A studio, like a poem, is an intimacy and a freedom you can look out from, into each part of your life and a little beyond.
Zen pretty much comes down to three things -- everything changes; everything is connected; pay attention.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote encapsulates the essence of Zen philosophy, emphasizing the transient nature of life, the interconnectedness of all things, and the importance of mindfulness.
In this quote, Jane Hirshfield distills key tenets of Zen philosophy into three core principles: the inevitability of change, the interconnectedness of all existence, and the necessity for mindfulness. It suggests that by acknowledging and embracing the transient nature of reality, recognizing how everything impacts one another, and being fully present, we can cultivate a deeper understanding of life and a more profound sense of peace.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a meditation session, this quote can be shared to inspire mindfulness and reflection.
More from Jane Hirshfield
All quotes →What we want from art is whatever is missing from the lives we are already living and making. Something is always missing, and so art-making is endless.
as some strings, untouched, sound when no one is speaking. So it was when love slipped inside us.
Tree It is foolish to let a young redwood grow next to a house. Even in this one lifetime, you will have to choose. That great calm being, this clutter of soup pots and books-- Already the first branch-tips brush at the window. Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.
I write because to write a new sentence, let alone a new poem, is to cross the threshold into both a larger existence and a profound mystery. A thought was not there, then it is. An image, a story, an idea about what it is to be human, did not exist, then it does. With every new poem, an emotion new to the heart, to the world, speaks itself into being.
I thought I would love you forever—and, a little, I may, in the way I still move toward a crate, knees bent, or reach for a man: as one might stretch for the three or four fruit that lie in the sun at the top of the tree; too ripe for any moment but this, they open their skin at first touch, yielding sweetness, sweetness and heat, and in me, each time since, the answering yes.
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Because, once alone, it is impossible to believe that one could ever have been otherwise. Loneliness is an absolute discovery.
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How can we truly understand who we are unless we know who we were and what we have the power to become?
Then I reflect that all things happen, happen to one, precisely now. Century follows century, and things happen only in the present. There are countless men in the air, on land and at sea, and all that really happens happens to me.
All the characters in my films are fighting these problems, needing freedom, trying to find a way to cut themselves loose, but failing to rid themselves of conscience, a sense of sin, the whole bag of tricks.
It was clear to me, as I glanced back over my earlier life, that a loving Providence watched over me, that all was directed for me by a higher power.