Weekly Inspiration

The test that we hold fast to the Beginning is that we are not afraid. Chuang-tzu

It is utter stillness. Such is the form and shape of your original mind. Your own nature is essentially pure and utterly still.  - Hui Hai

Refuge Is most often thought of as a safe haven, shelter or a place of protection. The deeper meaning of the word spans both emotional and spiritual dimensions. In the east, one taking final vows in some traditions is said to formally “take refuge” in the divine. There is a traditional image of the moon reflecting on water that reminds  us to look beyond the reflection at the moon itself. WaterMoon Refuge is a safe, quiet place that invites us to look beyond the reflections of the world, to  look through our emotions, our personal lives, into the very nature of reality. To approach this...

Things fulfill themselves within you without your intervention. Give all your heart and intelligence to whatever should present itself. - Jean Klein

Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love. - Rumi

Silence is the final and ultimate teaching and the final and ultimate teacher. -       Adyashanti

To know when to stop   To know when you can get no further   By your own action  This is the right beginning. - Chuang-tzu

Even in the world’s bustle and dust, a mind of emptiness never wanders. - anon  

I am whatever exists this moment, no more, no less. Future, past fragments of the mind, no more, no less. - Br. Shankara

A person can never live in harmony with other persons. He can only live in harmony with others when there are no others. -       Francis Lucille

Recognition of the sacred comes from recognizing it in small things. - Helen Luke

The world always appears to us according to the point of view we adopt.

at the crescent moon the silence enters the heart - Chiyo-ni

We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather around us that they may see their own images, and so live for a moment clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life, because of our quiet.

Unconfuse yourself by not knowing. — Toni Packer

moonflowers – the beauty of hidden things - Chiyo-ni

When we Understand, we are at the center of the circle, and there we sit while Yes and No chase each other around the circumference. -       Chuang-tzu

Just as the white summer cloud, in harmony with heaven and earth floats in the blue sky – in the same way the pilgrim abandons himself to the breath of the greater life and is led beyond to an aim which is already present within him yet hidden from his sight. - Lama Govinda

The mountain of release is such that the ascent’s most painful at the start below; the more you rise, the milder it will be. And when the slope feels gentle to the point that climbing up sheer rock is effortless as though you were gliding downstream in a boat; then you will have arrived where this path ends. — Dante’s Commedia

There is a place of pure knowing. Have you been there? You must be very still inside to see this way. Each step taken in surrender can feel like dying but we begin to remember that it was all complete from the beginning. There, not knowing how, we know everything.

Your duty is to Be, not to be this or that. Ramana Marharshi

When the flower blossoms, the bees will come. -       Srikumar Rao

An old, silent pond. A frog jumps in. Splash! Silence again. - Bashho

If you’re looking for a peaceful place, Cold Mountain’s always a refuge. A little breeze, breath of the shaded pines, And if you listen close, the music’s even better. Under the pines, a graying man, Soft, soothingly, reading aloud from Lao Tzu. -  Han Shan

If you understand, things are just as they are. If you don’t understand, things are just as they are. -       Zen saying  

When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten. When the belt fits, the belly is forgotten. When the heart is right, for and against are forgotten. -   Chuang-tzu

One day the sun admitted, I am just a shadow. I wish I could show you The Infinite Transcendence That has cast my brilliant image! I wish I could show you, When you are lonely and in darkness, The Astonishing Light Of your own Being! - Hafiz

There is no glimpse of light without walking the path. - Peace Pilgrim

evening temple bell stopped in the sky by cherry blossoms -  Chiyo-ni

Truth is a pathless land. -  Krishmurti  

Stillness takes us beyond the law. When you are in stillness you are, in a certain sense, an outlaw. There is no law between the heart and the Holy. -      Thomas Merton

Bikkhu Pannakara, and a photo of his hands. He is the monk who led the Walk for Peace. 2025-2026

at the crescent moon the silence enters the heart - Chiyo-ni

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you truly love. -       Rumi

To forget the chill of The frozen hearth I spend the night Dreaming of gathering Violets in a lush field. -   Rengetsu

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. -   T. S. Eliot

What do I want that I don’t already have? Do I really know what I want? What if nothing is lacking?

At year’s end, I bow to you with deep respect and gratitude.  Be still and Know. Swami Lotus WaterMoon Refuge

There is within you a lamb and a lion. Peace is letting them lie down together. -  Fr. Henri J.M. Nouwen  

There is a Presence that is unnameable which thought cannot touch; it is not your  possession, it is what you are. -   Adyashanti

No one shows such a knowledge of the Divine as he who says that one can know nothing. -  Thomas Aquinas

Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of the universe. -  Lao-tzu

one must bend in the floating world – snow on the bamboo. -  Chiyo-ni

The wise man counts nothing as his own. - Nisargadatta  

Love and compassion are necessities. Without them humanity cannot survive. -  H.H. the Dalai Lama

 If you can empty your own boat crossing the river of the world no one will oppose you, no one will seek to harm you. -  Chuang Tzu

Heaven and earth are out of communion and all things are benumbed. What is above has no relation to what is below, and on earth confusion and disorder prevail. But people of integrity do not allow themselves to be turned from their principles. If the possibility of influence is closed to them, they nevertheless remain faithful to those principles and hold fast to stillness. - Adapted from the I Ching

We carry within us the wonders we see without us. -  Sir Thomas Browne

Moonflowers – the beauty of hidden things. -  Chiyo-ni (1703 – 1775)

A young monk asked the Master: “How can I ever get emancipated?” The Master replied: “Who has ever put you in bondage?” -   Advaita teaching  

At the still-point in the center of the circle one can see the infinite in all things. – Chuang Tzu

If you can find a path with no obstacles it probably doesn’t lead anywhere. -      Frank A. Clark

Beyond choice, discriminating measurements and self-centered seeking, present in Stillness: Infinite Acceptance, Absolute Surrender   - david quinn

The heart speaks only in silence. -  Bhagwan

In truth, there is a pure, deep simplicity to it all. -    Carse

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things. -       Dogen

The cool shadow Of the bright moon In an open field Makes you forget All daytime worries. -       Rengetsu

As muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone, it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best contributions to a world in turmoil. -       Alan Watts

A change in society requires a change of heart. Understand that nothing is your own, that all belongs to all. Then only will society change. -      Sri Nisargadatta

Nothing is needed but the aquiesence of the heart. -  P.D. James

The birds have vanished from the sky. Now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains. -    Li Po

To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour. - Wm. Blake

The divine never forsakes one who has surrendered. -  Ramana Maharshi

Stay calm, have courage, And wait for signs. — Cheyenne Nation

And through it all there is the constant sense of well- being, this unshakable happiness, this deep knowing that all is well. This is perfect, this is just right, nothing need be any different from this, now. - David Carse

All is clear. Only I am cloudy. -   Lao Tzu

That which is profound never lends itself to logical explanation. -  Soetsu Yanagi

“… one of modern civilizations most urgent needs – a flawless serenity of mind.” - Paul Brunton, 1935

Silence is not the absence of sound, it is the silence of self. -      Tony DeMello

The divine never forsakes one who has surrendered.  -  Ramana Maharshi

Coming and going, Without beginning or end, Life ever changing. A fallen leaf; The heart of things. - Rengetsu

The true Self is the self not subject to circumstances. - timeless

Nature is the purest portal to inner peace. -    Crosby

Whenever winds blow, the butterfly finds a new place on the willow tree. -       Basho

I wish I could show you, When you are lonely or in darkness, The Astonishing Light Of your own Being! -       Hafiz

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life might be I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. -   Wendell Berry

Only in still water do we see the depth of our reflection.  -  anon

If you want to understand the whole universe, study a single leaf. -       Dogen

In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place. -      Mahatma Ghandi

Green water in the stream in the pass, white water risen from the clear-welling spring… Han Shan’s moon's a flower, white as well… So the darkest secret, the spirit by itself illuminates: gaze into the emptiness: to the ends of the earth… You’re alone, with all within. - Han Shan

Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the infinite. Allow all things to take their course. Leave no room for selfishness and the Empire will be in order. - Chuang-tzu

Society will not change by compulsion. It requires a change of heart. Understand that nothing is your own, that all belongs to all. -   Nisargadatta

In your real nature, which is oneness, no conflict is possible. -   Jean Klein

My daily affairs are quite ordinary; but I’m in total harmony with them. I don’t hold on to anything, don’t reject anything; nowhere an obstacle or conflict. Who cares about wealth and honor? Even the poorest thing shines. My miraculous power and spiritual activity:drawing water and carrying wood. -       Layman P’ang

Yesterday, I shattered the ice To draw water – No matter, this morning Frozen just as solid. -       Rengetsu

If everything around you seems dark, look again. You may be the light. -    Rumi

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation. -      Marcus Tullius Cicero

How should we treat others? There are no others? - Ramana Maharshi

Bowing to the Dalai Lama Om Mani Padme Hum

The truth is never taken from another. One carries it always in oneself. -       Tetto Giko

Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity. -       Lao Tzu

The right to search for truth implies also a duty; one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true. - Albert Einstein

A pure heart is the result of pure thought.  -   Yogananda

We carry within us the wonders we seek without us. -      Sir Thomas Browne 1643

I think it is only important to love the world,  not to despise it, not for us to hate each other,  but to be able to regard the world and ourselves  and all beings with love, admiration and respect.  -  Siddhartha

All is clear. Only I am clouded. -   Lao Tzu

If you want to Extend the light Of the Dharma, Let it first illumine Your own heart. -  Rengetsu

Silence is imprinted in the center of our being.  It will not fail us. -  Thomas Merton

Joy and sorrows pass, each by each, failure at one moment, happy success the next. But not for me. I have chosen freedom. I choose simplicity. -   Hsieh Ling-yun

Sometimes I go about in pity for myself and all the while a great wind is blowing me across the sky. -   Objibwa saying