Let us enter
with compassionate
intention
the fields of (spiritual) merit.
And play there
for the benefit of all.Thus does
self pity
evaporate.The Buddha Smiles.
For a dear friend as she walks into her future…
Habits get a bad press in Buddhism. We use the term habit energy to describe that which drives our behavour. That’s the harmful habits which are the focus of attention when following a Buddhist practice. Habits can too often be unthinkingly linked in the mind as being BAD. But not all habits are harmful. Some can help turn around a life of undirected and half-hearted effort. Habits can indeed be good.
I must confess that when a friend quoted the saying below I took a double take. What? Habits that mint gold! Poetic yes, and from a training perspective we are in the business of aligning behavour with the Precepts. Of turning around our lives, for the good.
Habits are human nature
Why not create some
that will mint gold?
The Subject Tonight Is Love. 60 Wild and Sweet Poems by Hafiz
The last word goes to Rumi:
Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field; I will meet you there.
This too is subject to change.
The new leaves on the Field Maple caught my eye. They shine. Then as other leaves grow they lose their shine, mature and mellow. As is the way of things. One sees this process everywhere. Easy to think in sad terms. Perhaps in terms of passing time and all that brings in an everyday way. Of aging; decay and eventual shriveling up and ceasing to be. But I think not. Not today. There is something eternal in the scuttling excited children as with the new leaves. (And also equally true with the shriveled leaf.) There is certainly a depth to existence which is not diminished by mere passing of physical time.