at war

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There is a story in Zen circles about a man and a horse. 
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The horse is galloping quickly, and it appears that the man on the horse is going somewhere important. Another man, standing alongside the road, shouts, 'Where are you going?" and the first man replies, I don't know! Ask the horse!" This is also our story. We are riding a horse, we don't know where we are going, and we can't stop. The horse is our habit energy pulling us along, and we are powerless. 
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We are always running, and it has become a habit. 
We struggle all the time, even during our sleep. 
We are at war within ourselves, and we can easily start a war with others.

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~ Thich Nhat Hanh

from "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching"

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help

When another person makes you suffer, 

it is because he suffers deeply within himself, 

and his suffering is spilling over. 

He does not need punishment; he needs help. 

That’s the message he is sending.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

thanks to killerbeesting

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a man and a horse

.

.

There is a story in Zen circles about a man and a horse. 
.
The horse is galloping quickly, and it appears that the man on the horse is going somewhere important. Another man, standing alongside the road, shouts, 'Where are you going?" and the first man replies, I don't know! Ask the horse!" This is also our story. We are riding a horse, we don't know where we are going, and we can't stop. The horse is our habit energy pulling us along, and we are powerless. 
.
We are always running, and it has become a habit. 
We struggle all the time, even during our sleep. 
We are at war within ourselves, and we can easily start a war with others.

.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

from "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching"

art: "Summer" by Harlan Hubbard 

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a community

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It's possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. 

The next Buddha may take the form of a community,

a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, 

a community practicing mindful living. 

This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the earth.

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Thich Nhat Hahn

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reblogged from: http://sacredgraffiti.tumblr.com/

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If you ask how much do I want

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If you ask how much do I want,

I'll tell you that I want it all.

This morning, you and I

and all men

are flowing into the marvelous stream

of oneness.

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Small pieces of imagination as we are.

we have come a long way to find ourselves

and for ourselves, in the dark, the illusion

of emancipation.

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This morning, my brother is back from his

long adventure.

He kneels before the alter,

his eyes full of tears.

His soul is longing for a shore to set anchor at

(a yearning I once had).

Let him kneel there and weep.

Let him cry his heart out.

Let him have his refuge there for a thousand years,

enough to dry all his tears.

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One night, I will come

and set fire to his shelter,

the small cottage on the hill.

My fire will destroy everything

and remove his only life raft after a shipwreck.

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In the utmost anguish of his soul,

the shell will break.

The light of the burning hut will witness

his glorious deliverance.

I will wait for him

beside the burning cottage.

Tears will run down my cheeks.

I will be there to contemplate his new being.

And as I hold his hands in mine

and ask him how much he wants,

he will smile and say that he wants it all -

just as I did.

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~ Thich Nhat Hanh

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Call me by my true names

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Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow -

even today I am still arriving.

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Look deeply:  every second I am arriving

to be a bud on a Spring branch,

to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,

learning to sing in my new nest,

to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,

to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

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I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,

to fear and to hope,

the rhythm of my heart is the birth and death

of all that are alive.

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I am a mayfly metamorphosing

on the surface of the river.

And I am the bird which, when Spring comes,

arrives in time to eat the mayfly.

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I am a frog swimming happily

in the clear water of a pond.

And I am the grass-snake

that silently feeds itself on the frog.

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I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,

my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.

And I am the arms merchant,

selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

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I am the twelve-year old girl,

refugee on a small boat,

who throws herself into the ocean

after being raped by a sea pirate.

And I am the pirate,

my heart not yet capable

of seeing and loving.

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I am a member of the politburo,

with plenty of power in my hands.

And I am the man who has to pay his

"debt of blood" to my people

dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

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My joy is like Spring, so warm

it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.

My pain is like a river of tears,

so vast it fills the four oceans.

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Please call me by my true names,

so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,

so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

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Please call me by my true names,

so I can wake up

and the door of my heart can be left open,

the door of compassion.

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~ Thich Nhat Hanh,  from 'Being Peace'

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