A lot of clouds on the mountains these days. A lot of movement in the weather, generally unsettled, gliding by, passing through. The mountains remain unmoved:
The clouds above us come together and disperse;
The breeze in the courtyard departs and returns.
Life is like that, so why not relax?
Who can keep us from celebrating?
Lu-Yu
To find equanimity and peace requires an acceptance of the mystery of life itself….When you can appreciate your life as part of the unfolding mystery of the immense forces that formed the entire universe, you can more easily accept the difficulties and hardships that you face. They are part of the unfolding of life. Many of the difficulties you’ve faced include endings, but none of them so far have been the end of your story. Without knowing the whole story, it is impossible to draw definite conclusions about our difficulties. We are still in the middle of them and don’t know how they will turn out. There is no rule book for life.
Jack Kornfield, A Lamp in the Darkness
The danger in meditation practice is the habit of grasping at things, grasping at states; so the concept that’s most useful is the concept of letting go, rather than of attaining and achieving. If you say today that yesterday you had a really super meditation, absolutely fantastic, just what you’ve always dreamed of, and then today you try to get the same wonderful experience as yesterday, but you get more restless and more agitated than ever before – now why is that? Why can’t we get what we want? It’s because we’re trying to attain something that we remember; rather than really working with the way things are, as they happen to be now. So the correct way is one of mindfulness, of looking at the way it is now, rather than remembering yesterday and trying to get to that state again.
Ajahn Sumedho.
Joy only comes after the self-surrender and sacrifice. I think as a culture, we are afraid of sacrifice. We feel that we must own and accumulate things in order to be complete, and not just material objects but people and relationships as well. It is hard for us to understand that letting go is not a loss, not a bereavement. Of course, when we lose something that is beautiful or dear to us, there is a shadow that crosses the heart. But we enlighten that shadow with the understanding that the feeling of loss is just the result of assuming that we owned anything in the first place.
Ajahn Amaro
The best way out is always through. Robert Frost
When you open yourself to the continually changing, impermanent, dynamic nature of your own being and of reality, you increase your capacity to love and care about other people and your capacity to not be afraid. You’re able to keep your eyes open, your heart open, and your mind open. And you notice when you get caught up in prejudice, bias, and aggression. You develop an enthusiasm for no longer watering negative seeds from now until the day you die. And, you begin to think of your life as offering endless opportunities to start to do things differently.
Pema Chodron, Practicing peace in Time of War
Imitate the trees.
Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain.
May Sarton
