our basic goodness

Our minds can’t accept the fundamental genuineness and all-rightness of our lives.

We are actually very resistant to this reality.

We hate it because it is too simple, and we persistently think we need more.

Norman Fischer

calm

When the mind is calm, it’s like a an ocean that’s calm

the wind is still, the boat is not rocking

the water is clear, and the air wide open

Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo, 1907 – 1961

Let it be

Free yourself from the illusion of good and bad days.

Labeling time makes us nostalgic of the past and demanding of the future.

There is only here and now.

Let it be.

Ram Dass

An inner bow

It is good, every once in a while

to let ourselves be stupefied by gratitude

to cast upon ourselves a spell against indifference

by moving through the world with an inner bow

at every littlest thing that prevailed

over the odds of otherwise in order to exist

Maria Popova

Sunday Quote: Filled with awe

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

Pope Francis, Laudato Si

The Serenity that is Always Here

There is a full moon this evening – the Harvest Moon.

The moon here represents our original mind: luminous, complete and unstained, not disturbed by fear or by having to explain itself. The lake is our ordinary everyday experience, which can get agitated by worries and anticipations. When stirred, the moon seems fragmented. When we are still and at ease, the water becomes clear and the moon is revealed, an indescribable and serene completeness.

吾心似秋月,
碧潭清皎潔。

My heart-mind is like the autumn moon,
in a clear and bright jade-green lake.

Nothing can compare with it
– how can I explain it in words?


Hanshanzi, Chinese Buddhist monk, poet, and spiritual writer