Tag: impermanence

Our actual path is unchartered

Karl Duffy1 Comment

What does it take to use the life we already have in order to make us wiser rather than more stuck?  

The answer to these questions seems to have to do with bringing everything that we encounter to the path. Everything naturally had a ground, path, and fruition. But it is also said that the path itself is both the ground and the fruition. The path is the goal. This path has one very distinct characteristic: it is not prefabricated. It doesn’t already exist. The path that we’re talking about is the moment-by-moment evolution of our experience, the moment-by-moment evolution of the world of phenomena, the moment-by-moment evolution of our thoughts and emotions. The path is uncharted. It comes into existence moment-by-moment and at the same time drops away behind us.

When we realize that the path is the goal, there’s a sense of workability. Everything that occurs in our confused mind we can regard as the path. Everything is workable.

Pema Chodron

How to overcome fear

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, “May I have permission to go into battle with you?” Fear said, “Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission.” Then the young warrior said, “How can I defeat you?” Fear replied, “My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power.” In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear.

Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

Moving and not moving

Karl Duffy2 Comments

Please clearly understand that when the mind is still, it’s in its natural, normal state.

As soon as the mind moves, it becomes conditioned (sankhāra). When the mind likes something, it becomes conditioned. When not-liking arises, it becomes conditioned. The desire to move here and there arises from conditioning.

If our awareness doesn’t keep pace with these mental proliferations as they occur, the mind will chase after them and be conditioned by them. Whenever the mind moves, at that moment, it becomes a conventional reality.

So the Buddha taught us to contemplate these wavering conditions of the mind.

Ajahn Chah

Sunday Quote: Even in times of difficulty, keep planting

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Faith is hope in the unseen. Often we cannot see the results of the efforts we are putting in …

Even if the Hour of Resurrection comes up,

and one of you is holding a sapling in your hand….

 finish planting it.

The Prophet Mohammed

Mindful of just one cup of tea

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Just look around you and you will see that the world never ceases to churn out more and more of the same thing, and that the result is unremitting pain and unbearable suffering. It’s no surprise, then, that the masters have pointed out, that to maintain mindfulness for as long as it takes to drink a cup of tea accumulates more merit than years of practicing generosity, discipline, and asceticism.

         Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse

Put all your cares into one

Karl Duffy3 Comments

The person who makes all cares into one care

– the care for simply staying present –

will be cared for by that presence which is creative love

Kabir Helminski