One breath at a time

I believe the way we breathe is one of the benchmark's of measuring the quality of human being...

But Buddha saw things in a wonderfully different way.

I quote from a lovely book: One Breath at a time by Kevin Griffin:

One night, my teacher was talking about a sutta (a record of the oral teachings of Buddha) where the Buddha's cousin and attendant, Ananda, comes to him and says: "Venerable sir, this is half the holy life, that is Noble Friends and Noble Conversations." When my teacher read this, I thought that the Buddha was going to correct, saying that these things weren't that important. Instead, the Buddha responds: "Not so, Ananda! Noble friends and noble conversation are the WHOLE of the holy life."

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I think what Buddha is getting at is that my friends and words are a measure of my inner being and thus a magical, living mirror of where I'm at... And although it's a hard one to accept; I think he was spot on...as about so, so many other things...