What is lovely never dies, But passes into other loveliness, Star-dust, or sea-foam, flower or winged air. ~Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Smiling is infectious,
You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.
~Author Unknown
In order to change we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired. ~Author Unknown
Photo credit: Randy Neufeldt
In the beginning we learn what still water is like and what flowing water is like. After practicing for a while we will see how these two support each other. We have to make the mind calm, like still water. Then it flows. Both being still and flowing: this is not easy to contemplate.
We can understand that still water doesn’t flow. We can understand that flowing water isn’t still. But when we practice we take hold of both of these. The mind of a true practitioner is like still water that flows, or flowing water that’s still. Whatever takes place in the mind of a Dhamma practitioner is like flowing water that is still. To say that it is only flowing is not correct. Only still is not correct. But ordinarily, still water is still and flowing water flows. But when we have experience of practice, our minds will be in this condition of flowing water that is still.
This is something we’ve never seen. When we see flowing water it is just flowing along. When we see still water, it doesn’t flow. But within our minds, it will really be like this; like flowing water that is still. In our Dhamma practice we have samādhi, or tranquility, and wisdom mixed together. We have morality, meditation and wisdom. Then wherever we sit the mind is still and it flows. Still, flowing water. With meditative stability and wisdom, tranquility and insight, it’s like this. The Dhamma is like this. If you have reached the Dhamma, then at all times you will have this experience. Being tranquil and having wisdom: flowing, yet still. Still, yet flowing. ~Ajahn Chah
If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another. If you wish to know that you are safe, cause another to know that they are safe. If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help another to better understand. If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another. ~Dalai Lama
Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue. ~Buddha
The perfume of sandalwood,
Rosebay or jasmine
Cannot travel against the wind.
But the fragrance of virtue
Travels even against the wind,
As far as the ends of the world.
Like garlands woven from a heap of flowers,
Fashion from your life as many good deeds.
~The Dhammapada
A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine. ~Unknown
Khmer children in my mother’s hometown.
Photo credit: Randy Neufeldt
Spend a day with nature.
Start before the sun.
Leave your cozy house
For something new and fun.
Walk along a path,
Close your eyes and see.
Feel the cold wind brushing
Your skin so tingly,
What do you hear? Listen now.
Listen for the voice.
It whispers softly to your soul
Through all of nature’s noise.
The sky is growing slowly brighter
The breeze seems to quicken,
As if to hide from what is coming
O’re the East horizon.
What is it saying as it hurries,
While foliage laughs in song?
It’s changed its tune as the sun
Comes out to greet the throng.
Feel the warmth now penetrate
Where goose pimples had been,
And a fresh rejuvenation
Fills you from within.
Open your eyes and see the beauty
That you had not yet seen:
Dew on the grass, white butterflies,
Different shades of green,
Mist rising from the earth
Almost like a dream,
Busy bees check on blooms,
Working as team.
Petals on the tiny flowers
Seem more delicate.
And the breezes rise and fall,
Telling the day’s fate.
Breath in the fragrance of the morn’s
Mix of musty smells,
With pollen, dew, earth and such things
The breeze will carry well.
What is it saying? Do you hear?
The wind is whispering.
It’s asking you do dance among
Its fairies on the wing!
The birds now sing the chorus loud
From every nook and cranny.
And if you join in nature’s dance,
You find your joy uncanny.
As you whirl to nature’s song,
You start to feel so free,
You forget all but the sound
Of the wind and trees. Continue reading
When the winds of life is pushing you back, That’s when you push forward the hardest. ~ Yvonne Pierre
