Advertisements
Latest
Drink your tea slowly and reverently
“Drink your tea slowly
and reverently,
as if it is the axis
on which
the earth revolves –
slowly, evenly,
without rushing
toward the future.
Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.”
and reverently,
as if it is the axis
on which
the earth revolves –
slowly, evenly,
without rushing
toward the future.
Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~
Beginning Anew
Beginning Anew is not to ask for forgiveness. Beginning Anew is to change your mind and heart, to transform the ignorance that brought about wrong actions of body, speech and mind and to help you cultivate your mind of love. Your shame and guilt will disappear, and you will begin to experience the joy of being alive. All wrong doings arise in the mind. It is through the mind that wrong doings can disappear.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
💙
Enjoying with awareness
If we are spiritual practitioners we feel contempt for samsaric situations; we are not seriously or deeply interested in them. This does not mean that we feel disgust for or reject everything. In our life, all is relative. In our life, not everything is how it should be, nonetheless we continue to live. We accept and integrate the various circumstances of life. This is part of our awareness. To accept everything with awareness is different from being completely attached. Some people have an exaggerated liking for this or that: this is attachment. However, it does not mean that if you are a good practitioner you cannot have likings. You can like and enjoy with awareness.
In the samsaric condition, we possess five or six senses, and with the senses we enjoy contact with objects. When we see an object, a flower for example, we may like it. We observe its beauty and smell its fragrance. We enjoy looking and smelling. To enjoy with awareness means to know the real nature of the object and not become attached to it. In this way, we enjoy without having negative consequences. If we are not aware, we become distracted with our liking for the flower; we want to possess the flower and attempt to have it. Thus, attachment increases, releasing all other emotions, with the ensuing negative karma.
In brief, if one is aware and undistracted the enjoyment of the senses does not pose any problem. If one is distracted, enjoyment always bears negative consequences, even if things appear joyful and gratifying. For that reason, the teaching says that all is illusion. When we see a nice object and we become attached, we resemble a moth which, attracted by a flame at night, flies into it, burns, and dies.
– Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
from the book “Longchenpa’s Advice from the Heart”
Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche on the web:
https://dzogchen.net/
http://webcast.dzogchen.net/
Close both eyes, see with the other one
“Close both eyes, see with the other one. Then we are no longer saddled by the burden of our persistent judgments, our ceaseless withholding, our constant exclusion. Our sphere has widened and we find ourselves quite unexpectedly in a new expansive location, in a place of Endless Acceptance and Infinite Love.”
~ Gregory Boyle ~
Follow the calmness
Develop the mind of equilibrium.
You will always be getting praise and blame,
but do not let either affect the poise of the mind:
follow the calmness, the absence of pride.
– Buddha
Sutta Nipata
What is in front of us right in the moment
We’re always in some kind of mood. It might be sadness, it might be anger, it might be not much of anything, just a kind of blur. It might be humor or contentment. In any case, whatever it is, that’s the path.
When something hurts in life, we don’t usually think of it as our path or as the source of wisdom. In fact, we think that the reason we’re on the path is to get rid of this painful feeling. In this way, we naively cultivate a subtle aggression against ourselves. However, the fact is that anyone who has used the moments, days, and years of his or her life to become wiser, kinder, and more at home in the world has learned from what’s happening right now. We can aspire to be kind right in the moment, to relax and open our heart and mind to what is in front of us right in the moment. Now is the time. If there’s any possibility for enlightenment, it’s right now, not at some future time.
– Pema Chödron
from the book “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times”
Recent Comments