Month: February 2021

Seeing the river

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Since many places of worship have been closed these times, and we are removed from many of our usual supports,  we have developed sanctuaries and refuges inside ourselves

Once upon a time some disciples begged their old and ailing master not to die. “But if I do not go, how will you ever see?” the Master said to them. “What is it we can possibly see when you are gone?” one of them asked. With a twinkle in his eye, the Master answered, “All I ever did in my entire life was to sit on the river bank handing out river water. After I’m gone, I trust that you will notice the river.”

Found in Joan Chittister, in Thomas Merton: Seeder of Radical Action and the Enlightened Heart

Settle

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When the uncertainty of the current situation leads us to feel uprooted and we find our minds pulled in all directions by the latest news:

Settle the self on the self

and let your life force blossom

Blanche Hartman, Seeds for a Boundless Life: Zen Teachings from the Heart

Waves and water

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Most people view themselves as waves and forget that they are also water. They are used to living in the realm of birth and death, and they forget about the realm of no birth and no death. Just as a wave lives the life of water, so, too, do we live the life of no birth and no death

Thich Nhat Hanh

Sunday Quote: Giving room

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Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.

Pema Chodron

It always comes.

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Living without contention, we are well-rooted in the earth.  Zen poets say we become a mature bamboo – steady at the base, flexible in strong winds, and responsive to the movement of life.  The strength of non-contentiousness brings patience and trust.  The poet Rilke reminds us,

“Being fully alive means not numbering or counting,

but ripening like a tree which doesn’t force its sap and stands confidently in the storms of winter

not afraid that summer might not come. 

It does come. It always comes.”

Jack Kornfield, The Wise Heart

Everything changes

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Everything is changing, including you.
That is an actual fact you can see.
This is not something you will know after reading many books.
So if you have a lot of suffering in your everyday life,
you will actually feel the most important teaching of Buddhism:
that everything changes, and there is nothing to stick to.

from the great Shunryu Suzuki roshi