If there are mountains, I look at the mountains;
On days it is raining, I listen to the rain.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter.
Tomorrow too will be good.
Tonight too will be good.
Santoka, Japanese author and haiku poet, 1882 -1940
Tag: impermanence
The practice of non-opposition
Do not become annoyed when faced with difficulties.
To do so merely adds difficulty to difficulty and further disturbs your mind.
By maintaining a mind of peace and non-opposition,
difficulties will naturally fall away.
Sheng-Yen (1931-2009) Resident teacher at the Chan Meditation Center in Elmhurst, New York
No destination in mind
The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky,
all-pervading like sunlight,
firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind,
he has no destination in view
and makes use of anything
life happens to bring his way.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 59, translated Stephen Mitchell
Sunday quote: Eyes of wonder
Everything is ceremony
in the wild garden of childhood
Pablo Neruda
Our friend this challenge
Dealing with any of our life’s difficulties is not a battle to be fought. Instead, we must learn how to make friends with our hardships and challenges. They are there to help us; they are natural opportunities for deeper understanding and transformation, bringing us more joy and peace as we learn to work with them
Thich Nhat Hanh
On seeing the tree blossom
I was reminded of these texts – one Christian, one zen – driving to work on Monday and seeing the blossoms and buds return to the trees. Both speak of profound inner experiences – one when just 18, the other after 30 years of searching – just on seeing the blossoms bloom, the leaves fall, the branches grow, and the new leaves appearing. Miracles in everyday life which we rush past each day.
In the winter I saw a tree stripped of its leaves and I knew that within a little time the leaves would be renewed, and that afterwards the flowers and the fruit would appear. From this I received a profound view of the care of God which has never since left my soul. The view I grasped that day freed me completely and kindled in me such a love for God that I cannot say that it has increased during the more than forty years since that time.
Brother Lawrence, 1693, The Practice of the Presence of God.
For thirty years, I have been looking for the sword,
How many times have the leaves fallen and the branches grown anew?
But then once I saw the peach blossoms,
and from then up to now, I have never had any more doubts.
Lingyun Zhiqin, dates unknown, Searching for Thirty Years
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