6.24.24

Thought

Emptiness is essential to the spirit of Zen. In the context of Zen, emptiness is not nihilism. It is not a void. It is not loneliness. It is not a black hole. The experience of emptiness is the experience of no boundaries and the experience that you are not separate. It is the experience of oneness. It is vast and boundless as the empty sky. It extends to the ends of the universe, unobstructed. 

Zen Master Keizan once commented, “When emptiness is struck, it makes an echo, and thus all sounds are manifested. When emptiness is transformed, all things manifested and, therefore, forms are distinguished. Do not think that emptiness is not forms, nor think that emptiness is not a thing or a state, emptiness is everything, just as it is. Emptiness is fullness. 

— Ellen Birx, Healing Zen

Quote

Writer Ralph Waldo Emerson on self authenticity:

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

Intention of the Day

My intention is to breath deeply today.

What’s your intention today? 

Happy Monday,

Val