To be one’s own mainstay is to be one’s own self-help. Teaching us to do that is the Buddha’s ultimate gift. - Mary Talbot
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Avoid harm, act with integrity. The best of your humanity can make itself known in your difficulties. - Jack Kornfield
All the world loves an infant. But as we age, the number of lovers we have dwindles. Our journey towards death, punctuated by birthdays, is a preparation for solitude. - Sumana Roy
Yet another fascinating study reveals that meditation is very very good for reducing stress and that reduction shows up in your hair.
Using hair cortisol to understand stress response changes over time, alongside self-reported measures, the study found that daily meditation began to reduce chemical stress levels after around three months, achieving the most significant changes by month six. On average, the participants saw a drop of about 25 percent. Most meditation-based studies use an 8 to 12-week training program for their participants. In contrast, this research suggests that chronic or long-term stress only starts to decrease at the three-month mark. (read more at www.msn.en-us/health/wellness) Meditation retreats are a form of temporary monastic renunciation. - Gil Fronsdal
Self-improvement is an honorable pursuit and more people should be aware of their weaknesses and limitation taking necessary steps for correction. However, self-improvement can quickly merge into desires and desires are endless. Too many people suffer not from lack but from too much. There are too many vehicles, too much food being consumed and wasted, too many purchases made, many of which end up in landfills. Desires, characterized by grasping for more and more, are not only endless but leave us overwhelmed and depleted. Too much use of social media is one glaring example. Examine your self-improvement style to be certain it’s not deepening desire and craving.
Giving up anything is anathema to most Westerners. - Joan Duncan Oliver
As we travel the journey of life, we are bound to encounter darkness and many unexpected difficulties. However, darkness is not eternal and difficulties are sure to be overcome in the end. Yin Shun
Influential teacher and founder of the San Francisco Zen Ceneter, Shunryu Suzuki gave a talk and when he finished, a man raised his had asking with distress: “You’ve been talking on and on about all these complicated Buddhist teachings, and really, I don’t understand anything that you’re saying. Is there something you can tell me that I can understand?”
Of course, the question caused some anxiety among those in the room who were laughing quietly but nervously because the question could be perceived as disrespectful. However, Suzuki took it quite seriously. When the laughter subsided, he quietly answered: “Everything changes.” Suzuki presented “reality” from the Buddhist perspective. Reality is impermanence, reality is change and, therefore, we have to live our lives in keeping with the way things “really” are, not the way we wish them to be. If you feel it, you show it. And if you show it, you feel it. - Constantin Stanislavski
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Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
January 2025
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