here and now is Nirvana. It is by first going into that death of the least of me that the best of me is born and we may become at one with all that is human and with all that is divine. However, don’t stop there, the world is desperate for your light and your model.

Earl Behnke

On This Day…

Week of prayer begins for Christian Unity

Ruben Dario born 1867 in Nicaragua: poet. Works: Los Raros, Songs of Life and Hope, Azul.  Died, 1916.  Quotes: “Sweet as sweetest Grecian honey will the song be when I sing, O Beloved, in the season of the spring.” “I seek a form that my style cannot discover, a bud of thought that wants to be a rose.” “Love beauty. It is the shadow of God on the universe.”