Not visible

harvest

Some days or weeks we work with limited vision. The true meaning is hidden. We rely on inner values and on the commitment we have made.

Bringing in a full harvest from human effort has always been difficult, because what is worth bringing in is almost always hidden from us: think of the hard, protected kernel of the wheat amidst a waving sea of gold, or the the walnut nestled in its dense, unyielding skin of green and white, think of how common a much-wanted, simple understanding is needed, hidden by our complex thoughts; or the attempt to fully forgive when even forgiving a little seems to be the last thing we want to do; and lastly, the wish to love and to be loved, when loving is what we are most afraid to do.  

David Whyte, Letters from the House

Trust

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With no mind, flowers lure the butterfly;
With no mind, the butterfly visits the blossoms.
Yet when flowers bloom, the butterfly comes;
When the butterfly comes, the flowers bloom.

Ryokan, 1758 – 1831, Buddhist monk, hermit and poet.

Sunday Quote: Wholeness

leaf-blurWe can sometimes feel fragmented in our inner life, sucked into a crisis,  pulled in all directions, but…

There is not a “fragment” in all nature,

for every relative fragment of one thing

is a full harmonious unit in itself.

John Muir, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf

Every day is a good day

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In Zen practice a koan is a phrase, a conversation, or a saying that a mediator reflects on in order to point to a way of being in the world. The phrase in held in mind –  sometimes for months or years at a time –  to unravel an openness in practitioners, allowing them to enter into inner regions beyond knowing.

I like keeping this one in mind, which is presented here in a commentary on a saying of Ummon, an 8th Century Zen Master. It challenges my normal commentary and takes me out of the thoughts I buy into every day. Maybe I already have everything I need right now: 

Ummon introduced the subject by saying:

I do not ask you about fifteen days ago. But what about in fifteen days time? Come, say a word about this.

He himself replied for them: Every day is a good day.

Commentary by Suzuki : Today does not become yesterday, and Dōgen states that today does not become tomorrow.

Each day is its own past and future and has its own absolute value.

From  a transcript of a talk by Suzuki-roshi,  Thursday, November 1st, 1962

Sunday Quote: Restless

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Today marks the start of Advent – the start of a new year in the Christian Calendar, this year occurring between the shopping festivals of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Two different views of what makes us happy. One feeds the ever wanting heart, which sees only what can be bought. The other feeds, as a friend reminded me yesterday, that part of us which cannot be seen, that which is hidden:

If your soul is un-wanting, you will see what  is hidden.

The ever-wanting soul is forever chasing
only what it wants.

Lau Tzu, Tao Te Ching

photo amada44

Saturday: Moments which contain everything

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Look, I want to love this world

as though it’s the last chance I’m ever going to get

to be alive

and know it.

Mary Oliver, October

photo CSIRO