Tag: Meditation

“All states of being are determined by mind. It is mind that leads the way.
As surely as our shadow never leaves us,
so well-being will follow when we speak or act with a pure state of mind”.

Have you ever tried to run away from your shadow? As hard as you might try it never leaves you. Any action by body, speech or mind that is done with pure motivation will indeed lead to increased well-being. However small and apparently insignificant the act might be, happiness will follow.

Ajahn Munindo, Dhammapada Reflections, v2

I pause in my gardening to look at a bird overhead whose cry has broken the silence. A refreshing wind….dries the sweat on my brow. Joy in life, joy in work, wells up in me.

“The wind is cold today, isn’t it” comments an elderly woman passing by. Does one feel the breeze as refreshing or as a heartlessly cold wind? The difference lies not in the wind but in the person perceiving it

Centuries ago, when Chao-chou asked Zen Master Nan-chuan if he should seek the Way, Nan-chuan answered, “If you try for it, you will become separated from it”

That which we call paradise or happiness…cannot be sought outside us. It will be found only when we notice that we are inherently endowed with it.

Shundo Aoyama, Zen Seeds