Life’s face is never the same
though we may look at it for all eternity.
Kolbein Falkeid, Norwegian poet, 1933 –
photo paula rey
Month: January 2014
Windy weather
It has been very windy the past few days, here in Ireland and across the water in England causing coastal surges and flooding. The wind blowing through is another commonly used metaphor for thoughts – how to let them pass without believing their content – and for the stillness of a mind that can hold all things in awareness:
One windy day two monks were arguing about a flapping banner. The first said, “I say the banner is moving, not the wind.” The second said, “I say the wind is moving, not the banner.” A third monk passed by and said, “The wind is not moving. The banner is not moving. Your minds are moving.”
Raymond Kurzweil, The Singularity is Near
photo henning leweke
Passing by
The towns and the countryside that the traveler sees through a train window does not slow down the train, nor does the train affect them. Neither disturbs the other. This is how to should see the thoughts that pass through your mind when you meditate.
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
photo miguel pires da rosa
Your natural mind
If you don’t try to stop whatever is going on in your mind, but merely observe it, eventually you’ll begin to feel a tremendous sense of relaxation, a vast sense of openness within your mind – which is in fact your natural mind, the naturally unperturbed background against which various thoughts come and go.
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.
Gently being with
Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what’s going on.
Pema Chodron, Comfortable with Uncertainty
…and taking ourseves lightly
Dogen said, “To know yourself is to forget yourself.” We might think that knowing ourselves is a very ego-centered thing, but by beginning to look so clearly and so honestly at ourselves — at our emotions, at our thoughts, at who we really are — we begin to dissolve the walls that separate us from others……To know yourself is to forget yourself. This is to say that when we make friends with ourselves we no longer have to be so self-involved. It’s a curious twist: making friends with ourselves is a way of not being so self-involved anymore. Dogen goes on to say, “To forget yourself is to become enlightened by all things.” When we are not so self-involved, we begin to realize that the world is speaking to us all of the time. Every plant, every tree, every animal, every person, every car, every airplane is speaking to us, teaching us, awakening us. It’s a wonderful world, but we often miss it.
Pema Chodron, To Know Yourself is to Forget Yourself
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