With no mind, flowers lure the butterfly;
With no mind, the butterfly visits the blossoms.
Yet when flowers bloom, the butterfly comes;
When the butterfly comes, the flowers bloom.
Ryokan, 1758 – 1831, Buddhist monk, hermit and poet.
Tag: Life
Sunday Quote: Wholeness
We can sometimes feel fragmented in our inner life, sucked into a crisis, pulled in all directions, but…
There is not a “fragment” in all nature,
for every relative fragment of one thing
is a full harmonious unit in itself.
John Muir, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf
Not taken in
There is great psychological wisdom in the ancient texts as to how to deal with the strong emotions stirred up by challenges we face every day. Being able to see, without making it a story about ourselves:
You shouldn’t chase after the past, and don’t place expectations on the future.
The past no longer is. The future has not yet come.
Whatever is present in life as it is in the very here and now
you clearly see, right there, right there.
Not taken in. You dwell in stability and freedom
That’s how you develop the heart.
The Buddha, Bhaddekaratta Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya No.131.
Complete
We do not have to have everything sorted out in our lives for them to be complete and us to be happy.
A lot of disappointed people have been left
standing on the street corner
waiting for the bus marked Perfection
Donald Kennedy
photo kai hendry
Every day is a good day
In Zen practice a koan is a phrase, a conversation, or a saying that a mediator reflects on in order to point to a way of being in the world. The phrase in held in mind – sometimes for months or years at a time – to unravel an openness in practitioners, allowing them to enter into inner regions beyond knowing.
I like keeping this one in mind, which is presented here in a commentary on a saying of Ummon, an 8th Century Zen Master. It challenges my normal commentary and takes me out of the thoughts I buy into every day. Maybe I already have everything I need right now:
Ummon introduced the subject by saying:
I do not ask you about fifteen days ago. But what about in fifteen days time? Come, say a word about this.
He himself replied for them: Every day is a good day.
Commentary by Suzuki : Today does not become yesterday, and Dōgen states that today does not become tomorrow.
Each day is its own past and future and has its own absolute value.
From a transcript of a talk by Suzuki-roshi, Thursday, November 1st, 1962
Simple
The meaning of life is just to be alive.
It is so plain and so obvious and so simple.
And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic
as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.
Alan Watts.
photo asio otus
