Tricycle Daily Dharma February 28, 2013

Our Shelter Within When we can be secure in our inner source for true happiness, we don’t expose ourselves to the devastation that comes when outside hopes for happiness and security are dashed. We have our shelter, our place of security, inside. And we needn’t be afraid that this is an escapist shelter. When the basis of our well-being is firm within, we can act with true courage and compassion for others, for we’re coming from a solid position of calmness and strength. - Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “What We’ve Been Practicing For”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 27, 2013

Touching Liberation Insight can’t be found in sutras, commentaries, verbal expression, or —isms. Liberation and awakened understanding can’t be found by devoting ourselves to the study of the Buddhist scriptures. This is like trying to find fresh water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, using our clear mind which exists right here and now, we can be in touch with liberation and enlightenment, as well as with the Buddha and the patriarchs as living realities right in this moment. - Thich Nhat Hanh, “Simply Stop”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 26, 2013

Unmasking the Self Sitting quietly, doing nothing, not knowing what is next and not concerned with what was or what may be next, a new mind is operating that is not connected with the conditioned past and yet perceives and understands the whole mechanism of conditioning. It is the unmasking of the self that is nothing but masks—images, memories of past experiences, fears, hopes, and the ceaseless demand to be something or become somebody. - Toni Packer, "Unmasking the Self"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 25, 2013

Embracing Our Inadequacy Peace and kindness have their best shot at establishing themselves when we accept our own inadequacy, when limitation and error become aspects of ourselves we can embrace rather than strive to mask.  - Henry Shukman, "The Art of Being Wrong"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 24, 2013

Our Innate Wisdom All of the 'words of wisdom' are in your own heart, so why waste time listening to someone else speak them? The Buddhadharma is the same. The principles in the sutras come from our own hearts. The wisdom and happiness of all buddhas comes from our own minds.  - Heng Ch'au, "Bowing"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 23, 2013

Meeting Life with Grace When we face the limitations of our power and control, all we can skillfully do is bow to that moment. The conceit of self is challenged and eroded not only by the circumstances of our lives but also by our willingness to meet those circumstances with grace rather than with fear.  - Christina Feldman, "Long Journey to a Bow"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 22, 2013

Only the Present Moment Every moment in life is absolute in itself. That's all there is. There is nothing other than this present moment; there is no past, there is no future; there is nothing but this. So when we don't pay attention to each little this, we miss the whole thing.  - Charlotte Joko Beck, "Attention Means Attention"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 21, 2013

Cultivating Relaxed Awareness When the thinking mind takes a break for even a few seconds, a kind of relaxed awareness replaces the usual stream of thoughts. We need to encourage this and not fill this space with anything else; just let it be.  - Tsultrim Allione, "Feeding Your Demons"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 20, 2013

Helping All Beings If hungry people come, give them food. If thirsty people come, give water. If suffering people come, help them. That is our job—life after life, just continue to help all beings. But to do that, you have to have mind which is clear like space.  - Seung Sahn, "BOOM!"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 19, 2013

Learning to Let Go Letting go of fixation is effectively a process of learning to be free, because every time we let go of something, we become free of it. Whatever we fixate upon limits us because fixation makes us dependent upon something other than ourselves. Each time we let go of something, we experience another level of freedom.  - Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, "Letting Go of Spiritual Experience"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 18, 2013

The Purpose of Mindfulness Mindfulness allows us to watch our thoughts, see how one thought leads to the next, decide if we’re heading toward an unhealthy path, and if so, let go and change directions.  - Sharon Salzberg, "Mindfulness and Difficult Emotions"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 17, 2013

A Foundation of Presence Through mindfulness, we develop greater composure and a heightened sensitivity to nonverbal communication. Then, to the extent that we ourselves are present, we can radiate that same quality outward to the people around us. It is hard to be generous, disciplined, or patient if we are not fully present. If we are present and attentive, and our mind is flexible, we are more receptive to the environment around us. - Judy Lief, “On the Contagious Power of Presence”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 15, 2013

Every Waking Moment As the present moment can be found any moment, every waking moment can be made a concentrated moment. - Henepola Gunaratana, "Sitting Still"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 14, 2013

Valentine's Day Lovingkindness The practice of lovingkindness is, at a certain level, the fruition of all we work toward in our meditation. It relies on our ability to open continuously to the truth of our actual experience, not cutting off the painful parts, and not trying to pretend things are other than they are. Just as spiritual growth grinds to a halt when we indulge our tendency to grasp and cling, metta can’t thrive in an environment that is bound to desire or to getting our expectations met.  - Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein, "Commit to Sit: Metta"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 13, 2013

Set Free by Truth In our nonlucid dreams, we are mired down in the illusion that we are awake, and we suffer by grasping onto everything in the dream as being absolutely "out there." In the same way, we are afflicted during the day by regarding ourselves and everything around us as being separate and disconnected. Imagine the bliss of becoming lucid at all times, perceiving all things as luminous displays of the deepest dimension of our own awareness. This is the truth that sets us free.  - B. Alan Wallace, “Awakening to the Dream”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 12, 2013

Noticing What is There It is inevitable that one will discern unwholesome qualities of mind when one looks openly on what is actually occurring in experience. As many people remark, meditation can be a most humbling experience. But there is never any blame for simply noticing what is there. When something unwholesome is seen in oneself, the determination to change it will arise in proportion to one's understanding.   - Andrew Olendzki, “Changing Your Mind”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 11, 2013

Spiraling Toward Freedom Each time you meet an old emotional pattern with presence, your awakening to truth can deepen. There’s less identification with the self in the story and more ability to rest in the awareness that is witnessing what’s happening. You become more able to abide in compassion, to remember and trust your true home. Rather than cycling repetitively through old conditioning, you are actually spiraling toward freedom.   - Tara Brach, "Finding True Refuge"

Do You Have Time To Love? --by Thich Nhat Hanh

Do You Have Time To Love?

--by Thich Nhat Hanh (Nov 29, 2004)

To love is, above all, to be there. But being there is not an easy thing. Some training is necessary, some practice. If you are not there, how can you love? Being there is very much an art, the art of meditation, because meditating is bringing your true presence to the here and now. The question that arises is: Do you have time to love?

I know a boy of twelve whose father asked him one day: "Son, what would you like for your birthday present?" The boy did not know how to answer his father, who was a very rich man, able to buy anything for his son. But the boy did not want anything except his father's presence. Because the role the father played kept him very busy, he did not have time to devote to his wife and children. Being rich is an obstacle to loving, When you are rich, you want to continue to be rich, and so you end up devoting all your time, all your energy in your daily life, to staying rich. If this father were to understand what true love is, he would do whatever is necessary to find time for his son and his wife.

The most precious gift you can give to the one you love is your true presence. What must we do to really be there? Those who have practiced meditation know that meditating is above all being present: to yourself, to those you love, to life. [.]

Do you have enough time to love? Can you make sure that in your everyday life you have a little time to love? We do not have much time together; we are too busy. In the morning while eating breakfast, we do not look at the person we love, we do not have enough time for it. We eat very quickly while thinking about other things, and sometimes we even hold a newspaper that hides the face of the person we love. In the evening when we come home, we are too tired to be able to look at the person we love.

We must bring about a revolution in our way of living our everyday lives, because our happiness, our lives, are within ourselves.

--Thich Nhat Hanh

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 10, 2013

Transforming the World We must proceed with a clear-eyed awareness of the social, political, and economic context in which we live and practice. Once we awaken to where we are, we must take the responsibility to transform that world into a matrix of opportunity for wisdom and compassion, not just for ourselves but for all others.   - David Patt, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who? The Commodification of Buddhism in the American Marketplace”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 9, 2013

Staying in the Present Don’t get caught up in hopes of what you’ll achieve and how good your situation will be some day in the future. What you do right now is what matters.   - Pema Chodron, “Bite-Sized Buddhism”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 8, 2013

Our Shared Awakening Nothing is separate and alone. This is how things are. This is compassion, not merely an extra something one of us feels for another, but existence itself. Being is by its nature sharing and loving. And we realize this not as a concept or a method we can work at and finally grasp, but as a truth that we perceive through our mutual recognition, our mutual shared awakening.   - Norman Fischer, "Revealing a World of Bliss"

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 7, 2013

Outside the Story Our lives are meaningless if we take meaning for a coherent narrative plot of some sort. When we strain to make our lives otherwise, we're merely telling ourselves a story. You and I don't manifest in the universe as meaning, we manifest as living human beings. We're not here to represent something else. We're here in our own right.  - Lin Jensen, “Wash Your Bowl”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 6, 2013

No Time to Waste This precious human body, supreme instrument though it is for the attainment of enlightenment, is itself a transient phenomenon. No one knows when, or how, death will come. Bubbles form on the surface of the water, but the next instant they are gone, they do not stay. It is just the same with this precious human body we have managed to find. We take all the time in the world before engaging in the practice, but who knows when this life of ours will simply cease to be?  - Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, “A City of Dreams”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 5, 2013

Investing in Practice It is essential at the beginning of practice to acknowledge that the path is personal and intimate. It is no good to examine it from a distance as if it were someone else’s. You must walk it for yourself. In this spirit, you invest yourself in your practice, confident of your heritage, and train earnestly side by side with your sisters and brothers. It is this engagement that brings peace and realization. - Robert Aitken Roshi, “The Teacher in Everything”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 3, 2013

Developing Determination When you admit to yourself, 'I must make this change to be more happy'—not because the Buddha said so, but because your heart recognized a deep truth—you must devote all your energy to making the change. You need strong determination to overcome harmful habits. But the payoff is happiness—not just for today but for always. - Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, “Getting Started”

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 2, 2013

Illuminating Your Path For the dharma to become firsthand knowledge—to feel the ‘ouch’ of it—you have to live intimately with it, hold it up to scrutiny, and let it hold you up to scrutiny. In the end, the ball is always thrown back to you: ‘Be a lamp unto yourself,’ says the Buddha. In other words, you must ultimately find the way on your own, by putting your ideas of the truth to the test. Your questions light the way. - Larry Rosenberg, “The Right to Ask Questions”