Who was the first man to see the moon on the river bank?
In what year did the moon first shine on man?
Human lives ceaselessly come and go, generation after generation,
but the moon and the river stay constant year after year.
I don’t know who the moon and the river are waiting for,
I only see the waters of the Yangtze flowing away.
Zhnag Ruoxu, Tang Dynasty poet.
photo des calhoun
Mindfulness and compassion training is a radical process of letting go of our burdens. We are not trying to be more mindful or more compassionate: that’s just more work. Instead we can sit down for a few minutes, see what arises and give ourselves love just because….just because. And then go gently back into the world.
Chris Germer
Yesterday saw huge winds hit Ireland and England, causing power cuts and fallen trees, and a lot of disruption to travel. This winter has seen a series of storm systems pass over, some more violent than others, each one disrupting routines and delusions of stability. In a similar way, despite our best efforts to stay constant, our moods can go up and down – sometimes as frequently as the weather – and certainly emotions can appear unexpectedly over which we have little control. We have successes that we work for and yet also have things happen that we did not see coming and cannot understand. Life brings its own troubles and there is no need to go looking for them. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche once repeated an old teaching which said that there is no cure for hot and cold. He meant that in our lives we can have periods of good things and bad, things go well but we have self-doubt, we are confident but find ourselves anxious. And in our minds we have a succession of thoughts and emotions, good intentions and petty thoughts, kindness followed by self-seeking aspirations. He reminded us that this is the human condition and also the normal nature of the human mind. As Pema Chodron says in her commentary on this phrase, There is no cure for the facts of life. If we do not struggle with this fact, relaxing into life as it is, we not only can stop the complaining that goes on in our mind, but also be pleasantly surprised by what each new day blows into our lives.
The way to dissolve our resistance to life is to meet it face to face. When we feel resentment because the room is too hot, we could meet the heat and feel its fieriness and its heaviness. When we feel resentment because the room is too cold, we could meet the cold and feel its iciness and its bite. When we want to complain about the rain, we could feel its wetness instead. When we worry because the wind is shaking our windows, we could meet the wind and hear its sound. Cutting our expectations for a cure is a gift we can give ourselves. There is no cure for hot and cold. They will go on forever.
Pema Chodron
What creates the sense of suffering for me…is the feeling that my mind cannot relax and accommodate the truth of my experience unless it is what I wanted. Perhaps the most painful habit I have is that of delusion, of imagining that somehow I am in charge of how everything turns out. My wishes and my actions have something to do with what happens to me. Ultimately, however I am not in charge. I keep learning this lesson over and over again, both by paying attention in meditation and by paying attention in my life, but when my mind is startled or overwhelmed by stress, I forget
Sylvia Boorstein, in A Year of Living Mindfully
photo ashokajegroo
The practice of meditation does not involve discontinuing one’s relationship with oneself and looking for a better person or searching for the possibility of reforming oneself and becoming a better person. The practice of meditation is a way of continuing one’s confusion, chaos, aggression and passion – but working with it, seeing it from the enlightened point of view
Chogyam Trungpa, The Path is the Goal
Even if people know that names aren’t reality,
They don’t see that reality itself has no root.
Name … reality … both are beside the point.
Find joy in the ever-shifting flow.
Ryokan
photo Thailand, Quentin and Bianca King,
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