Sadhguru on the Importance of Silence
“See if you can articulate the same thing in half the number of words. Suddenly you will become extremely conscious of everything!“
— Sadhguru, The Importance of SILENCE
Dr. Yoko Kawai on Blurring Boundaries
“The blurring of boundaries, moving self, changing space, are Japanese spatial concepts steeped in the framework of this mind-body-space relationship that explain why Japanese gardens, tea rooms, and temples seem to encourage us to feel contemplative.“
— Dr. Yoko Kawai (paraphrased from this complete talk)
Kamo-No Chomei on Indistinct Depth
“When looking at autumn mountains through mist, the view may be indistinct, yet have great. depth.“
— Kamo-No Chomei, 12th century
Francis Lucille on Going Back to the Source
“Thought, when dissolving in understanding, leads to Truth, feeling leads to Love, and sensation leads to Beauty. The sole purpose of any object that evokes such truth, love, or beauty is to dissolve in fulfilling its function of taking us back to the Source.“
— Francis Lucille
Dogen Zenji on Serene Reflection Meditation
“Just sitting, neither trying to think nor trying not to think, is the important aspect of Serene Reflection Meditation.”
— Dogen Zenji
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.