Month: March 2023

Sunday Quote: Goodness

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The purpose of life is to bring forth goodness.

Now, in this life

Leo Tolstoy

Whenever

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Whenever we are between here and there,

whenever one thing has ended and we are waiting for the next thing to begin,

whenever we’re tempted to distract ourselves or look for an escape route

we can instead let ourselves be open, curious, tentative, vulnerable

Pema Chodron

Pause

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For Saint Patrick’s Day, an old Irish prayer, simple but profound in its wisdom on the mindful use of speech

A Íosa, Mhic Dé, a bhí ciúin os comhair Phioláit, ná lig dúinn ár dteanga a luascadh gan smaoineadh ar cad tá againn le rá agus conas é a rá.

O Jesus, Son of God,
who was silent before Pilate,
don’t let our tongues wag
without thinking about what we have to say
and how to say it.

To look

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The beauty of the world is revealed when we learn how to look

To photograph is to put the head, the eye and the heart on the same line of sight.

Henri Cartier-Bresson 1908 – 2004, French Photographer

Independent yet dependent

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Tozan, a famous Zen master, said:

“The blue mountain is the father of the white cloud.  The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain.  All day long they depend on each other, without being dependent on each other.  The white cloud is always the white cloud.  The blue mountain is always the blue mountain.” 

This is a pure, clear interpretation of life.  There may be many things like the white cloud and the blue mountain: man and woman, teacher and disciple. …They are quite independent, but yet dependent.  This is how we live, and how we practice.

Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Patience, wait and see

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The nature of rain is the same,

but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens.

Arab Saying