There are people who are unhappy regardless of the work they do or the relationship they are in, and yet they continuously fool themselves into thinking that an external makeover will affect them internally.
Tal Ben-Shahar, Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment
What is the most precious gem in the world? Certainly this life is precious — the opportunity to be alive is an irreplaceable gift — but can we really appreciate this life for what it is? If we want to find the precious gem in our life, where do we begin? Where do we look? Should we look outside somewhere, or should we look inside? And what does it mean to look inside? Are we really going to find something of value in our body, perhaps in our head or our belly? By pursuing these questions with your whole body and mind, you can discover the truth …. for yourself. But no matter how hard you try, you will never find what is truly precious if you look outside of yourself. You have to look within.
Dennis Genpo Merzel, The Path of the Human Being: Zen Teachings on the Bodhisattva Way
Waking up in the morning, I vow with all beings
to listen to those whom I love, especially to things they don’t say.
Lighting a candle for Buddha, I vow with all beings
to honor your clear affirmation: “Forget yourself and you’re free.”
When I stroll around in the city, I vow with all beings
to notice how lichen and grasses never give up in despair
Watching a spider at work, I vow with all beings
to cherish the web of the universe: touch one point and everything moves.
When the racket can’t be avoided, I vow with all beings
to close my eyes for a moment and find my treasure right here.
With tropical forests in danger, I vow with all beings
to raise hell with the people responsible and slash my consumption of trees.
Watching gardeners label their plants , I vow with all beings
to practice the old horticulture and let plants identify me.
On reading the words of Thoreau, I vow with all beings
to cherish our home-grown sages, who discern the perennial Way.
Falling asleep at last I vow with all beings
to enjoy the dark and the silence and rest in the vast unknown.
Robert Aiken, Verses for Zen Buddhist Practice
This is what we mean by the practice of mindfulness. It is the how of coming to our senses moment by moment. There really is no place to go in this moment. We are already here. Can we be here fully? There really is nothing to do. Can we go into non-doing, into pure being? There really is nothing to attain, no special “state” or “feeling”, because whatever you are experiencing now is already special, already extraordinary, by virtue of the fact that it is being experienced. The paradox of this invitation is that everything you might wish for is already here. And the only important thing is to be the knowing that awareness already is.
Jon Kabat Zinn, Mindfulness for Beginners.
Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.
John O’Donoghue, Anam Chara
We’re not certain about our own goodness. We begin to stray from it as soon as we wake up in the morning, because our mind is unstable and bewildered. Our thoughts drag us around by a ring in our nose, as if we were cows in the Indian market. This is how we lose control of our lives. We don’t understand that the origin of happiness is right here in our mind. We might experience happiness at times, but we’re not sure how we got it, how to get it again, or how long it’s going to last when it comes. We live life in an anxious, haphazard state, always looking for happiness to arrive. When we are confused about the source of happiness, we start to blame the world for our dissatisfaction, expecting it to make us happy. Then we act in ways that bring more confusion and chaos into our life. When our mind is busy and discursive, thinking uncontrollably, we are engaging in a bad habit. We are stirring up the mud of jealousy, anger, and pride. Then the mind has no choice but to become familiar with the language of negativity and develop it further.
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
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