There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.
If it be now, ‘tis not to come;
if it be not to come, it will be now;
if it be not now, yet it will come.
The readiness is all.
Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V, ii
There is a time for all things
Tag: Life
Monday morning, start again
One part of meditation practice is not holding on too strongly to the past or leaning too far into the future. This allows us to savour the present fully.
And if happiness should surprise you again, do not mention its previous betrayal.
Enter into the happiness, and burst.
Mahmoud Darwish, 1941 – 2008, Palestinian poet and author, Journal of an Ordinary Grief
Just enjoy
When a ray of sunshine comes, open out, absorb it to the depths of your being. Never think that an hour earlier you were cold and that an hour later you will be cold again. Just enjoy. Latch on to the passing minute. Shut off the workings of memory and hope… Take away from suffering its double drumbeat of resonance, memory and fear. Suffering may persist, but already it is relieved by half. Throw yourself into each moment as if it were the only one that really existed.
Jacques Lusseyran, 1924–1971, And there was Light.
Lusseyran became blind after a childhood accident, worked with the Resistance in World War Two and survived the Concentration Camp at Buchenwald.
Thanks to Maura Parolini for the quote suggestion. It is taken from the beautiful site The Marginalian
Sunday Quote: Flow
A very Taoist viewpoint, seeing that whatever is arising in our lives is already arising, and some element of wisdom comes from accepting that
Let go of all your assumptions
And the world will make perfect sense.
Chuang-Tzu, Second Book of the Tao
Things stick
“The Great way is not difficult. It just avoids picking and choosing.” There is a Taoist flavor to this saying. The sense of following the water path through life. The water if it runs into a stone, it just makes its way around. The water is clear and has no attachments which is why we have a little bowl of water on the altar.…. If we are clear, we hang onto the clarity. This old student doesn’t even hang onto that. Do you still hang onto anything, or not? So we could say that the greatest method of meditation is that whatever comes up, just don’t cling to it. Whatever comes up, let it go. If you can do this, you’ll find the way home very quickly. But it’s hard. Things stick to you.
John Tarrant
Hold it lightly
The water that you see in the waterfall
has already rushed to the great ocean.
Life is like the rushing water of the waterfall. From a distance it appears solid, but when you look closely, you see that it is in constant movement, continuous change, rushing like a cascade of long white rope
Tangen Harada Roshi, Throw yourself into the House of Buddha
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