What the Buddha said is that you are a verb, not a noun. What you’re doing is what is real, not who’s doing it.
Buddha said this is the basic mistake we all make and is why we suffer.
For example, only walking is real, not the walker or the path. And, the more attached you are to yourself – “you” being a thing – the more trouble you get into.
Mas Kodani, Jodo Shinshu Buddhist teacher
In his
eternal search for truth, the
poet is alone.
He tries to be timeless in a
society built on time.
Jack Kerouac, Lines Written
I live by the truth that “No” is a complete sentence.
I rest as a spiritual act.
Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
The first real cold spell of winter expected over the next few days. We prefer life to be all sunshine, but…
Without the bitterest cold that penetrates to the very bone,
how can plum blossoms send forth their fragrance all over the world?
Dogen, 1200 – 1253, Buddhist monk, founder of the Soto school of Zen.
We must shape life so
that at some future hour,
facts and dreams meet.
Victor Hugo
Sun-faced Buddha and Moon-faced Buddha are metaphors used in Buddhism. The Sun-faced Buddha lives in the world for a long period – 1800 years or for eternity, the Moon- faced just for one day.
When we think about our human lives:
There are, as you know, people who live long, like those Sun-faced Buddhas, and there are people whose lives are short, like those Moon-faced Buddhas.
It’s useless to worry.
Baso Dōitsu 709 – 788 recorded in The Blue Cliff Record, a collection of Chan Buddhist koans compiled in 1125
