Two books

On a recent trip to Kalimpong came across two books at the library at Buddha Pada,

These books ~

~ are short, stark and uncommonly simple,

~ can be read anytime, from any page,

~ very different, yet not so,

~ are as stark on re-reading as they are when first read, 

~ connect to incidents in our lives - as we read,

~ have a common message at the crux - life is simple, we often complicate it,

~ tell us work on ourselves, before we venture to solve the world's problems, 

By Duc (pixiduc) from Paris, France. - Thich Nhat Hanh Marche meditative 06, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19478461

 The Miracles of Mindfulness : Thich Nhat Hanh

There are 2 ways to wash the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes and the second is to wash the dishes in order to wash the dishes.

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water on in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves . . . all is a miracle.

There is only one important time and that is now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person you are with, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future? The most important pursuit is making the person standing at your side happy, for that alone is the pursuit of life.

If you cannot find joy in peace in these very moments of sitting, then the future itself will only flow as a river flows by. You will not be able to hold it back. You will be incapable of living the future when it has become the present. Joy and peace are the joy and peace possible in this very hour of sitting. If you cannot find it here, you won’t find it anywhere. Don’t chase after your thoughts as a shadow follows its objects. Don’t run after your thoughts, find joy and peace in this very moment.

When you realize you are irritated, half smile at once, inhale and exhale quietly, maintaining the half smile for three breaths.

YechezkelZilber at English Wikipedia & Nassim Taleb, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The Bed of Procustes : Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The ancients knew very well that the only way to understand events was to cause them.

Modernity inflicts a suck narrative on activities; we ‘walk for exercise’, not to ‘walk’ with no justification, for hidden reasons.

Someone who says ‘I am busy’ is either declaring incompetence (and lack of control of his life) or trying to get rid of you.

The person you are most afraid to contradict is yourself.

When conflicted between two choices, take neither.

I went to a happiness conference, the researchers looked very unhappy.

Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love, close enough on the surface, but, to the non-sucker, not exactly the same thing.