One of the foundational “truths” of Buddhism is that there is an unsatisfactory nature to our existence, which does not mean that we are getting it wrong.
“Dukkha” arises from the brain’s tendency to crave what it doesn’t have, resist what it doesn’t like, and cling to what’s fleeting
– leading to a background hum of stress.
Rich Hanson, Buddhas Brain
People often ask, ‘How do I attain enlightenment?’ But these questions themselves are the problem. You are already complete – nothing is lacking. The moment you seek something outside yourself, you move away from the truth. Zen is not about acquiring knowledge or achieving some special state. It is about realizing what has always been here, before thought arises.
When you sit in zazen, just sit. Do not try to become a Buddha – Buddha is already sitting. Do not try to stop thoughts – just let them come and go like clouds in the sky. The more you chase after enlightenment, the farther it runs away. But when you give up all seeking, even the desire for enlightenment, then – without expecting it – you may suddenly see. Let go of everything, even the idea of ‘letting go.’ Then, for the first time, you are truly free.
Yamada Ryōun Roshi, Japanese Rinzai Zen master
Home is not just the place where you happen to be born.
It’s the place where you become yourself.
For some of us, that means refusing to be just one self, or belonging to just one place.
Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness
The sailor who does not adjust to the wind conditions will have a difficult time.
One ship drives east and another drives west by the same winds that blow.
Its the set of the sails
and not the gales that determines the way they go.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1850 – 1919, American author and poet.
It’s not the road ahead that wears you out –
it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.
Old Arabian Proverb
A lunar eclipse tonight
Just as we can’t see all the phases of the moon on any one night, we can’t hear the phases of truth or the heart unless we listen for how the truth of feeling grows full and dark and full again over time.
Patience, the art of waiting, is the heart-skill that opens the world. I’m discovering after all these years that listening deeply over time is one uninterrupted growing – one continuous act.
In this way, the tree on that ridge bending to the wind till it grows to the bend is how it listens over time. And in the act of receiving our darkest cries, the heart begins to soften the howl of our wound.
Mark Nepo, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen
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