The point here is to take life in all its rich variety just as it is, with its ten thousand opposites,
and to go along with whatever circumstances require, embracing things after their own inclination or according to chance,
letting things be, rather than getting in their way, and thus allowing each and every thing, each and every appearance, to pursue a meaning and purpose distinct from my own.
Totsudo Kato, 1870 – 1949, Japanese writer
The purpose of life is to bring forth goodness.
Now, in this life
Leo Tolstoy
Whenever we are between here and there,
whenever one thing has ended and we are waiting for the next thing to begin,
whenever we’re tempted to distract ourselves or look for an escape route
we can instead let ourselves be open, curious, tentative, vulnerable
Pema Chodron
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.
The beauty of the world is revealed when we learn how to look
To photograph is to put the head, the eye and the heart on the same line of sight.
Henri Cartier-Bresson 1908 – 2004, French Photographer
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
