Compassionate action emerges from the sense of openness, connectedness, and discernment you have created.
Joan HalifaxI am working on a technical paper on compassion. So I am reading everything I can on the subject, including my own mind and heart.
Joan HalifaxYes, creation is moving toward us; life is moving toward us all the time. We back away, but it keeps pushing toward us. Why not step forward and greet it.
Joan HalifaxDeath can come at any moment. You could die this afternoon; you could die tomorrow morning; you could die on your way to work; you could die in your sleep. Most of us try to avoid the sense that death can come at any time, but its timing is unknown to us. Can we live each day as if it were our last? Can we relate to one another as if there were no tomorrow?
Joan HalifaxSince we are already Buddhas, happy and suffering Buddhas, wise and confused Buddhas, we are already Buddha.
Joan HalifaxWhen we walk slowly, the world can fully appear. Not only are the creatures not frightened away by our haste or aggression, but the fine detail of fern and flower, or devastation and disruption, becomes visible. Many of us hurry along because we do not want to see what is really going on in and around us. We are afraid to let our senses touch the body of suffering or the body of beauty
Joan Halifax