Tasteless egg & cheese on a bagel with reg. coffee, $12 (taxes included). One & done, for me. Dead vibe, no warmth (the one in Amherst, NY feels like a cozy ski resort lounge). This feels like a hospital cafeteria. Cheap generic AI art on the walls , no music (no music?!), took 15 mins to deliver this plain, sad offering. I had to go up to the counter to ask for salt & pepper. Have to ask for packets of hot sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper, none is provided, and you'll need it. It is tasteless. Absolute waste of a space. Will not survive. So come get this bland, dry depressing hospital food before its gone!
I miss those days (1980s). There were rotating treats behind glass, brick wall interior, large framed portrait of Tim Horton in either Sabres or Leafs jersey, the row of stools at the counter, the dresses and lil hats worn by the employees, the little silver ashtrays on all the tables, the smell of cigrarette smoke, the ceramic cups, the fresh donuts, it was coffee + donuts, before all the additions. I got hot chocolate & a honey crueller, usually as a reward for helping my Dad deliver firewood.
The Mind is Buddha, and the Buddha is no different from sentient beings. The Mind of sentient beings does not decrease; the Buddha's Mind does not increase. Moreover, the six paramitas and all sila, as countless as the grains of sand of the Ganges, belong to one's own mind. Thus there is no need to search outside oneself to create them. When causes and conditions unite, they will appear; as causes and conditions separate, they disappear. So if one does not have the understanding that on'es very own Mind itself is Buddha, he will then grasp the form of the practice merely and create even more delusion. This approach is exactly the opposite of the Buddha's practice path. Just this Mind alone is Buddha! Nothing else is!
The pattern I keep seeing is: an experience happens, it gets labeled, the label is taken as truth, and that forms an identity around it that can’t be questioned because it feels threatened. So a subjective experience becomes an “ultimate” truth. The danger is that it shuts down further reflection and replaces honest investigation, or open discussion with fixed belief & grasping. The spiritual ego then grows & hardens, the opposite of what spiritual practice is intended to do.
Just something to be mindful of, this is a subtle pattern the mind can fall into. To test it out, just check how you respond to a challenge. Does it feel like a threat, something you want to shutdown & dismiss, or something you can actually welcome, & inspires self reflection?
Heart Of The Buddha by Great Master Hsu Yun
No need to chase back and forth like the waves.
The same water which ebbs is the same water that flows.
No point turning back to get water
When it’s flowing around you in all directions
The heart of the Buddha and the people of the world…
Where is there any difference?