Tag: impermanence

If you were crossing a river and an empty boat collides with your boat,
even if you were bad-tempered, you would not become very angry.
But if you see a man in the boat, he will shout at him to steer clear, and if the shout was not heard, you will shout again, and yet again, and begin cursing.

Yet if the boat were empty, you would not be shouting, and not be angry.

So, if you can empty your own boat crossing the river of the world,
no one will oppose you, no one will seek to harm you….

Such is the perfect person: their boat is empty.

Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu

truly I know
our part is not knowing,
but looking, and touching, and loving,
which is the way I walked on,
softly,
through the pale-pink morning light.

Mary Oliver, Bone [extract]

What we see is not the most important.
Could dust rise without the invisible
hand of the wind?
Could a fan turn without any current?
Could lungs breathe without breath?
Tell me
What is the shape of Love?
How much does joy weigh
when held in the palm of your hand?
Can you catch the Spirit of Life in a jar?

All things seen depend
upon the Unseen.
All sounds depend upon Silence.
All things felt depend
upon what is not felt.

Adyashanti

Sabbath, in the first instance, is not about worship. It is about work stoppage. It is about withdrawal from the anxiety system of Pharaoh, the refusal to let one’s life be defined by production and consumption and the endless pursuit of private well-being.

Walter Brueggemann, 1933 – American Old Testament scholar 

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought.

If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.

Dhammapada, Yamakavagga (Chapter on the Pairs)