Kneeler, St. Mary’s Church, Outhgill, Mallerstang

Do everything with a mind that lets go. Don’t accept praise
or gain or anything else. If you let go a little you will have a
little peace; if you let go a lot you will have a lot of peace; if
you let go completely you will have complete peace.

~Ajahn Chah

Kneeler, St. Mary’s Church, Outhgill, Mallerstang

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.

~Ryokan

Kneeler, St. Mary’s Church, Outhgill, Mallerstang

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

The Bright Field by R S THOMAS

Kneeler, St. Mary’s Church, Outhgill, Mallerstang

The Ground
Can quake
At any time

Stand firm
Between
Cloud and Earth

Know your feet
Know your mind

Stand straight
Between
Storm and Flood

Feet planted:
Rooting ground,
Mind planted:
Cultivating sky

Strongly
Your heart
Centered

Up and down:

Openly held.

Thanks Jack for this. All your own words.

Kneeler, St. Mary’s Church, Outhgill, Mallerstang

Ordinary life and Buddhahood have no distinction. Great knowledge is not different from ignorance. Why should one seek outwardly for a treasure, when the field of the body has its own bright jewel?

Pao Chih The Nonduality Of Buddhahood And Ordinary Life