We in the "developed" world seem to have many auditory strategies that insulate us from the presence of silence, simplicity, and solitude. When I return to Western culture after time in desert, mountain or forest, I discover how we have filled our world with a multiplicity of noises, a symphony of forgetfulness that keeps our won thoughts and realizations, feelings and intuitions out of audible range.
Joan HalifaxSince we are already Buddhas, happy and suffering Buddhas, wise and confused Buddhas, we are already Buddha.
Joan HalifaxMany of us think that compassion drains us, but I promise you it is something that truly enlivens us.
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 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