There are many wrong tracks in society, but they are all basically the same: They all take us outside of ourselves to satisfy our inner needs.
Whether they take us toward material goods or towards social relationships and emotional co-dependence, they all ignore the mind’s own potential to provide us with happiness and peace
Dzigar Kongtrul, It’s Up to You
The idea of love is not love
The idea of the ocean is neither salt nor sand;
The face of the seal cannot rise from the idea
to stare at you,
to astound your heart
Mary Oliver
Coming, going,
the waterbirds
don’t leave a trace,
don’t follow a path.
Dōgen Zenji, 1200 – 1253, Japanese Buddhist writer, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen, On Non-Dependence of Mind
The glorious, colorful life comes to those who expect it, dream it. Remember how grand life was when the circus or the fair was imminent? Colors changed. More dramatic than the change of seasons was the change of attitudes.
So expect the circus, always.
Be the circus.
Tennessee Williams
Think of the wren
and how little flesh is needed to make a song
Galway Kinnell, Why Regret?
It is blossom season in Japan and in gardens here. They are often used as a metaphor for human existence – beautiful but short lived – a reminder that life needs to be celebrated yet always contains an element of impermanence.
You ask me why I dwell in these green mountains;
I smile and am silent, for my heart is free of care.
As the peach-blossom flows down the stream and goes into the unknown,
I live in a world apart that is not of men.
Li Po, 701-762, Green Mountain
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