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Musings on Bicycling and Buddhism

Friday, August 27, 2010

Capacity of a Heart

More valuable than treasures in a storehouse are treasures of the body, and the treasures of the heart are the most valuable of all. Strive to accumulate the treasures of the heart! (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1 p. 1170)

Your heart is bigger than this fist-sized muscle beating in your chest next to your lungs. It’s larger than you can fathom. We like to think that we can only love so much or give so much or be so much and that’s all we have and then we can’t love any more or give any more or be any more. But that isn’t the case either. There is no limitation on what we can give, or how much we can love, or what we can imagine. The only limitations are those we make for ourselves. And yes its true that sometimes we know not what we do. And yes it is true that it can be immensely and even debilitating difficult to love more or give more than we’re ready to do.

This also means there is no limit to our capacity for compassion, except it must be honed and nurtured.

And you don’t have to do more than you’re ready for. Please just realize that whatever you think is not ever going to be possible for you; financial freedom, love, joy, health, happiness, focus, a career, children, whatever it may be- that this is not the case either. Our limitations exist so only that we may break through them. (Or let them go)

We break through them with our faith. The Lotus Sutra is alternately likened to a sword to cut through obstacles, a great ship to cross the sea of suffering, and the roar of the lion... We access this path through our daimoku and we stay on this path by manifesting, each uniquely, our mentor and disciple relationship.... (posted by request, excerpt from August study presentation that I wrote Aug 26th, 2010)

Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10
Miles ridden to date: 758
Miles left to goal: 1,442
Days left: 29

2 comments:

  1. reminds me of the quote:

    "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." - Jalad ad-Din Rumi

    or this one:

    "Stop running away.. you have to run towards!" - Jorge Carillo

    ReplyDelete
  2. eh maybe im just being pms'y' but this post is making me bawl my freaking eyes out.

    ReplyDelete

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Tour de What You Will by Jessie Calkins is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License