Even on the calmest, most uneventful day we get many opportunities to see the clash between what we want and the way it really is.
Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen
Plenty of Practice
Tag: Mindfulness
One thing at a time
Never bear more than one trouble at a time.
Some people bear three kinds – all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have.
Edward Everett Hale, 1822 – 1909, American author, historian, and Unitarian minister,
Natural spaciousness
Silence refers to the fact that we are originally free from all narratives and constructs of self. Mind precedes everything; it is the precursor to experience. So in understanding the nature of mind and gaining insight, you see that all things are impermanent, all things have no abidance, and are intimately connected. That is the realization of no-self, selflessness. This true nature of our mind is free from the coming and going of fragmented, scattered, discriminating thoughts....You don’t have to do anything to make them to disappear. I often give the analogy that this room we’re in – its spaciousness – is really not affected by all the furniture and the people in it.
Guo Gu, Silent Illumination
Unmoving
We have had three storms pass over us in the last few days. Strong winds. In a similar way, each day contains a lot of conditioned events which pass through – a succession of little births and deaths. There is always a dialogue between these changing conditions and our underlying nature.
A monk asked, ”How can one escape from birth, old age, sickness, and death?”
Lingyun said, ”The green mountain is fundamentally unmoving, but the floating clouds pass back and forth.”
Lingyun Zhiqin, 9th Century Chan Master
Sunday Quote: Free
Never pray to be a better slave when God is trying to get you out of your situation
Shannon L. Alder
Humble places
Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.
Camille Pissarro, 1830 – 1903, Danish-French Impressionist/ Neo-Impressionist painter
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