Tag: balance

Stillness in the wind

Karl Duffy1 Comment

I did a retreat last weekend with Ajahn Amaro who emphasized gaining insight into the ever-present dynamic of “I, me and mine”, and developing a mind which is capable of observing these labels

Enlightenment, liberation, depends on the recognition of the radical separateness of awareness – “the one who knows” – and the world of the five khandhas (Sanskrit: skandhas)…The key is training the heart to rest in the various dimensions of knowing, and not becoming entangled in the khandhas.

Here are some words from Ajahn Chah that encompass [these] themes:

“This mind of ours is already unmoving and peaceful… really peaceful! Just like a leaf which is still as long as no wind blows. If a wind comes up the leaf flutters. The fluttering is due to the wind – the “fluttering” is due to those sense impressions; the mind follows them. If it doesn’t follow them, it doesn’t “flutter.” If we know fully the true nature of sense impressions we will be unmoved.

Our practice is simply to see the Original Mind. We must train the mind to know those sense impressions, and not get lost in them; to make it peaceful.

Ajahn Amaro, Like Oil and Water

[The 5 khandhas, or in Sanskrit,  skandhas, are form, feeling-tone, perception, thoughts and emotions, and consciousness.]

The faces of others

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You must unlearn the habit of being someone else or nothing at all, of imitating the voices of others and mistaking the faces of others for your own.

One thing is given to man which makes him into a god, which reminds him that he is a god: to know destiny.

When destiny comes to a man from outside, it lays him low, just as an arrow lays a deer low. When destiny comes to a man from within, from his innermost being, it makes him strong, it makes him into a god…

Hermann Hesse, If the War Goes on: Reflections on War and Politics

Take the leap

Karl Duffy1 Comment

There are second thoughts happening each time you act.

There is hesitation, and from that hesitation or gap, you can go backward or forward. Changing the flow of karma happens in that gap. So the gap is very useful.

It is in the gap that you give birth to a new life.

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Truth of Suffering and the Path of Liberation

Be patient

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In Tibetan Buddhism there’s a set of teachings for cultivating compassion called mind training, or lojong. One of the lojong teachings is, “Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.” This means if a painful situation occurs, be patient, and if a pleasant situation occurs, be patient.

This is an interesting point. Usually, we jump all the time; whether it’s pain or pleasure, we want resolution. So if we’re happy and something is great, we could also be patient then, and not fill up the space, going a million miles an hour —impulse shopping, impulse talking, impulse acting out.

Pema Chodron

Crossroads

Karl Duffy1 Comment

When we find ourselves at a crossroads it is often better to stop, wait a while at the lights and check the map. After all, movement isn’t progress if we are heading in the wrong direction.

Matt Haig, The Comfort Book

Our narrative

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Everyone gets sick sometimes,

feels bad sometimes. 

This is not a hindrance to Dhamma practice.

The hindrance is to take it personally. 

Ajahn Sucitto