In the forest or by the sea, the learning is the same…
My hut lies in the middle of a dense forest;
Every year the green ivy grows longer.
No news of the affairs of men,
Only the occasional song of a woodcutter.
The sun is shining and I am mending my robe;
When the moon comes out I will read Buddhist poems.
I have nothing to report my friends.
If you want to find meaning,
stop chasing after so many things.
Ryokan 1758–1831, Zen Buddhist monk and hermit
We need to have the courage to follow our heart:
Best advice I ever got was an old friend of mine, a black friend, who said you have to go the way your blood beats.
If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t live some other life, you won’t live any life at all.
That’s the only advice you can give anybody.
James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room
The place where you are right now
God circled on a map for you.
Our Beloved has bowed there knowing
you were coming.
I could tell you a priceless secret about
your real worth dear pilgrim.
Any unkindness to yourself,
any confusion about others,
will keep one
from accepting the grace, the love!
Hafiz, Persian Sufi poet
We think we’re supposed to figure out how life should be, and then make it that way. Only someone who looks deeper, and questions why we need the events of life to be in a particular way, will question this assumption. How did we come up with the notion that life is not okay just the way it is, or that it won’t be okay the way it will be? Who said that the way it naturally unfolds is not all right?
The answer is, fear says so. The part of you inside that is not okay with itself can’t face the natural unfolding of life because it’s not under your control. We define the entire scope of our outer experience based on our inner problems.
Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul
The path is unchartered. It comes into existence moment by moment and at the same time, drops away behind us. It’s like riding in a train sitting backwards. We cant see where we’re headed, only where we’ve been. This is a very encouraging teaching because it says that the source of wisdom is whatever is going to happen to us today. The source of wisdom is whatever is happening to us right at this very instant.
Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart
No matter how much the spring wind loves the peach blossoms,
they still fall.
Dogen Zenji, 1200-1253
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