There are no better cosmetics than a severe temperance and purity, modesty and humility, a gracious temper and calmness of spirit; and there is no true beauty without the signatures of these graces in the very countenance. ~Arthur Helps
The pine tree’s voice is always whispering
Yet how many pause to listen?
For when the churning mind is still,
The Diamond Heart within
Reflects even the falling dusk that
Shrouds every eye and branch
And hears, but listens not.
Walking then, with Courage and Kindness,
Never ceasing to walk in Wonder,
We follow our ancient path.
For the Way of the sword is folded two;
Like the rose we have thorns,
And like the rose, we unfold
~By G. Bluestone
If I search your face only looking for my reflection
How can I see you as you really are
If I fill the hours with empty chatter
How can I hear you when you finally decide to talk
It is love, indeed
This that brings me to you
And this is why a new house needs to be built
With doors big enough for understanding and compassion to fit through
~by Jenifer Edwards
The selfless giving, the service, the kindness which you give out into this world that is the currency of (the) meaning (of life). ~Ajahn Brahm
Complaining is finding faults, wisdom is finding solutions. ~Ajahn Chah
Mindfulness is life. Whenever we don’t have mindfulness, when we are heedless, it’s as if we are dead. ~Ajahn Chah
Why cling to the arrows shot at you?
Insults
Wounds
Time heals you see.
Why hold so tightly
Do these things define you?
Do these things set you free?
Why inject yourself with these poisons of the mind
Anxiety
Greed
Anger
Despair
Why not let them go
Set them free.
Accept the choices you have
And your responsibilities.
Accept all that is, rather than “as it should be”
For what does define “you”
What will set you free
What if you never find great meaning
What if, in not clinging,
You find stillness
Calm
Honesty
Health
Peace
~By Jeniffer Edwards
by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
When the Buddha told Ananda that the entirety of the practice lies in having an admirable friend, he wasn’t saying something warm and reassuring about the compassion of others. He was pointing out three uncomfortable truths — about delusion and trust — that call for clear powers of judgment.
The first truth is that you can’t really trust yourself to see through your delusion on your own. When you’re deluded, you don’t know you’re deluded. You need some trustworthy outside help to point it out to you. This is why, when the Buddha advised the Kalamas to know for themselves, one of the things he told them to know for themselves was how wise people would judge their behavior. When he advised his son, Rahula, to examine his own actions as he would his face in a mirror, he said that if Rahula saw that his actions had caused any harm, he should talk it over with a knowledgeable friend on the path. That way he could learn how to be open with others — and himself — about his mistakes, and at the same time tap into the knowledge that his friend had gained. He wouldn’t have to keep reinventing the dharma wheel on his own.
So if you really want to become skillful in your thoughts, words, and deeds, you need a trustworthy friend or teacher to point out your blind spots. And because those spots are blindest around your unskillful habits, the primary duty of a trustworthy friend is to point out your faults — for only when you see your faults can you correct them; only when you correct them are you benefiting from your friend’s compassion in pointing them out.
Regard him as one who
points out
treasure,
the wise one who
seeing your faults
rebukes you.
Stay with this sort of sage.
For the one who stays
with a sage of this sort,
things get better,
not worse.
— Dhp 76 Continue reading
It is possible to speak truth in anger.
When so done, people tend to hear the anger and not the truth.
It is possible to speak truth in arrogance.
When so done, people tend to hear the arrogance
and not the truth.
It is possible to speak truth in deceitful ways.
When so done, people tend to sense the deceit
and take the truth for more deceit.
It is possible to speak truth in loving kindness.
When so done, people tend to hear the love and the truth.
Or so it seems in my experience.
~By Jesa MacBeth
“Discipline” is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you’re wrong. But self-discipline is different. It’s the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It’s all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won’t do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up-restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain-just watch it come up and don’t get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience. ? Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
