Pleasure and pain are equal in a clear heart.
No mountain hides the moon.
~Ikkyu
The Reality of not two (non-duality).
Zen & Conscious Living
February 28, 2016
February 27, 2016
Learning from nature
Be as nature is:
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
~Lao Tzu
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
~Zenrin Kushu
The water of the valley stream never shouts at the tainted world: “Purify yourself!”
But naturally, as it is, shows how it is done.
~Ryokan
You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to sail.
~Jon Kabat-Zinn
Look at the stream, there are rocks in its way. Does it slam into them out of frustration? It simply flows over and around them and moves on! Be like the water and you will know what harmony is.
~Zen saying
Obey the nature of things, and you are in concord with the Way; Calm and easy and free from annoyance.
~Xinxin Ming: Faith in Mind
February 24, 2016
The Power of Vulnerability ~Brene Brown
Brene Brown studies human connection -- our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk at TEDxHouston, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity:
February 22, 2016
Facing difficulties in life
Approaching problems wisely:
When faced with any difficulty of life, resolve it by following these four steps: face it, accept it, deal with it and let it go.
~ Chan Master Sheng Yen
To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.
~Eckhart Tolle
February 21, 2016
The Story of the Chinese Farmer
“The Story of the Chinese Farmer” is a parable about life and nature that helps us to stay grounded in truth:
"How fortunate.
Maybe.
How unfortunately:
Maybe."
~(Voice of: Alan Watts)
February 20, 2016
One universal body of life
The Tree of Life:
Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of Nature, a unique action of the total Universe. ~ Alan Watts
How wonderful will it be when all beings experience each other as limbs on the one body of life.
~ Shantideva
February 18, 2016
Difference between empathy and sympathy
What is the best way to ease someone's pain and suffering? In this beautifully animated RSA Short, Dr Brené Brown reminds us that we can only create a genuine empathic connection if we are brave enough to really get in touch with our own fragilities.
Brené Brown on Empathy:
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”
― Brené Brown
“We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.”
― Brené Brown
“Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
“Compassion is not a virtue -- it is a commitment. It's not something we have or don't have -- it's something we choose to practice.”
― Brené Brown, I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame
“We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
“When we stop caring about what people think, we lose our capacity for connection. When we become defined by what people think, we lose our willingness to be vulnerable.”
― Brené Brown
“There are too many people today who instead of feeling hurt are acting out their hurt; instead of acknowledging pain, they’re inflicting pain on others. Rather than risking feeling disappointed, they’re choosing to live disappointed. Emotional stoicism is not badassery. Blustery posturing is not badassery. Swagger is not badassery. Perfection is about the furthest thing in the world from badassery.”
― Brené Brown, Rising Strong
Brené Brown on Empathy:
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”
― Brené Brown
“We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.”
― Brené Brown
“Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
“Compassion is not a virtue -- it is a commitment. It's not something we have or don't have -- it's something we choose to practice.”
― Brené Brown, I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame
“We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
“When we stop caring about what people think, we lose our capacity for connection. When we become defined by what people think, we lose our willingness to be vulnerable.”
― Brené Brown
“There are too many people today who instead of feeling hurt are acting out their hurt; instead of acknowledging pain, they’re inflicting pain on others. Rather than risking feeling disappointed, they’re choosing to live disappointed. Emotional stoicism is not badassery. Blustery posturing is not badassery. Swagger is not badassery. Perfection is about the furthest thing in the world from badassery.”
― Brené Brown, Rising Strong
February 16, 2016
From not-knowing present-action arises
How presence moves:
"Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?
The Master doesn't seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present, and can welcome all things."
~ Tao Te Ching
February 14, 2016
Nonviolent Communication Workshop ~Marshall Rosenberg (Full Video 3 hours)
Nonviolent Communication Workshop ~Marshall Rosenberg (Full Video 3 hours)
“All violence is the result of people tricking themselves into believing that their pain derives from other people and that consequently those people deserve to be punished.”
― Marshall B. Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life
“Every criticism, judgment, diagnosis, and expression of anger is the tragic expression of an unmet need.”
― Marshall B. Rosenberg
“Don’t mix up that which is habitual with that which is natural.”
― Marshall B. Rosenberg
“I’ve just become aware that for thirty-six years, I was angry with your father for not meeting my needs, and now I realize that I never once clearly told him what I needed.”
― Marshall B. Rosenberg
“All violence is the result of people tricking themselves into believing that their pain derives from other people and that consequently those people deserve to be punished.”
― Marshall B. Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life
“Every criticism, judgment, diagnosis, and expression of anger is the tragic expression of an unmet need.”
― Marshall B. Rosenberg
“Don’t mix up that which is habitual with that which is natural.”
― Marshall B. Rosenberg
“I’ve just become aware that for thirty-six years, I was angry with your father for not meeting my needs, and now I realize that I never once clearly told him what I needed.”
― Marshall B. Rosenberg
February 12, 2016
Inner acceptance of whatever you are experiencing
“A woman in her thirties came to see me. As she greeted me, I could sense the pain behind her polite and superficial smile. She started telling me her story, and within one second her smile changed into a grimace of pain. Then, she began to sob uncontrollably. She said she felt lonely and unfulfilled.
There was much anger and sadness. As a child she had been abused by a physically violent father. I saw quickly that her pain was not caused by her present life circumstances but by an extraordinarily heavy pain-body. Her pain-body had become the filter through which she viewed her life situation.
She was not yet able to see the link between the emotional pain and her thoughts, being completely identified with both. She could not yet see that she was feeding the pain-body with her thoughts. In other words, she lived with the burden of a deeply unhappy self. At some level, however, she must have realized that her pain originated within herself, that she was a burden to herself. She was ready to awaken, and this is why she had come.
I directed the focus of her attention to what she was feeling inside her body and asked her to sense the emotion directly, instead of through the filter of her unhappy thoughts, her unhappy story. She said she had come expecting me to show her the way out of her unhappiness, not into it.
Reluctantly, however, she did what I asked her to do. Tears were rolling down her face, her whole body was shaking. “At this moment, this is what you feel.” I said. “There is nothing you can do about the fact that at this moment this is what you feel. Now, instead of wanting this moment to be different from the way it is, which adds more pain to the pain that is already there, is it possible for you to completely accept that this is what you feel right now?”
She was quiet for a moment. Suddenly she looked impatient, as if she was about to get up, and said angrily, “No, I don't want to accept this.” “Who is speaking?” I asked her. “You or the unhappiness in you? Can you see that your unhappiness about being unhappy is just another layer of unhappiness?” She became quiet again. “I am not asking you to do anything. All I'm asking is that you find out whether it is possible for you to allow those feelings to be there. In other words, and this may sound strange, if you don't mind being unhappy, what happens to the unhappiness? Don't you want to find out?”
She looked puzzled briefly, and after a minute or so of sitting silently, I suddenly noticed a significant shift in her energy field. She said, “This is weird. I 'm still unhappy, but now there is space around it. It seems to matter less.”
This was the first time I heard somebody put it like that: There is space around my unhappiness. That space, of course, comes when there is inner acceptance of whatever you are experiencing in the present moment.
I didn't say much else, allowing her to be with the experience. Later she came to understand that the moment she stopped identifying with the feeling, the old painful emotion that lived in her, the moment she put her attention on it directly without trying to resist it, it could no longer control her thinking and so become mixed up with a mentally constructed story called “The Unhappy Me.” Another dimension had come into her life that transcended her personal past – the dimension of Presence. Since you cannot be unhappy without an unhappy story, this was the end of her unhappiness. It was also the beginning of the end of her pain-body. Emotion in itself is not unhappiness. Only emotion plus an unhappy story is unhappiness.
When our session came to an end, it was fulfilling to know that I had just witnessed the arising of Presence in another human being. The very reason for our existence in human form is to bring that dimension of consciousness into this world. I had also witnessed a diminishment of the pain-body, not through fighting it but through bringing the light of consciousness to it.”
― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
There was much anger and sadness. As a child she had been abused by a physically violent father. I saw quickly that her pain was not caused by her present life circumstances but by an extraordinarily heavy pain-body. Her pain-body had become the filter through which she viewed her life situation.
She was not yet able to see the link between the emotional pain and her thoughts, being completely identified with both. She could not yet see that she was feeding the pain-body with her thoughts. In other words, she lived with the burden of a deeply unhappy self. At some level, however, she must have realized that her pain originated within herself, that she was a burden to herself. She was ready to awaken, and this is why she had come.
I directed the focus of her attention to what she was feeling inside her body and asked her to sense the emotion directly, instead of through the filter of her unhappy thoughts, her unhappy story. She said she had come expecting me to show her the way out of her unhappiness, not into it.
Reluctantly, however, she did what I asked her to do. Tears were rolling down her face, her whole body was shaking. “At this moment, this is what you feel.” I said. “There is nothing you can do about the fact that at this moment this is what you feel. Now, instead of wanting this moment to be different from the way it is, which adds more pain to the pain that is already there, is it possible for you to completely accept that this is what you feel right now?”
She was quiet for a moment. Suddenly she looked impatient, as if she was about to get up, and said angrily, “No, I don't want to accept this.” “Who is speaking?” I asked her. “You or the unhappiness in you? Can you see that your unhappiness about being unhappy is just another layer of unhappiness?” She became quiet again. “I am not asking you to do anything. All I'm asking is that you find out whether it is possible for you to allow those feelings to be there. In other words, and this may sound strange, if you don't mind being unhappy, what happens to the unhappiness? Don't you want to find out?”
She looked puzzled briefly, and after a minute or so of sitting silently, I suddenly noticed a significant shift in her energy field. She said, “This is weird. I 'm still unhappy, but now there is space around it. It seems to matter less.”
This was the first time I heard somebody put it like that: There is space around my unhappiness. That space, of course, comes when there is inner acceptance of whatever you are experiencing in the present moment.
I didn't say much else, allowing her to be with the experience. Later she came to understand that the moment she stopped identifying with the feeling, the old painful emotion that lived in her, the moment she put her attention on it directly without trying to resist it, it could no longer control her thinking and so become mixed up with a mentally constructed story called “The Unhappy Me.” Another dimension had come into her life that transcended her personal past – the dimension of Presence. Since you cannot be unhappy without an unhappy story, this was the end of her unhappiness. It was also the beginning of the end of her pain-body. Emotion in itself is not unhappiness. Only emotion plus an unhappy story is unhappiness.
When our session came to an end, it was fulfilling to know that I had just witnessed the arising of Presence in another human being. The very reason for our existence in human form is to bring that dimension of consciousness into this world. I had also witnessed a diminishment of the pain-body, not through fighting it but through bringing the light of consciousness to it.”
― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
February 11, 2016
The place of no pain
Be fully here:
A monk asked master, "How can we escape the cold and heat?"
Tozan replied, "Why not go where there is no cold and heat?"
"Is there such a place?" the monk asked.
Tozan replied, "When cold, be thoroughly cold; when hot, be hot through and through."
February 9, 2016
Bring me your mind
A restless mind:
Huike: "I have a restless mind and beg Master to settle it for me."
Bodhidharma: "Bring me your mind and I will settle it for you."
Huike (after searching for his mind): "Well, I can not find it."
Bodhidharma: "There, I have already settled it."
February 7, 2016
Incredible Display of Humanity
Mystery transit rider:
Ehab's Facebook post about the incident was shared more than 5,800 in 48 hours.
Reference link: BC CTV News
“His hand was hanging there so I just extended myself to him and just grabbed hold of his hand,” she said. “He completely calmed right down.”
They rode hand-in-hand until he reached his stop, at which point witnesses said he thanked her before walking off.
Fellow Surrey resident Ehab Taha was touched by her gesture, and decided to capture it with a photo:
After he uploaded it to Facebook with a brief summary of what happened, it was shared more than 16,000 times in a matter of days.
Reference link: Full Story
I saw the most incredible display of humanity on the sky train. A six foot five man suffering from drug abuse and\or mental health issues was being very aggressive on the bus with erratic movements, cursing, shouting, etc. While everyone was scared, this one seventy year old woman reached out her hand, tightly gripping his hand until he calmed down, sat down silently, with eventual tears in his eyes. I spoke to the woman after this incident and she simply said, "I'm a mother and he needed someone to touch." And she started to cry. Don't fear or judge the stranger on the bus. ~Ehab Taha
Ehab's Facebook post about the incident was shared more than 5,800 in 48 hours.
Reference link: BC CTV News
“His hand was hanging there so I just extended myself to him and just grabbed hold of his hand,” she said. “He completely calmed right down.”
They rode hand-in-hand until he reached his stop, at which point witnesses said he thanked her before walking off.
Fellow Surrey resident Ehab Taha was touched by her gesture, and decided to capture it with a photo:
After he uploaded it to Facebook with a brief summary of what happened, it was shared more than 16,000 times in a matter of days.
Reference link: Full Story
The Stories of Zen
Zen teachers have admonished their students to seek direct experience and regard book learning of any kind with skepticism.
Acknowledging the old masters admonition to seek realization directly rather than through analysis, we hope to avoid succumbing to this temptation by keeping the words "about Zen" to a minimum. Thus, presenting the stories of Zen provide great clarity about Zen.
Acknowledging the old masters admonition to seek realization directly rather than through analysis, we hope to avoid succumbing to this temptation by keeping the words "about Zen" to a minimum. Thus, presenting the stories of Zen provide great clarity about Zen.
A man was visiting a Zen master in Japan. The Zen master invited him to drink tea with him. They sat together and the man was talking and talking and talking about his understanding of Zen. In the meantime, the Zen master started to pour tea into the cup. He was pouring and pouring and pouring and pouring. When the cup was full he kept on pouring and the cup overflowed.
The man was talking but finally noticed the overflowing cup and said, "Stop! It cannot take any more. It's already full."
The Zen Master put the teapot aside and said, "Just like your mind. Always filled with opinions. How can I teach you anything?