CLAIM YOUR PROMISE

The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over
you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you wi
th singing. - (Zephaniah 3:17)

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.

The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
...
Although its light is wide and great,
the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
Dogen
"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and lau
gh at the sky."

There is no place in Buddhism for using effort.

Just be ordinary and nothing special.
Relieve your bowels, pass water,
...put on your clothes, and eat your food.
When you're tired, go and lie down.
Ignorant people will laugh at me, but the wise will understand.
Lin Chi
Buddhism promises nothing. It teaches us to be what we are, where we are, consta
ntly, and it teaches us to relate to our living situations accordingly. That see
ms to be the way to proceed on our highway without being distracted by the sidet
racks and exits of all kinds. The signs say: "Tibetan Village, ...next exit"; Ja
panese Village, next exit"; Nirvana, next exit"; Enlightenment, next exit -- ins
tant one"; Disneyland, next exit." You get what you are promised. But after havi
ng gone to Disneyland or having taken part in the Nirvana Festival, then you hav
e to think about how you are going to get back to your car, how you are going to
get home. This means you have to get back on the highway once more. It is unavo
idable.
From "The Eightfold Path," in The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation

Immovable Mind
by Yung-ming Yen-shou
You wish to know the spirit of Yung-ming Zen?
Look at the lake in front of the gate.
...When the sun shines, it radiates light and brightness,
When the wind comes, there arise ripples and waves.
from The Golden Age of Zen

To what shall I compare this life of ours?

Even before I can say
it is like a lightning flash or a dewdrop
it is no more.
...
- Sengai

?"Your mind must become one, do not try to understand with your ears but with y
our heart. Indeed, not with your heart but with your soul."
Chuang Tzu

as human beings we have the capacity to enjoy limitless, blissful happiness there i
s nothing wrong with having pleasures and enjoyments. What is wrong is the confu
sed way we grasp onto these pleasures, turning them from a source of happiness i
nto a source of pain and dissatisfaction. It is grasping and attachment tha...t
is the problem, not the pleasure themselves "
Lama Thubten Yeshe
Two people have been living in you all your life. One is the ego, garrulous, dem
anding, hysterical, calculating the other is the hidden spiritual being, whose s
till voice of wisdom you have only rarely heard or attended to you have uncovere
d in yourself your own wise guide.
Sogyal Rinpoche
n Leadership
A leader leads by example whether he intends to or not. -Unknown
Nothing is as important as what you actually do. Not your intentions, not your p
romises, not your suggestions.
...
Today is your opportunity to put thoughts and words into deeds. Not because peop
le are watching; not because they may follow your lead, but solely because the d
oing, in itself, can make a difference in the world. What you do from day to day
matters if you make it matter.
You never know how today s kindness, generosity, integrity, or ingenuity will ripp
le into tomorrow.

What example will you set today?

Everyday we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize:a blue sky, w
hite clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eye
s. All is a miracle.-Thich Nhat Hanh
If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we,
but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.
Nhat Hanh
In order to rally people, governments need enemies... if they do not have a real
enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.
Nhat Hanh
In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.
Nhat Hanh
People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see
positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?
Nhat Hanh
Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not
have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles
that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, an
d being peace that we can make peace.
Nhat Hanh
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be
the source of your joy.
Nhat Hanh
The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic o
f human actions.
Nhat Hanh
We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a w
ill to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only o
ur own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love.
Nhat Hanh
Nothing can match the strength of those whose lives have been shaped and forged
through challenging and overcoming hardships. Such people fear nothing. The purp
ose of our Buddhist practice is to develop such strength and fortitude. To culti
vate such an invincible core is in itself a victory. It is also the greatest ben
efit. Those who ...can succeed in this endeavor will savor unsurpassed happiness
; they can manifest the supreme state of Buddhahood.
- Daisaku Ikeda
On Ends & Beginnings
Letting go isn t the end of the world; it s the beginning of a new life. -Unknown
When you ve loved every moment of an experience, it can feel like a death to watch
it fade into yesterday.
...
When a relationship ends, it might feel like you ll never love or smile again. Whe
n a job ends, you might think you ll never feel fulfilled in your work again.
You will. Just like every experience is impermanent, every feeling eventually fa
des and morphs into something else. Happiness becomes sadness becomes happiness
again.
If you re willing to let go of yesterday and stay open to possibilities today, you
just may be surprised by how much you gain after a loss.
What new world might you be creating today?
Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is.
...In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today.
To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day,
'one who knows the better way to live alone.'
- Bhaddekaratta Sutta
o be angry is to let others' mistakes punish yourself.
To forgive others is to be good to yourself.
- Master ChengYen
I am the master of my own mind,
The bases of power are well developed;
I am freed from every kind of bondage,
Therefore I don't fear you, friend.
... Bhikkhuni Uppalavanna
To keep the body in good health is a duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to
trim the lamp of wisdom, and keep our mind strong and clear. Water surrounds th
e lotus flower, but does not wet its petals.
= Buddha
The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can d
o to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect
to look at ourselves honestly and gently."
- Pema Chodran
If you talk much, this will make you deaf to what others say,
and you should know that there are few so wise that
they cannot learn from others.
Be near when help is needed, but far when praise and thanks are being offered.
...Take small account of might, wealth and fame, for they soon pass and are forg
otten.
- Dhammavadaka
"Whoever sees me sees the teaching, and whoever sees the teaching sees me."
Siddhartha Gautama
Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
...As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.
- Sutta Nipata
In the light of his vision he has found his freedom: his thoughts are peace, his
words are peace and his work is peace.
- Dhammapada
Do not try to become anything.
Do not make yourself into anything.
Do not be a meditator.
Do not become enlightened.
When you sit, let it be.
...What you walk, let it be.
Grasp at nothing.
Resist nothing.
If you haven t wept deeply, you haven t begun to meditate.
- Ajhan Chah
All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditi
ons.
Nothing ever exists entirely alone;
everything is in relation to everything else.
- Buddha
BUDDHA BLESS
If your spiritual practice and the demands of your everyday life are not in harm
ony, it means there's something wrong with the way you are practicing.
Your practice should satisfy your dissatisfied mind while providing solutions to
the problems of everyday life.
If it doesn't, check carefully to see what you really understand about yo...ur r
eligious practice.
- Lama Yeshe
Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
...As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.
- Sutta Nipata
My place is on cold mountain
perched on a cliff beyond the circuit of affliction
images leave no trace when they vanish
I roam the whole galaxy from here
lights and shadows flash across my mind
...not one dharma comes before me
since I found the magic pearl
I can go anywhere, everywhere it s perfect
- Han Shan
Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.
- Sutta Nipata
Encountering sufferings will definitely contribute
to the elevation of your spiritual practice,
provided you are able to transform calamity and misfortune
into the path.
...- Dzogchen
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.
...- Lao-Tzu
What is this world condition?
Body is the world condition.
And with body and form goes feeling, perception, consciousness,
and all the activities throughout the world.
The arising of form and the ceasing of form ---
...everything that has been heard, sensed, and known,
sought after and reached by the mind ---
all this is the embodied world, to be penetrated and realized.
- Samyutta Nikaya
GATE, GATE, PARAGATE, PARASAMGATE, BODHI SVAHA: Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone al
together beyond. What ecstasy! Alleluia!
STHIR SUKHAM ASANAM"
The Hadiqa' is the essential fragrance of the path of love. Just as Sosan has be
en able to catch the very soul of Zen, Hakim Sanai has been able to catch the ve
ry soul of Sufism.
All meditation must begin with arousing deep compassion.
Whatever one does must emerge from an attitude
of love and benefitting others.
- Milarepa
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not
even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your
own common sense. Buddha
In fact, everything we encounter in this world with our six senses
is an inkblot test.
You see what you are thinking and feeling, seldom what you are looking at.
- Shiqin
One is all; all are one.
When you realize this,
what reason for holiness or wisdom?
The mind of absolute trust
is beyond all thought, all striving,
...is perfectly at peace, for in it
there is no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow.

- Sent-Ts'an
There are thousands upon thousands of students
who have practised meditation and obtained its fruits.
Do not doubt its possibilities because of the simplicity of the method.
If you can not find the truth right where you are,
where else do you expect to find it?
...
Dogen
Our modern Western culture only recognises the first of these,
freedom of desires.
It then worships such a freedom by enshrining it
at the forefront of national constituitions and bills of human rights.
One can say that the underlying creed of most Western democracies
...is to protect their people's freedom to realise their desires,
as far as this is possible.
It is remarkable that in such countries people do not feel very free.
The second kind of freedom, freedom from desires,
is celebrated only in some religious communities.
It celebrates contentment, peace that is free from desires.
- Ajahn Brahm
In the sky,there is no distinction of east and west;
people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be tr
ue.

- Buddha