Tag: Joy

Comparing and complaining

Karl Duffy1 Comment

The comparing mind frequently takes us away from the unique form of our own life …

One morning the teacher announced to his disciples that they would walk to the top of the mountain. The disciples were surprised because even those who had been with him for years thought the teacher was oblivious to the mountain which looked serenely down on their town.

By midday it became apparent that the teacher had lost direction. Moreover, no provision had been made for food. The disciples grumbled but he continued walking, sometimes through underbrush and sometimes across crumbling rock.

When they reached the summit in the late afternoon, they found other wanderers there ahead of them who had strolled up a well-worn path.

The disciples complained to the teacher. He only said, “Those others have climbed a different mountain.”

From James Carse, Breakfast at the Victory: The Mysticism of Everyday Life

In the concrete

Karl Duffy2 Comments

Money is human happiness in the abstract;

He, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money.

Schopenhauer

Encompassed

Karl Duffy1 Comment

All beings are encompassed within one all-encompassing great energy:

This I understood from the coolness of this morning’s passing breeze

Wu-men Hui-k’ai, 1183 -1260, Chinese Chan Master

The beauty within us

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Incredibly warm Spring weather here these days, signs of growth all round

It’s the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us.

The question is not what you look at but what you see. 

Henry David Thoreau

Springtime

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The bud
stands for all things,
even for those things that don’t flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;   
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.

Galway Kinnell, Saint Francis and the Sow

Nothing to achieve

Karl Duffy1 Comment

A lot of modern stress comes from the mistaken belief that we should always be working on a better version of ourselves, always looking for greater success. 

In all ten directions of the universe, there is only one truth.

When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.

What can ever be lost? What can be attained?

If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time.

If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us.

Ryokan, 1758–1831, Zen Monk and poet