mindfulness in action…
Today is history. Today will be remembered. Years from now the young will ask with wonder about this day. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVJoEqfRiEU] Today is history and you are part of it. Six hundred years ago when elsewhere they were footing the blame for the Black Death, Casimir the Great – so called – told the Jews they…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEqUNI9LCQs] All around me are familiar faces Worn out places Worn out faces Bright and early for the daily races Going nowhere Going nowhere Their tears are filling up their glasses No expression No expression Hide my head I want to drown my sorrows No tomorrow No tomorrow And I find it kind of funny…
One day it will come back Over the lands, over the seas Will come back the blue wind To breathe my wounded heart I will be pulled away by its breath Far away by its stream, wherever it wants Wherever it wants, far away from this world Between the sea and the stars …..
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQoLlfORZWE]
原始人與文明人在人格特質與情感傾向上存在有根本的差異。原始人倚靠自我，飄搖的文明人只能活在別人的眼光之中獲得自身存在的意義。簡言之，人們只知向旁人詢問自己是誰，而從來不願自己去碰此一精微奧妙的問題。
當錢財開始成為人們關心尊敬的對象之後，事物真實尊貴的本質就蕩然無存了；我們成了一個個市儈商賈，甚至變成被交易的對象，然後我們不再探究事物的本然面貌，只問它值多少錢。
“A mind that is full cannot take in anything new…like this cup, you are full of opinions and preconceptions. Wisdom and happiness are to be found only by emptying one’s cup.”
“To learn Buddha Dharma is to learn oneself. To learn oneself is to forget oneself. To forget oneself is to be experienced in the myriad of things.”
更深人靜之時，大殿一旁的大磬向坐在正中央的大佛提出嚴重抗議﹕「你、我都是用銅鑄造的，可是，人們向你獻上鮮花、水果後，『捱打』的總是我，接受禮拜的卻是你。這公平嗎？」 大佛意味深長地說﹕「大磬呀！我當初被工匠鑄造時，歷經刀山烈火的痛楚，才初顯我身體的輪廓；一棒一棒的鎚打，才鑄成我莊嚴的五官；一刀一刀的雕琢，才雕刻出我慈祥的面容；日夜忍耐如雨點般的千錘百煉，才鑄造出我相好光明的真身……我是經歷了難行能行、難忍能忍的磨煉，才有今天坐在大殿裏的『福氣』，接受香花供養和人類的禮拜！反觀你，人們只是在你身上輕輕地敲打，你就叫痛喊怨！」(引自《明覺》)
若心中沒有一終極的理想與價值，則人生中承擔的一切苦難有何意義？