all my relations

 

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When we take a step on the green grass of spring, we walk in such a way that allows all our ancestors to take a step with us. Our peace, our joy, our freedom, which are in each step, penetrate each generation of our ancestors and each generation of our descendants. If we can walk like that, that is a step taken in the highest dhyana. 

When we take one step we see hundreds and thousands of ancestors and descendants taking a step with us, and when we take a breath we are light, at ease, calm. We breathe in such a way that all the generations of ancestors are breathing with us and all the generations of our descendants are also breathing with us […] if we breathe like that, only then are we breathing according to the highest teachings. 

We just need a little mindfulness, a little concentration and then we can look deeply and see. At first we use the method of visualization and we see, as we walk, all the ancestors putting their foot down as we put our foot down, and gradually we don’t need to visualize any more – each step we take, we see that that step is the step of people in the past.

—Thich Nhat Hanh

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sleeping fox image

 

you are that

 

 

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Remember, you are entirely on your own.

You must realize first of all that you are the proof of everything, including yourself. 

None can prove your existence, because this existence must be confirmed by you first. 

Your being and knowing you owe nobody. 

You are entirely on your own. 

You do not come from somewhere, you do not go anywhere.

You are timeless being and awareness.


—Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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during a storm

 

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You too are a tree. During a storm of emotions, you should not stay at the level of the head or the heart, which are like the top of the tree. You have to leave the heart, the eye of the storm, and come back to the trunk of the tree. 

Your trunk is one centimeter below your navel. Focus there, paying attention only to the movement of your abdomen, and continue to breathe.


—Thích Nhất Hạnh

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family tree

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Everything that's made of wood was once a tree
And it's clearly understood by fools like me
While you're sitting on a chair, feeling nice and cozy there
You're not really sitting on a chair; you're sitting on a tree

Somebody yelled timber and a tree came tumbling down
Whether it's a door or a chair or the floor
The roots are still in the ground
Everything that's made of wood was once a tree

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