There is nobody who can teach the way of no way. It cannot be learned either. Teaching and learning require someone. When there is no longer anybody, then the way of no way is evident and there is neither need for learning nor desire for teaching.
~Todd Jackson
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Sometimes life brings us a gift of such overwhelming magnitude that it’s hard to resist trying to make sense of it in our rational minds. Our minds are dedicated in their mission to label, categorize, explain, and construct narrative, to fit everything neatly into an organized system […]
Death held out his hand Walk with me a while, he said So I took his hand And walked along beside him At first afraid, I calmed in his presence For he held me dear in love And fear melted into wonder He did not take me then It was not my time But he is never far And life is richer for it
Years ago when I was researching and writing about happiness, one question kept coming up. If we all say we want to be happy, why aren’t we? Before we go further, let’s expand our concept of happiness to include joy, well being, wonder, awe, contentment, inner peace, enjoyment, just basic okayness, and any other related […]
Before enlightenment chop wood carry water. After enlightenment chop wood carry water. ~Zen saying Reflecting the wisdom of this saying, Jack Kornfield titled one of his books “After the Ecstasy, the Laundry.” The point of both the saying and the title is that we might have peak mystical experiences of awakening, but then it’s time […]
This phrase has been helping me stay focused. Jack Kornfield attributes it to his Buddhist teacher Achaan Chah as an encouragement to commit oneself to meditation. In that sense it is an admonition to literally sit on the seat of your meditation cushion. To me, however, it is also a reminder to figuratively take the […]
I ran across this phrase recently. It caught my attention because I love the word abide. Looking up its etymology, I found that it carries with it a sense of “waiting onward.” I loved that too. Not waiting passively or impatiently, but with an attitude of alert attention, open receptivity, readiness to engage fully with […]
How marvelous is this life How blessed am I To have lived in this form Long enough to love And to be loved Long enough to awaken And remember who I am Long enough to know What I now know
Several years ago, the desire to know, to merge, with the Divine Beloved was so strong within me that I knew without that union, nothing else would ever be enough. And so I wrote this prayer: BelovedOh to feel your touch of graceI ache for your embrace of compassionTake me to yourselfLose me in the […]
For a number of years, I used a non-dominant-hand writing method to access inner wisdom and guidance. Once, as my left hand was writing about seeing through all illusion to the reality of truth, I was counseled not only to see the truth, but to “live the seeing.” Curious phrasing, but the advice stuck with […]
