Via Daily Dharma: Be Willing to Begin Anew

Intense times call for intense practice. But in the world, as in the zendo, intensity does not mean straining or pushing; rather, it is a willingness to begin fresh.

—Bonnie Myotai Treace, “Rising to the Challenge: Filling the Well with Snow”

Via Daily Dharma: Unconditional Care

To realize truly that there is only this nature, with no “other” outside us, is to naturally want to refrain from causing harm, just as we refrain from doing harm to one of our own limbs or eyes.

—Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, “Passion, Pain, and the Precepts”

Via Daily Dharma: Wise Compassion

Remember that you don’t have to like or admire someone to feel compassion for that person. All you have to do is wish for that person to be happy. The more you can develop this attitude toward people you know have misbehaved, the more you’ll be able to trust your intentions in any situation.

—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Head & Heart Together”

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Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - January 13, 2019 💌

In aging, our minds are often permeated by memories of the past or worries about the future. What gets missed is the present - and right there in the moment is the doorway into timelessness.

-  Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: A Moment of Stillness

Stillness in the midst of motion and commotion is free of will, direction, and time. It is a complete letting be of what is from moment to moment.

—Toni Packer, “Unmasking the Self”

Via Daily Dharma: Letting Go of the Story

Witnessed without judgment, the spasms of defense and aggression, the hint of a child’s tears behind the eyes, relax and dissolve. The story of injury and humiliation dies on the vine.

—Joel Agee, “Not Found, Not Lost”

Via Daily Dharma: Just Listen

Open yourself to the music of the world in this moment, in this place.

—Martine Batchelor, “Instructions for Listening Meditation”

Via Daily Dharma: Free To Question

When we ask an open question we have not yet found an answer. And this leaves the mind free, unobstructed, and ready for adventure… There is nothing ignorant or vague about this openness, because questioning actively engages the movement and fluidity of life.

—Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, “The Power of an Open Question”

Via Daily Dharma: Transform Challenges Into the Path

Every meditator has challenges. Rather than taking the obstacles as problems or as unfortunate distractions, a more useful attitude is to patiently and contentedly learn the skills and insights that can transform them into stepping stones along the path of practice.

—Gil Fronsdal, “Evaluate Your Meditation”

Via Daily Dharma: Finding What You Need

The perfect student is you. You have within you all the ingredients you need to practice. You are in charge, and once you realize this, you will seek—and find—all the help you need.

—Michael Wenger, “Competing with the Incomparable”

Via Daily Dharma: Nonviolence Starts Within

Meditation practice and the cultivation of heart-mind awareness give us the opportunity to respond to our emotions in a very nonviolent and compassionate way.

—Gerry Shishin Wick, “The Great Heart Way”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - January 6, 2019 💌

To us Maharaj-ji often repeated, "Sub Ek!" "It's all One!" He had a gesture in which he would hold up his index finger, almost in admonition, as if to say, "Can't you see it's all One?" Buddha, Christ, Moses, and Krishna are all just different aspects of the same being.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Turning Problems into Possibilities

The moment you notice it, take hold of that mental affliction with your attention and purposefully turn it into an aspiration. It’s as though you see the mental affliction as raw material, the way a potter would view clay. You don’t see clay as a problem; you see it as an opportunity to create something.

—Lama Kathy Wesley, “Your Mistakes Are Progress”

Via Daily Dharma: Dare To Drop Your Resistance Inbox x

If we slow down and drop our resistance to work’s unpleasantness, we discover that we are resourceful enough to be daring, free from fear and arrogance. Such confidence enables us to know instinctively which situations need to be confronted, which should be nourished, and which can be disregarded.

—Michael Carroll, “Mahakala at Work”

Via Daily Dharma: The Heart of True Happiness

Happiness is awakening to the question "Who is happy, who is unhappy, who lives, and who dies?" True happiness is uncaused, arising from the very nature of being itself.

—Adyashanti, “Conceptions of Happiness”

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - January 9, 2019 💌

When you know how to listen, everybody is the Guru - speaking to you - it's right here, always.

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Here’s Your Chance

Our true self has no idea of being separate, because it is before all ideas and thinking. Each bow is a chance to wake up from the illusion that we are somehow separate from the universe.

—Zen Master Bon Yeon, “Up and Down”