humble and cleansed

enami nobukini

Today

while begging,

I got caught in a shower.

For some time, I found shelter

in an old shrine. Laugh if you like at

the one jar and one bowl I own!

Humble and cleansed —

my life a broken

house.

Ryokan

the reality is that we are safe

wholly absorbed in the breath

When we’re holding

the mental formations of despair

and suffering, we can look and see that

this has been born from that; suffering is born

because we are in touch with an image from

the past. The reality is that we are safe,

and we have the capacity to enjoy

the wonders of life in the

present moment.

When we recognize

that our suffering is based on images

instead of current reality, then living happily

in the present moment becomes

possible right away.

Thich Nhat Hanh

don’t use the mind to invoke a buddha

kazuhiko okushita

Buddhas don’t save buddhas.

If you use your mind to look for a buddha,

you won’t see the buddha.

As long as you look

for a buddha somewhere else,

you’ll never see that your own mind

is the buddha. And don’t use a

buddha to worship

a buddha.

And don’t use the mind to invoke a buddha.

Buddhas don’t recite sutras.

Buddhas don’t keep precepts.

And buddhas don’t break precepts.

Buddhas don’t keep or break anything.

Buddhas don’t do good or evil.

Bodhidharma

bodhimorema

proper ☯️ principles

A healthy family, a healthy country,

a healthy world – all grow

outward from a single

superior person.

The hexagram Chia Jen concerns the proper foundation of human communities. The I Ching teaches that all clans must have a superior person at their center if they are to prosper and succeed. Therefore, in order to improve our family, company, nation, or world community, we must begin by improving ourselves.

If you will observe healthy families you will always see present in them three qualities: love, faithfulness, and correctness. When we truly love others, we are naturally kind, gentle, and patient with them. When we are faithful to others, we place proper principles and conduct above temporary influences like anger, desire, or greed. And when we practice correctness, we spiritually nourish ourselves and all those around us. When all three qualities are cultivated, a healthy clan springs naturally into being.

The difference between paying lip service to these ideals and practicing them is profound. If you advocate high ideals and actions to others but do not embody them yourself, your influence will disintegrate for lack of a proper foundation. Therefore, in order to inspire superior qualities in others, you must first instill them in yourself.

Concentrate not upon influencing others or external events but upon strengthening your inner devotion to proper principles. When modesty, acceptance, equanimity, and gentleness become deeply ingrained in your character, they will flow steadily out from from you.

Soon you will find yourself enmeshed in a web of healthy relationships, and in this there is great good fortune.