When you die, only three things will remain of you, since you will abandon all material things on the threshold of the Otherworld:
What you have taught to others,
what you have created with your hands,
and how much love you have spread.
So learn more and more in order to teach wise, long-lasting values. Work more and more to leave the world things of great beauty.
François Bourillon, A French Druid Triad
The Chinese have a saying: We should try to live our life so that it’s big enough to contain all the paradoxes.
Earl G. Ingersoll, Breaking the Alabaster Jar: Conversations with Li-Young Lee
Unmoored
in midnight water,
no waves, no wind,
the empty boat
is flooded with moonlight
Dogen, 1200 – 1253, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen.
Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future
The past no longer is. The future has not yet come.
Look deeply at life as it is.
In the very here and now the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly – How can we bargain with it
The sage calls the person who lives in mindfulness night and day “one who knows the better way to live”
The Buddha, Bhaddekaratta Sutta
Go back and take care of yourself. Your body needs you, your feelings need you, your perceptions need you. The wounded child in you needs you. Go home and be there for all these things. Practice mindful walking and mindful breathing. Do everything in mindfulness so you can really be there, so you can love.
Thich Nhat Hanh
