You aren’t your thoughts – you’re the sky holding them.
Suffering starts when you become the weather.
Steven Hayes, A Liberated Mind
the weather
Tag: Awareness
Creating more stress
The ego’s habit is to try to control things, to make them secure.
But life isn’t like that.
The more we try to grip, the more suffering we create.
Mindfulness allows us to open to the way things are, to respond wisely rather than react blindly.
Ajahn Sucitto, Retreat talk
Sunday Quote: trust
The flowers keep on blooming
whether or not you make mistakes
Beth Kempton, Wabi Sabi: Japanese wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life
Let it go
A very windy day yesterday.
As the leaves fall, my favourite Autumn chant, the final lines of the Heart Sutra – finding an inner rest, beyond all coming or going.
Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
[“Gone, Gone, Gone beyond, Gone completely beyond. Awakening, So be it”]
Gone. I release my grip on the small self. I let it go.
Gone. I let thoughts, opinions, and ideas drift away like clouds.
Gone beyond. I cross to the other shore, beyond division.
Gone completely beyond. Nothing is left to cling to, I rest in vast openness.
Awakening. Clear seeing dawns, the truth shines quietly.
So be it. May this awakening be sealed in my heart.
both pleasant and painful
For one who is free, there is no more accumulation;
For one who is released, there is no more clinging.
Like a drop of water on a lotus leaf,
Or a mustard seed on the tip of a needle,
Nothing sticks to one who does not grasp
The Buddha, Sutta Nipāta 4.14
The liberated mind is like water on a lotus – untouched, unstained. Even pleasant or painful experiences no longer leave a trace when the heart is free.
Ajahn Amaro, The Island
Its own gifts
Enjoy each season of your life. Patiently prepare the soil, sow the seeds, and do the work, and you’ll harvest the abundant fruits of your labors. Accept both good fortune and adversity as you accept the shifting seasons. Enjoy the glazed beauty of a winter’s day and the sultry days of summer, for soon enough, each season, each day, each moment, passes into history, and its exact likeness shall not be seen again. So rather than longing for summer in the midst of a winter’s chill, or wishing for cool winds in the dog days of summer, embrace each season for its own gifts. Align yourself with the cycles of time and transformation, riding change as ships ride the waves.
Dan Millman, The Laws of Spirit
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