via retrogasm
”
The potential for realization is universal and present for all of us. True benefit will come from your own efforts and realization. For your efforts to bring benefit, you must take your life into your own hands and examine your mind and experience.
From this point of view, nobody could be kinder to you than yourself. Nobody could have a greater effect on you or actually do more for you than yourself. The Buddha said “I have shown you the path of liberation. Now liberation depends on you.” This is really true. If you don’t take your life into your own hands, not even the buddhas can make a difference. It’s up to you.
Dzigar Kongtrul (via Zencast)
”
The neighbors’ dog will not stop barking.
The neighbors’ dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out. The neighbors’ dog will not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking, and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog. When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.
Billy Collins. Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep A Gun In The House by
