Tag: Be fully present

Not this nor that

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Vallee de Valserine 2

Some teachers say that God is pure being.  
But he is as high above being as the highest angel is above a gnat.  
I would be speaking as incorrectly in calling God a being as if I called the sun pale or black.

God is neither this or that.

Meister Eckhart, 1260 – 1328, Dominican Theologian and Preacher,

With enlightenment there is no liking and disliking: Such dualities come from ignorant inference. They are like dreams or flowers in the air. Gain and loss, right and wrong: such thoughts must finally be abolished at once. If the mind makes no discriminations, the ten thousand things are as they are, of single essence. To understand the mystery of this One-essence is to be released from everything that holds you back. When all things are seen equally the timeless Self-essence is reached.…To come directly into harmony with this reality,  just simply say when any doubts arise, “There are not two.” In this “not two” nothing is separate, nothing is excluded. No matter when or where, enlightenment means entering this truth.

Seng T’san,  6th Century, Third Chinese Zen patriarch.

Once again, thanks to Ellen van Kalmthout for the beautiful photo

Single focus

Karl Duffy6 Comments

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There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment.

A man’s whole life is a succession of moment after moment.

If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and
nothing else to pursue.

Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Samurai, 1659 – 1719,  Hagakure 

photo of our cat Barney doing his meditation practice.

A place of compassion

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

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The mind isn’t always a shining light, is it? Even if you don’t act upon them, becoming aware of jealous, moaning, manipulative, greedy or fearful states of mind is uncomfortable. We tend to ignore such moods or bury them under activity or distraction, but as long as they’re not dealt with, we’re divided internally. So what would it take to become whole and peaceful? Isn’t that about relating to how it is right now from a place of compassion and non-identification? Isn’t that the faculty that could be developed to a lasting excellence, which would provide us with a good perspective and attitude?

Ajahn Sucitto, Good Enough

photo Shawn Allen California USA

A definition of healing

Karl Duffy4 Comments

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To be in relationship to what you are going through, to hold it, and, in some sense, to befriend it — that is where the healing or transformative power of the practice of mindfulness lies. When we can actually be where we are, not trying to find another state of mind, we discover deep internal resources we can make use of. Coming to terms with things as they are is my definition of healing…….It’s very healing to realize, if only for a moment here and a moment there, that you can be in a wiser relationship with your interior experience than just being driven by liking it or hating it.

Jon Kabat Zinn

photo Franziska bauer

Starting over, new again

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Moonrise on Hobart Bay - NOAA.jpg

The soul, like the moon,
is now, and always new again.

And I have seen the ocean
continuously creating.

Since I scoured my mind
and my body, I too, Lalla,
am new, each moment new.

My teacher told me one thing,
live in the soul.

When that was so,
I began to go naked,
and dance.

Lalla, Kasmiri poet and mystic, 1320 – 1392

Original Kasmiri translated by Coleman Banks

Trying to make things correspond to our ideas

Karl Duffy1 Comment

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When one composes one’s mind and looks inwards, there is a sense of coming to one point. If we are not caught in the thinking process, we can be aware of the here and now, the body, the breath, mental states, moods; we can allow everything to be what it is.  The attitude of many people is that there is always a need to change something. When we practise meditation with this idea of getting something, then even the word ‘meditation’, can bring up the reaction of: ‘There’s something I’ve got to do. If I’m in a bad mood I should get rid of that mood. I’ve got to concentrate my mind.’ If the mind’s scattered and we’re all over the place, ‘I should make it one-pointed; I’ve got to concentrate.’ And so we make meditation into hard work and there is a great deal of failure in it because we’re trying to control everything through these ideas.

[Instead]….Try looking inwards with an attitude of observing whatever is present. Just notice what kind of mood or feeling you are in. So now put yourself in this position of the Buddha – Buddho, the knower—not the judge — and just look.

Ajahn Sumedho, Developing an attitude toward meditation