forget all about yourself

kodo sawaki roshi

Concentration is not

to try hard to watch something.

In zazen, if you try to look at one spot,

you will be tired in about five minutes. This is

not concentration. Concentration means freedom.

So, your effort should be directed at nothing. You should

be concentrated on nothing. In zazen practice we say that

your mind should be concentrated on your breathing,

but the way to keep your mind concentrated

on your breathing is to forget all about

yourself and just to sit and feel

your breathing.

…If you

continue this practice,

eventually you will experience the

true existence which comes

from emptiness.

Shunryu Suzuki

real happiness is in the heart

hazrat inayat khan

Man seeks happiness in pleasure, in joy, but these are only shadows of happiness. The real happiness is in the heart of man. But man does not look for it. In order to find happiness, he seeks pleasure. Anything that is passing and anything that results in unhappiness is not happiness.

In reality very few in this world know what happiness means. Pleasure is the shadow of happiness, for pleasure depends upon things outside ourselves; happiness comes from within ourselves. Happiness belongs to the heart quality; pleasure to the outer world. The distance between pleasure and happiness is as vast as that between earth and heaven. As long as the heart is not tuned to its proper pitch one will not be happy. That inner smile which shows itself in a man’s expression, in his atmosphere, that belongs to happiness. If position were taken away and wealth were lost in the outer life, that inner happiness would not be taken away. And the smiling of the heart depends upon the tuning of the heart, the heart must be tuned to that pitch where it is living.

There are a thousand excuses for unhappiness that the reasoning mind will make. But is even one of these excuses ever entirely correct? Do you think that if these people gained their desires they would be happy? If they possessed all, would that suffice? No, they would still find some excuse for unhappiness; all these excuses are only like covers over a man’s eyes, for deep within is the yearning for the true happiness which none of these things can give. He who is really happy is happy everywhere, in a palace or in a cottage, in riches or in poverty, for he has discovered the fountain of happiness which is situated in his own heart. As long as a person has not found that fountain, nothing will give him real happiness.

If there is any source from where one can get the direction on how to act in life, it is to be found in one’s heart. The exercises of the Sufi help to get to the source where one can get the direction, the right direction, where there is a spark of the Spirit of Guidance. Those who care to be guided by the spirit, they are always guided, but those who know not whether such a spirit exists or does not exist, they wander through life as a wild horse in the woods, not knowing where it goes, why it runs, why it stands. It is a great pity to be thirsty and remain thirsty when the spring of fresh water is within one’s reach. There can be no loss so great in life as having the spark glittering in one’s heart and yet groping in the darkness through life.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

all barriers will disappear

david shrigley

Do not pursue

the outer conditions  

nor dwell in the inner void. 

Rest yourself in oneness with

things  and all barriers

will disappear.

Sengcan

the mother of the universe

eddie o’bryan

Something mysterious

and perfect existed before even heaven

and earth were born. Silent, immeasurable,

standing alone and unchanging, moving

without end or exhaustion, it is the

mother of the known and

unknown universe.

I don’t know

its name, so I call it by an

alias: tao. Forced to describe

it, I only say, “It is

great.”

That which is great continues.

That which continues goes far.

That which goes far returns.

Therefore tao is great,

Heaven is great, earth is great,

a person of tao is great. These

are the four greatnesses

in the universe.

A person of tao follows earth.

Earth follows Heaven.

Heaven follows tao.

Tao follows its

own nature.

Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu

Chapter 25

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lessen the power of the ego

amel bashir taha

It is

a fact of life that

times of decrease come upon us:

our resources are limited, difficulty surrounds us,

and our egos generate angry and unhappy emotions. Nonetheless,

such times are good for us. If we respond to them by quieting

our egos and turning sincerely to the Higher Power

for help, we emerge from the period of

decrease stronger, healthier,

and wiser.

When

we discover that we

are unable to achieve our goals,

our egos become infuriated. We are tempted

to harden into anger and bitterness, to lash out, to

desperately and aggressively grab for control

over the situation. If we do this,

however, we only push our

own salvation further

away.

The I Ching

counsels a withdrawal

into stillness now. The image is that

of a spring reverting to the inside of the mountain

during a time of drought. By returning to its quiet center

during the time of decrease, it avoids evaporating and exhausting

itself in vain. You would be wise to follow this example. To try

to force progress by arguing, manipulating, or making

excuses will only bring your own downfall. Instead,

disengage from your inferior elements —

however passionately they seek

expression – and turn to the

Sage for guidance and

assistance.

The

hexagram Sun

issues a call to sacrifice

negative feelings, accept the

powerlessness of the ego against the

currents of life, and return to contemplation

of the principles of the Sage. In stillness and

meditation we enrich the higher parts

of ourselves and thus bring

an end to the time of

decrease.

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 41, Sun / Decrease

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