Coming, going,
the waterbirds
don’t leave a trace,
don’t follow a path.
Dogen, On Non-Dependence of Mind
photo Thermos
Month: July 2013
Like a therapist
We are trying to develop a different relationship with the mind. Awareness contributes to the subduing of harmful emotions and this awareness extends to everything, including ourselves. We need to treat ourselves with the same objective distance that a therapist uses for her clients. By subduing the harmful emotions and afflictive states of mind, our aim is to increase our helpful emotions or mental states, like empathy, gentleness, compassion, wisdom, generosity, warmth and so on. The more we become aware of our inner workings, the more adept we become at applying the mental balancing techniques that will offer us true mental health
Karuna Cayton, The Misleading Mind
U.S. Navy photo of physical therapist Rachel Oden
Moving and not moving
(Practice) ……. is not to be found in moving forwards,
nor in moving backwards,
nor in standing still.
This, Sumedho, is your place of nonabiding.
Ajahn Chah, Letter to Ajahn Sumedho
On being gentle
The most difficult times for many of us
are the ones we give ourselves
Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart
False friends
The greatest trap in life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection, doubting who we truly are. Success, popularity and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions.
Henri Nouwen
In the ordinary
One of the monks asked a renowned Forest Ajahn: ‘What’s it like to see things as they really are?’ There was an understandable air of expectation in the room: to ‘see things as they really are’ is the vision of the Awakened Mind. What mystical insight was about to be revealed?
‘It’s ordinary’, said the Ajahn in his customary succinct and matter-of-fact way.
Ajahn Sucitto, Awakening: Nameless and Stopped
Mindfulbalance 