our natural state

We all feel that health is the natural state of the body.

Why do we not feel that happiness is the natural state of he mind?

Rupert Spira, You are the Happiness you Seek

a new month: waking up to what is

From the beginning all beings are Buddha.
It’s like water and ice – there is no ice without water – outside of us there is no Buddha.
It is sad that people ignore what’s near
And search for truth far away.

We are like someone surrounded by water
Crying out “I thirst!”

Like the son of a rich person going around poor on this earth we endlessly circle the Six Worlds.
The cause of our circling is ignorance.
From dark path to dark path we walk.
How can we be freed from the wheel of birth-and-death?

Hakuin’s Song of Zazen

Let things pass through

Just like a bead of water sits lightly on a lotus leaf,

or water on a red lily,

a wise person does not cling to

what is seen, heard or felt,

as they do not add on to the seen, the heard, or the felt.

The Buddha, Jara Sutta, 4.6

Unreal expectations

If you set up feeling good

as what you have to be feeling,

then you are creating another thing

you are failing at.

Mark Epstein

Another 24 hours

unbeing dead isn’t being alive.

e.e. cummings

Judgments about how we are doing

Forget about your life situation and pay attention to your life

Your life situation exists in time;

Your life is now.

Your life situation is mind-stuff;

Your life is real.

Eckhart Tolle