There is a road always beckoning.
When you see the two sides of it
closing together at that far horizon
and deep in the foundations of your own heart
at exactly the same time,
that’s how you know it’s the road
you have to follow.
that’s how you know
it’s where you have to go.
That’s how you know.
It’s just beyond yourself,
it’s where you need to be.
David Whyte, Just Beyond Yourself
The ten directions converging,
Each learning to do nothing,
This is the hall of Buddha’s training;
The mind is empty, all is finished.
P’ang Yün (Layman Pang) 740-808
Everyone wants to be the sun
to brighten someone’s life,
but why not the moon,
to shine on someone’s darkest hour?
Don Jose Ruiz
Tathata, which means “suchness” or “like-this-ness,” is used in Buddhism to mean “reality,” or the way things really are. This poem by Dongshan (807-869) reminds us to work with things as they are in our lives, rather than our thoughts as to how our life should be.
The teaching of thusness has been intimately communicated by buddhas and ancestors.
Now you have it, so keep it well.
Filling a silver bowl with snow,
hiding a heron in the moonlight —
Taken as similar they’re not the same;
when you mix them, you know where they are.
Nor with impatience from the season asked
More than its timely produce; rather loved
The hours for what they are.
Wordsworth, The Prelude, Book 5
Only one of our relationships is truly lifelong, from our first breath to our last. The one we have with ourselves. Imagine if it was characterised by compassion and warmth. By an ability to forgive, to forget our little missteps. Imagine if we could look at ourselves with gentle, kind eyes and view our faults with a sense of humour. Imagine if we could give ourselves the same loving care we give our children or other people we love without reservation. It would do us a world of good. And the divine emotions in us would thrive.
from this nice, heartfelt book which I am just finishing – Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, I May be Wrong, and other wisdoms from life as a Forest Monk.
