The purpose of life is to bring forth goodness.
Now, in this life
Leo Tolstoy
For Saint Patrick’s Day, an old Irish prayer, simple but profound in its wisdom on the mindful use of speech
A Íosa, Mhic Dé, a bhí ciúin os comhair Phioláit, ná lig dúinn ár dteanga a luascadh gan smaoineadh ar cad tá againn le rá agus conas é a rá.
O Jesus, Son of God,
who was silent before Pilate,
don’t let our tongues wag
without thinking about what we have to say
and how to say it.
Tozan, a famous Zen master, said:
“The blue mountain is the father of the white cloud. The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain. All day long they depend on each other, without being dependent on each other. The white cloud is always the white cloud. The blue mountain is always the blue mountain.”
This is a pure, clear interpretation of life. There may be many things like the white cloud and the blue mountain: man and woman, teacher and disciple. …They are quite independent, but yet dependent. This is how we live, and how we practice.
Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind