The moon’s appearance, a river of stars,
snow-clad pines, clouds hovering on mountain peaks.
In darkness, they glow with brightness.
In shadows, they shine with a splendid light.
Like the dreaming of a crane flying in empty space,
like the clear, still water of an autumn pool,
endless eons dissolve into nothingness,
each indistinguishable from the other.
In this illumination all striving is forgotten.

—Hung Chih Cheng Chueh (1091-1157)

The new year is recognized as a time to make resolutions, to set goals and improve the quality of our lives in some way. There is a devotion to them as well as a rejection of the tradition. Many of us set goals and begin the year in earnest desire and commitment to fulfilling them. At some point the novelty wears off and a day of forgetting turns into a week and so on. While we are striving for these new standards of living the moon appears and reveals the beauty that has always been there in a splendid light. These moments are the light within ourselves. A luminous presence of compassion and mindfulness. As we step into this new year I hope all who read this blog will have those moments of illumination.