Spring Flowers and Ancient Wisdom

Spring Flowers and Ancient Wisdom 

Ah, long at last the spring has arrived and along with it, our spirits soar to the sky amidst the colorful embrace of the blossoms. 

 

Much like the blossoms, age old wisdom and their colorful reference always fresh, always true keeps us advancing on the right path towards an honorable and fulfilling life. 

Here are some pearls of wisdom put in writing by illustrious T’ang Dynasty Zen master named Zengetsu for his pupils: 

 

Living in the world yet not forming attachments to the dust of the world is the way of a true Zen student. 

When witnessing the good action of another: encourage yourself to follow his example. Hearing of the mistaken action of another, advise yourself not to emulate it. 

Even though alone in a dark room, be as if you were facing a noble guest. Express your feelings, but become no more expressive than your true nature. 

Poverty is your treasure. Never exchange it for an easy life. 

A person may appear a fool and yet not be one. He may only be guarding his wisdom carefully. 

Virtues are the fruit of self-discipline and do not drop from heaven of themselves as does rain or snow. 

Modesty is the foundation of all virtues. Let your neighbors discover you before you make yourself known to them. 

 

A noble heart never forces itself forward. Its words are as rare gems, seldom displayed and of great value. 

 

To a sincere student, every day is a fortunate day. Time passes but he never lags behind. Neither glory nor shame can move him. 

Censure yourself, never another. Do not discuss right and wrong. 

 

Some things, though right, were considered wrong for generations. Since the value of righteousness may be recognized after centuries, there is no need to crave an immediate appreciation. 

Live with cause and leave results to the great law of the universe. Pass each day in peaceful contemplation. 

Blooms in the garden....Enjoy! 

The End

Reflections in Water 2

Reflections in Water 2

Buddhist Words- Art of Dharma

Mind at Peace

"When the mind is at peace,

the world too is at peace.

Nothing real, nothing absent.

Not holding on to reality,

not getting stuck in the void,

you are neither holy or wise, just

an ordinary fellow who has completed his work."

(By P'ang Yün-The Enlightened Heart 34)

"Thus shall ye think of this fleeting world:

A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;

A flash of lightning in a summer cloud;

A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream." 

(-Buddha, Diamond Sutra)

“Without insight, meditation cannot contain the highest state of quietude. 

Without meditation, wisdom cannot achieve its profundity of insight.”

(HU SHIH)

Fini

Accurate Proportion

Accurate Proportion

Sen no Rikyu, a tea-master, wished to hang a flower basket on a column. He asked a carpenter to help him, directing the man to place it a little higher or lower, to the right or left, until he had found exactly the right spot. "That's the place," said Sen no Rikyu finally.

The carpenter, to test the master, marked the spot and then pretended he had forgotten. Was this the place? "Was this the place, perhaps?" the carpenter kept asking, pointing to various places on the column.

But so accurate was the tea-master's sense of proportion that it was not until the carpenter reached the identical spot again that its location was approved.

Fini

Thoughtful Reflections

Thoughtful Reflections

Be independent and cling to nothing.

I-Hsuan

The prior moment of thinking, in which there is attachment to things, is that of affliction. The next moment of thinking, in which there is separation from things, is that of Perfect Wisdom.

The Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

You know these things as thoughts, but your thoughts are not your experiences, they are the echo and after-effect of your experiences: as when your room trembles after a carriage goes past. I however am sitting in the carriage, and often I am the carriage itself.

Friedrich Nietzsche 

If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

Albert Camus

Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.

Henry Van Dyke 

Our entire life, with our fine moral code and our precious freedom, consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.

Jean Anouilh

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

James Joyce

The End.