In the body

In the body is the sacred mountain {the vertebral column}, surrounded by seven islands {the chakras}. There are rivers, seas, mountains, fields and lords of the fields too. In the body are seers and sages, all the stars and planets, sacred pilgrimage sites, shrines and presiding deities. The sun and moon, the agents of creation and destruction also move in this place. Space, air, fire, water and earth are there also.

~ Śiva Saṃhitā, Ch 2

In spring

And our inexplicable love for this world, our delight and grief — what is that but the Cosmos loving itself, delighting in itself, grieving for itself?

– David Hinton

The realm of the sacred

The realm of the sacred and the realm of wisdom is the big realm. And that’s where the oneness happens, but it happens in the heart. It’s not something out there; it happens in the heart.

~ Matthew Fox, Bowing to the Heart Over Authority

The deep blue sky

What is the true self? It’s brilliantly transparent like the deep blue sky, and there’s no gap between it and all living beings.

~ Kodo Sawaki Roshi, “The True Self”

fly

You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.

~ Toni Morrison

be crumbled

Queen Anne’s Lace in the mountains.

Very little grows on jagged rock.
Be ground. Be crumbled,
so wildflowers will come up
where you are.

You have been stony for too many years.
Try something different. Surrender.

~ Rumi

Soft eyes

Sunrise through the raindrops resting on the window.

To perceive the world through others senses is to find splendor in familiarity, wilderness in one’s backyard, the sacred in the mundane.

~ Ed Yong

Paddling in.

You have come to the shore. There are no instructions.

~ Denise Levertov

Abide

Let your heart go out and abide in things. Let things return and abide in your heart.

~ Dogen

The nature of nature

Spring ephemerals.

There is no more liberating feeling, or better way of deciding one’s priorities in life, than to acknowledge one’s objective insignificance within the immensity of the universe. Change is the nature of nature. Things come and go: species, ideologies, regimes, geographies, planets, and galaxies. Do what you can with what you can but never lose track of the gifts available to you within the blink of conscious existence you get. You cannot save a life; you cannot save a country; you cannot save a place; and you cannot save a planet. You can make life better, more satisfying, and more meaningful for yourself and others. Take a deep breath; appreciate what you have; help those you can; and trust that on the scale of nature, things unfold as they should.

~ Guy Tal, More Than a Rock