Meditation timer
If you ever meditate, in any form whatever, you will want to know about the Berkeley meditation timer.
I wish I could learn to remember this, to make it really part of me (translated by Thomas Merton) --
When an archer is shooting for nothing
He has all his skill.
If he shoots for a brass buckle
He is already nervous.
If he shoots for a prize of gold
He goes blind
Or sees two targets--
He is out of his mind!
His skill has not changed. But the prize
Divides him. He cares.
He thinks more of winning
Than of shooting--
And the need to win
Drains him of power.
In a similar vein --
No use fretting over gold, beauty or fame;
Nurturing these, how can we calm
Our fluttering heart?Non attachment brings deep truth,
And a truthful nature brings immortality.Empty your heart,
Sit quietly on a mat.In meditation we become one with All;
Tao billows like the vapors
In a mountain valley,
And its supernatural power wafts into our soul.
-- Loy Ching-Yuen (1873-1960)
South and north, sharing
A single mountain gate,
Above and below, two temples
Both named T’ien-chu.
Dwelling therein is
An old dharma master,
Built tall and skinny
Like a stork or swan.
I do not know what
Practice he engages in,
But his green eyes
Reflect the mountain valleys.
Just looking into them
Makes one feel fresh and pure,
As if all one’s baneful vexations had been cleansed.
-- Su Shih (1073)
Wherever we are, no matter what we doing, we can feel the awareness of the Rigden – basic goodness, beginninglessness, and endless freedom.
Our basic goodness is not created by hope coming true, nor is it deflated when fear raises its head. It does not depend on externals. It doesn’t wax or wane from one moment to the next. With this impartial mind, we can practice compassion and wisdom freely.
-- Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, Ruling Your World
From the Daily Zen site --
The vagaries of life
Though painful,
Teach us
Not to cling
To this fleeting world.
-- Ikkyu (1394-1481)
I enjoy Nancy N.'s Just Thinking site and try to check in there regularly. Today I found a prayer there by St Thomas Aquinas. The first lines of it struck me as having a very Zen-like spirit --
.Grant, Lord my God, that I may never fall away in success or in failure; that I may not be prideful in prosperity nor dejected in adversity. . . .
From Bodhidharma (via Daily Zen) --
.Huike asked: If there are people intent on seeking the Path of Enlightenment, what method should they practice, what method is most essential and concise?
Bodhidharma answered: Let them just contemplate mind—this one method takes in all practices, and is indeed essential and concise.
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