Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots. ~Frank A. Clark
Want to change the world? First, change yourself. ~Venerable Wuling
Ego
Self-importance
keep us
from forgiving others
from forgiving ourselves;
Pride
Arrogance
keep us
from making peace with others
from making peace with ourselves.
~Venerable Wuling
The Third Patriarch of Zen
Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng-T’san
The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood,
the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things and such
erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity by passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things
is to miss their reality;
To assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking,
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To return to the root is to find meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.
Photo credit: Randy Neufeldt
Solitude is
When you do not need anyone around
And even if you are sick,
You are still happy.
Solitude is
To be wrapped in silence
By a mind unattached,
Sinking deep into a foundation of stability.
Solitude is
A clear understanding that
All of us, everything
Are just mental creations, conditioned.
Solitude is
To have abandoned the “I am” conceit,
And is free.
~Venerable Sujiva
He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. ~ St. Basil
Loneliness can only be healed by understanding and love. Sometimes we think that if we have sexual relations with someone else, we’ll feel less lonely. But the truth is that such sex doesn’t relieve the feeling of loneliness; it makes it worse. Sexuality should be accompanied by understanding and love. Without understanding and love, sex is empty. With understanding and love, sex can be holy. Source: Always Well Within | Thich Nhat Hanh
Our consciousness is fed with other consciousnesses. The way we make decisions, our likes and dislikes, depend on the collective way of seeing things. That’s why selecting the people you are around is very important. ~Thich Nhat Hanh
Photo credit: Randy Neufeldt
When you contemplate the big, full sunrise, the more mindful & concentrated you are, the more the beauty of the sunrise is revealed to you. ~Thich Nhat Hanh
2 December, 2014, Tergar Monastery, Bodhgaya
Gyalwang Karmapa continued the section in the text on the theme of death and impermanence, the second contemplation of the four common preliminaries. Today’s transmission began with a powerful evocation of the moment of death. Death is inevitable and cannot be escaped, however wealthy or powerful we are. Life is short and the time of death is uncertain, what can we have confidence in? Only the Dharma.
The text continues with various meditations on death and impermanence, followed by examples from different Buddhist texts and namthar which reinforce this view.
Life is like people meeting at a weekly market; the next day everyone is gone. The only thing which will accompany us at death is the Dharma. Thus we need to supplicate the Gurus, be diligent in our dharma practice, and devote our lives to virtue, as a matter of urgency.
A story from the life of the 11th century Kadampa master and meditator, Kharak Gomchung, provides an example of the attitude a dharma practitioner should adopt. Kharakpa gave many teachings on how to overcome attachment to mundane concerns, and he himself was renowned for his renunciation.
Once a tea merchant came to Kharakpa’s cave and left an offering of a brick of tea. Three years later the merchant returned to make another offering, but he found the first brick of tea untouched and gathering dust. Puzzled, he asked the meditator why he had not used the tea and Kharakpa replied, “I didn’t know whether I would boil the tea or the tea would boil me, and so I had no time! Take them both and go!” So the merchant picked up the two bricks of tea and left. Such is the urgency he felt of dharma practice. Continue reading
ព្រះត្រៃបិដក ប្រែថា កញ្រ្ចែង ឬ ល្អី ៣ សម្រាប់ដាក់ផ្ទុកពាក្យពេចន៍នៃព្រះសម្មាសម្ពុទ្ធ
The Tipitaka or Pali canon, is the collection of primary Pali language texts which form the doctrinal foundation of Theravada Buddhism. The three divisions of the Tipitaka are: Vinaya Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka, Abhidhamma Pitaka.
វចនានុក្រមសម្តេចសង្ឃ ជួន ណាត
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Listen to Khmer literature and Dhamma talk by His Holiness Jotannano Chuon Nath, Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia Buddhism.
Should anyone wish to ridicule me and make me an object of jest and scorn why should I possibly care if I have dedicated myself to others?
Let them do as they wish with me so long as it does not harm them. May no one who encounters me ever have an insignificant contact.
Regardless whether those whom I meet respond towards me with anger or faith, may the mere fact of our meeting contribute to the fulfilment of their wishes.
May the slander, harm and all forms of abuse that anyone should direct towards me act as a cause of their enlightenment.
As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, so the wise are not shaken by blame and praise. As a deep lake is clear and calm, so the wise become tranquil after they listened to the truth…
Good people walk on regardless of what happens to them. Good people do not babble on about their desires. Whether touched by happiness or by sorrow, the wise never appear elated or depressed. ~The Dhammapada
