This Too Shall Pass

“How swiftly the strained honey
of afternoon light
flows into darkness
and the closed bud shrugs off
its special mystery
in order to break into blossom:
as if what exists, exists
so that it can be lost
and become precious.” In Passing, by Lisel Mueller

Life is both ephemeral and eternal,

Tiny and infinite,

nothing and everything.

Stop and be still.

Let the mind turn inwards to the center.

Listen to the silence.

Feel deeply.

Be.

Beneath all the noise and the fear and the drama,
There is only love and light

And a deep, immovable peace.

"There's no such thing as enlightenment. To realize conclusively that the Buddha Mind you have from your parents innately is unborn and marvellously illuminating—that's enlightenment. Not realizing this makes you deluded. Because the Buddha Mind is unborn, it has no thoughts at all. Thoughts are the source of delusion. When thoughts are gone, delusion vanishes too. And once you've stopped being deluded, talking about wanting to attain 'enlightenment' certainly is useless, don't you agree?"
Bankei (1622-1693)