Our minds are always asking “How can this moment be better?”
What if we tried asking today, “What is already here?” and stop wishing that reality become something else:
A monk asked Yaoshan
What is the essenital truth in all your teaching?
Yaushan replied
Clouds are in the blue sky;
water is in the bottle
Chan master Yaoshan Weiyan , 751–834, found in the Transmission of the Lamp
The effort to feel happy is often precisely the thing that makes us miserable.
And that it is our constant efforts to eliminate the negative – insecurity, uncertainty, failure, or sadness – that is what causes us to feel so insecure, anxious, uncertain, or unhappy.
Oliver Burkeman, The Antidote: Happiness for People who cant stand Positive Thinking
The start of Holy Week in the Christian Tradition. It is good to practice, but also to be aware that every week, every moment is “holy”
The Emperor Wu asked Bodhidharma, “What is the first principle of holy teachings?
Bodhidharma replied: “That there is nothing holy about it”
I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere
and don’t notice it.
Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Post prompted by these little purple flowers seen on a walk in Emo yesterday morning.
We tend to think that life will occur sometime later. However, this moment – exactly as it is – is the full disclosure of reality.
When you find your place right where you are,
the Way itself is being lived out,
and we realize the entire universe in the present moment.
Dōgen, Genjōkōan,
Life is completely still.
It is without excitement.
It is always still, indifferent to
whether or not your life is dramatic
Joko Dave Haselwood, 1931 – 2014, Zen teacher
Maggie and I are doing our best. Our parents did their best. Everyone is doing their best.
What if we assumed that about each other?
What a gentle world it would be.
Elizabeth Lesser, Marrow: A Love Story
Mindfulbalance 