just breathe

To
calm the mind
means to find the right
balance. If you try to force your
mind too much it goes too far;
if you don’t try enough it
doesn’t get there, it
misses the point
of balance.

Normally
the mind isn’t still,
it’s moving all the time,
it lacks strength. Making the
mind strong and making the body
strong are not the same. To make the
body strong we have to exercise it, to push
it, in order to make it strong, but to make the
mind strong means to make it peaceful, not to
go thinking of this and that. For most of us
the mind has never been peaceful, it has
never had the energy of samadhi, so
we establish it within a boundary.
We sit in meditation, staying
with the One who
knows.

There’s
no need to think
of anything special,
just concentrate on this
simple task for now, having
continuous presence of mind.
There’s nothing more to do, just
breathing in and out. Soon the mind
becomes peaceful, the breath refined.
The mind and body become light.
This is the right state
for the work of
meditation.

a new year rain

 

I have a ladle of wine

to share with you tonight

a new year rain drums on the roof

an ancient wind sings in the fields

considering the world’s 

springtime and fall

this body’s decay and emptiness

the destruction of the tombs on Peimang

let us sigh for all our heroes.
 
 
Lu You (1125-1210)
 

right here

 

If there

is peace in your mind

you will find peace with everybody.

If your mind is agitated you will find agitation

everywhere. So first find peace within and you will see

this inner peace reflected everywhere else.

You are this peace! You are happiness,

find out. Where else will you

find peace if not

within

you?

 

Papaji

 

Darkness

has been given as

a nightshirt to sleep in.

Remember how human beings

were composed from water and dust

for blood and flesh with oily resins heated

in fire to make a skeleton. Then the soul, the divine

light, was breathed into human shapes. The work now is

to help our bodies become pure light. It may look like

this is not happening. But in a cocoon every bit

of worm-dissolving slime becomes silk.

As we take in light, each part

of us turns to

silk.

 

We

made the night

a darkness, but we bring

shining dawnlight out of that.

In the same way the mound of your

grave will bloom with resurrection. Sufis

and those on the path of the heart use darkness

to go within. During the night vigil the universe

is theirs. With all the kings and sultans and

their learned counselors asleep, everyone

is unemployed, except those wakeful

few and the divine

presence.

 

Bahauddin

 

they come and go in birth and death

jesus
 

Great bodhisattvas

arrive at consummate skill in means;

they are always concerned with the welfare of all

sentient beings, they do not reject the realm of common

ignorance, do not seek individual escape, do not cling to their own

happiness. They only strive to edify and liberate others; they are

able to enter and exit meditations and liberations, and have

attained mastery of all concentrations. They come

and go in birth and death as though

roaming through a park,

never getting sick

of it.

 
book slut
 

They

may live in the palace

of demons or may be celestial beings —

they manifest their bodies in all realms of life.

They may become mendicants in non-buddhist groups,

yet they always avoid false views…They may appear as beautiful

women, intelligent and talented, foremost in the world…Though they

show attainment  of true enlightenment moment to moment, still

they do not stop the practice of bodhisattvas. This is their

fourth  unique quality, the ultimate consummation

of skill in means without relying

on the teaching of

another.

 

Avatamsaka Sutra