Simple Intimacy

heavy snow

settling

on the landscape

listen

stillness

silence

peace

each breath

as if an act of caring

nurturing

based on Bill Morgan's June 4, 2020 guided meditation:
https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/resources/daily-sit/

watershedwooddesigns.ca

Simplicity, Patience, Compassion

     It's always important to remember that wisdom traditions are pragmatic ie teach methods that, through direct experience, are known to work. Follow the suggestions that sound reasonable. If they work for you, do more of the same; if they don't work for you, put them aside for now (but come back & try them again later ...).

I have just three things to teach: 
Simplicity, Patience, Compassion. 
These three are your greatest treasures. 

Simple in actions and thoughts, 
you return to the source of being. 

Patient with both friends and enemies, 
you accord with the way things are. 

Compassionate toward yourself, 
you reconcile all beings in the world.                 Tao de Ching 

 Just around the corner from Halifax's wonderful new Cafe Lara cafelara.ca

The Work of This Moment - Clear & Simple

     "Toni Packer ... had a passionate intensity about what she called 'the work of this moment,' which she described as 'a profound kind of listening and openness that revealed the intense power and momentum of our human conditioning,' along with the discovery of 'an inner / outer silence - stillness - spaciousness in which there is no sense of separation or limitation, outside or inside.'
     Toni's insight and expression cut through all forms of self-deception with remarkable clarity and simplicity. She was interested in listening and looking without answers or formulas, without relying on the authority of the past. Everything she said was fresh because she always spoke and wrote out of a listening presence that was vibrantly alive."

       Tollifson J. A Questioning Life. Buddhadharma: A Practitioner's Quarterly. Winter 2013. http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com/

Without the Burden of Extra Baggage

     “In a group interview, Jack Kornfield innocently asked (Dipa Ma), ‘What is it like in your mind?’

     Dipa Ma smiled, closed her eyes, and quietly answered, ‘In my mind there are three things: concentration, loving-kindness, and peace.’

     Jack, not sure if he had heard correctly, asked, ‘Is that all?’

     ‘Yes, that is all,’ Dipa Ma replied.

      The room was silent. Then there were a few sighs and quiet laughs, followed by Jack’s barely audible whisper, ‘How wonderful.’”

Amy Schmidt. “Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master.” BlueBridge, NY, 2005.

 

Blossoming in Silence

     "The emergence and blossoming of understanding, love and intelligence has nothing to do with any tradition, no matter how ancient or impressive - it has nothing to do with time. It happens completely on its own when a human being questions, wonders, listens and looks without getting stuck in fear, pleasure and pain. When self concern is quiet, in abeyance, heaven and earth are open. The mystery, the essence of life is not separate from the silent openness of simple listening."                                                                  Toni Packer

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