...

The human body is like a lightning flash,
Appearing then disappearing.
All trees bloom in spring,
Then decay in the autumn.
Live accordingly
With this rise and decline,
And have no fear.
The rise and decline;
Is just like a drop of dew on a blade of grass.

- Van Hanh (938-1018)

On the Mountain

Ching gorge, white rocks jut.
Cold sky: a few red leaves.
No rain upon this mountain path,
Just azure emptiness, to wet the cloak.

- Wang wei (701-761)

... be on guard against thinking of enlightenment as a "thing" to be grasped at, lest it, too, should become an obstruction. When the mind that was in darkness becomes enlightened, it passes away, and with its passing, the thing which we call Enlightenment passes also.

- Lankavatara Sutra

I made my home west of the Sha
Where water fills Sky Lake
And the moon fills the river
People are frightened when they see the heights
But once they arrive they know the trail
Dried snail shells on rock walls
Fresh tiger tracks in the mud
My door stays open
When spring days grow long
When paulownias bloom and cicadas call

- Stonehouse (1272-1352)

In a moment,
All my defilements have vanished.
Leaving both body and soul
Transparently pure.
So vast is it
Here between heaven and earth
That even alone,
All is well with me.
Today as I travel
Along the mountain peaks
Self and world are
Once and for all forgotten.
The winds of the immortals
Seem to caress my head,
As, tying up my hair,
I receive their secrets.

- Su Shih (1037-1101)

Remembering advice from a friend here:

“Respect Life. Give away what you love, what you cherish most; challenge your ego, be beautifully out of your mind, control yourself in full, evaluate the causality and the conditions and do your thing. Whenever you have to act either out of love or out of something else, choose the former. "
~black beetle

Flocks have flown high up and gone.
A single cloud fades into emptiness.
In meditation, endlessly we two.
Then only the Mountain of Reverence.

- Li Bai (701-762)

“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power.
Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget… another world is not only possible, she is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."
Arundhati Roy

Thus the wise one
Puts the mind down and lets it be.
Don’t say the Mind King
Is empty and without essence;
It can cause the body
To do evil and good.
It does not exist, nor is it nonexistent.
It appears and disappears unpredictably.
When the nature of mind
Departs from emptiness,
It can be sacred or profane.

- Fu Yu (497-569)

Dragon and tiger, monkey and horse--
They take effort to corral:
Let them fly and leap a little bit,
And their actions obstruct and obscure.
By perfecting silence, being as is,
A method truly sublime,
Capture and transform them
Into a heavenly wind.

- Fan Yunqiao (3rd c)

Refuse to play along
in this game of reality
its constant disagreement
with what you see
with your own eyes
with what you know
in your own heart
with what you feel
in your own bones.
Take back your minds.

~ Doc Livid

“Toward the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty, the Only Being, united with all the Illuminated Souls, who form the Embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance.”

Bowl of Saki

When the stream of love flows in its full strength, it purifies all that stands in its way, as the Ganges - according to the teaching of the ancients - purifies all those who plunge into its sacred waters.

Yi Gong's place to practice Chan:
A hut, in empty grove.
Outside the door, a single stunning peak.
Before the stair, deep valleys.
Sunset confused in footprints of the rain.
Blue of the void in the shade of the court.
Look, and see: the lotus blossom's purity.
Know, then, that nothing taints this heart.

- Meng Hao-ran (689-740)

The empty hand holds the hoe,
Feet walking, riding the water buffalo.
The man walks over the bridge
The bridge flows, the water does not flow.

- Fu Yu (497-567)

“Our objective is to realize and spread the knowledge of unity, the religion of love and wisdom, so that the human heart may overflow with love, and all hatred caused by distinctions and differences may be rooted out.”

Hazrat Inayat Khan