sometimes easy, sometimes work

Peace in Afghanistan

Click the Pic for More . . .

May you . . . be happy (worth re-posting)

This always makes me smile – so many reasons (I need this reminder – and I am thankful for it)

You can’t always get what you want, but you may find you get what you need

Is synthetic happiness equal to happiness you stumble upon?  Science seems to think so. Being with what “is” appears to be able to make us happy.   That’s why advertising to Zen monks isn’t necessarily profitable . . .

Network of Causes

No man is an island and neither are his emotions.  I thought this was a great follow up to yesterday’s blog:

November 7, 2008
Tricycle’s Daily Dharma

A Complicated Network of Causes

The view of interdependence makes for a great openness of mind. In general, instead of realizing that what we experience arises from a complicated network of causes, we tend to attribute happiness or sadness, for example, to single, individual sources. But if this were so, as soon as we came into contact with what we consider to be good, we would automatically be happy, and conversely, in the case of bad things, invariably sad. The causes of joy and sorrow would be easy to identify and target. It would all be very simple, and there would be good reason for our anger and attachment. When, on the other hand, we consider that everything we experience results from a complex interplay of causes and conditions, we find that there is no single thing to desire or resent, and it is more difficult for the afflictions of attachment or anger to arise. In this way, the view of interdependence makes our mind more relaxed and open.

–The Dalai Lama, A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night

from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book