DŌGEN

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

RYŌKAN
“For Children Killed in a Smallpox Epidemic”

When spring arrives
From every tree tip
Flowers will bloom,
But those children
Who fell with last autumn’s leaves
Will never return.

Keep your heart clear and transparent
And you will never be bound.
A single disturbed thought, though,
Creates ten thousand distractions.
Let myriad things captivate you
And you’ll go further and further astray.
How painful to see people
All wrapped up in themselves.

I watch people in the world
Throw away their lives lusting after things,
Never able to satisfy their desires,
Falling into deep despair
And torturing themselves.
Even if they get what they want
How long will they be able to enjoy it?
For one heavenly pleasure
They suffer ten torments of hell,
Binding themselves more firmly to the grindstone.
Such people are like monkeys
Frantically grasping for the moon in the water
And then falling into a whirlpool.
How endlessly those caught up in the floating world suffer.
Despite myself, I fret over them all night
And cannot staunch my flow of tears.

Sometimes I sit quietly,
Listening to the sound of falling leaves.
Peaceful indeed is the life of a monk,
Cut off from all worldly matters.
Then why do I shed these tears?

I’m so aware
That it’s all unreal:
One by one, the things
Of this world pass on.
But why do I still grieve?

When I think
About the misery
Of those in this world
Their sadness
Becomes mine.

Oh, that my monk’s robe
Were wide enough
To gather up all
The suffering people
In this floating world.

Nothing makes me
More happy than
Amida Buddha’s Vow
To save
Everyone.

If you are not put off
By the voice of the valley
And the starry peaks,
Why not walk through the shady cedars
And come see me?

At dusk
Come to my hut—
The crickets will
Serenade you, and I will
Introduce you to the moonlit woods.

Reading

MOUNTAIN DHARMA
An Ocean of Definitive Meaning
The Library of Tibetan Classics – Volume 7

Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen

Translated by Cyrus Stearns

Reading

MIND TRAINING
The Great Collection
The Library of Tibetan Classics - Volume 1

Translated by Thupten Jinpa

HH the XIVth DALAI LAMA

It is critical to serve others, to contribute actively to others’ well-being. I often tell practitioners that they should adopt the following principle: Regarding one’s own personal needs, there should be as little involvement or obligation as possible. But regarding service to others, there should be as many involvements and obligations as possible. This should be the ideal of a spiritual person.

Reading

Toni Bernhard
HOW TO BE SICK
A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers

Currently Reading

Stephen Bachelor
THE ART OF SOLITUDE

MAGAt tears on Judgment Day will be the sweetest thing you'll ever taste ...

Because the American Christian hates nothing more than Jesus' actual teachings.

CANDRAKĪRTI

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Extreme conceptions arise with the conception of inherently existent phenomena; phenomena do not inherently exist. When the conception of an inherently existent phenomenon does not exist, these extreme conceptions do not arise, just as there is no fire when there is no fuel.

Currently Reading

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FREEDOM THROUGH CORRECT KNOWING

On Khedrup Jé's Interpretation of Dharmakirt 

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Translated by The Sera Jey Monastic University Translation Department

Edited by Geshe Tenzin Namdak and Ven. Tenzin Legtsok

NĀGĀRJUNA'S LETTER TO A FRIEND

[Nāgārjuna's Suhr̥llekha]

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Padmakara Translation Group

Commentary by Kyabje Kangyur Rinpoche

Snow Lion, 2006

LETTER FROM A FRIEND

A BODHISATTVA'S ADVICE TO AN INDIAN KING ON RIGHT LIVING AND THE BUDDHIST PATH 

[Nāgārjuna's Suhr̥llekha]

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Translation and Commentary by Bhikshu Dharmamitra 

Kalavinka Press, 2009

NĀGĀRJUNA'S LETTER TO KING GAUTAMĪPUTRA 

[Nāgārjuna's Suhr̥llekha]

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Translation by Ven. Lozang Jamspal, Ven Ngawang Samten Chophel, Peter Della Santina

Notes and Commentary by HH Sakya Trizin

Motilal Banarsidass, 1978

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHÖKYI NYIMA RINPOCHE

Volume One

- The Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen

- Bardo Handbook

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Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche

BEYOND THE ORDINARY MIND

Dzogchen, Rimé, and The Path of Perfect Wisdom

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Adam Pearcey

Introductions and Translations

THÍCH NHẤT HẠNH

Understanding Our Mind: 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology

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My actions are my only true belongings.

Thích Nhất Hạnh
1026-2022

 

THÍCH NHẤT HẠNH

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If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

Tsongkhapa

THE MIDDLE-LENGTH TREATISE ON THE STAGES OF THE PATH OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Translated by Philip Quarcoo

GUO GU

The Essence of Chan: A Guide to Life and Practice According to the Teachings of Bodhidharma

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If we want to know our past, we need only look at the present. If we want to know our future, we also look at the present. Why is it that siblings in the same family sometimes have very different lives, one as a victim and the other as a victimizer? Why is it that, from the same parents, one child follows a spiritual path, while the other wallows in desire, hatred, and ignorance? Why do people live in constant insecurity, victimizing themselves at every opportunity? It is because each of us carries different karmic baggage. We’ve been throwing all the karma that we have ever created into this bag. What we experience in our life is the ripening of seeds in our karmic bag.