Dogen Zenji on Beginning
“When we realize that something is missing, that’s exactly when we begin our spiritual journey.“
— Dogen Zenji
Simon & Garfunkle on the Sound of Silence
“Hello, darkness, my old friend
— Simon & Garfunkle, “The Sound of Silence”
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence…
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence…
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you.
The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence.“
James Low on Finding Clarity
“If you put something in front of a mirror it looks like the reflection is in the mirror but the mirror is uncontaminated. Similarly we want to have the clarity of our mind which is uncontaminated by the many provocations that arise….difficulties always occur in life & there are many different kinds of provocations. We cannot control the outer forms of the world. What we can do is not be caught by them. The one who is caught is your ego. Your awareness has never been caught, is not now being caught and never will be caught.“
— James Low, Dzogchen teacher
James Low on the Freshness of a Moment
“If you have less of a menu in your mind, if you’ve got less of an agenda and lesser fixed ways of doing things, then the freshness of the moment is the potential of all that can be utilized to bring forward and manifest, bring forward and manifest, whatever that would be. So…thoughts, sensations and feelings become in the service of illumination. They are the blossoming or the rays of energy arising out of the infinite spaciousness of the mind…like a mirror, always showing radiant display.”
— James Low, Dzogchen teacher
Paul Hedderman on Liberation
“Liberation from the need to be Liberated.“
— Paul Hedderman
Paul invites us to notice how the mind’s irritability, restlessness, and discomfort arise from the false notion of what’s not happening; a notion that creates the sense of a false self. His clear pointers are a simple and profound invitation that once considered can instantly break this addiction and enable one to travel lighter through life.
Rumi on Being in a Relationship with Love
“You are never in a relationship with your beloved, you are always in a relationship with love. You cannot lose the love except by shutting it down yourself.“
— Rumi, quoted by Netanel Miles Yepez
Dr. Joseph Barry Martin on the Raven
“Raven comes from West Coast Major Mythology. Raven is the Hero-Trickster, and stories abound… Raven helps humanity evolve and solve conflicts to bring balance. Raven brings the Light. In today’s world, embodying Raven medicine brings courage in times of trouble, change of consciousness, messenger from the Void, the Great Mystery and magic worldwide, introspection, self-knowledge, healing, creation, rebirth, mysticism…the ultimate shape-shifter.”
— Dr. Joseph Barry Martin, Spiritual Teacher, Storyteller
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Love
“You should know love is not just an emotion. It is your very being, it is the core of your existence. So there is not a single being on this planet who is devoid of love. Because you are made up of it.”
— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
In tribute to Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh who died last week at 95
“A Buddha is someone who is enlightened, capable of loving and forgiving. You know that at times you’re like that. So enjoy being a Buddha.”
— Thích Nhất Hạnh, “Your True Home”
Rupert Spira on Peace and Happiness
“If we were to design an AI program to read all the texts and scriptures of all the great religious and spiritual traditions over the last 3000 years or so and were to ask it to distill the essence of all these texts into a single sentence, one of its versions would read something like this: peace and happiness are the very nature of our being and we share our being with everyone and everything.“
— Rupert Spira on World Religion Day, 3rd Sunday of January