Chopra on Intent

Having an intention is enough to accomplish a result.

When properly focused

–which means easily and without strain–

Awareness has the ability to carry out quite specific commands.

An intention doesn’t have to be a verbally expressed thought;

In fact, our deepest intentions are body-centered.
Our most fundamental needs–

For love, understanding, encouragement, and support–

Permeate every cell.

The desires that arise in your mind

Are often clouded by ego motives,

Which are not true needs;

People get caught up in the pursuit of money,

Career goals, and political ambitions in ways

That are disconnected from the fundamental need

For comfort and well-being

That every healthy organism must fulfill.

Many of us are so alienated from our basic needs,

So programmed to run after what the ego wants,

That we have to relearn the basic mechanics

Of how attention and intention actually work.

There are many ways to get fulfillment besides

The outward-orientated ones our culture teaches us.

The most valuable lesson in this regard is that

Intentions automatically seek their fulfillment

If left alone.

Every cell in your body is seeking fulfillment

Through joy, beauty, love, and appreciation.

This is hard to realize when the mind sets up

Its own separate agenda for fulfilling other kinds of desires,

Ones that are loveless, without joy or satisfaction.

Yet millions of people have programmed themselves

To reach only such goals.
The ability to direct your awareness is critical

If you want to change the deep-rooted patterns of aging,

For aging itself is an intention that your cells

Are obeying without your control.

Every intention is a trigger for transformation.

As soon as you decide that you want something,

Your nervous system responds

To reach your desired goal.

This holds true for simple intentions

As well as for complex intentions

100 Songs of Milarepa

By realizing that all forms are self-awareness,
I have beheld my consort's face-
The true Mind Within.

Sustained Exertion, Dogen

The great Way involves the highest form of exertion,

Which goes on unceasingly in cycles,

From the first dawning of religious truth,

Through the test of discipline and practice,

To awakening and nirvana.

It is sustained exertion proceeding without lapse

From cycle to cycle.

Accordingly, it is exertion that is neither self-imposed,

Nor imposed by others, but free and uncoerced.

The truth is that the benefits

Of one's own struggles and sustained exertions

Are shared by all beings in the ten directions.

Others may not be aware of this, but it is so ....

The merits of these exertions are sometimes disclosed,

And thus arises the dawn of religious consciousness,

Which is then tested in practice.

Sometimes, however, these merits lie hidden

And are neither seen nor heard nor realized.

Yet hidden though they may be,

They are still available

Because they suffer no diminution or restriction

Whether they are visible or invisible,

Tangible or intangible.

At this moment a flower blossoms, a leaf falls --

It is a manifestation of sustained exertion.

A mirror is brightened, a mirror is broken --

It is a manifestation of sustained exertion.

Everything is exertion.

To attempt to avoid exertion

Is an impossible evasion because

The attempt itself is exertion.

This sustained exertion is not something

That people of the world

Naturally love or desire;

Yet it is the last refuge of all.

Yun Men

Yun-men said,
“Medicine and sickness mutually correspond.
The whole universe is medicine.

What is the self?”