A monk asked the master Sengcan: “Master, show me the way to liberation.”
Sengcan replied: “Who binds you?”
The monk replied: “No one binds me.”
Sengcan said: “Then why do you seek liberation?”
Tag: Life
Like a giant tree
Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind.
To be happy,
rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all.
The Buddha’s Little Instruction Book
Sunday Quote: Where hope and history rhyme
Birdsong brings relief to my longing.
I am just as ecstatic as they are, but with nothing to say!
Please, universal soul, practice some song, or something, through me!
Rumi
Going forward silently
Learn from the rivers
in clefts and in crevices:
those in small channels flow noisily,
the great flow silent.
Whatever is not full, makes noise.
Whatever is full is quiet.
Buddha, Nalaka Sutta
Create a space
Consider the “forest pool” metaphor so popular in Buddhism. After inclement weather, the pool is muddy, full of sediment and debris. We cannot clear it by trying to control the contents – that would make the pool worse. We can only wait for all the sediment to settle to the bottom, leaving the pool clear again. So in meditation, by concentrating on the breath or our body or on sounds we can hear in the present moment, we create a space for clarity. We often find that in this spaciousness, an answer to a problem will simply “pop up” to the surface. Sometimes it won’t, but our bodies will thank us for a break from all the worrying.
Sarah Napthali, Stewing
To be peace
When you are feeling overwhelmed, you’re trying too hard.
That kind of energy does not help the other person and it does not help you. You should not be too eager to help right away. There are two things, to be and to do. Don’t think too much about to do – to be is first. To be peace. To be joy. And then to do joy, to do happiness – on the basis of being. Being fresh. Being peaceful. Being compassionate. This is the basic practice. It’s like a person sitting at the foot of a tree. The tree does not have to do anything, but the tree is fresh and alive. When you are like that tree, sending out waves of freshness, you help to calm down the suffering in the other person.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Be Beautiful, Be yourself
