The Buddha on the mind

 

https://insig.ht/S6alv7pXY4b

Morning by Mary Oliver

 https://shorturl.at/cirJC

Mary Oliver‘s home titled ‘morning’

From an AI analysis:

The poem ends with Oliver standing in an ordinary kitchen, watching a cat, and suddenly recognizing the abundance already present in the moment. For someone recovering from adversity, the healing here is gentle rather than dramatic: not a thunderbolt, but a rediscovery of the ordinary world’s quiet sufficiency. 

insight on change

 

THE MOMENT OF CHANGE IS THE ONLY POEM.

Adrienne Rich

Daily insight quote from Insight Timer on July 15, 2026

A young seeker asked an old monk, “Master, when does a life truly change?”

The monk poured a bowl of water into the dry earth.

“Was it the last drop,” he asked, “or the first that disappeared into the ground?”

The seeker stood in silence.

The monk smiled. “Change begins in a moment too small to notice, yet nothing is ever the same after it.” 💕

Yes, whenever one of our illusions breaks, whenever the heart opens with simplicity, whenever complaints turn into gratitude, fear into trust, and ego into humility, whenever we see ourselves, understand ourselves, whenever we accept someone just as they are, without any judgment, and listen to them, whenever our way of seeing changes, and the same people, the same paths, the same day, the same sky appear to us in a new color, in a new meaning.

Whenever we see that peace is not in circumstances, but in consciousness; love is not something to be demanded, but a way of being; life is not something to hold onto, but to flow with it in awareness.

Whenever we are no longer the same as before, that very moment becomes the only living, true, and great poem, which is written by the pen of realization on the paper of the heart 💛✨

Tao Yuanming: Returning to Fields and Gardens

 https://poets.org/poem/returning-fields-and-gardens-i

Returning to Fields and Gardens (I)

Tao Yuanming

Translated from the Mandarin by Arthur Sze

When I was young, I did not fit in
with others, and simply loved the hills and mountains.
By mistake, I fell into the dusty net,
and before I knew it, it was thirty years!
The caged bird longs for the old forest.
The fish in the pond misses the old depths.
I cultivate land along the southern wilds,
and, keeping to simplicity, return to fields and garden.
Ten acres now surround my house;
it is thatched, and has eight, nine rooms.
Elms and willows shade the back eaves.
Peach and plum trees are lined out the front hall.
The distant village is hazy, hazy: and
slender, slender, the smoke hanging over houses.
Dogs bark in the deep lane, and a rooster
crows on top of a mulberry tree.
My house untouched by the dust of the world—
ample leisure in these bare rooms.
I was held so long inside a narrow bird-
cage, but now, at last, can return to nature.

From The Silk Dragon II: Translations of Chinese Poetry by Arthur Sze. Copyright © 2024 by Arthur Sze. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Copper Canyon Press.

Pain and the Second Arrow

 

Pain and the Second Arrow

From a Q&A session with Thich Nhat Hanh, 2011, in response to the question, "I wonder what advice you might have or what practices you might recommend for those of us who are living with physical pain or living with despair in our caring for the world?"

Here is Thay's response:

"And the Buddha said that we should not try to amplify our pain, exaggerate the situation. He used the image of someone who is hit by an arrow, and a few minutes later a second arrow comes and strikes exactly at the same spot. So after the second arrow comes, not only the pain is double, but it can be triple or ten times more painful, intense. So when we have some pain, whether it is physical or mental, we have to recognize it as it is, and we should not exaggerate. Breathing in, I know this is only a minor physical pain. I can very well make friends and peace with it. I can still smile to it. And if you recognize it as it is and do not exaggerate, and then you can make peace with it and you don't suffer much. But if you get angry, revolting against that, if you worry too much, if you imagine that you are going to die very quickly, and then the pain will be multiplied by 100 times, and that is the second arrow, we should not allow it to come. That's recommended by the Buddha. This is very important. Don't exaggerate, don't amplify the pain."

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Linda J - Practices to embody reverence for life - Still Water Sangha

 Linda J offering ideas of holding Mindfulness Training on Reverence for life: 

"Here are some of my aspirations and practices to embody reverence for life." - 

(CSL: in boldface) 

• Maintain awareness of those who are suffering around the world. Seek ways to protect life and reduce suffering for all. Support efforts to bring aid and end wars. 
• consider the mission of United Nations
• 
  
• Engage with clerks, strangers, and neighbors in ways that communicate respect and connection.
• Elderly in transition, phone calls, catching up
• 
  
• Practice metta meditation for all people, all creation.
• 
  
• Make space in my life and my mind for awe. Pause through the day to really see and really feel the amazing creations of Mother Earth. Bow, with my whole heart, in reverence. 
• murmurations
• 
  
• Start anew each morning, noticing when I am taking people or creation for granted. Wake up (again and again) to the wonder of being alive.
• the 'wow' factor every morning
• 
  
• Have reverence for my own body and consciousness.
• yoga, somatics, breathwork
• 
  

from email sent by Still Water Sangha, July 7, 2026

Affect the quality of the day: the highest art

https://insig.ht/yQ6ZhJAgz4b

Basho ~ 'Gazing at Morning Glories'

 

I am one

who eats breakfast 

gazing at morning glories

—Basho