Awareness

Paying attention to your own mistakes will keep you in step with the Way. 

~Hui-neng

Observing the Breath

That day, the Buddha also spent time teaching the two young men various methods of observing the breath. Though Svasti and Rahula had received similar instruction before, this was the first time they received it directly from the Buddha. The Buddha told them that the first fruit of mindfully observing the breath was overcoming dispersion and forgetfulness.

~Old Path White Cloud, by Thich Nhat Hanh

Do Not Waste - Anything

We do not inherit the world from our parents, we borrow it from our children. Words to help with this practice come from Ruth Rowen, a woman who was a child during the Great Depression. Ruth says, "We prided ourselves on our economy. You never threw anything away."

Simply Do What You Are Doing

To cook, or to fix some food, is not preparation, according to Dogen; it is practice. To cook is not just to prepare food for someone or for yourself; it is to express your sincerity. So when you cook you should express yourself in your activity in the kitchen. You should allow yourself plenty of time; you should work on it with nothing in your mind, and without expecting anything. You should just cook!

~Shunryu Suzuki

Clearly Seeing

To see clearly is poetry, philosophy, and religion, all in one.

~John Ruskin

Greatest Fear

How can I explain that my greatest fear is precisely of: being?

~Clarice Lispector

The Cause and Condition for Liberation

It is precisely because impermanent, conditioned phenomena are unsatisfying that we are motivated to awaken. Seeing these characteristics clearly becomes the cause of and condition for liberation.

~Joseph Goldstein

The Five Ethical Precepts

1 To Respect and Protect Life

2 To Respect and Protect the Property of Others

3 To Respect and Protect Sexual Boundaries

4 To Respect and Protect the Truth

5 To Respect and Protect One's Body and Mind

This, Now This

The river
where you set
your foot just now
is gone—
those waters
giving way to this,
now this.

~Heraclitus

Great Questioning

Seon teaches us great questioning leads to great awakening. 

Here is a hwadu: At this moment, who is reading these words?

Right Mindfulness

With the practice of mindfulness awareness is applied at a special pitch. The mind is deliberately kept at the level of bare attention, a detached observation of what is happening within us and around us in the present moment. In the practice of right mindfulness the mind is trained to remain in the present, open, quiet, and alert, contemplating the present event. All judgments and interpretations have to be suspended, or if they occur, just registered and dropped. The task is simply to note whatever comes up just as it is occurring, riding the changes of events in the way a surfer rides the waves on the sea. The whole process is a way of coming back into the present, of standing in the here and now without slipping away, without getting swept away by the tides of distracting thoughts.

Bhikkhu Bodhi, in The Noble Eightfold Path

The Seven Factors of Enlightenment

1 . . . Mindfulness
2 . . . Investigation of Phenomena
3 . . . Energy
4 . . . Rapture
5 . . . Tranquility
6 . . . Concentration
7 . . . Equanimity

The way to enlightenment starts with mindfulness. Mindfulness clears the ground for insight into the nature of things by bringing to light phenomena in the now, the present moment, stripped of all subjective commentary, interpretations, and projections. Then, when mindfulness has brought the bare phenomena into focus, the factor of investigation steps in to search out their characteristics, conditions, and consequences. Whereas mindfulness is basically receptive, investigation is an active factor which unflinchingly probes, analyzes, and dissects phenomena to uncover their fundamental structures.

The work of investigation requires energy, the third factor of enlightenment, which mounts in three stages. The first, inceptive energy, shakes of lethargy and arouses initial enthusiasm. As the work of contemplation advances, energy gathers momentum and enters the second stage, perseverance, wherein it propels the practice without slackening. Finally, at the peak, energy reaches the third stage, invincibility, where it drives contemplation forward leaving the hindrances powerless to stop it.

As energy increases, the fourth factor of enlightenment is quickened. This is rapture, a pleasurable interest in the object. Rapture gradually builds up, ascending to ecstatic heights: waves of bliss run through the body, the mind glows with joy, fervor and confidence intensify. But these experiences, as encouraging as they are, still contain a flaw: they create an excitation verging on restlessness. With further practice, however, rapture subsides and a tone of quietness sets in signalling the rise of the fifth factor, tranquility. Rapture remains present, but it is now subdued, and the work of contemplation proceeds with self-possessed serenity.

Tranquility brings to ripeness concentration, the sixth factor, one-pointed unification of mind. Then, with the deepening of concentration, the last enlightenment factor comes into dominance. This is equanimity, inward poise and balance free from the two defects of excitement and inertia. When inertia prevails, energy must be aroused; when excitement prevails, it is necessary to exercise restraint. But when both defects have been vanquished the practice can unfold evenly without need for concern. The mind of equanimity is compared to the driver of a chariot when the horses are moving at a steady pace: he neither has to urge them forward nor to hold them back, but can just sit comfortably and watch the scenery go by.  Equanimity has the same "on-looking" quality. When the other factors are balanced the mind remains poised watching the play of phenomena.

Bhikkhu Bodhi, in The Noble Eightfold Path

Abstaining From Taking Life

"Abstaining from taking life" has wider application than simply refraining from killing other human beings. The precept enjoins abstaining from killing any sentient being. A "sentient being" (pani, satta) is a living being endowed with mind or consciousness; for practical purposes, this means human beings, animals, and insects. Plants are not considered sentient beings; though they exhibit some degree of sensitivity, they lack full-fledged consciousness, the defining attribute of a sentient being.

The "taking of life" that is to be avoided is intentional killing, the deliberate destruction of life of a being endowed with consciousness. The principle is grounded in the consideration that all beings love life and fear death, that all seek happiness and are averse to pain.

~Bhikkhu, in The Noble Eightfold Path

Thoughts

Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral. It is as it is.

~Eckhart Tolle

Harmlessness

He is not noble who injures living beings. He is called noble because he is harmless towards all living beings.

~The Dhammapada 270

This Moment

What's here right now?

Delusion is yesterday's dream—enlightenment, tomorrow's delusion.

~Taizan Maezumi Roshi

The Web of Life

When you help one do not hurt another.

                 ~Greenleaf Wetstone