Awakening, like love, is not an achievement.
It is a blossoming of your own being.
Infinite.
Always here.
…..Chameli Ardagh
resisting that space of feeling ‘half asleep’ may be the finest work of living, yet the dogged complacency of the everyday veil can leave us broken-hearted…..may we know when to cast off ambiguity and without criticism, let it all fly through our lives…..
unto the world
solid ground below your feet
clouds swirling above, begging you to fly
Fire inside, keeping you alive
feel it burn
close your eyes.
Come as you are
the Universe is not your guide,
Come as you are
allow yourself to guide the Universe.
Come as you are
unto them
the others
the people around you who simply wish
to come as they are
unto you.
love them, believe in them, forgive them
Come as you are
unto them
wrap them in your arms and hold them
and in that moment, even if only for a second,
let yourself be held, too
Come as you are
unto them
love them and let them love you.
Come as you are
unto yourself
climb inside
your beautiful mind
make friends with the voices
you always try to hide
and forgive yourself for that thing
you’ve been holding on to for far too long.
Come as you are
unto yourself
and forget the rest
Let it be.
Come as you are.
…Macaile Hutt
Taking refuge in the Buddha means that we are willing to spend our life reconnecting with the quality of being continually awake. Every time we feel like taking refuge in a habitual means of escape, we take off more armor, undoing all the stuff that covers over our wisdom and our gentleness and our awake quality. We’re not trying to be something we aren’t; rather, we’re reconnecting with who we are. So when we say, ‘I take refuge in the Buddha,’ that means I take refuge in the courage and the potential of fearlessness, of removing all the armor that covers this awakeness of mine. I am awake; I will spend my life taking this armor off. Nobody else can take it off because nobody else knows where all the little locks are, nobody else knows where it’s sewed up tight, where it’s going to take a lot of work to get that particular iron thread untied. You have to do it alone……Pema Chodron
