A curious mind out to explore the universe.

“We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, or otherwise have faith in.” - Aldo Leopold

[terracemuse]

[natureboy153]

Morning zen

[simply-buddhism]

[simply-buddhism]

[simply-buddhism]

[natureboy153]

[namastespiritual]

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” ― Dalai Lama XIV

[kerry-moore]

🌲🌙

[hcphysicsquotes]

“We used to get index cards, but I gave you a sheet because I’m a pushover”

Prof. AL

[natureboy153]

[natureboy153]

Foggy morning dog walk.

[simply-buddhism]

[thichnhathanhgems]

There is a story about a flower which is well known in the Zen circles. One day the Buddha held up a flower in front of an audience of 1,250 monks and nuns. He did not say anything for quite a long time. The audience was perfectly silent. Everyone seemed to be thinking hard, trying to see the meaning behind the Buddha’s gesture. Then, suddenly, the Buddha smiled. He smiled because someone in the audience smiled at him and at the flower. The name of that monk was Mahakashyapa. He was the only person who smiled, and the Buddha smiled back and said, “I have a treasure of insight, and I have transmitted it to Mahakashyapa.” That story has been discussed by many generations of Zen students, and people continue to look for its meaning. To me the meaning is quite simple. When someone holds up a flower and shows it to you, he wants you to see it. If you keep thinking, you miss the flower. The person who was not thinking, who was just himself, was able to encounter the flower in depth, and he smiled.

That is the problem of life. If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything. When a child presents himself to you with his smile, if you are not really there—thinking about the future or the past, or preoccupied with other problems—then the child is not really there for you. The technique of being alive is to go back to yourself in order for the child to appear like a marvelous reality. Then you can see him smile and you can embrance him in your arms.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Painting: Corinna Luyken

[lraquel]

hammer time

[simply-buddhism]

[my-russia]

Saint Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow

[my-russia]

Fontanka, Saint Petersburg

Photo: Alexandr Grankin