Healing - the Central Goal of Life

     Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.        Buddha

     “Healing is the central goal of life. I am not speaking of physical healing, a person can die healed: what I mean by ‘healing’ is a shift in our quality of life away from anguish & suffering, toward an experience of integrity, wholeness, & inner peace. … a process of adaptation, a coming to terms with things as they are.” 

       Mount BM. “The 10 commandments of healing.” J Cancer Educ 2006; 21(1): 50-1. 

Samish Island, WA

 

Have Patience & Keep on Truckin'!

     Hui-neng, an illiterate laborer, on accidentally hearing the Diamond Sutra, had an immediate profound awakening. He immediately inquired about the Sutra, and sought instruction from Hongren, the 5th patriarch of Chan Buddhism.
     Most of us take a much slower, more circuitous path - gradually (instead of suddenly) awakening. I read about Zen for 30 years, finding it captivating, but really understanding nothing. Then I slowly got into a sitting practice. It's been a very slow 15 year journey so far. Unlike Hui-neng, it's quite remarkable how slow many of us are catching on, and to what extent it happens.
      We're repeatedly advised to focus on the process itself, not the goal - awakening. Doing so becomes easier, the further one is down the path. Impatient zeal gradually transforms into infinite patience, persistence ...
     Initially, our priorities are egocentric AND we're so unaware of our egocentricity, that we would argue vociferously to the contrary.
     Gradually we see present reality with increasing clarity, gradually we let go of self-cherishing, and gradually we open our heart-mind to what is. Clarity and ease come very slowly, but they do come, and it's well worth the effort. Slow and steady wins the race. "Keep on truckin'!"

Studio 21 Art Gallery, Halifax, NS   http://www.studio21.ca/

Walk an Intelligent Path

            When walking through hell,
            KEEP WALKING

      These are excellent instructions, as long as one does not walk in circles. Wallowing is terribly common and comforting - in a sick way.
     One needs to follow a path that leads to the end of suffering - the Buddha's ONLY message.

Dale Chihuly   http://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/

Effacement, Relinquishment, Without a Trace

     The Buddha was called the Trackless One, leaving no trace, no footprints, like birds flying across the sky.

     As Emptiness constantly bubbles up into Form, emerging, emerging, emerging, all Compounded Things constantly return to Emptiness, leaving without a trace, relinquishing their individuality, all of it effaced. Everything a verb, a process in motion.

     There is no place to seek the mind:
     it is like footprints of the birds in the sky     from a Zen poem by Zenrin Kushu

Amy Dunlap   http://travel.nationalgeographic.com

Spoken Words & Insight Dialogue

     "Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud."      Herman Hesse

     That quote is highly relevant to Insight Dialogue (ID). I heard it on the latter half of this exceptional CBC radio show - Tapestry, Season 18: Episode 36 - well worth a listen:
     "Several months before the death of Douglas Campbell, actor R.H. Thomson recorded Campbell reciting the poetry of William Blake. For Thomson it was a way to express his love for Blake and for Campbell. He plays a selection of those recordings, to show why Campbell's voice was unique, and why poetry must be spoken aloud to achieve its true power. This is a stunning radio documentary prepared for Tapestry by Frank Faulk."
http://www.cbc.ca/tapestry/episode/2013/05/17/why-the-king-james-bible-is-a-hit-a-celebration-of-william-blake/

Buddha in a Seattle mall

Perseverence, Endurance, Stick-with-it-ness, Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Never Give Up!

     Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.        Buddha

John Dyer   http://travel.nationalgeographic.com

Anicca - Everything is Transient

     Corporality is transient, feeling is transient, perception is transient, mental formations are transient, consciousness is transient.       Buddha 

Prayer Wheel, Samish Island, WA