still flowing water

“Have you ever seen still water?” Ajahn Chah would ask.
They would nod, “Yes, of course, we’ve seen still water before.”
Then Ajahn Chah would ask, “Well then, have you ever seen flowing
water?” And that also seemed a strange thing to ask. They’d respond,
“Yes, we’ve seen flowing water.”

“So, did you ever see still, flowing water?”

Ajahn Chah would then explain that the mind’s nature is still,
yet it’s flowing. It’s flowing, yet it is still. He would use the word
“citta” for the knowing mind, the mind of awareness. The citta
itself is totally still. It has no movement; it is not related to all
that arises and ceases. It is silent and spacious. Mind objects—
sights, sounds, smell, taste, touch, thoughts, and emotions—flow
through it. Problems arise because the clarity of the mind gets
entangled with sense impressions. The untrained heart chases
the delightful, runs away from the painful, and as a result, finds
itself struggling, alienated, and miserable. By contemplating our
own experience, we can make a clear distinction between the
mind that knows (citta) and the sense impressions that flow
through it.

By refusing to get entangled with any sense impressions,
we find refuge in that quality of stillness, silence, and
spaciousness, which is the mind’s own nature. This policy of
noninterference allows everything and is disturbed by nothing.

regarding our mind

If it is sent far, it does not go away;
If it is closely bound, it does not stay;
If it is well examined, it is ungrounded;
So what is its nature?
Insofar as you crave it a litte,
You will be fettered.
If you know its nature,
You will be released from all fetters.


Sakya Pandita

You Don't Know Me

You give your hand to me
And then you say, "Hello."
And I can hardly speak,
My heart is beating so.
And anyone can tell
You think you know me well.
Well, you don't know me.
(no you don't know me)

No you don't know the one
Who dreams of you at night;
And longs to kiss your lips
And longs to hold you tight

Oh I'm just a friend.
That's all I've ever been.
Cause you don't know me.
(no you don't know me)

For I never knew the art of making love,
Though my heart aches with love for you.
Afraid and shy, I let my chance go by.
A chance that you might love me too.
(love me too)

You give your hand to me,
And then you say, "Goodbye."
I watched you walk away,
Beside the lucky guy
Oh, you'll never ever know
The one who loved you so.
Well, you don't know me

For I never knew the art of making love,
Though my heart aches with love for you.
Afraid and shy, I let my chance go by.
A chance that you might love me too.

Oh, you give your hand to me,
And then you say, "Goodbye."
I watched you walk away,
Beside the lucky guy
Oh, you'll never ever know
The one who loved you so.
Well, you don't know me
(you don't love me, you don't know me)


Performed by: Ray Charles

alone and drinking under the moon 月下獨酌

花間一壺酒
獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月
對影成三人
月既不解飲
影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影
行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊
我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡
醉後各分散
永結無情遊
相期邈雲漢

Amongst the flowers I
am alone with my pot of wine
drinking by myself; then lifting
my cup I asked the moon
to drink with me, its reflection
and mine in the wine cup, just
the three of us; then I sigh
for the moon cannot drink,

and my shadow goes emptily along
with me never saying a word;
with no other friends here, I can
but use these two for company;
in the time of happiness, I
too must be happy with all
around me; I sit and sing
and it is as if the moon

accompanies me; then if I
dance, it is my shadow that
dances along with me; while
still not drunk, I am glad
to make the moon and my shadow
into friends, but then when
I have drunk too much, we
all part; yet these are

friends I can always count on
these who have no emotion
whatsoever; I hope that one day
we three will meet again,
deep in the Milky Way.

Li Bai 李白

It is I

Camerado, this is no book,
Who touches this touches a man,
(Is it night? are we here together alone?)
It is I you hold and who holds you,
I spring from the pages into your arms...


Walt Whitman

Ode to a nightingale

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:--Do I wake or sleep?


John Keats

forgetting

Love is brief: forgetting lasts so long.


Pablo Neruda

Living alone

"If you live without being imprisoned by the past, not being pulled away by the future, not being carried away by the forms and images of the present moment, living each moment of your life deeply, that is the true way of living alone."


Buddha Sakyamuni

Love moves in (mysterious ways)

Who'd have thought
This is how the pieces fit?
You and I
Shouldn't even try making sense of it

I forgot
How we ever came this far
I believe we had reasons
but I don't know what they are
So blame it on my heart, oh

Love moves in mysterious ways
It's always so surprising
When love appears over the horizon
I'll love you for the rest of my days
But still, it's a mystery
How you ever came to me
Which only proves
Love moves in mysterious ways

Heaven knows
Love is just a chance we take
We make plans
But then love demands a leap of faith

So hold me close
And never let me go
'Cause even though we think we know
which way the river flows
That's not the way love goes, no

Like the ticking of the clock
two hearts beat as one
But I'll never understand
the ways it's done

Love moves in mysterious ways
It's always so surprising
When love appears over the horizon
I'll love you for the rest of my days
But still, it's a mystery
How you ever came to me
Which only proves
Love moves in mysterious ways
Love moves in mysterious ways


Performed by: Julia Fordham

I wish you love

Goodbye, no use leading with our chins
This is where our story ends
Never lovers, ever friends

Goodbye, let our hearts call it a day
but before you walk away
I sincerely want to say:

I wish you bluebirds in the spring
To give your heart a song to sing
And then a kiss
But more than this
I wish you love

And in July a lemonade
To cool you in some leafy glade
I wish you health
And more than wealth
I wish you love

My breaking heart and I agree
That you and I could never be
So with my best, my very best
I set you free

I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
But most of all
When snowflakes fall
I wish you love



Performed by: Frank Sinatra
Written by: C. Trenet, A. Beach