Tag: impermanence

Traps

Karl Duffy3 Comments

Imagine you are walking in the woods and you see a small dog sitting by a tree. As you approach it, it suddenly lunges at you, teeth bared. You are frightened and angry. But then you notice that one of its legs is caught in a trap. Immediately your mood shifts from anger to concern: You see that the dog’s aggression is coming from a place of vulnerability and pain. This applies to all of us. When we behave in hurtful ways, it is because we are caught in some kind of trap. The more we look through the eyes of wisdom at ourselves and one another, the more we cultivate a compassionate heart.

Tara Brach, True Refuge

Waves

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Let the waves of the universe rise and fall as they will.

You have nothing to gain or lose.

You are the ocean.

Ashtavakra Gita, Vedanta Scripture, c. 400 BC 

Sunday quote: Never certain

Karl Duffy3 Comments

Don’t expect faith to clear things up for you.

It is trust, not certainty

Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

Letting go of expectations

Karl Duffy1 Comment

 

Equanimity balances the giving of your heart’s love with the recognition and acceptance that things are the way they are.

However much you may care for someone, however much you may do for others, however much you would like to control things (or wish that they were other than they are) equanimity is a reminder that all beings everywhere are responsible for their own actions, and for the consequences of their actions. Equanimity will allow you to open your heart and offer love, kindness, compassion, and joy, while letting go of your expectations and attachment to results. Equanimity gives you the energy to persist, regardless of the outcome, because you will be connected to the integrity of the effort itself.

Frank Jude Boccio, Calm Within

Problems and inconveniences

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

One of life’s best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you’ve got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.

Robert Fulghum, American author and Unitarian Minister, Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door

Necessary for beauty

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

More wisdom from Dogen. I really like this saying: 

Without the bitterest cold that penetrates to the very bone,

how can plum blossoms send forth their fragrance all over the world?

Dogen, Buddhist monk and philosopher, founder of the Soto school of Zen, 1200 – 1253,