Suzuki Roshi once said about questioning our life, our purpose, “It’s like putting a horse on top of a horse and then climbing on and trying to ride. Riding a horse by itself is hard enough. Why add another horse? Then it’s impossible”
We add that extra horse when we constantly question ourselves rather than just live out our lives, and be who we are at every moment.
Natalie Goldberg, Long Quiet Highway.
To be silent the whole day long, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself. The book-learning gradually dribbles away; problems melt and dissolve; ties are gently severed; the body becomes a new and wonderful instrument; you look at plants or stones or fish with different eyes.
Henry Millar, 1981 – 1980, The Colossus of Maroussi
The best meditation and, indeed, life instruction ….
The lillies!
The stems, just as they are,
the flowers, just as they are.
Matsuo Bashō, 1644 – 1694, Japanese poet, recognised as the greatest exponent of the haiku form.
Walking takes longer..than any other known form of locomotion, except crawling. Thus, it stretches time and prolongs life.
Life is already too short to waste on speed.
Edward Abbey, 1927 – 1989, American author, essayist and environmental advocate.
Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind.
The real you is loving, joyful, and free.
The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.
Miguel Angel Ruiz
In the West, many of us can live in physical comfort, yet, because we are continually being presented with more refined commodities or changing standards by which to measure ourselves, there is not much contentment.
People can become depressed if their bodies don’t match up to the current standards of beauty, or if their personality is not smart enough – whatever the current fashion is. So there can be a nervous feeling of inadequacy and insecurity which deprives us of a sense of trust in our innate worth as a human being.
So because of just this , its important that we sense and define ourselves as “being” apart from those currents, if only to get onto some firmer ground...what really helps is to be able to calm and collect the mind …How you attend creates the dwelling place of the mind.
Ajahn Sucitto, Kamma and the End of Kamma
Mindfulbalance 