Nothing we see or hear is perfect.
But right there in the imperfection
is perfect reality
Shunryu Suzuki-roshi
Tag: Mindfulness
Ever-widening circles of trust.
Many of us have been convinced – by our society, by our own experiences in life, and by our own logic, that we cannot trust our own natural state of being. We turn away from ourselves and our experiences. In mindfulness practice we are learning not to destroy or control our feelings, but to discover them and be present with them. We begin to see how they work when we enter fully into them and give them room. We begin to see how we create our emotional lives and reactions. In this process, we learn to trust awareness and direct presence more and more deeply. As we explore the layers of our fear, our trust expands into wider and wider circles of who we are. The process of awakening can be understood as ever-widening circles of trust. …… Fearlessness is not necessarily the absence of fear. It is a positive quality that can exist side by side with fear, overcoming the limitations arising out of fear.
Gil Fronsdal, The Issue at hand
Content
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not
Epicurus
An opportunity
Whether we are on the busy streets of New York or in the solitude of a mountain cave in Nepal, our happiness and contentment are completely in our own hands. Sitting meditation enables us to rest our mind in a present and cheerful way. When we sit, we make a direct relationship to the source of happiness. At the base of that experience is a quality of happiness, which is not a sense of giddiness, but of relaxation. Wherever we are, life is going to be coming at us. But if we use our lives as an opportunity to develop and enhance our mind, we will always be able to acknowledge that we are in a precious situation.
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
photo of Grafton st Dublin by Oliver Dixon
Simply
A thousand secrets are hidden in simply sitting still.
Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, German psychtheorapoist and zen teacher
The stones and bricks that make up life
Just this day, with its work, and travel, its meetings and discussions, and its weather, roads, stones and plants. We do not need to add more.
Mind as fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles
is nothing other than fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles.
There is no additional mud or water.
Dogen.
photo ardfern.
