An excellent post today from Andrea Leber, Challenging words, an encouragement for change, on her blog: Yoga – on and off the mat. She quotes Zen Master Guishan.
Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes similarly:
Time is precious. Do not misuse the offerings given to you. Don’t miss the opportunity to show your gratitude. Do not accumulate unnecessary possessions. If you don’t practice correctly, your life will be filled with obstacles. But do not underestimate yourself. Practice heroically. Don’t give up. Touch your bodhichitta. Embrace and cherish the loftiest goals. Imitate those worth admiring, and don’t entrust your destiny to anyone else. Still your mind, end wrong perceptions, concentrate, and do not run after the objects of your senses. The only true object of your mind should be the ultimate suchness, or nirvana.
Read these words over and over again. Remind yourself of them every day. Don’t be pulled along by habit energies, or you will not be able to avoid adversity. When musicians are in harmony, the music is beautiful. When forms are upright, the shadows are clear. Everything comes into existence to causes and conditions. Stand in awe of this teaching, and look at all situations globally, both in time and in space. Once an action has been performed, the result is already there, even if it takes a hundred thousand lifetimes to manifest. If you cannot transform your karma (action), when it ripens you will receive the consequence.
Sure beats my This is your life poster.
Related articles
- Challenging words, an encouragement for change (andrealeber.wordpress.com)
- Who is Thich Nhat Hanh? (missinterpreting.com)
