Friday, May 2, 2008

True love

Training is needed in order to love properly;
and to be able to give happiness and joy,
you must practice DEEP LOOKING
directed toward the other person you love.
Because if you do not understand this person,
you cannot love properly.
Understanding is the essence of love.
If you cannot understand, you cannot love.
That is the message of the Buddha.

Thich Nath Hanh

When I read this quote it brought tears to my eyes because I realized that although I claim to love there is still a deeper layer. To really being able to love someone we have to leave that safe haven of self-reflection and recognizing, and allow ourselves to really look at the one we love. I am trying to practise that now......because I know now that without truly understanding the one I love there can never be that deeper layer.

It is strange but although most people used to say that I was a warm and loving person, there have been many years in which I could not give myself the same amount of love that I would give to others. Only recently I came to that point and now I feel how my love, my true love can flow. And how much more love I have to give....

Take care my dear friends and have a lovely weekend :))


Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish.
If you are not capable of generating that
kind of energy toward yourself-
if you are not capable of taking care of yourself,
of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself-
it is very difficult to take care of another person.
In the Buddhist teaching, it's clear that to love oneself
is the foundation of the love of other people.
Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice.

Thich Nath Hanh

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So true. To love others one must learn to love himself/herself first.

Vinita

Sas said...

Dear Vinita,

I am glad I finally got that insight recently. It has put me on another level of experiencing love :)

Take care my friend and have a lovely weekend :))

with love, Sas

vk said...

Lovely post Sas...deep and insightful. well worded...exquisite shots...have a lovely weekend.
Vani

Vineeta said...

I had better make it a practice to come to your blog daily. It just gives me SO much. Thats another thing about your posts. Their generosity. You share of yourself and your deep true thoughts with unflinching generosity.

I loved this one and I may write this down or take a print or even design something around this. I need to see and remember this very often. Thank you once again.

rkramadh said...

Sas, I am so taken by your beautiufl photography of natural things. The first picture looks like there is liquid silver dripping from that leaf and even a reflection of something can be seen in it, just brilliant!!! I am still working on loving myself as much as I am able to give to others. Being influenced by a culture where selfishness is not a virtue, it was tough. But I am much better at loving myself and forgiving myself now for little things done/gone wrong. Thanks for sharing your insights!