No Matter What

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​Over the last forty five years I have seen people leave practice for all kinds of reasons. 
One of the most common reasons is it just fades; life becomes so busy it encroaches on the practice of pausing. In the midst of the chaos and caught by samsara, we forget to stop.  We stop listening.

The activities of making money, tending to family, and tending to a career can easily distract us from the mind of wonder. 

And our practice seems to get lost as well in the volcanic fires of suffering that we go through daily, real and imagined.  With all of the bumping up against each other that we do in our various roles and functions in life, it's very easy to forget the power of practice.

The power of taking time to quiet the mind, find your center, breathe-in-breathe-out, breathe-in-breathe-out, spine straight, river of thought passing through.  

And then it's so amazing how easy and how quickly that fades: the morning dew that disappears when the sun comes out. The constant demands of our daily activities seem to burn through any hint of practice. We continually find ourself returning to the mind of accumulation.

Vowing to stay present and be compassionate, we become confused and aggressive.  In spite of our vow to abandon greed, hatred and ignorance we find our selves caught in defending ourselves and lost in our opinions and assumptions...

And yet the mind of great stillness, noble silence - Is always available.  
​It can be remembered in a moment as our original nature.

​Having forgotten the practice mind,
I discover the practice mind.

awake all night
listening to the X-Box samadhi
of my grandson

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Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
Dae Gak

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