Category: Be fully present

In-between places

Karl Duffy1 Comment

In a similar fashion, they believed that Halloween was the time in the year when these two worlds were closest.

The ancient Druids are said to have taken a special interest in in-between things like mistletoe, which is neither quite a plant nor quite a tree, and mist, which is neither quite a rain nor quite air, and dreams, which are neither quite waking nor quite sleep. They believed that in such things as those they were able to glimpse the mystery of the two worlds at once

Frederick Buechner 1926 – 2022, American author, Presbyterian minister, preacher, and theologian

A clean bright heart

Karl Duffy5 Comments

Phenomenon are preceded by the heart, ruled by the heart, made of the heart.

If you speak or act with a calm, bright heart, then happiness follows you, like a shadow that never leaves

Dhammapada Twin Verses, 2

Simple. Be present

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

I don’t know anything about consciousness.

I just try to teach my students how to hear the birds sing

Shunryu Suzuki roshi, 1904 – 1971

Your great teacher

Karl Duffy1 Comment

What would happen if you put striving aside?

What if your practice was simply being present ?

Just open awareness. Just here. No longer anything to find. Just being present.

And then within that….letting your own heart teach you. Letting your own heart guide you.

What if you trusted that your own heart is really your great teacher?

Henry Shukman, Zen teacher, Mountain Cloud Zen Center

No need to force

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

The Tao is always at ease.
It overcomes without competing,
arrives without being summoned,
accomplishes without a plan.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 73

A huge relief

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Groundlessness isn’t something we need to avoid. The same feeling we find so troubling when we open to it can be experienced as a huge relief, as freedom from all restraints. It can be experienced as a mind so unbiased and relaxed that we feel expansive and joyful.

Pema Chodron