“Time is originally one with being. Twelve hours is the duration from sunrise to sunset. The sun needs twelve hours for its rising from the east and setting in the west. When your mind follows your breathing, it means your mind drives your breathing as water follows waves. Your breathing and mind are one. Here we have absolute freedom. We become one independent being. We should not say firewood becomes ash. Ash is ash, firewood is firewood. But ash includes firewood with everything and firewood includes ash with everything. So one breath after another you attain absolute freedom when you practice, when you are concentrated on each exhale and inhale.”
“One remarkable example of Suzuki Roshi’s life was that he never seemed to be in a hurry. No matter how much pressure he was under, I don’t remember ever seeing him in a hurry. … [H]e had a way of not wasting time. He seemed to be settled in time almost casually, never ahead or behind. In his quiet way, fully filling each moment, he appeared to be tapped into some fundamental rhythm which was independent of circumstances, yet totally one with them.”
More than a decade ago, Jerry Porras and Jim Collins cited research from which they concluded that leaders who last and make a lasting difference have the exceptional ability to deal with paradoxes and seeming contradictions rather than yielding to the “tyranny of the ‘or.’” This is the tyranny that pushes people to believe that things must be either A or B, but not both.”
“While it may sound too good to be true, it is often possible to embrace both extremes of many apparent contradictions simultaneously. If we are willing to do some hard cognitive work and lay aside pure selfishness, we can find ways to have the best of both worlds.”
“Think of the plots of the James Bond films, the Star Wars films, the Indiana Jones films. In such movies, it’s quite obvious who the bad guys are. Caricatures of evil, they are ruthless, maniacal, without remorse, and so they must be stopped by any means necessary. We are meant to feel that it is okay—even, to tell the truth, pleasurable—to see violence inflicted upon them. Because the villains like to hurt people, it’s okay to hurt them. Because they like to kill people, it’s okay to kill them. After all, they are evil, and evil must be destroyed.”
“What is this kind of story teaching us? That if you really want to hurt someone, it is important to demonize them first—in other words, fit them into your good-versus-evil story. That is why truth is the first casualty of all wars.”
“As long as we insist that meditation must be meaningful, we fail to understand it. We meditate with the idea that we’re going to get something from it—that it will lower our blood pressure, calm us down, or enhance our concentration. And, we believe, if we meditate long enough, and in just the right way, it might even bring us to enlightenment.”
“All of this is delusion.”
“One of the themes of practice is the gradual movement from a self-centered life to a more life-centered one. But what about our efforts to become more life-centered—doing good deeds, serving others, dedicating our efforts to good causes? There’s nothing wrong with making these efforts, but they won’t necessarily lead us to a less self-oriented life. Why? Because we can do these things without really dealing with our ‘self.’”
“The ineffable is in the world of action. The absolute in each activity is easily missed. We practice zazen to realize the absolute quality of each activity. In zazen we realize the world of non-matter in wholehearted activity of body and mind and the wholehearted activity of dropping off body and mind. With respect to mind and action Dogen says that there is mindfulness of body, and there is mindfulness in which there is no body. In no body there is a balanced state of seemingly effortless action.”
“When we are not attached to who we think we are, life can move through us, playing us like an instrument. Understanding how everything is in continual transformation, we release our futile attempts to control circumstances. When we live in this easy connection with life, we live in joy.”
I’ve got a few friends with all kinds of interesting trinkets lying around their home, but nothing quite as interesting as this!
Also by Khalid Mohtaseb. Some incredibly crisp footage with some powerful angles, delicious colours and more Kessler Pocket Dolly pans.
by Khalid Mohtaseb. Wow! Shot with a Canon 5D Mark 2. The slow pans are a result of using the Kessler Pocket Dolly. Powerful stuff.
Check out this site for a heap of free documentaries. If you’ve got even more time to kill this site is loaded full of them too.
Leonard Cohen with his poem A Thousand Kisses Deep. Seriously worth putting up with the annoying crowd for. Incredible.
This is an interesting short clip. The 70/30 oxygen/carbon dioxide mixture sounds fascinating.
I’m loving this site at the moment. These two are my favorites so far. Perfectly reproduced.
I don’t normally like ‘mega mixes’ but this is incredible. The best in hip hop from 1999 to 2009. Well worth a listen.
A friend has put this together for a uni project. It features another friend riding off into the sunset and my LBS (Cheeky Transport) Check it out!
The Tibetan Buddhist Society has finally launched its new site. If you’re interested in Buddhism, drop by one of the weekly classes.
From Keep Moving Sydney: “The Tongue Is Dead is the second mixtape from the Elefant Traks battle boss & its pure fire.” Thanks again FZA!
On the 1st March 2010 Spencer Tunick will be making a series of installations as part of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.