Slowing down

I live by the truth that “No” is a complete sentence.

I rest as a spiritual act.

Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

Different weathers, different times

Colder weather, higher fuel and food costs and the presence of a cruel war…

Times of scarcity need to be met with generosity,

times of fear with comfort,

times of uncertainty with presence.

Thomas Hübl

Float

I saw the leaf leave the branch and float down to the soil, dancing joyfully,

because as it floated it saw itself already there in the tree.

It was so happy. I bowed my head,

and I knew that we have a lot to learn from the leaf

because it was not afraid;

it knew that nothing can be born and nothing can die.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Doesn’t add anything

Sun-faced Buddha and Moon-faced Buddha are metaphors used in Buddhism. The Sun-faced Buddha lives in the world for a long period – 1800 years or for eternity, the Moon- faced just for one day. 

When we think about our human lives:

There are, as you know, people who live long, like those Sun-faced Buddhas, and there are people whose lives are short, like those Moon-faced Buddhas.

It’s useless to worry.

Baso Dōitsu 709 – 788 recorded in The Blue Cliff Record, a collection of Chan Buddhist koans compiled in 1125

Early morning mindset

We examine each day before us with barely a glance

and say, no, this isn’t the one I’ve been looking for.

Tom Hennan, 1942 – American Poet

A moment

This morning
the beautiful white heron
was floating along above the water

and then into the sky of this
the one world
we all belong to

where everything
sooner or later
is a part of everything else

which thought made me feel
for a little while
quite beautiful myself.

Mary Oliver, Poem of the One World