Tao Te Ching
Robert Beer
Masters of Enchantment
By Keith Dowman
Keith Dowman and Robert Beer
A condensed version of Masters of Mahamudra with amazing paintings done by Robert Beer, the translations in this version changed only slightly but the more extensive commentary and “Historiography” are left out. This book would be wonderful though even without any text. Each of Beer’s drawings took between 80 and 120 hours to paint with a total for only the ones included here of more than 4000 hours. Made with a brush and Chinese ink, these images may convey more of the Mahasiddha’s reality than would 6x the amount of this book’s text.
Quotes from Masters of Enchantment
“Donning the impregnable armor of patience, I embarked in the vessel of my mind and confidently took possession of my body.”
Chapters:
Comments: Click to comment
“Following the meandering course of a thought can lead to madness; resist and karma is restrained.”
Chapters:
Comments: Click to comment
“From time without beginning, the tree of unknowing has been watered by the monsoon of mental habit.”
Chapters:
49. No Set Mind
Comments: Click to comment
“I am unable to wander from place to place as you do but if you could teach me how to meditate while remaining here on my throne in my palace...”
Chapters:
17. True Leaders
Comments: Click to comment
“I have never experienced the perfect reality that I teach.”
Chapters:
38. Fruit Over Flowers
Comments: Click to comment
“I weep to see you sitting on this throne, engaging in the wretched business of government.”
Chapters:
18. The Sick Society
Comments: Click to comment
“I who live in spontaneous reality... exist in things as they are.”
Chapters:
32. Uncontrived Awareness
Comments: Click to comment
“It is only belief in oneself as an island that creates the delusion of others apart and this split is the cause of anxiety.”
Chapters:
67. Three Treasures
Comments: Click to comment
“Nagarjuna grew bored and dissatisfied with his scholarly life; it all seemed empty and sterile and so he threw himself headlong into a life of sensual pleasure. Before long, there was hardly a household in Kahora he had not plundered of its blossoming maidens and ripe young wives.”
Chapters:
Comments: Click to comment
“The siddhas' action is not our ordinary action, although it may appear so on the surface. Quite the contrary is true, for their action is styled 'non-action.' Like the Toist concept of wu-wei, it is unmotivated and objectless... all actions have the same value. It is only the prejudices and limitations of the observer's dualistic mind that see one set of actions as harmonious, self-less and 'divine' and another as unconventional, outrageous, or insane.”
Chapters:
Comments: Click to comment
“The ultimate principle of emptiness arises spontaneously with every movement of the mind.”
Chapters:
16. Returning to the Root, Meditation
Comments: Click to comment
“We deserve what we get. We bring it on ourselves… it isn’t going to be different anywhere else because we take ourselves with us.”
Chapters:
Comments: Click to comment
“We have destroyed all distinctions between samsara and nirvana. We know no separation between self and others.”
Chapters:
Comments: Click to comment
“When all inner and outer phenomena are perceived as mind, all things have the same flavor.”
Chapters:
Comments: Click to comment
“Whoever realizes the purity of his own mind, sees through the Buddha's eyes.”
Chapters:
Comments: Click to comment
“Why are you indulging your power in this useless fashion?”
Chapters:
Comments: Click to comment
“Why are you not using your gifts for the benefit of those below?”
Chapters:
67. Three Treasures
Comments: Click to comment
“Without self, not thinking, not achieving… I live in consummate pure delight and perfect awareness.”
Chapters:
13. Honor and Disgrace
Comments: Click to comment
Comments (0)