All conceptions as to the existence of the self, as well as conceptions as to the existence of a supreme self, as well as all conceptions as to the non-existence of the supreme self, are equally arbitrary, being only conceptions.
- Diamond Sutra
link: Tricycle
When the mirage is seen through, there is no need to mourn the lack of you; you were never there in the first place, just as there never was water in the mirage. The imagined water could never quench your thirst any more than the imagined self can bring peace.
link: Buddhist Geeks
Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions.
link: Zen Proverbs
The Buddhist approach to faith is that you help yourself rather than being helped by something outside yourself. You learn that you can help yourself, completely, and you have faith in your ability to do so. Buddhism is not particularly a centralized philosophy, which would be symbolized by a pyramid. Rather, one of the main symbols for Buddhism is a wheel. It is a circular approach rather than a pyramid approach. Your effort is recirculated. What you put out in a situation goes out and around and it comes back to you. Faith here is the solid ground of real appreciation of things as they are: that fire burns, that water flows. It is based on a real experience of how things work.
-Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
link: Ocean of Dharma
NATURE (noun)
The noun NATURE has 5 senses:
1. the essential qualities or characteristics by which something is recognized
2. a causal agent creating and controlling things in the universe
3. the natural physical world including plants and animals and landscapes etc.
4. the complex of emotional and intellectual attributes that determine a person’s characteristic actions and reactions
5. a particular type of thing
link: audioenglish
I close my eyes
only for a moment
and the moment’s gone
all my dreams
pass before my eyes a curiosity
dust in the wind
all we are is dust in the windSame old song
just a drop of water
in the endless sea
all we do
crumbles to the ground
though we refuse to see
dust in the wind
all we are is dust in the windNow, don’t hang on
nothing lasts forever
but the earth and sky
it slips away
And all your money
won’t another minute buyDust in the wind
all we are is dust in the wind
dust in the wind
everything is dust in the wind
link: Kansas
I understand that everything I know and do is a product of imagination; and I can accept without difficulty that it is ultimately unreal; but I’m glad it exists, and will engage that existence with as much conscious awareness as I can possibly muster. This is plenty to work with, and it inspires me to make the very best of what is present for myself, those around me, and for the collective whole. The future well-being of us all, said the Buddha a long time ago, lies in the direction of less conceptual attachment to views and more mindful awareness of phenomena. Unreal Imagination Exists.
link: Andrew Olendzki
It is our task to use the tools of meditation, mindfulness, spiritual friendship and study to gradually channel our energy more positively, to help us break through our fears and self-imposed limitations. To do this we have to learn to be patient, to introduce a gap between any experience of being hurt or misunderstood, and our response to that experience. We need to learn to forgive others for their imperfections and insensitivity. We need to learn how to disagree without being intolerant. And we need to be receptive to the vast perspective of the Dharma and allow it to change us.
link: Ratnaghosa
Subhuti was Buddha’s disciple. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness, the viewpoint that nothing exists except in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity.
One day Subhuti, in a mood of sublime emptiness, was sitting under a tree. Flowers began to fall about him. “We are praising you for your discourse on emptiness,” the Gods whispered to him.
“But I have not spoken of emptiness,” said Subhuti.
“You have not spoken of emptiness, we have not heard emptiness,” responded the Gods. “This is the true emptiness.” And blossoms showered upon Subhuti as rain.
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