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Quote by Anne Osterlund

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Anne Osterlund

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“In Punjab, the great Guru Nanak (1469–1539 CE), who founded the Sikh faith, was greatly influenced by the Bhakti movement. Sikhism, under Nanak, and the nine Gurus who followed him, the last being Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708 CE), created a remarkably sublime and powerful monotheistic faith of nirguna bhakti. In clear Vedantic tones, its mul mantar or fundamental prayer—Ik Onkar: There is only one Supreme Being—made a powerful call of universal spiritual appeal. Like Brahman, the Sikh Absolute is nirankar (formless), akal (timeless), karta purakh (the Creator), agam agochar (incomprehensible and invisible) and is Waheguru (wonderous Teacher). The religion emphasised the non-duality of divinity—Ek noor te sab jag upja: From one luminous light the entire universe arose. In this one statement, it pole-vaulted above conventional religious orthodoxies. Of great importance in the Sikh faith is mehar, kirpa, karam or the Grace of God. Guru Nanak taught that to obtain this, the most important form of worship is bhakti. Guru Arjan, in the Sukhmani Sahib, recommended that true religion is one of loving devotion to God. Selfless devotion and service can lead to Sach Khand or the Realm of Truth, which is the final union with the spirit of God, akin to the Advaita notion of brahmanubhav. Thus, Sikhism considers simran (the meditative remembrance) of God, and japna (chanting or kirtan of God’s name) to be an essential part of religious practice. The singing of the Guru’s hymns as contained in the Guru Granth Sahib—the only divine symbol of worship recognised by Sikhism—is practised through the shabad kirtans. The passages of the Guru Granth Sahib were poetically composed in rhyme, and lent themselves easily to exceptionally soulful musical compositions based on thirty-one ragas of classical music.”

AdvaitaSikhismIk Onkar
Book:The Great Hindu Civilisation: Achievement, Neglect, Bias and the Way Forward
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“Ah, my young lad, powerful lord of awareness, you will not be freed merely by my explaining and your hearing such things. Examine and analyze the fundamental nature (ngang-tsul [ངང་ ཙུལ་]) of what I have set forth, so that direct experience is elicited from the depths of your being, and stabilize your ongoing understanding and awareness.”

GnosisDzogchenHungchenkara
Book:Buddhahood Without Meditation: A Visionary Account Known As Refining One's Perception
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“If ideas were viruses, then, like any virus, they would mutate rapidly and often arbitrarily, with only the fitter ideas spreading and continuing their lineage. We simply do not see this with any sort of knowledge. The only time knowledge might appear to mutate is when ideas are altered by the individuals holding them, but that does not prove the meme “hypothesis.” In fact, if the meme “hypothesis” were true, then the evolution of ideas would be quite strange indeed. For every time a good idea was received through memetic transmission, there would be mutations of that idea, rapid one's, most of which would be complete nonsense. Sure, the nonsense ideas would “die”, but they would appear at first and remain until they did. One might argue that this is made manifest in discursive thought, but one would be patently, at the base level, incorrect. This is, unfortunately, is one of the logical consequences of the meme “hypothesis” that, as a parasite, all information becomes discursive thought. Schizophrenics are typically the only people to experience discursive thoughts, and most people are not, in fact, schizophrenic.”

SchizophreniaMemesMutationsDiscursive Thought
Book:The Leprechaun Delusion
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“Although each of the yanas, or vehicles (theg-pa) to enlightenment, is perfectly correct and sufficient to catry the practitioner to liberation, each of them possesses its own definitive view and its own particular methods, as explained in the introduction above. However, Dzogchen Atiyoga represents their culmination in therms of its being the view of the Dharmakaya itself. And since Dzogchen is itself not curtailed or restricted by any limitations in terms of practice, a Dzogchenpa, or Dzogchen practitioner, is able to use any of the methods found in these other vehicles and practice them when found useful or necessary. But this is always done while maintaining the Dzogchen point of view. Once having ascended to the summit of the mountain peak of Dzogchen, we should not retrace our steps to any lesser view, for this would create an obstacle to our further development. In terms of the spiritual path of liberation and enlightenment, the higher level of teaching includes and enhances the lower levels of teaching, rather than excluding them. Thus all of the methods found in the Sutras and the Tantras lie open to the Dzogchenpa, but such a practice is not thereby limited by them. The practice should be tailored to the individual, to his or her needs and capacities, and not coercing the individual to fit the mold of the practice. This is a profound point and should be understood well. Thus is says in the text {the Conclusion of Patrul's "Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King"} that all of the methods of found in the eight lower vehicles, that is, the Sutras and the Tantras, accompany the view of Dzogchen as its friends and helpers.”

CommentaryTibetan BuddhismDzogchen1996Buddhist PracticePatrul Rinpoche
Book:The Golden Letters: The Tibetan Teachings of Garab Dorje, First Dzogchen Master
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