Forget distinctions
Leap into the boundless
and make it your own.
Zhuang Zhou, Chinese philosopher, 4th century BC
Not limiting oneself
Tag: Meditation
a life without regret
December 6 is the feastday of the legendary Saint Nicholas, traditionally a big celebration in the Low Countries, Germany and Eastern Europe. Most children have a natural sense of wonder and adventure which life has a tendency to erode.
Twenty years from now
You will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do
than by the ones you did.
Mark Twain
Dwelling in preconceived notions
Dwelling nowhere, the mind comes forth.
The Diamond Sutra
Working with this koan alters how I might meet the world in two ways. In one twist, the koan takes my attention to my thoughts and opinions about what I come into contact with each moment… – beyond the confines of what I can conceive of or label. The fact that I take mundane shrubs, trees, stray cats, and rain squalls for granted or even consider them to be inconvenient nuisances at times is something the koan quietly forces me to examine more closely. What would life be like without these images, moments, and experiences? Do I create an inner world in which only some of what is present makes it through my ingrained mental filters? If yes, what would happen if I deconstructed these borders and removed them? Maybe everything that graces my life has a subtle extraordinariness and that allowing this connection to blossom on its own is a practice that takes place naturally when I just begin to notice.
Don Dianda, author of See for Your Self: Zen Mindfulness for the Next Generation
Let nothing disturb you
From the beginning
the flying birds have left
no footprints on the blue sky
Musō Soseki, 1275 – 1351, Zen Buddhist Monk, calligraphy artist and garden designer, 1275 – 1351
Sunday Quote: Just notice
The first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a New Year in the Christian tradition.
Abundance is not something we acquire.
It is something we tune into.
Wayne Dyer
Created anew
Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange
sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again
and fasten themselves to the high branches —
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands
of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails
for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it
the thorn
that is heavier than lead —
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging —
there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted —
each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,
whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.
Mary Oliver, Morning Poem
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