Excerpt from "When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times" --by Pema Chodron



Pema Chodron



Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle.

The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, “May I have permission to go into battle with you?” Fear said, “Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission.”

Then the young warrior said, “How can I defeat you?” Fear replied, “My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power.” In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear.

Watch Super Soul Sunday, "Oprah and Thich Nhat Hanh: Living Mindfully" on 6th May 2012

He's been a Buddhist monk for more than 60 years, as well as a teacher, writer, and vocal opponent of war—a stance that left him exiled from his native Vietnam for four decades.

Now the man Martin Luther King Jr. called "an apostle of peace and nonviolence" reflects on the beauty of the present moment, being grateful for every breath, and the freedom and happiness to be found in a simple cup of tea.

"The moment I meet Thich Nhat Hanh at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan, I feel his sense of calm. A deeply tranquil presence seems to surround the Zen Buddhist master."  --Oprah Winfrey

Visit here for details:

Appreciation of Interbeing --by Thich Nhat Hanh

 

If you are a poet,

you will see clearly that there is a cloud

floating in this sheet of paper.

Without a cloud there will be no water;

without water the trees cannot grow;

and without trees,

you cannot make paper.

So the cloud is in here.

The existence of this page is dependent

on the existence of a cloud.

Paper and cloud are so close.

Excerpted from "What Love Is" --by Ayya Khema (As provided by One Dharma Nashville via Tricycle Magazine

This wonderful article was provided by One Dharma Nashville.  Thanks to One Dharma for providing this wonderful teaching via Tricycle Magazine!  --ACOF Administration

Most people are under the impression that they can think out their lives. But that's a misconception. We are subject to our emotions and think in ways based on our emotions. So it's extremely important to do something about our emotions. In the same way as the Buddha gave us the Four Supreme Efforts for the mind, he also outlined the Four Emotions for the heart: (metta), compassion (karuna), joy with others (mudita), and equanimity (upekkha)-are called the "divine abodes." When we have perfected these four, we have heaven on earth, paradise in our own heart.