Guardians of Being

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    True happiness is found in simple, seemingly unremarkablethings.

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    , ,inside.A high degree of alertness is required.

    Be still. Look. Listen.

    Be present.

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    Bring awarenessto the many subtle soundsof nature-

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    The rustling of leaves in the wind,

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    Raindrops falling,

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    The humming of an insect,

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    The first birdsong at dawn.

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    Give yourself completely to the act of listening.

    Beyond the sounds there is somethinggreater:a sacredness that cannot be understood through thought.

    L k t t fl l t

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    Look at a tree, a flower, a plant.Let your awareness rest upon it.How still it is, how deeply rooted in Being.

    Allow nature to teach you

    stillness.

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    Everything natural-every flower, tree, and animal-hasimportant lessons to teach us if we only

    stop, look, and listen.

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    Just watching an animal closely can take you out of your mind andbring you into the present moment, which is where the animal livesall the time-

    surrendered to life.

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    Its so wonderful to watch an animal,because an animal has no opinion about itself.

    It is.

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    Thats why the dog is so joyful

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    And why the cat purrs.

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    When you pet a dog or listen to a cat purring,thinking may subside for a moment and

    a space of stillnessarises within you, a doorway into Being.

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    The vital function that pets fulfill in this world hasnt been fullyrecognized.

    They keep millionsof people sane.

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    They have become Guardians of Being.

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    Most of us live in a world of mental abstraction, conceptualization, and imagemaking-a world of thought. We are immersed in a continuous stream ofmental noise. It seems that we cant

    stop thinking.

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    Just as the dog loves to chew bones,

    the human mind loves problems.

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    We get lost in doing, thinking, remembering, anticipating-lost in a maze of complexity and a world of problems.

    Nature can show us the way home,the way out of the prison of our own minds.

    Cl d t lf

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    Close your eyes and say to yourself:

    I wonder what my next thought is going to be.Then become as alert as a cat watching a mouse hole. You may findthat, as long as you are absolutely alert, the next thought does notarise

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    I have lived with many

    Zen masters,all of them cats.

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    Millions of people who otherwise would be completely lost in their minds andin endless past and future concerns are taken back by their dog or cat into thepresent moment, again and again, and

    reminded of the joy of Being.

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    We have forgotten what rocks, plants, and animals still know. We haveforgotten how to be- to be still, to be ourselves, to be where life is:

    Here and Now.

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    The dogs is in The Now

    so it can teach you or remind you.

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    Be alert as you watch a dog at play or at rest.Let the animal teach you to feel at home in the Now, to

    celebrate life by beingcompletely present.

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    The dog is still in the natural state. And you can easily see that, because youhave problems and your dog doesnt. And while your happymoments may be rare, your dog celebrates life continuously.

    You just watch the tail

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    You just watch the tailwith some dogs you just look at them-

    just a little look is enough-and their tail goes

    Life is good!Life is Good!And they are not telling themselves a story of why life is good.Its a direct realization.

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    The human says, I love myself, or, I hate myself.The dog says, Woof, woof, which, translated, means

    I am myself.I call that integrity- being one with yourself.

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    The dog has no self-image, good or bad, so he has no need to playroles, nor does he love himself or hate himself. He has no self!How to live free of the burden of self-

    what a great spiritual teaching.

    Th k t t f ti i t make friends with this

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    The key to transformation is to make friends with thismoment. What form it takes doesnt matter. Say Yes to it. Allow it. Bewith it.

    Oh, that was the dogs teaching. Im just translating it into words.

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    Allow your dog totake you for a walk every day.

    Its good for the body and

    its good for the soul.

    Dogs emanate a goodness that people respond to. One of the joys of walking

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    g g p p p j y g

    your dog is that often people come up to you immediately their heartsopen.

    They are not interested in you, of course.They want to pat your dog.

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    Dogs offer precious opportunity,even to people who are trapped in their egos,

    of loving and being loved unconditionally.

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    They have been with humans for thousands of years, and now thereis a link between dogs and humans, much closer than ithas ever been.

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    So part oftheir divine purpose is to help us. But italways goes both ways. Because by living with humans, dogs alsogrow in consciousness; it is reciprocal.

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    Because dogs and cats still live in the original state of connectedness withBeing, they can help us regain it. When we do so, however,

    that original state deepens and turns into awareness.

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    We dont fall below thinking,

    We rise above it.

    N t ill t h t b till

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    Nature will teach you to be still.If you dont impose on it a stream of thoughts.

    A very deep meeting takes place when you perceive nature in thatway, without naming things.

    When you dont cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of thei l t t lif th t l t l ti h h it

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    miraculous returns to your life that was lost a long time ago when humanity,instead of using thought, became possessed by thought.

    A depth returns to your life.Things regain their newness,their freshness.

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    What is it that so many people find enchanting animals? Their essence-

    their Being- is not covered up by the mind, as it is in most humans.And whenever you feel that essence in another, you also feel it in yourself.

    Every being is a spark of the

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    Every being is a spark of theDivine or God.

    Look into the eyes of the dog and sense that innermost core.

    When you are present

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    When you are present,you can sense the spirit,

    the one consciousness,in every creature and love it as yourself.

    Love is a deep empathy with the others Beingness.

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    p p y g

    You recognize yourself, your essence, in theother.

    And so you can no longer inflict suffering on the other.

    You are not separate from the whole.Y ith th th th th i

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    You are one with the sun, the earth, the air.You dont have a life.

    You are life.

    The one life, the one consciousness, takes on the form of a man or woman, a

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    The one life, the one consciousness, takes on the form of a man or woman, ablade of grass, a dog, a planet, a sun, a galaxy

    This is the play of forms,

    the dance of life.

    We are ultimately not separate, not from one another nor from any livingthing- the flower, the tree, the cat, the dog.

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    thing the flower, the tree, the cat, the dog.

    You can sense yourself in them,the essence of who you are. You could say God.

    There is a term, a Christian term which is beautiful

    loving the Creator in the

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    loving the Creator in thecreature.

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