...

The old pond
A frog leaps in.
Sound of the water.

Basho

When one truly dies and
Leaves the body,
One can go freely wherever one likes.
In the midst of profound darkness
Or when the doors and windows are shut,
One enters a state of freedom.
The body is like a dream.
When we see this and awaken,
Not a trace remains.

- Takuan (1573-1645)

No mouth nor tounge , nor eyes or ears know the Tao. Even the nose rarely guides one. And if it does it inevitability gets confused by its own vanity.

C Aczel

When your day is long
And the night
The night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough of this life
Well hang on.

Don't let yourself go
Cause everybody cries
And everybody hurts
Sometimes.
Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
(When your day is night alone)
Hold on, hold on.
(If you feel like letting go)
Hold on.

If you think you've had too much of this life
Well hang on
Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts.

R.E.M

Joy of living,
Living joy
Zen doctrine is null.
Before I die,
Here is the secret of my teaching:
My staff nods in agreement.
Katsu!

- Seigan Soi (1588-1661)

"And in the end, we were all just humans.. drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal our brokeness."
--F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.

- Dhammapada
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think

We are what we think.
All that we are arises from our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.
How can a troubled mind
Understand the Way?

- Dhammapada

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think
we are what we think

A volatile state of Uncertainty. Yet Uncertainty is nourishing. Ever-expanding. Ever-creating.

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: each particle of the physical world vibrates out of the vacuum from boundless, unlocalized, mere probability.

Uncertainty could be mother-like, and full of grace. Yet it makes us panicky, reactionary, eager to blame.

Try this, friend. Use another name. Don't call it "Uncertainty," but "Possibility." Taste the infinite possibility of holy bewilderment.

In a state of wonder the apple bud bursts, not knowing, "Will there be sunshine or rain?" Delicate petals unfold the inexorable geometry of the void, but no one can solve this broken symmetry of Zero.

In a state of wonder the cloud unveils a moon, whether she is full or new. Just so the miracle in the egg, blindly muscling a golden path through cracks in darkness.

Uncertainty, maturing into Wonder, dissolves fear. All we have is presence. We can listen. We don't need to know. Now be very quiet. Breathe down into the heart of possibility. Way will open.
—Fred LaMotte

We’ll see what happens...
—rookie

from a sufi email concerning a gathering now cancelled -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Commentary on Shafayat: Health—Part II, Chapter II

"GITHA: The fear of catching a disease is a also a cause of illness. There are people who wonder whether they are ill, and try to find out if there is something wrong with them.

TASAWWUF: These people are always examining themselves and keep the thought of self in front of them. This thought always interferes with the free flow of the breath and makes it impossible for the body to obtain full benefit of the spiritual light and of the energy of space. This in turn prevents inspiration and blessings from being received. There is nothing in life which is so akin to death as the constant thought of self.

When added to this there is the shadow of the thought “I am ill,” and one receives an impression which one really does not want to have. But this impression, so connected with the self, works its way rapidly to outer consciousness. That is one of the reasons why there are epidemics. It seldom means that the diseases are physically contagious. Call it germ, bacteria, or anything else, there are mental contagions, there are thoughts which make the world within dark and then there is no protection against disease. The way to protect oneself is to block out the thought of self. Therefore meditation and prayer are among the great medicines."

Your worst enemy cannot harm you
As much as your own thoughts, unguarded.
But once mastered,
No one can help you as much,
Not even your father or your mother.

- Dhammapada

Let it be still,
and it will gradually
become clear.
~Lao Tzu

It is ten long years since I
Even dreamed of going back home.
Now I stand alone amidst bluish peaks
On the bank of a turbid stream
Earth and sky a vast stillness
After the morning rain.
Ah, how many lives of pruning
Before the plum tree is made to bloom?

- Hsieh Fang-te

When among the pines
You hear the rustle of the wind
Whistling through the trees,
A voice also comes falling:
The bushwarbler’s waterfall!

- Takuan Soho (1573-1645)

If you give rise to a single thought,
The karmic fires will burst into flame.
There is no one who is burning you.
But rather you are burning yourself.
Meditating on the dharmadhatu nature,
Rising and disappearing like a lightning flash.
Knowing that it is only a creation of the mind,
Then all of these hells will be destroyed.

- Su Shih (1037-1101)