Way of the Peaceful Warrior

"Meditating an action is different from doing it. To do, there is a doer, a self-conscious 'someone' performing. But when you meditate an action, you've already released attachment to outcomes. There's no 'you' left to do it. In forgetting yourself, you become what you do, so your action is free, spontaneous, without ambition, inhibition, or fear." (151)

"The birth of the mind is the death of the senses." (158)

"The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less." (162)

"The only thing you know absolutely is that you are here, wherever here may be. From now on, whenever your attention begins to drift off to other times and places, I want you to snap back. Remember, the time is now and the place is here." (162)

Poetry

Meditations: Metta

Beating wings drumming in the distance,
Golden wings that send their echo from afar.
As I breathe, a wave washes over me
Cleansing the coldness from my breath,
And retreating to seek new warmth--

Rising Again with fingertips
that permeate my body,
And caress my soul.
I exhale--
and they withdraw,
Leaving me the seasoned virgin.

Returning now to feathered fancy
and the fleeting song they sing,
I invoke the golden light.
Radiating invisible tendrils,
Spanning the plane of space
And bending time to find you.

In your sullen presence I mock
the movement of the wave,
Becoming now the prism.
Washing you with light.

Breathing again.
The vehicle of your peace.

Projecting and absorbing
In my now amorphous Self.
I watch the lifeless form lying on the beach.
And think on it with delight,
That I just might...
Leave the shell behind.

--Anonymous--