I can't stand this world.
It's a place filled with lies, a world filled with sorrows
A place of violent madness and pitiful tomorrows.
Truth is ineffable, saddening, and out of grasp
and some days I just can't take it,
because the sum of all we are is something that just can't last.
And I promise all these tomorrows will be sunnier day's,
Yet the sun is sinking, sulking and withering away.
My mind just won't stay quiet, it's running and spinning'
and dizzying in shades of grey.
If I could find a point, a purpose, or a meaningful way
I'd trade all my treasure, my pleasure and call it a day.
Bothersome
Bothersome
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
Re: Bothersome
So much peace and love to you, dear friend. 
Ten hugs a day. . . very good medicine!
Jesse I wanted to say, I've experienced a lot of the things you have written about as well - I very much respect you, and see very much good from your writings.
The other day, my computer was being funny, and not letting me copy and paste, so I wasn't able to ( as easily, or without typing them myself ) copy and paste this quote into a thread -- wished to share. . .
it's from Thay. .
Buddha wrote, or shared, that everything is impermanent -- yet, this isn't always such a bad thing. And enlightenment, as they say, is like a flame which passes from candle to candle -- each one is impermanent, and the light continues from one to another.
Happiness and kindnesses are quite like this - nor, of course, limited to the Buddhist community; we're inter-connected with others, with all life naturally --
and the Earth is one, in Buddhist wisdom and in other traditions' wisdom, going back many, many thousands of years.
We have Buddha-nature and as Dogen wrote, 'Success is assured' (paraphrased), the line specifically was, 'The Guardians of heaven and earth assure fulfillment.'
Shantideva wrote beautifully and covered many such topics, self-confidence, so very important as he shared -- same with so many other traditions as well.
‘This morning I was touching the ground, and I felt that there is some stability in the Earth. Why don’t we take refuge in the Earth? There is also some stability in the air, the sunshine, and the trees. We can count on the sun because we know it will rise tomorrow. We have to look around to see things that we can count on. In order to practice, we need to take refuge in stable things.
Our bodies have a healing power. Every time we cut our finger, our body has the capacity to heal itself. We take care of it by washing it carefully, and then we can leave the work of healing to our body. In a few hours or a day, the cut will be healed. Our bodies have that kind of healing power. We have to take refuge in our bodies.
The same is true with our consciousness. Our consciousness has a healing power, and we have to trust it. When we have some anger, distress, or despair, we don’t need to panic. We can trust our consciousness to know how to heal these kinds of wounds. When we have a feeling of instability, we only need to breathe in and out consciously and recognize the feeling of instability, knowing that our consciousness is much more than that feeling. We know from our experience that there have been times in the past when we were not very solid. We know that we can take refuge in our consciousness We can let it do its work without interfering too much. After cleaning out the wound in our finger, we just let it heal. If we have a wound in our mind or heart, we just clean our wound and then we trust our consciousness to heal it.
If we have a teacher and dharma brothers and sisters who are stable, they look very much the same today as yesterday and yesterday they looked very much the same as the day before. We have to take refuge in a sangha that is stable, that we can count on. We can contribute to the quality of our sangha by our smile, and by our own stability. A sangha can be improved by our practice. We can never find a perfect sangha. An imperfect sangha is good enough. We have to do our best in order to transform ourselves into a good element of the sangha. It is not helpful to complain too much about our sangha: “This sangha is not good; this sangha is not worth my refuge,” and so on. We have to accept our sangha and build it. It is like a family. And our family is also a kind of sangha. We have to accept the members of our family as they are and begin from there. We should be a good member of our family sangha in order to help others.
Taking refuge means also taking refuge in ourselves. When we take refuge in the earth, it is because the earth is stable. When we have a friend who is stable we can take refuge in him or her. We use our insight and our experience to see his or her stability. We don’t just go on blind faith. Taking refuge is not blind faith. It must be based on our own experience. There are many stable things around. We should refrain from taking refuge in things that are not stable, that have made us shaky in the past. Sometimes we don’t know much about something. We hope that it can be a refuge for us simply because we want it. It is not based on any direct experience or observation. We should refrain from taking refuge in things like that.’
-Thich Nhat Hanh
Stay strong, and true, do not mind a thousand setbacks, because we often learn the most from them; indeed every part of life can be a factor for awakening. .. Shantideva wrote on this as well --
16
If in those who encounter me
A faithful or an angry thought arises,
May that eternally become the source
For fulfilling all their wishes.
17
May all who say bad things to me
Or cause me any other harm,
And those who mock and insult me
Have the fortune to fully awaken.
We create our lives - and indeed the world ; when we transform the h'art mind, the world is then transformed.
Namaste dear friend,
J.
Ten hugs a day. . . very good medicine!
Jesse I wanted to say, I've experienced a lot of the things you have written about as well - I very much respect you, and see very much good from your writings.
The other day, my computer was being funny, and not letting me copy and paste, so I wasn't able to ( as easily, or without typing them myself ) copy and paste this quote into a thread -- wished to share. . .
it's from Thay. .
Buddha wrote, or shared, that everything is impermanent -- yet, this isn't always such a bad thing. And enlightenment, as they say, is like a flame which passes from candle to candle -- each one is impermanent, and the light continues from one to another.
Happiness and kindnesses are quite like this - nor, of course, limited to the Buddhist community; we're inter-connected with others, with all life naturally --
and the Earth is one, in Buddhist wisdom and in other traditions' wisdom, going back many, many thousands of years.
We have Buddha-nature and as Dogen wrote, 'Success is assured' (paraphrased), the line specifically was, 'The Guardians of heaven and earth assure fulfillment.'
Shantideva wrote beautifully and covered many such topics, self-confidence, so very important as he shared -- same with so many other traditions as well.
‘This morning I was touching the ground, and I felt that there is some stability in the Earth. Why don’t we take refuge in the Earth? There is also some stability in the air, the sunshine, and the trees. We can count on the sun because we know it will rise tomorrow. We have to look around to see things that we can count on. In order to practice, we need to take refuge in stable things.
Our bodies have a healing power. Every time we cut our finger, our body has the capacity to heal itself. We take care of it by washing it carefully, and then we can leave the work of healing to our body. In a few hours or a day, the cut will be healed. Our bodies have that kind of healing power. We have to take refuge in our bodies.
The same is true with our consciousness. Our consciousness has a healing power, and we have to trust it. When we have some anger, distress, or despair, we don’t need to panic. We can trust our consciousness to know how to heal these kinds of wounds. When we have a feeling of instability, we only need to breathe in and out consciously and recognize the feeling of instability, knowing that our consciousness is much more than that feeling. We know from our experience that there have been times in the past when we were not very solid. We know that we can take refuge in our consciousness We can let it do its work without interfering too much. After cleaning out the wound in our finger, we just let it heal. If we have a wound in our mind or heart, we just clean our wound and then we trust our consciousness to heal it.
If we have a teacher and dharma brothers and sisters who are stable, they look very much the same today as yesterday and yesterday they looked very much the same as the day before. We have to take refuge in a sangha that is stable, that we can count on. We can contribute to the quality of our sangha by our smile, and by our own stability. A sangha can be improved by our practice. We can never find a perfect sangha. An imperfect sangha is good enough. We have to do our best in order to transform ourselves into a good element of the sangha. It is not helpful to complain too much about our sangha: “This sangha is not good; this sangha is not worth my refuge,” and so on. We have to accept our sangha and build it. It is like a family. And our family is also a kind of sangha. We have to accept the members of our family as they are and begin from there. We should be a good member of our family sangha in order to help others.
Taking refuge means also taking refuge in ourselves. When we take refuge in the earth, it is because the earth is stable. When we have a friend who is stable we can take refuge in him or her. We use our insight and our experience to see his or her stability. We don’t just go on blind faith. Taking refuge is not blind faith. It must be based on our own experience. There are many stable things around. We should refrain from taking refuge in things that are not stable, that have made us shaky in the past. Sometimes we don’t know much about something. We hope that it can be a refuge for us simply because we want it. It is not based on any direct experience or observation. We should refrain from taking refuge in things like that.’
-Thich Nhat Hanh
Stay strong, and true, do not mind a thousand setbacks, because we often learn the most from them; indeed every part of life can be a factor for awakening. .. Shantideva wrote on this as well --
16
If in those who encounter me
A faithful or an angry thought arises,
May that eternally become the source
For fulfilling all their wishes.
17
May all who say bad things to me
Or cause me any other harm,
And those who mock and insult me
Have the fortune to fully awaken.
We create our lives - and indeed the world ; when we transform the h'art mind, the world is then transformed.
Namaste dear friend,
J.
Om Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate bodhi svaha