Tag: Awareness

Natural spaciousness

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Silence refers to the fact that we are originally free from all narratives and constructs of self. Mind precedes everything; it is the precursor to experience. So in understanding the nature of mind and gaining insight, you see that all things are impermanent, all things have no abidance, and are intimately connected. That is the realization of no-self, selflessness. This true nature of our mind is free from the coming and going of fragmented, scattered, discriminating thoughts....You don’t have to do anything to make them to disappear. I often give the analogy that this room we’re in – its spaciousness – is really not affected by all the furniture and the people in it. 

Guo Gu, Silent Illumination

Unmoving

Karl Duffy1 Comment

We have had three storms pass over us in the last few days. Strong winds. In a similar way, each day contains a lot of conditioned events which pass through – a succession of little births and deaths. There is always a dialogue between these changing conditions and our underlying nature.

A monk asked, ”How can one escape from birth, old age, sickness, and death?”
Lingyun said, ”The green mountain is fundamentally unmoving, but the floating clouds pass back and forth.”

Lingyun Zhiqin, 9th Century Chan Master

Humble places

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Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.

Camille Pissarro, 1830 – 1903, Danish-French Impressionist/ Neo-Impressionist painter

What peace is

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Peace is this moment without judgement.

This moment in the heart-space where everything that is, is welcome.

Dorothy Hunt, Peace Is This Moment Without Judgment

Soft yet strong

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A slight antidote to some of the overly sentimental messages popular on this day:

In Irish, when you talk about trust, there’s a beautiful phrase from West Kerry where you say, “mo sheasamh ort lá na choise tinne” — “You are the place where I stand on the day when my feet are sore.” That is soft and kind language, but it is so robust. That is what we can have with each other.

Padraig O’Tuama, On Being Blog

Sunday Quote: Self

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The mind creates many senses of self as it pursues what it desires or responds to lacks in our environment. We often identify with these adaptations, even if they are not worth calling our self

On the journey to myself I’ve been so many people

Indigo Williams, English Poet