once in a while

Every once in a while
we need to stop ourselves in our tracks
and ask ourselves - what are we doing?
And why we are doing whatever it is that we are doing.


Editor - Path of Joy

Symptoms of Inner Peace

An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.

Loss of interest in judging others.

Loss of interest in interpreting actions of others.

Loss of interest in conflict.

Loss of ability to worry. (very serious symptom)

Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation or unattached giving.

A tendency to smile more often

Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.

Frequent attacks of smiling through the eyes from the heart.

Tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.

Tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fear based on past experiences.


From: www.dhammasukha.org

as always - dear mother teresa

the truth of desire

Our usual perceptions are tinged with “unwise consideration”. We ordinarily look only at the surfaces of things, scan them in terms of our immediate interests and wants; only rarely do we dig into the roots of our involvements or explore their long-range consequences. To set this straight calls for wise consideration: looking into the hidden undertones to our actions, exploring their results, evaluating the worthiness of our goals. In this investigation our concern must not be with what is pleasant, but with what is true. We have to be prepared and willing to discover what is true even at the cost of our comfort. For real security always lies on the side of truth, not on the side of comfort.

When desire is scrutinized closely, we find that it is constantly shadowed by 'unsatisfactoriness' (or dissatisfying). Sometimes 'unsatisfactoriness' appears as pain or irritation; often it lies low as a constant strain of discontent. But the two — desire and dukkha — are inseparable concomitants. We can confirm this for ourselves by considering the whole cycle of desire. At the moment desire springs up it creates in us a sense of lack, the pain of want. To end this pain we struggle to fulfill the desire. If our effort fails, we experience frustration, disappointment, sometimes despair. But even the pleasure of success is not unqualified. We worry that we might lose the ground we have gained. We feel driven to secure our position, to safeguard our territory, to gain more, to rise higher, to establish tighter controls. The demands of desire seem endless, and each desire demands the eternal: it wants the things we get to last forever. But all the objects of desire are impermanent. Whether it be wealth, power, position, or other persons, separation is inevitable, and the pain that accompanies separation is proportional to the force of attachment

Desire breeds fear and sorrow. Renunciation gives fearlessness and joy.


Bhikkhu Bodhi

the path

The search for a spiritual path is born out of suffering. It does not start with lights and ecstasy, but with the hard tacks of pain, disappointment, and confusion. However, for suffering to give birth to a genuine spiritual search, it must amount to more than something passively received from without. It has to trigger an inner realization, a perception which pierces through the facile complacency of our usual encounter with the world to glimpse the insecurity perpetually gaping underfoot. When this insight dawns, even if only momentarily, it can precipitate a profound personal crisis. It overturns accustomed goals and values,
mocks our routine preoccupations, leaves old enjoyments stubbornly unsatisfying.

No longer can we continue to drift complacently through life, driven blindly by our hunger for sense pleasures and by the pressure of prevailing social norms. A deeper reality beckons us; we have heard the call of a more stable, more authentic happiness, and until we arrive at our destination - we cannot rest content.


Bhikkhu Bodhi

a battle hard to win

ONe who repays an angry man with anger
Thereby makes things worse for himself.
Not repaying an angry man with anger,
One wins a battle hard to win.

He practises for the welfare of both
His own and the other's
When, knowing that his foe is angry,
He mindfully maintains his peace.


Samyutta Nikaya

time

It is by living together with someone that his virtue is to be known,
and that after a long time, not after a short time;
by one who is attentive, not by one who is inattentive;
by one who is wise, not by a dullard.

It is by dealing with someone that his honesty is to be known,
and that after a long time, not after a short time;
by one who is attentive, not by one who is inattentive;
by one who is wise, not by a dullard.

It is in adversities that a person's fortitude is to be known,
and that after a long time, not after a short time;
by one who is attentive, not by one who is inattentive;
by one who is wise, not by a dullard.

It is by discussion with someone that his wisdom is to be known,
and that after a long time, not after a short time;
by one who is attentive, not by one who is inattentive;
by one who is wise, not by a dullard.

A man is not easily known by outward form
Nor should one trust a quick appraisal,
For in the guise of the well controlled
Uncontrolled men move in this world.

Some move about in disguise:
Inwardly impure; outwardly beautiful.


Samyutta Nikaya

essential

Those who mistake the unessential for the essential
and in the essential see the unessential,
dwelling in wrong thoughts,
never arrive at the essence.

Those who know the essential as the essential
and the unessential as the unessential,
dwelling in right thoughts,
will arrive at the essence.


Dhammapada

in the realm of the spirit

This is the only satisfying way for the seeker of truth when the
diffuseness of the external world with its thin layer of
culture, comfort and allurement, ceases to be interesting and is
found to lack true value. The seeker knows to a certainty that
what he wants is to be found in the realm of the spirit.

Soma Thera

beyond the horizon

... spiritual awareness and the quest for enlightenment do not arise spontaneously in harmony with our natural modes of world-engagement, but require a turn "against the current", a break away from our instinctual urges for expansion and enjoyment, and the embarkation in a different direction. This break is precipitated by the encounter with suffering. Suffering spurs the awakening of the religious consciousness in that it is the experience of suffering which first tears us out of our blind absorption in the immediacy of temporal being and sets us in search of a way to its transcendence.


Bhikkhu Bodhi

listen

An interviewer asked Mother Teresa what she says to God when she prays.

"I don't say anything," she replied. "I just listen."

So the interviewer asked her what God says to her.

"He doesn't say anything," said Mother Teresa. "He just listens."

And before the astonished interviewer could press her further, she added,
"And if you don't understand that, I can't explain it to you."


Stephen Carter, Civility

Picture from www.travelblog.org

Rory Peck Trust Award 2006

ZAKARIA ABU HARBID - Palestinian

Winner: The Rory Peck Award for Hard News

This piece shows scenes broadcast around the world of 12 year old Huda Ghalia after an explosion which killed her father, her step-mother and five siblings. The distraught young girl is seen running along the beach then weeping beside her father’s body. Zakaria had been filming another incident in the nearby village of Beit Hanon. As soon as he heard about the incident on Gaza Beach, he left and arrived at the scene just minutes later.





The Rory Peck Trust

no fixing

...she was philosophical about my moods. Sadness didn’t worry
her. On those occasions when I said, “But I’m not happy!” she
would say, “Where is it written that you are supposed to happy
all the time?”

I don’t remember this comment as a rebuke. I think of it now as
my introduction to the first of the Four Noble Truths of the
Buddha. Life is difficult because things change. Change means
loss and disappointment. Bodies and relationships are, from time
to time, painful. I was reassured by my grandmother’s response. I
didn’t feel I was making a mistake by feeling sad, and she didn’t
feel obliged to fix me.


Sylvia Boorstein

hurtling by

Days and nights go hurtling by
‘Till our lifetime comes to an end.
The life of mortals slips away
—Like the water of tiny streams.

Therigatha 145

Strongest Dad in the World

The Father n Son Story

China takes heat after shooting Tibetan pilgrims

NEW DELHI, India -- The two teenage girls were best friends. In their tiny farming village in Tibet, they had stayed up late many nights over four years plotting their escape.

Kelsang Namtso had become a Buddhist nun just last year, at the tender age of 16. Her friend, Dolma Palkyi, 16, wanted to go to India, and meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, before taking her vows.

Dolma says she managed to save nearly $1,400 for the arduous journey through the Himalayas. Half would go to the smugglers. In early September, the girls loaded their backpacks with yak butter, cheese, and barley, and finally set off.

Seventeen days later, Kelsang lay dying in the snow after an attack, captured by Western tourists' cameras, that is becoming an international incident and a stain on China's human rights record.

To continue reading article, goto:
China takes heat... from The Christian Science Monitor

follow the path to the end

A good actor is a man who represents the sediment, the unexplored and unexplained powers that have drifted down through the centuries; he takes the lessons he has gleaned and hides them deep inside him; his self-mastery is awesome; never does he bare his heart; no one may know how powerful he is until he strides onto the stage. All his life, he travels down unfamiliar roads to perform at the most out-of-the-way theaters in the most godforsaken towns, and everywhere he goes he searches for a voice that will grant him genuine freedom. If he is so fortunate as to find that voice, he must embrace it fearlessly and follow the path to the end.


Snow, Orhan Pamuk

Video footage of Chinese police shooting Tibetan pilgrims

Pro Tv cameraman Sergiu Matei returned to Romania after climbing Himalaya and brought home with him a shocking story.

To see video footage of Chinese police shooting Tibetan pilgrims on their way to see the Dalai Lama at Dharamsala, India,
Click: Video Footage

For info on Invasion n Illegal Annexation of Tibet,
goto Tibet

respect for all faiths

"I consider myself as someone who is a devout follower of the Buddha Shakyamuni.
I can actually claim that my admiration for the Buddha is grounded in a genuine
conviction based upon understanding of the essence of his teachings. I also feel
that at least in me there is the perfect realization of taking refuge in the Buddha,
Dharma and Sangha. So this is the case of my own personal belief as a committed
practicing Buddhist.

But at the same time when I look at other faith traditions such as Judaism, Christianity,
Islam, Hinduism and other major world religions, I have a profound sense of admiration and
reverence for them. This is because each of the great spiritual traditions has served the spiritual
needs of millions of individuals in the past, they continue to do so and they will continue in the
future. They provide spiritual solace and inspiration as well as a deep sense of fulfillment of
peoples’ spiritual needs. In a sense these are very powerful and profound methods for other
sentient beings to bring about the fulfillment of their spiritual aspirations. They are in a sense
sources of profound benefit to millions of individuals.

So when I look at these other faith traditions from this angle, my admiration and reverence for
these traditions tremendously increases. One of the aspects this reflects is the diversity and
multiplicity of the mental inclinations, spiritual inclinations and mental dispositions and interests
of sentient beings."


The Dalai Lama at Illinois 1999
Picture: The Dalai Lama at the Western Wall in Jerusalem (www.guysen.com)

CAIGENTAN 菜根谭

One who craves solitude understands the cosmos
just by looking at the white clouds and rocky crags.

One who seeks wealth and honour
finds respite in singing and dancing.

Only the self-sufficient person
is unaffected by noise or quiet,
the magnificent or the withered,
and finds any place to be just right.



CAIGENTAN by Hong Zicheng, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty
Translated by Robert Aitken with Daniel Kwok

Goto site:
CAIGENTAN 菜根谭

narrow road

Nowhere in this wide universe
have we a fixed abode.

Matsuo Basho
Narrow Road to the Interior

never seek to tell

Never seek to tell thy love
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind does move
Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart;
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears—
Ah, she doth depart.

Soon as she was gone from me
A traveler came by
Silently, invisibly—
Oh, was no deny.



William Blake

eternity's sunrise

He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy.
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise.

William Blake

non-violence

"I am prepared to die,
But there is no cause
for which I am prepared to kill."

M. Gandhi

Pic: Displaced children in Darfur, US Aid

silent space

For language to have meaning,
there must be intervals of silence somewhere,
to divide word from word, utterance from utterance.
He who retires into silence does not necessarily hate language.
Perhaps it is love and respect for the language
which impose silence upon him.
For the mercy of God is not heard in words unless it is heard,
both before and after the words are spoken,
in silence.

Thomas Merton

not all

Not all who wander are aimless.

Especially not those who seek truth

... beyond tradition

... beyond definition

... beyond the image



Film, Mona Lisa Smile

Photo Credit: Seattle Times

pretensions

Consistent orientation towards death, which breaks the pretensions of everything which claims attention, my own pretensions above all, without any slackening of responsibility and energy in choosing and fulfilling the possibilities that are open on each occasion, that alone is the mode of existence of the enlightened and resolved human being.



HJ Blackham on Heidegger
Six Existentialist Thinkers

Thich Nhat Hanh's Letter

Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington DC, USA

Plum Village
Le Pey 24240
Thenac, France

Dear Mr President

Last night, I saw my brother (who died two weeks ago in the USA) coming back to me in a dream. He was with all his children. He told me, "Let's go home together." After a millisecond of hesitation, I told him joyfully, "Ok, let's go."

Waking up from that dream at 5 am this morning, I thought of the situation in the Middle East; and for the first time, I was able to cry. I cried for a long time, and I felt much better after about one hour. Then I went to the kitchen and made some tea. While making tea, I realized that what my brother had said is true: our home is large enough for all of us. Let us go home as brothers and sisters.

Mr. President, I think that if you could allow yourself to cry like I did this morning, you will also feel much better. It is our brothers that we kill over there. They are our brothers, God tells us so, and we also know it. They may not see us as brothers because of their anger, their misunderstanding, and their discrimination. But with some awakening, we can see things in a different way, and this will allow us to respond differently to the situation. I trust God in you; I trust Buddha nature in you.

Thank you for reading.

In gratitude and with brotherhood,
Thich Nhat Hanh
Plum Village

Plum Village

Canon

Canon like you've never heard before.

walking away

...... how selfhood begins with a walking away,
And love is proved in the letting go.





C. Day Lewis,
Walking Away

just walk

There is no problem so great
that it cannot be solved by walking.

Kierkegaard

I never am

Personal existence is self-projecting,
it is not what it is
but what it will be,
because it is not formed and finished
but has an open future.

I never am
but always will be.


HJ Blackham
Six Existentialist Thinkers

lone kayak

The serious problems in life are never fully solved.
The meaning and the purpose of a problem seem not to lie in its solution but in our working at it incessantly.
This alone preserves us from stultification and petrifaction.


Carl Jung

the meaning you have given

The phenomenal world has no meaning
beyond the meaning given to it
by our own interpretation.


Treasury of Truth

Remembering Mother Teresa 5 Sept 1997

“Mother Teresa,” Sr Nirmala added, “respected people of all faiths. Devotion to her is spreading across religious boundaries, and she is surely watching over us all, praying that universal brotherhood and love may encompass all humankind.”


To read full article, goto:
Sr Nirmala Remembers

changing hues

Gain, loss, neglect and attention
Insult, praise, pleasure and pain
These unstable human experiences
Are transient changing vissisitudes of life

Knowing this, the mind of sage
Closely observes the changing experience
His mind not lured by pleasing experience
What is not pleasing, he does not hate


Treasury of Truth

Mastering Your Own Mind

From Psychology Today, Mastering Your Own Mind:

As Kabat-Zinn says: "Awareness gives you your life back. You can then decide what to do with it."


For full article, goto:
Mastering Your Own Mind Article

mirror mirror

Do not worry about what others do or not do.
Rather, look within yourself,
And consider what you yourself have done
or left undone.


Treasury of Truth

Billy Kilson

Certainly, one of the best drummers ever.

Watch him here:
Billy Kilson Video Clip
Billy Kilson Home Page

I am, am I not?

"I am, am I not?
but what am I?
What is this elusive self
that is always elsewhere
whenever I try to grasp it?
And this familiar world -
why is it silent
when I ask the reason for my existence here?"


Clearing the Path

Ven Dr K Sri Dhammananda 1919-2006

The Chief monk of Malaysia and Singapore, Ven. Dr K Sri Dhammananda Maha Nayaka Thera passed away peacefully at 12.42 pm today. He was 87.

Buddhist Channel
Webcast Life & Works

anyone at all

Funny how I feel more myself with you
Than anybody else that I ever knew
I hear it in your voice, see it in your face
You've become the memory I can't erase

You could have been anyone at all
A stranger falling out of blue
I'm so glad it was you

Wasn't in the plan not that I could see
Suddenly a miracle came to me
Safe within your arms I can say what's true
Nothing in the world I would keep from you

You could have been anyone at all
An old friend calling out of blue
I'm so glad it was you

Words can hurt you if you let them
People say them and forget them
Words can promise words can lie
But your words make me feel like I can fly

You could have been anyone at allAnd let that catches me when I fall
I'm so glad it was you


Carole King


Music Tracks section below, rhs.

Restorative Justice

Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behaviour. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that include all stakeholders.

Restorative programmes are characterized by four key values:
1. Encounter: Create opportunities for victims, offenders and community members who want to do so to meet to discuss the crime and its aftermath
2. Amends: Expect offenders to take steps to repair the harm they have caused
3. Reintegration: Seek to restore victims and offenders to whole, contributing members of society
4. Inclusion: Provide opportunities for parties with a stake in a specific crime to participate in its resolution


More info@:
Guidelines - Restorative Justice Through Dialogue

Guidelines - Restorative Justice Site

Law, Buddhism & Social Change

International Conference

Law, Buddhism, and Social Change: A Conversation with the 14th Dalai Lama

Wednesday, September 20
Thursday, September 21
O'Brian Hall, North Campus
University at Buffalo, State of New York

A two-day academic conference "Law, Buddhism, and Social Change" at the University at Buffalo will open with a conversation with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on the morning of Wednesday, September 20, in the Law Library in O'Brian Hall on the North Campus. This important conference represents the path-breaking efforts of the Law and Buddhism project at UB, the only such academic endeavor in the world. Although Law and Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism are established and well-endowed areas of study, the study of Law and Buddhism is new.

To read more, click:
Official Website

Mitsuko Uchida

"You can practise as much as you like. You can study as much as you like, work as much as you like, think as much as you like at home. But exposure is dangerous. There are plenty of examples of people who have become addicted to exposure, musicians and otherwise. Exposure, power and money go hand in hand and are peculiarly dangerous and addictive.

I understood completely one day I was not going to be the most highly paid musician. I was not going to be the most famous. I was not going to cash in or play as much as possible. I wanted to keep my life my own and not be a great unhappy pianist. I need time to myself to relax. If you keep the balance right, nothing is better than a musician's life. Sometimes I'm asked if I would pay to give concerts, and I would - but instead they pay me. Aren't I lucky!"

Mitsuko Uchida

Click:
Official Site - Mitsuko Uchida
Borletti Buitoni Trust for young musicians

many n few

In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities.
In the expert's, there are few.

Suzuki Roshi

deep within

"Centeredness is the cure for impulsiveness.
Serenity is the master of restlessness.
Knowing this, one of universal nature is placid
and never departs from the center of his own being.
Though he may move about all day, he never loses his poise.
Though he may be surrounded by splendor and comfort,
he is always dispassionate and undistracted."

Truly, he cherishes what is deep within.

Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu
道德经, 老子

To read Lao Tzu's works in English & Chinese, go to:
'Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu'

rich n poor

We have become rich in knowledge,
but poor in wisdom.

Carl Jung

interval between notes

"The notes, I handle no better than many pianists.
But the pauses between the notes -- ah, that is
where the art resides."

Artur Schnabel

is love enough?

John Welwood, PhD in Clinical Psychology, addresses a human peculiarity; why do relationships that begin in mutual tenderness sometimes end in mutual terrorism?

For the pdf article, click

'Is love enough? by John Welwood'

Tycoon backs multi-faith centre

To read article at BBC, click:

'Tycoon backs multi-faith centre'

ignorance

Ignorance is not an absence of knowledge,
nor a state of non-knowing.
It is an active misapprehension of reality.

not lost

All that is gold does not glitter:
not all those that wander are lost.


J R R Tolkien

do not stand at my grave and weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!



Mary Frye (1932)

hardwired spirituality

"Therefore, spirituality may be hard-wired," said Hughes, quoting Dr. Herbert Benson, founding president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Chestnut Hill, Mass. “Spirituality is seen as an innate human trait that is very much like a drive. It’s a longing, a hunger for a connection with the transcendent and the divine,”

To read article,
'Sacred Minds' from Science & Theology News

present moment

The present moment
contains past and future.
The secret of transformation
is in the way we handle
this very moment.

Vasubandhu

Grown-Up Christmas List

www.yalibnan.com


GROWN-UP CHRISTMAS LIST
(D.Foster-L.Thompson Jennings)


Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
with childhood fantasies

Well,I'm all grown-up now;
can you still help somehow?
I'm not a child,
but my heart still can dream...

So here's my lifelong wish
my grown-up Christmas list...
not for myself,
but for a world in need...

No more lives torn apart
that wars would never start,
and time would heal all hearts.
Every man would have a friend,
that right would always win,
and love would never end...
this is my grown-up Christmas list.

What is this illusion called
the innocence of youth?
maybe only in our blind belief
can we ever find the truth.



David Foster

David Foster Site

not two, not one

we are two, yet one.

aml.2006

Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences

Dr. Alan Wallace recently gave a lecture at Google headquarters in Mountainview California.

Alan Wallace, the Santa Barbara Institute’s founder and president, combines an extensive background in contemplative practice with equally rigorous academic and scientific training. From 1971 to 1984, he immersed himself in Tibetan Buddhist studies, first in Dharamsala, India, and then in Switzerland under the tutelage of the eminent scholar Geshe Rabten. He then received a B.A. in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College, followed by a Ph.D. in religious studies at Stanford University.

From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Wallace taught in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where his classes focused on Tibetan Buddhist studies and the interface between science and religion. He is the author of many books, including The Taboo of Subjectivity: Toward a New Science of Conscousness, Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground, and Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point Mind-Training, as well as numerous scholarly articles.


The lecture can be viewed by clicking here or visiting:

Google Video Online Lecture: Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences



For more info on Alan Wallace and Santa Barbara Institute of Consciousness Studies, see

Alan Wallace Online

Santa Barbara Institute of Consciousness Studies

Please Call Me By My True Names

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who approaching in silence, feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the 12 year old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.


Thich Nhat Hanh

cross the abyss

"What can we gain by sailing to the moon
if we are not able to cross the abyss
that separates us from ourselves?"



Thomas Merton

ever changing times

Ever Changing Times

It's an ever changing time
I see, that clock upon the wall
Well it don't bother me at all
It's an ever changing time

And me, ever changing time
Everything is going so much faster
It seems like I'm
Watching my life, and everything I do
Wonder if the dreams that I believed in
Still come true

Caught in between, it comes back to
You and me running out of time, I gotta find me a better understanding
Everything keeps forgetting whats mine, I gotta find me a way, less-demanding
And we're holding on so tight, together, all of our lives

And I, I had some big idea
So much of my life, still not completed
Hopes and Fears
Watching it change, into something new
Wondering if Im gonna find the answer, loving you

All of my life, it comes back to
You and me running out of time, I gotta find me a better understanding
Everything keeps forgetting whats mine, I gotta find me a way, less-demanding
And we're holding on so tight, together, all of our lives

I see, that clock upon the wall, well it dont bother me at all
It's a ever changing time


Performed by: Aretha Franklin

seeing

This is the supreme seeing: seeing what was not seen before.


Dudjom Rinpoche

spiritual path

There is the path of wisdom
and the path of ignorance.
They are far apart and lead to different ends...
Abiding in the midst of ignorance, thinking themselves wise and learned,
fools go aimlessly hither and thither like the blind led by the blind.
What lies beyond life shines not to those who are childish, or careless,
or deluded by wealth.


Katha Upanishad

salter's tree

Huge Elm thy rifted trunk all notched and scarred
Like to a warrior's destiny - I love
To stretch me often on such shadowed sward
And hear the sighs of summer leaves above
Or on thy buttressed roots to sit and lean
In careless attitude and there reflect
On times and deeds and darings that have been
Old cast aways now swallowed in neglect
While thou art towering in thy strength of heart
Stirring the soul to vain imaginings
In which life's sordid being hath no part
The wind in that eternal ditty sings
Humming of future things that burns the mind
To leave some fragment of itself behind.


John Clare

endless wanderings

Mesmerized by the sheer variety of perceptions,
beings wander endlessly astray in samsara's vicious cycle.


Jikme Lingpa

right speech

Before admonishing another, one should reflect this...
In due season will I speak, not out of season.
In truth will I speak, not in falsehood.
For his benefit will I speak, not his loss.
Gently will I speak, not harshly.
In kindness will I speak, not anger.


Vinaya

precious transience

"... infinitely precious in their very transience."


Thomas Bien

water n ice

"On the path of practice, knowledge is an obstacle that must be overcome.
We must be ready to abandon our knowledge at any moment in order
to get to a higher level of understanding."

Thich Nhat Hanh

We may consider the perspective of water and ice.
A living encounter is water, continually flowing, always ready to take new shape.
Knowledge is ice: hardened, fixed.
Being mindful means the ice of our knowledge to melt into the living water of a
personal encounter with another human being.
It is only in such an encounter that true healing takes place.

Thomas Bien

courageous speech

Courageous speech has always held us in awe.


David Whyte