small things

Veggie Bags

2010-03-09T18:54:42Z

Why put one pepper or a bunch of broccoli in a separate bag, just to put that bag in another grocery bag? We can save thousands and thousands of plastic bags by keeping our vegetables loose and not bagging each separately. You’re going to go home and wash them anyway right? If you’re buying 2 lbs of mushrooms though, you might have to bend the rules… unless you remember to bring your used ones back…

A Meaningful Life

2010-02-03T17:05:04Z

What makes for a meaningful life? I consider each day, not just the life as a whole. I look at four ingredients. First, was it a day of virtue? I’m talking about basic Buddhist ethics—avoiding harmful behavior of body, speech, and mind; devoting ourselves to wholesome behavior and to qualities like awareness and compassion. Second, I’d like to feel happy rather than miserable. The realized beings I’ve known exemplify extraordinary states of well-being, and it shows in their demeanor, their way of dealing with adversity, with life, with other people. And third, pursuit of the truth—seeking to understand the nature of life, of reality, of interpersonal relationships, or the nature of mind. But you could do all that sitting quietly in a room. None of us exists in isolation, however, so there is a fourth ingredient: a meaningful life must also answer the question, “What have I brought to the world?” If I can look at a day and see that virtue, happiness, truth, and living an altruistic life are prominent elements, I can say, “You know, I’m a happy camper.” Pursuing happiness does not depend on my checkbook, or the behavior of my spouse, or my job, or my salary. I can live a meaningful life even if I only have ten minutes left.

-B. Alan Wallace

Your Culturally Created Self

2010-01-11T20:37:42Z

The ego, which has traditionally been the enemy of the spiritual aspirant, is not just an individual entity. It also has a collective dimension. The collective ego is your culturally conditioned self-the conglomeration of conscious and unconscious ideas that represent the way you assume life is supposed to be. It is all of the “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts” you have absorbed from those around you and from the shared history of your culture or ethnic background. It is a set of subtle and not-so-subtle beliefs, ideas, and ways of seeing the world that you deeply subscribe to but may not even be aware of. So much of the individual that you experience yourself to be has been created by the cultural worldspace that you were born into. And that’s not a bad thing, in and of itself. It only becomes a problem when you don’t know how conditioned you are. But the more you are able to shed light on all the different ways in which you are conditioned, the more space will open up for real autonomy-freedom of choice to be the person you want to be. So the culturally created ego is a very significant dimension of the self that needs to be brought to light in your own awareness. And it is not an easy task. It takes an inspired degree of mental focus and a willingness to deconstruct the very foundations of who you think you are-over, and over, and over again. But this process is a critical part of human evolution and spiritual transformation.

-Andrew Cohen

Real Freedom

2010-01-05T21:21:44Z

Freedom means being able to choose how we respond to things. When wisdom is not well developed, it can be easily obscured by the provocations of others. In such cases we may as well be animals or robots. If there is no space between an insulting stimulus and its immediate conditioned response—anger—then we are in fact under the control of others. Mindfulness opens up such a space, and when wisdom is there to fill it one is capable of responding with forbearance. It’s not that anger is repressed; anger never arises in the first place.

-Andrew Olendzki

Breaking Worlds

2009-12-22T16:11:40Z

The most valuable of yoga postures is to stand unshaken in calm inner serenity amidst the crash of breaking worlds.

-Paramahansa Yogananda

In Defense of Desire

2009-11-10T20:46:46Z

There is more to desire than just suffering. There is a yearning in desire that is as spiritual as it is sensual. Even when it degenerates into addiction, there is something salvageable from the original impulse that can only be described as sacred. Something in the person wants to be free, and it seeks its freedom any way it can.

As the well-known contemporary Indian teacher Sri Nisargadatta, famous for sitting on a crowded street corner selling inexpensive bidis, or Indian cigarettes, once commented, “The problem is not desire. It’s that your desires are too small.” The left-handed path means opening to desire so that it becomes more than just a craving for whatever the culture has conditioned us to want. Desire is a teacher: when we immerse ourselves in it without guilt, shame, or clinging, it can show us something special about our own minds that allows us to embrace life fully.

-Mark Epstein

The Rapture of Being Alive

2009-11-10T17:32:37Z

People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.

-Joseph Campbell

An Instrument

2009-11-03T16:42:51Z

When we are not attached to who we think we are, life can move through us, playing us like an instrument. Understanding how everything is in continual transformation, we release our futile attempts to control circumstances. When we live in this easy connection with life, we live in joy.

-James Baraz

Vehicle for Awakening

2009-10-30T16:22:52Z

As the Buddhist view has consistently demonstrated, it is the perspective of the sufferer that determines whether a given experience perpetuates suffering or is a vehicle for awakening. To work something through means to change one’s view; if we try instead to change the emotion, we may achieve some short-term success, but we remain bound by forces of attachment and an aversion to the very feelings from which we are struggling to be free.

-Mark Epstein

Be Calm In Your Heart

2009-10-30T16:20:26Z

PEACE. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of all of those things and still be calm in your heart. ” ~ unknown

-Unknown

Dreams Seem Strange

2009-10-30T16:09:05Z

We know that our dreams are just ways we have of telling ourselves about ourselves when we are asleep, and yet we have learned to keep from ourselves so much of who we fully, truly are that our dreams seem strange. Amazing, isn’t it? What we tell ourselves about ourselves must be told with so much secrecy and arcane symbolism that we can’t remember it, and if we can, we can’t understand it. At such moments our inner world seems shrouded, muted, alienated, as the natural world seems when it is covered with snow.

Isn’t it sad to realize that we have learned not to accept who we fully are? And isn’t it wonderful to remember that gradually, with courage, we can come to accept and include even what at first had appeared so strange, so horrible, so not-me in our dreams?

-Sylvia Forges-Ryan

Total Trust

2009-10-22T18:03:29Z

If you are with a man you don’t trust, it is only because you prefer unsurrendered love to surrendering wide open in total trust. It feels safe. You are afraid to let go of control - part of you doesn’t trust love’s command - so you have chosen a man who doesn’t demand your surrender with his depth of integrity. If you did trust the command of love, you would only settle for a deep man capable of opening you more deeply than you could instruct him.

-David Deida

The Universe Is Interested in You

2009-10-13T17:54:26Z

The universe is more interested in you than you are in it. Why? Because the universe is trying to evolve, at the level of consciousness, and consciousness can only develop through you. Human beings are the vehicles through which consciousness can take the next step. From this perspective, we are merely pawns in a much larger process. Spiritual awakening is not about you or me—it’s about the evolution of the process itself. Individuals who have been culturally conditioned to see the world through a very small and personal lens find that very hard to appreciate. But as you begin to awaken, you will start to see your own experience from the perspective of evolution itself. And you will begin to understand that when you become deeply interested in the evolution of consciousness and culture, the universe becomes interested in you! A potential partner in the evolutionary process appears, in the form of you.

-Andrew Cohen

Come and See

2009-10-12T21:50:22Z

Perhaps because of our Judeo-Christian background, we have a tendency to regard doubt as something shameful, almost as an enemy. We feel that if we have doubts, it means that we are denying the teachings and that we should really have unquestioning faith. Now in certain religions, unquestioning faith is considered a desirable quality. But in the Buddha-dharma, this is not necessarily so. Referring to the dharma, the Buddha said, “ehi passiko,” which means “come and see,” or “come and investigate,” not “come and believe.” An open, questioning mind is not regarded as a drawback to followers of the Buddha-dharma. However, a mind that says, “This is not part of my mental framework, therefore I don’t believe it,” is a closed mind, and such an attitude is a great disadvantage for those who aspire to follow any spiritual path. But an open mind, which questions and doesn’t accept things simply because they are said, is no problem at all.

-Ani Tenzin Palmo

Don’t Go It Alone

2009-10-12T21:47:03Z

Aristotle said that in order for people to become virtuous, we need role models—others who have developed their capacities for courage, self-control, wisdom, and justice. We may emphasize different sets of virtues or ideas about what makes a proper role model, but Buddhism also asserts that, as we are all connected and interdependent, none of us can do it all on our own.

Acknowledging this dependency is the first step of real emotional work within relationships. Our ambivalence about our own needs and dependency gets stirred up in all kinds of relationships. We cannot escape our feelings and needs and desires if we are going to be in relationships with others. To be in relationships is to feel our vulnerability in relation to other people who are unpredictable, and in circumstances that are intrinsically uncontrollable and unreliable.

-Barry Magid

Giving up is a good thing

2009-10-12T21:46:19Z

The practice of seeing clearly is what finally moves us toward kindness. Seeing, again and again, the infinite variety of traps we create for seducing the mind into struggle, seeing the endless rounds of meaningless suffering over lusts and aversions (which, although seemingly urgent, are essentially empty), we feel compassion for ourselves. And then, quite naturally, we feel compassion for everyone else. We know as we have never known before that we are stuck, all of us, with bodies and minds and instincts and impulses, all in a tug-of-war with our basic heart nature that yearns to relax into love. Then we surrender. We love. We laugh. We appreciate.

-Sylvia Boorstein

To do list

2009-10-01T15:57:00Z

To help with the stress associated with our busy lifestyles and seemingly endless responsibilities, create an ongoing to do list. We feel so much better when we have a handle on all of the things we need to get done. And we feel even better than that when we cross them off of the list. With the availability of smart phone, PDAs, and personal computers now-a-days, it’s easier than ever to keep our priorities organized and available to us at all times. I like to keep mine synced up on my calendars on my phone and computer with alerts to remind me.

Get to bed early

2009-10-01T15:50:14Z

An easy way to reduce stress and energize your body and mind is to get to bed early and spend the hour before bed winding down with quiet activities like reading, meditation, or a warm bath. Very simple and effective!

The Same Boat

2009-09-29T22:53:39Z

We’re all in the same boat. Born as we are in this human body, we can’t escape the blessings and tortures of the human brain. From our first breath, we yearn for love and understanding in the most complicated ways imaginable. We find it most satisfying as we learn to give it. The ability to do this comes from acceptance of our frailties. By understanding the conditions of our own lives, we accept the conditions of others. Compassion is not condescension, but a leveling of the playing field, a recognition of yourself in others and an acceptance that their stress is your stress, that their happiness is your own. The gulf between us all is imaginary, born of insecurity and fear.

-Stephen Schettini

Road to the Landfill

2009-09-25T17:25:33Z

We all have to buy stuff from time to time. So, we mind as well shop with the knowledge that everything we do buy is on a slow (or fast) road to the landfill. Basically, we’re actually buying future garbage. This awareness can help us to slow down and consider what we really need… which will save money too. And then it can motivate us to look for the products that consume the fewest and most sustainable resources from manufacturing to shipping to the products that will break down and contribute the least to pollution.

Say I’m Sorry

2009-09-25T17:18:13Z

When you’re wrong, say I’m sorry…. and really mean it. Doesn’t it feel good to let go of your attachment to being right? It feels good to admit it to yourself. It’s actually freeing! Plus, you’re making someone else feel cared for. Win, win!

A Force for Universal Awakening

2009-09-21T19:12:29Z

In meditation we seem to be sitting by ourselves, but we do not sit just for ourselves. By focusing our attention on the breath, the body, thoughts, feelings, and sensations, or any other facet of our experience in meditation, we become more mindful—not mindless—through the transformative power of moment-to-moment alertness and presence of mind. Instead of absentmindedly stumbling through life like sleepwalkers, we can use contemplative practice to achieve extraordinary insight into ourselves and the world in which we live; to inhabit and appreciate more fully the here and now; to free our minds and open our hearts, and to relax into our natural state. The cultivation of mindfulness helps us wake up to things as they are rather than as we would like them to be. And as we wake up to truth, to reality, we become a force for universal awakening, working with what actually is, not delusive fictions.

-Lama Surya Das

One Process

2009-09-21T19:07:25Z

In Evolutionary Enlightenment, the perennial revelation that there is only One is interpreted as the recognition that we are all part of One Process—a singular cosmic unfolding that began fourteen billion years ago and is still evolving, in this very moment, as you and as me. Every aspect of your experience in every moment, from the gross to the subtle, has been produced and is being produced by a cosmic process. Your physical form has been produced by a process that is the evolution of the exterior of the cosmos. Your psychological and emotional experience has been produced by a process that is the evolution of the interior of the cosmos. When you awaken to this perspective, you literally can no longer see yourself as separate. You can’t see your experience, at any level, as occurring in isolation from everything else that exists. The separate world of “me” that the ego creates is seen for what it is: an illusion. And you realize that even your capacity to experience that illusory world of “me” has been produced by this vast process. You cannot stand outside of it. You are the process.

-Andrew Cohen

Part of the Whole

2009-09-16T05:10:01Z

A human being is part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe’; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion… is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison.

-Albert Einstein

Do You Love Me?

2009-09-16T05:08:13Z

A lover asked his beloved,
Do you love yourself more
than you love me?

The beloved replied,
I have died to myself
and I live for you.

I’ve disappeared from myself
and my attributes.
I am only present for you.

I have forgotten all my learnings,
but from knowing you
I have become a scholar.

I have lost all my strength,
but from your power
I am able.

If I love myself
I love you.
If I love you
I love myself.

-Rumi

Looking for Your Face

2009-09-16T05:05:55Z

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered at the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow

My soul is screaming in ecstasy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your effulgence
has lit a fire in my heart
and you have made radiant
for me
the earth and sky

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer

-Rumi

Become Aware of Awareness

2009-09-16T05:02:00Z

The goal of attention, or shamatha, practice is to become aware of awareness. Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the “support,” of the mind. It is steady and unchanging, like the pole to which the flag of ordinary consciousness is attached. When we recognize and become grounded in awareness, the “wind” of emotion may still blow. But instead of being carried away by the wind, we turn our attention inward, watching the shifts and changes with the intention of becoming familiar with that aspect of consciousness that recognizes Oh, this is what I’m feeling, this is what I’m thinking. As we do so, a bit of space opens up within us. With practice, that space—which is the mind’s natural clarity—begins to expand and settle.

-Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

A Mysterious Summons

2009-09-16T05:00:47Z

Why is it that some of us are driven blindly, madly, and passionately to struggle to transcend our own limitations? And to do so not merely for our own sake but for the sake of a higher purpose that we feel yet can barely see? Why is it that in those precious moments when we are most conscious and most awake, we intuit a deeper sense of conscience and care that is not personal? What is that soft vibration that tugs on our hearts and beckons us to courageously leap beyond the small confines of our ego so that we will participate in the life process in a much deeper and more authentic way? In the way I understand it, this is the deepest and most profound manifestation of the evolutionary impulse itself—the very same energy and intelligence that initiated the creative process fourteen billion years ago. That energy and intelligence is now awakening to itself as the spiritual impulse, the mysterious compulsion towards consciousness that serious seekers feel stirring deep within their very own souls. Why is it that some of us who come from a completely secular background find ourselves compelled towards our own spiritual depths, seemingly out of the blue? For many it feels like Consciousness or Spirit is calling the Self to Itself, unprompted by external circumstances. And where does this mystical summons originate? It comes from the same fathomless source that the big bang came from!

-Andrew Cohen

Assume the Best

2009-09-12T18:47:44Z

Assume the best intentions of others before jumping to the negative conclusion. It’s amazing how much this simple shift can help any relationship. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we shouldn’t be skeptical at times. The lack of skepticism could lead to it’s own set of problems. But if we look for the positive first, many unnecessary confrontations can be prevented before they ever start.

Eat Organic

2009-09-11T19:52:32Z

Organic foods are good for many reasons and here are just a few. They contain less pesticides and nitrates, which have been linked to a range of health problems including diabetes and Alzheimer’s, organic plant products are more nutrient dense, have higher levels of minerals, contain more antioxidants, and organic animal products contain more polyunsaturated fatty acids. Plus, they have much less of a negative effect on the land and water supply.

Mountain Guides

2009-09-11T19:48:28Z

A good spiritual friend who will help us to stay on the path, with whom we can discuss our differences frankly, sure of a compassionate response, provides an important support system which is often lacking. Although people live and practice together, one-upmanship often comes between them. A really good friend is like a mountain guide. The spiritual path is like climbing a mountain: we don’t really know what we will find at the summit. We have only heard that it is beautiful, everybody is happy there, the view is magnificent and the air unpolluted. If we have a guide who has already climbed the mountain, he can help us avoid falling into a crevasse, or slipping on loose stones, or getting off the path. The one common antidote for all our hindrances is noble friends and noble conversations, which are health food for the mind.

-Ayya Khema

Effort of Ego

2009-08-26T14:59:23Z

The ego is not a thing but a subtle effort, and you cannot use effort to get rid of effort—you end up with two efforts instead of one. The ego itself is a perfect manifestation of the Divine, and it is best handled by resting in Freedom, not by trying to get rid of ego, which simply increases the effort of ego itself.

-Ken Wilber

Beauty Seeking Itself

2009-08-26T14:56:58Z

The world is nothing more than Beauty’s chance to show Itself. And what are we? Nothing more than Beauty’s chance to see Itself. For if Beauty were not seeking Itself we would not exist.

-Ghalib

How to Be Happy

2009-08-10T20:01:53Z

In this world, all qualities spring from preferring the wellbeing of others to our own, whereas frustrations, confusion, and pain result from selfish attitudes. By adopting an altruistic outlook and by treating others in the way they deserve, our own happiness is assured as a byproduct. We should realize that self-centeredness is the source of all suffering, and that thinking of others is the source of all happiness.

-HH the Dalai Lama XIV

The Truth of Suffering

2009-08-10T19:58:21Z

Sometimes people feel that recognizing the truth of suffering conditions a pessimistic outlook on life, that somehow it is life-denying. Actually, it is quite the reverse. By denying what is true, for example, the truth of impermanence, we live in a world of illusion and enchantment. Then when circumstances change in ways we don’t like, we feel disappointed, angry, or bitter. The Buddha expressed the liberating power of seeing the unreliability of conditions: “All that is subject to arising is subject to cessation. Becoming disenchanted one becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion the mind is liberated.”

It’s telling that in English “disenchanted,” “disillusioned,” and dispassionate” often have a negative connotation. But looking more closely at their meaning reveals their connection to freedom. Becoming disenchanted means breaking the spell of enchantment, waking up into a greater and fuller reality. This is the happy ending of so many great myths and fairy tales. Being disillusioned is not the same as being disappointed or discouraged. It is a reconnection with what is true, free of illusion. And “dispassionate” does not mean indifference or lack of vital energy for living. Rather, it is the mind of great openness and equanimity, free of grasping.

-Joseph Goldstein

The Energy of Consciousness

2009-08-04T17:12:45Z

Consciousness, in manifestation, has its own energy. And when we feel the unique energy of consciousness powerfully and palpably, we have spiritual experiences. Consciousness is not inert or passive but active. We discover this for ourselves when we recognize that consciousness is always mysteriously seeking for itself, when we become aware of the pulsation of that subtle impulse within us that is spiritual yearning. I’m speaking about the tug of the heart from the deepest part of the Self. That tug is the felt urge towards the mystery of consciousness. It is the drive towards transcendence and spiritual freedom. It’s the mystical pulsation that arises from our own interiors, compelling us to seek our own salvation. The energy of consciousness is the experience of overwhelming fullness of being, lightness of being, a spiritual ecstasy that reaches toward infinity, a fearless transparency that knows no other, and an indestructible throbbing buoyancy that is the very essence of what life is.

-Andrew Cohen

Iron Rusts

2009-08-04T17:09:18Z

Just as iron rusts from disuse & stagnant water putrefies… so our intellect wastes unless it is kept in use.

-Leonardo da Vinci

Regret, Not Guilt

2009-08-01T16:22:17Z

The difference between guilt and regret is that the guilt never faces the wrongdoing straightforwardly. There’s just this strong emotion of “I wish it hadn’t happened. I wish I hadn’t done it. I wish I had never gotten angry.” Or, “I wish I hadn’t done that embarrassing thing,” and so on. Regret is the opposite of guilt. We acknowledge it, we expose to ourselves that we have done something harmful, and how it came about from our ignorance, but we don’t get caught in emotions or story lines.

- Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Predicting the Future

2009-08-01T16:18:27Z

We don’t need a psychic to tell us what our future experience will be—we need only look at our own minds. If we have a good heart and helpful intentions toward others, we will continually find happiness. If instead, the mind is filled with ordinary self-centered thoughts, with anger and harmful intentions toward others, we will find only difficult experiences.

-Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

World of Illusion

2009-08-01T16:15:59Z

-Joseph Goldstein

Full of Doubt

2009-07-27T18:27:27Z

It’s important to note that the most sensitive, self-reflective souls among us—those of us with the highest vision, ideals, and standards—often have the lowest sense of self-worth, because we constantly fail to meet our idealized standards. Maybe that’s why George Bernard Shaw once remarked that “the ignorant are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt.”

-Dan Millman

Self Worth is Not a Thing

2009-07-27T18:24:54Z

Self-worth is not a thing; it is a perception. Just as a gymnast begins a routine with ten points and receives deductions for each mistake, so you began life with a natural, complete sense of worth. (Have you ever met an infant with self-worth issues?) But as you grow, you serve as your own judge, deducting points when you misunderstand the nature of living, and learning—when you forget you are a human-in-training and that making mistakes and having slips of integrity and mediocre moments are a part of life, not unforgivable sins.

-Dan Millman

Not All Pain is Negative

2009-07-27T18:06:23Z

Not all pain is negative, even though we label all forms of pain as such and resist them. Positive-negativity is a circumstance that causes us to go deeper, to search ourselves, to stop placing blame on the causes of suffering outside ourselves, and take self-responsibility.
Circumstances arise and hard times come so that we may grow through them, so that we may evolve. I like to say that a bad day for the ego is a good day for the soul. When we look back on some of our most challenging experiences, we admit that we wouldn’t trade what we gained from them for remaining the same as we were. Something within acknowledges that during those times when we are pressed against the ropes of life, we learn to become more generous, to forgive, to never give up on ourselves or others. We learn to regenerate, to rejuvenate, to surrender.

-Michael Bernard Beckwith

The Invitation

2009-07-27T17:59:10Z

It does not interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It does not interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with the wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another and be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul, if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from it’s presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be hear. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

-Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Rest in Natural Great Peace

2009-07-27T17:55:06Z

When I meditate, I am always inspired by this poem by Nyoshul Khenpo:

Rest in natural great peace
This exhausted mind
Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thought,
Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves
In the infinite ocean of samsara.

Rest in natural great peace.

Above all, be at ease, be as natural and spacious as possible. Slip quietly out of the noose of your habitual anxious self, release all grasping, and relax into your true nature. Think of your ordinary emotional, thought-ridden self as a block of ice or a slab of butter left out in the sun. If you are feeling hard and cold, let this aggression melt away in the sunlight of your meditation. Let peace work on you and enable you to gather your scattered mind into the mindfulness of Calm Abiding, and awaken in you the awareness and insight of Clear Seeing. And you will find all your negativity disarmed, your aggression dissolved, and your confusion evaporating slowly like mist into the vast and stainless sky of your absolute nature.

-Sogyal Rinpoche

Discover Our Humanity

2009-07-17T16:03:05Z

Everything with substance casts a shadow. The ego stands to the shadow as light to shade. This is the quality that makes us human. Much as we would like to deny it, we are imperfect. And perhaps it is in what we don’t accept about ourselves—our aggression and shame, our guilt and pain—that we discover our humanity.

-Connie Zweig & Jeremiah Abrams

Failing to Notice

2009-07-16T16:30:52Z

The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.

-R. D. Laing

Evil People

2009-07-15T22:56:48Z

If only it were so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary to separate them for the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

-Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Not Knowing

2009-07-10T15:18:28Z

Not knowing means to be open to all eventualities, to not prejudge a person or situation. If your mind is full of preconceived notions, there is no room for an unbiased view. It is like when your hands are full of objects—you cannot pick up anything new. A closed mind causes separation and suspicion. Like an umbrella, a mind is only useful when it is open.

Unparalleled Freedom

2009-07-07T16:31:45Z

The traditional notion of enlightenment was all about winning release—profound existential release from the world and the time process. And that release occurs when you begin focus on the Ground of your own Being, on the nature of consciousness itself, free from any identification with time or any objects. As that happens, you sink deeper and deeper, until you find yourself in an ocean of timelessness. And when you find yourself in this ocean of timelessness, if you have the courage to stay very awake, what happens is that the sense of time ultimately disappears altogether. And that’s the only place and the only way to experience unparalleled and perfect freedom, because it is only in that mysterious place that exists before time began, before the universe was created, that perfection exists. The only thing that is perfect is that empty ground, because nothing has happened there yet—the world has not been created, no mistakes have been made, and no chaos or confusion could possibly arise, because nothing has ever happened. That is why, when you enter into this timeless depth, you will have the experience of rapture and absolute release. It’s a natural result of recognizing the inherently already perfect nature of that empty ground.

-Andrew Cohen