... collected Insight Cards ...
Mindfulness (sona)
know, awaken, understand
"Here and now, everywhere and always, gives us a lot of room for working together, that is, if you are interested and willing to roll up your sleeves and do the work of the timeless, the work of non-doing, the work of awareness embodied in your own life as it is always unfolding moment by moment. It is indeed the work of no time at all, and the work of a lifetime."
- Work of a Lifetime — Jon Kabat-Zinn, in "Meditation is Not For the Faint-Hearted" of Coming to Our Senses
"... Mindfulness is cultivated by a gentle effort, by effortless effort. You cultivate mindfulness by constantly reminding yourself in a gentle way to maintain your awareness of whatever is happening right now. Persistence and a light touch are the secrets. Mindfulness is cultivated by constantly pulling oneself back to a state of awareness, gently, gently, gently. ..."
- Gently, Gently, Gently — Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
... it's about paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. And that's called mindfulness, paying attention on purpose in the present moment non-judgmentally. Ultimately, it stops being on purpose. ...
- Ceaseless Society — Jon Kabat-Zinn 2006 lecture "The Ceaseless Society: Is 24/7 Good for Us?"
.. In a well-known story, the Buddha encountered curious passersby who, impressed by his startling presence, asked him if he was a king or a god. When he said no, they challenged him by saying, "Then what are you?" He quietly responded, "I am awake."
- Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation — Arianna Weisman & Jean Smith (2001) The Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation, Chapter 8
... The Buddha used to say that the teachings of mindfulness are a raft that takes us over the waters from the shore of delusion to the shore of awakening. It would be silly, he reminds us, to worship the raft or to carry it around on dry land.Remember: Go Slowly, Breathe, and Smile!
- Beginning Mindfulness — Andrew Weiss, Beginning Mindfulness, Introduction
Combinations
sona en lukin
sona en nasin
sona en ale
sona en ala
sona en lon
sona en pana
sina pana e sona la,
sona kama tawa sina
sona li pana la, sona li jo
When you give wisdom, wisdom comes to you
knowledge given, knowledge gained
sona en jo
sona en sijelo
sona en kon
sona en ken
sona en tan
sona en wan
sona en kulupu
sona en pona
sona en olin
sona en awen
sona en pali
Nonattachment (pana)
give, share, release
"Nothing is to be clung to as 'I,' 'me,' or 'mine.'"
- ... Mantra - Cling to Nothing — Jon Kabat-Zinn, in Mindfulness for Beginners and in Coming to Our Senses
"You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather."
- ... Mantra - Mind Like Sky — Pema Chödrön
"Be a Duck, Not a Sponge"
... Our attachment to "I" is probably the most difficult to untangle. We have a sure and certain sense of ourselves as "here," as "I did," and as "this is me," but this sense of "I" comes about only through attachment. If we investigate ourselves very carefully, we find thoughts, physical sensations, and feelings of unpleasantness, pleasantness, or neither pleasant nor unpleasant. We find different feelings of joy, love, anger, faith, and envy. We find perception and memory. All of these experiences do not stay the same; even our thoughts of ourselves do not stay the same. So where is the solid "I"? ...
Imagine the wonderful freedom that comes from beginning to have some distance from our "I am this" or "that." If we have no attachment to ourselves, we have no need to defend ourselves. We can live with an open heart and mind. If we have no attachment, we have no need to hoard, lie, or hurt others. We do not need to play out roles that we think we should play as teachers, students, or parents. Rather, we can live as ourselves and as teachers, students, or parents with ease and well-being. Our greatest contraction and isolation are linked to our ownership of and belief in a permanent "I" and the consequent organization of all experiences around it.
- Nonattachment to I — Arianna Weisman and Jean Smith
Oneness (wan)
unity, union, universe
"Begin from any object, no matter how simple—whether a piece of paper, a cup of coffee, your own fingernail, or a discarded piece of trash on the side of the road—and follow the connections of interbeing outward. Before you know it, you'll realize that, in that seemingly mundane thing, you are looking at a reflection of the entire cosmos. All objects are inseparable from each other, and everything is constantly arising and existing together in one interconnected whole."
- Buddhish — C Pierce Salguero
"... A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. ..."
- Einstein on Self – Albert Einstein
"... the most important reason for forgiveness is our belief in interconnectedness. Because we are all one, what we cannot forgive in others we cannot forgive in ourselves; what we withhold from others we withhold from ourselves. The judgments we pronounce upon others are ultimately being pronounced upon ourselves, because there is no you and no me, there is only we. ..."
- Forgiveness and Oneness – Day 53 of Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison's book Meditations from the Mat
"... if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down. ..."
- This Is Water — 2005 David Foster Wallace commencement address to the graduating class at Kenyon College
"... At the end of each of our activities together, we chant the Four Great Vows, beginning with the vow to save all sentient beings. This vow is based on the fact that we are one with all beings."
- We Are One — From Chapter 22 ("Time Unfolds") of Subtle Sound: The Zen Teachings of Maurine Stuart
Attention (lukin)
clarity, convergence, contemplation
One day a man of the people said to Zen Master Ikkyu: 'Master, will you please write for me some maxims of the highest wisdom?'
Ikkyu immediately took his brush and wrote the word 'Attention.'
'Is that all?' asked the man. 'Will you not add something more?'
Ikkyu then wrote twice running: 'Attention. Attention.'
'Well,' remarked the man rather irritably, 'I really don't see much depth or subtlety in what you have just written.'
Then Ikkyu wrote the same word three times running: 'Attention. Attention. Attention.'
Half-angered, the man demanded: 'What does that word "attention" mean anyway?'
And Ikkyu answered gently: 'Attention means attention.'
- Attention, Attention, Attention — Guy Claxton & Philip Kapleau
"... As I'm sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head. (May be happening right now). Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed. ..."
- This Is Water — 2005 David Foster Wallace commencement address to the graduating class at Kenyon College
... every moment in life is absolute in itself. That's all there is. There is nothing other than this present moment; there is no past, there is no future; there is nothing but this. So when we don't pay attention to each little this, we miss the whole thing. And the contents of this can be anything. This can be straightening our sitting mats, chopping an onion, visiting someone we don't want to visit. It doesn't matter what the contents of the moment are; each moment is absolute. That's all there is, and all there ever will be. If we could totally pay attention, we would never be upset. If we're upset, it's axiomatic that we're not paying attention. If we miss not just one moment, but one moment after another, we're in trouble. ...
- Attention Means Attention — Charlotte Joko Beck, "Attention Means Attention", quoted from Nothing Special: Living Zen in Tricycle magazine, Fall 1993:
Acceptance (jo)
carry, concur, consent
"I want to learn how to be the best receiver that I can ever be, because I think graceful receiving is one of the most wonderful gifts we can give anybody. If we receive what somebody gives us in a graceful way, we've given that person a wonderful gift."
- Remembering Mister Rogers — Fred Rogers
"... The two parts of genuine acceptance—seeing clearly and holding our experience with compassion—are as interdependent as the two wings of a great bird. Together, they enable us to fly and be free. ..."
- ... Wings of Acceptance — Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance, Chapter 2 ("Awakening from the Trance: The Path of Radical Acceptance")
"It is a state of peace to be able to accept things as they are. This is to be at home in our own lives. We see that this universe is much too big to hold on to, but it is the perfect size for letting go. Our hearts and minds can become that big, and we can actually let it go. This is the gift of equanimity."
- ... Perfect Size for Letting Go – from Lovingkindness by Sharon Salzberg, Chapter 9 ("The Gift of Equanimity")
Alliance (kulupu)
connect, combine, commune
"Self-Discovery, Skills of Mind, Generosity of Heart"
"At Your Side" — a reminder of partnership, reliability, and loyalty — worthy traits to practice! – slogan of Brother Industries Ltd, the international corporation founded in Japan in 1908
"We all know people, I hope, who bring out the best in us, people in whose presence we would be embarrassed to speak or act from unworthy motives, people who glow. In their presence we feel elevated. We are pushed, or nudged further along a path of development and perfection; rather, we are inspired to move ourselves along, in the direction shown. [….] We want to find a way of living whereby our best energies and talents are poured out so as to speak to and improve the best energies and talents of others. We want to utilize our highest parts and energies in a way that helps others to flourish.”
- ... Universal Flourishing — Robert Nozick, Philosophical Explanations, Chapter 5
... how might you contribute to humanity, and even deeper, to the well-being of the world ...? Such a question is not possible to answer in a purely intellectual way, because the effects of our actions go far beyond our understanding. We are deeply social and deeply instinctual animals, so much that our well-being depends on many things we do that are hard to explain in an intellectual way. That is why you do well to follow your heart and your passion. Bare reason is likely to lead you astray. None of us are smart and wise enough to figure it out intellectually. ...
... The world does not suffer from an oversupply of clarity and understanding (to put it mildly). ...
... [Our world] only exists in a living community ... that spreads understanding and breathes life into ideas both old and new. The real satisfaction ... is in learning from others and sharing with others. All of us have clear understanding of a few things and murky concepts of many more. There is no way to run out of ideas in need of clarification. The question of who is the first person to ever set foot on some square meter of land is really secondary. Revolutionary change does matter, but revolutions are few, and they are not self-sustaining – they depend very heavily on the community ...
- ... Clarity, Understanding, Community — Bill Thurston, writing about mathematics and life in response to the question "What's a Mathematician to Do?"; see also Thurston's 1994 paper "On proof and progress in mathematics"
Path (nasin)
plan, pattern, procedure
A path is a shul because it is an impression in the ground left by the regular tread of feet, which has kept it clear of obstructions and maintained it for the use of others. As a shul, emptiness can be compared to the impression of something that used to be there. In this case, such an impression is formed by the indentations, hollows, marks, and scars left by the turbulence of selfish craving. When the turmoil subsides, we experience tranquility, relief, and freedom.To know emptiness is not just to understand the concept. It is more like stumbling into a clearing in the forest, where suddenly you can move freely and see clearly. ...
- Shul — Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs
Aikido is a process. A martial process, yes, but more importantly, a process by which we attempt to bring about a balance between our physical, mental, and spiritual selves. Not unlike other mind/body/spirit disciplines, Aikido is merely one path an individual may choose to improve the quality of life and come to a basic understanding of the nature of being human.Martial arts, yoga, meditation, movement, and bodyworking therapies are some of the techniques we use to bring us to a singular destination. To describe or "label" this destination is a difficult task. Some believe it to be a state of personal clarity that enables us to connect in a healthy way with others and the environment which surrounds us all. It is through this type of connection that we may have a positive effect on the world around us.
- ... Aikido Spirit — from the Introduction by Rick Stickles to The Aikido Student Handbook by Greg O'Connor
... the experience and the experiencer disappear. And the disappearance of these two is their spontaneous coming together, through which we experience the One. In deep samadhi, our zazen is nothing but this oneness: gateless gateness. It is nothing but inner and outer, in-breath and out-breath, just this.Life is suffering, the Buddha taught, because we want some permanency, some guarantee. If we let go of this desire and just follow a path of doing finite things in an infinite way, then ordinary becomes extraordinary; secular is sacred. Preparing the food, washing the dishes; everything is a sacred act.This path must be followed without any shortcuts. Unlike instant coffee, enlightenment isn't bought in a jar. ...
- Mantra - Do Finite Things in an Infinite Way — from Chapter 15 ("Peace of Mind") of Subtle Sound: The Zen Teachings of Maurine Stuart
This other way of describing meditation is that whatever "meditation" is, it is not instrumental at all. If it is a method, it is the method of no method. It is not a doing. There is no going anywhere, nothing to practice, no beginning, middle, or end, no attainment, and nothing to attain. Rather, it is the direct realization and embodiment in this very moment of who you already are, outside of time and space and concepts of any kind, a resting in the very nature of your being, in what is sometimes called the natural state, original mind, pure awareness, no mind, or simply emptiness. You are already everything you may hope to attain, so no effort of the will is necessary—even for the mind to come back to the breath—and no attachment is possible. You are already it. It is already here. There is no time, no space, no body, and no mind, to paraphrase Kabir. And there is no purpose to meditation—it is the one human activity (non-activity really) that we engage in for its own sake—for no purpose other than to be awake to what is actually so.
- ... No Method — from Coming to Our Senses by Jon Kabat-Zinn, in the chapter "Two Ways to Think About Meditation"
On this path no effort is wasted,
no gain is ever reversed;
even a little of this practice
will shelter you from great sorrow.
- ... Mantra - No Effort Is Wasted — from the Bhagavad Gita translation by Stephen Mitchell (section 2.40)
When we do feel lost or uncertain, drifting away from our practice, blocked from our own truth, it helps to remember that darkness and confusion, too, are part of the path. The hero's journey is a journey inward. Yoga is not a workout, it is a work in. In the Tao Te Ching, we read that the only real movement is return. And this is the point of spiritual practice: to make us teachable, to open our hearts and focus our awareness so that we can know what we already know, and be who we already are.
- ... Journey Inward — from "Day 88" of Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison's Meditations from the Mat
Body (sijelo)
form, matter, substance
"The point of having a body is to carry yourself from joyful experience to joyful experience."
- ... from Chapter 19 of How to Keep House while Drowning by K C Davis
Keep helping your body feel less alarmed. I imagine my "inner iguana" lodged in the most ancient and fearful structures of the brainstem, and gently stroking its belly, soothing and settling it so it relaxes like a lizard on a warm rock. The same with my inner rat, or monkey, or caveman: continually softening and opening the body, breathing fully and letting go, sensing strength and resolve inside.
- Inner Iguana — Rick Hanson, Chapter 38 ("Don't Be Alarmed") of Just One Thing
Epigram: sijelo en pona
pilin pona li kama tan sijelo
sijelo li pana e pilin pona
tan sijelo li pilin pona
"pilin pona li kama tan sijelo" = "Joy comes from bodies"
"sijelo li pana e pilin pona" = "Bodies make joy"
"tan sijelo li pilin pona" = "The purpose of bodies is joy"
Good (pona)
peace, beauty, kindness
The root of the word good, "ge", is also the root of the word together, and signifies "being joined or united in a fitting way." When we feel connected, we see and reflect back to each other our essential goodness.
- Unconditional Friendliness — Tara Brach
...your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving: Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now. There's a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really: selfishness. But there's also a cure. So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf – seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life.
- Be Kind — George Saunders
- Genuine – fully present without pretense, an unclothed self
- Gallant – polite, helpful, courageous, noble
- Generous – kind in sharing wealth and blessings
- Grateful – feeling thanks, giving praise
- Good
All (ale)
any, every, completely
Love is like infinity: you can't have more or less infinity, and you can't compare two things to see if they're "equally infinite". Infinity just is, and that's the way I think love is, too.
- The World According to Mister Rogers — Fred Rogers
... once experiencing the peaceful silence that lies in the gap between one thought and the next, I see how a thought appears from that silence and also disappears into it by itself. Consequently, I don't attach too much importance to each thought but pay more attention to the quiet space in between thoughts. The space of silence then gradually expands ... The conceptual division between the self and the world collapses, and I come to realize that the silence is the mind's unshakable true nature as well as the unmanifested ground of the universe before its creation.
- Love for Imperfect Things — Haemin Sunim
Spirit (kon)
soul, breath, essence
Be Earth — Breathe
- Mantra - Be Earth — by ^z - 2016-10-03
For the first few weeks, we just watch the breath come in and go out. You could practice in this way forever and never come to the end of it. It just gets deeper and deeper. The mind eventually becomes calmer and more relaxed, and mindfulness becomes stronger and stronger.
- Being with Your Breath — Chapter 4 ("Sitting Meditation") of Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn
"Remember: Go Slowly, Breathe, and Smile!"
- Beginning Mindfulness — Andew Weiss
The Spirits Know! — when good intentions fall short during execution ... when we try our best, and still fail ... when, in the passion of the moment, all that we can manage is to momentarily wish that we could be better, as we lose control — the Spirits know that at least we tried, or tried to try!
Love (olin)
care, concern, compassion
Even when strength fails, there is perseverance.
And even when perseverance fails, there is hope.
And even when hope fails, there is love.
And love never fails.
- Michael Gerson, R.I.P. — Michael Gerson
“ … No matter what our particular job, especially in our world today, we all are called to be Tikkun Olam — Repairers of Creation. Thank you for whatever you do, wherever you are, to bring joy and light and hope and faith and pardon and love to your neighbor and to yourself. … “
- ... Tikkun Olam — from "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", the 2018 documentary film about Mister Rogers (at ~1 hour 24 minutes)
Ultimately, I see mindfulness as a love affair — with life, with reality and imagination, with the beauty of your own being, with your heart and body and mind, and with the world.
- Mindfulness As a Love Affair — Jon Kabat-Zinn
... Some people think that Buddhism doesn't have much to do with love. It has everything to do with love. It just doesn't sentimentalize it. It doesn't get icky, or gushy, or oozy. It's very practical, this selflessness and love practice. Don't give me a long speech about love, but show me by your action what is in your heart.
- Buddhism and Love — Maurine Stuart
No (ala)
May (ken)
potential, possibility, permission
In contrast to expectations, possibilities are based in the present moment, where you're alive to the mystery of life. Being open to exploring possibilities stimulates the mind, makes life interesting, and provides you with the energy and motivation to live as fully as you can in the present moment, in light of your intentions. ...
- Expectations vs. Possibilities — Phillip Moffett
... be prepared to allow things to happen at their own pace. Without applying effort. Without trying to analyze in any way. And without expecting any particular outcome. ...
- Mantra - Without Effort, Analysis, or Expectation — Paul Wilson
The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: "Not always so." Oops — three words in English. In Japanese, two words. "Not always so." This is the secret of the teaching. It may be so, but it is not always so. Without being caught by words or rules, without too many preconceived ideas, we actually do something, and doing something, we apply our teaching.
- ... Not Always So — from Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki, in the talk "Not Always So"
Living a life that is open to possibilities is like a request, rather than a demand. Your well-being is not contingent on the future. You therefore have greater access to imagination and intuition. Your mind is clear and less reactive, and you make better decisions. You respond rather than react to life as it unfolds.
- ... Expectations vs. Possibilities — from Chapter 5 ("Letting Go of Expectations") of Phillip Moffitt's Emotional Chaos to Clarity
Stay (awen)
pause, persist, protect
"... freedom is momentary. I appreciate it for what it is. I just don't stay there, and that is okay with me. That's a loaded word—"stay." In terms of the law of anicca or impermanence, one does not stay anywhere."
- Friendship and Meditation — Hozan Alan Senauke
"It's not very difficult to take a fortress: what is difficult is to win a campaign. And for that it's not storming and attacking that are wanted, but patience and time. ... [T]here is no more powerful adversary than those two: patience and time — they will do it all."
- ... advice from General Kutuzov, War and Peace, Book III, Part Two, Chapter 16 by Leo Tolstoy — https://zhurnaly.com/z/PatienceAndTime.html = PatienceAndTime
"Waiting is."
- ... Valentine Michael Smith, Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A Heinlein
"As you move through your day, you can use any threshold as a moment of awakening. Pause at any doorway, even an open door, and take a conscious breath, instead of blasting in."
- Mantra - Pause on Each Threshold — Lorin Roche
If we care for and protect those we come in contact with, we will have an army of people who will care for and protect us.
- Aikido Spirit – Greg O'Connor
Be (lon)
yes, truth, existence
And then, just naturally, counting stops. And you're just watching the breath, breathing the in-breath, breathing the out-breath. And then even that falls off, and you're just purely being. The thought of practicing Zen is gone. The thought of successful practice is gone. Scattered mind is gone. There's just simply one-mindedness, and then no-mindedness: Mu-shin. Nothing seeking, or striving, or getting; just counting. Just breathing. Just being. Just this.
- Just Breathing, Just Being, Just This — Maurine Stuart
...meditation has little to do with clock time. Five minutes of formal practice can be as profound or more so than forty-five minutes. The sincerity of your effort matters far more than elapsed time, since we are really talking about stepping out of minutes and hours into moments, which are truly dimensionless and therefore infinite. So, if you have some motivation to practice even a little, that is what is important. Mindfulness needs to be kindled and nurtured, protected from the winds of a busy life or a restless and tormented mind, just as a small flame needs to be sheltered from strong gusts of air.
If you can only manage five minutes, or even one minute of mindfulness at first, that is truly wonderful. It means you have already remembered the value of stopping, of shifting even momentarily from doing to being.
- Dimensionless and Therefore Infinite — Jon Kabat-Zinn
"It's about being. It's about the things that matter to me. It's about the white spaces between the paragraphs, which I think are more important than any of the text, because it allows you to think about what you've just read."
- Remembering Mister Rogers — Fred Rogers
If (tan)
from, source, purpose
If our hearts are ready for anything, we are free to be ourselves. There's room for the wildness of our animal selves, for passion and play. There's room for our human selves, for intimacy and understanding, creativity and productivity. There's room for spirit, for the light of awareness to suffuse our moments. The Tibetans describe this confidence to be who we are as "the lion's roar."
If our hearts are ready for anything, we are touched by the beauty and poetry and mystery that fill our world.
When Munindraji, a vipassana meditation teacher, was asked why he practiced, his response was, "So I will see the tiny purple flowers by the side of the road as I walk to town each day."
- So I Will See — Tara Brach
We suffer because we want so much, because we think that situations should be different from the way they are.
- Buddhism and Love — Maurine Stuart
Do (pali)
act, build, create
"Smile and Listen. Let go of resistance so that you can hear your internal guidance and follow its lead. Let grace take over and the wind be at your back."
- Smile and Listen — Sonya Derian
“Do Less, Better”
“If we let go of this desire and just follow a path of doing finite things in an infinite way, then ordinary becomes extraordinary; secular is sacred.”
- ... Mantra - Do Finite Things in an Infinite Way — Chap 15, Subtle Sound: The Zen Teachings of Maurine Stuart