“I’ve found it is the small things. Everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love.” ~ Gandalf The Grey

we got this.

together, our open hearts, fueling beneficial work in the world, in this life. just keep doing the work. seeds planted will one day grow.

~j

#PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #kindness #love #ItTakesAVillage #EngagedBuddhsim #sangha #JinpaLhaga #LOTR #GandalfTheGrey

This quote deeply resonates.
We’ve been duped by Western idolization of the individual and an ideology of prosperity gospel.
None of us do this or get through this life alone, on our own merits. I applaud goal setting, a strong work ethic, and an opportunity to rise, and I support a healthy sense of pride in good work, and goals accomplished. It is important, however, to be ever aware of all the help and provision along the way. From our conception and birth to parents nurturing, to nature with farmers and grocers providing sustenance for our physical well-being, and teachers supporting and providing for our mental, intellectual, emotional well-being, to our employers who hire and take a chance and our coworkers/colleagues who share in the work – we don’t get to where we are without help. 
The “I” is a myth. The truth is “We.”
The idea that the most basic needs in our society – food, shelter, health care – continue to be merit based is an act of cruelty and wounds our humanity, individually and collectively.
We must ask ourselves, “What does a loving society look like?” Does a loving society allow hunger, starvation, homelessness and avoidable sickness or death?
Love is within us and knows what to do, but we are often blinded by fear. When we are finally able to remove our fear (need for security and control), our sight becomes clear and we can recreate a society of love. I’m not saying this is easy or without deep lasting effort/work, I’m saying it is necessary.

~j

#Interdependence #sangha #community #WeNotMe #practice #EngagedBuddism #JinpaLhaga

[photo credit: Hu Yuanjia]

i keep these photographs in my phone to look at every once in a while.

briefly, the story around them, goes as so: the photographer heard someone yelling and then people gathering around an elderly man sitting on a bench in a train station. he had apparently fallen asleep and then passed away. out of the crowd, a Buddhist monk walked over and began chants and prayers over the deceased man, holding his hand. after completing the ritual, the monk bowed to the deceased man and then disappeared into the crowd.

i find this story and these images so moving. there’s so much beauty in seeing such empathy and compassion in action. the monk, treating the deceased man with an incredible depth of dignity and compassion. he did not know this man, yet he honored him as if he were the most important person present.

keep images and stories like this close to your hearts during this time, friends. where we don’t see it, we can be it.

we are currently seeing a grave lack of empathy, lack of treating others with dignity, lack of compassion from the highest offices, and in some cases from each other. it has become even more worrisome than in 2017 when i first posted these. i’d say it has become dangerous. we are teetering on the edge.

however, these values of empathy and compassion and honor, these ways of being still exist, they exist in us if we choose, and where they exist there is hope.

~j

#empathy #compassion #dignity #service #practice #life #death #OpenHeart #bodhicitta #bodhisattva #LoveWins #Buddhism #Zen #monk #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #lovingkindness #JinpaLhaga

it takes courage to be present, to bear witness to suffering, to look directly into cruelty and harm.

but to do so is the embodiment of love and it is from embodied love that we can act to end harm and transform suffering into healing.

this takes an open heart, a tender heart, so this is our practice. moment after moment, day after day, life after life.

~j

#OpenHeart #DontLookAway #practice #SitDownRiseUp #bodhisattvas #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

“The actions, thoughts, and words of each of us are important. All of us together are making the world. So we have to ask ourselves: “How am I living? What kind of actions am I taking? Am I a force for good in the world or am I just another person doing nothing to help and therefore making things worse?”

~ Norman Fischer

we are interdependent with other people, this world, and all life.

it is through our words, our actions, our voices, our hands, that healing, generosity, equality, justice, beauty, kindness, compassion, and love manifest.

we have a responsibility to speak up, to rise up and end the harm we see, to be a force for healing and hope in this storm of suffering.

~j

#SitDownRiseUp #BeTheGood #EmbodyLove #FierceCompassion #Bodhisattvas #EngagedBuddhsim #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

“Hate leaves ugly scars, love leaves beautiful ones.”

~ Mignon McLaughlin

none of us exit this journey unscathed.

let’s leave with beautiful scars.

let’s leave having loved.

~j

🌍❤️🙏🏻

#life #love #wounds #OpenHeart #EngagedBuddhism #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

just keep loving.

just keep loving right on through people’s fear, anger and hate.

put that love into action with compassion – fierce compassion when needed – to end the harm and suffering you see.

and at the end of the day, rest in the love you made and the love that has made and remade you.

~j

#love #practice #life #PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #EngagedBuddhsim

impermanence.

we ignore it, we run from it.

what about becoming friends with it?

a fleeting moment is all the more sacred, all the more pressing to embody words and actions that bring benefit.

impermanence is opportunity to see directly, clearly and to love fully.

~j

#impermanence #life #Zen #EngagedBuddhism #practice #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

seeds planted

rooted in earth

bathing in light

opening

opening

opening

we grow

~j

#growth #life #interdependence #PlantingSeeds #allowance #process #practice #transformation #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

“One day we will realize that big hearts will brings us more peace than big weapons.”

~Anthony Douglas Williams

This week marks the 75th Anniversary of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima (Aug. 6th) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9th).

I’m not posting photos of victims, because of how graphic they are, but I strongly encourage you to view them for the impression they will make upon your heart. We need to bear witness, to remember the horrific nature of nuclear bombs, and the devastation of nuclear warfare.

All weapons that destroy life are heinous, but weapons of such mass destruction and desolation are particularly grotesque.

May we awaken from such cruelty, harm, and suffering, vowing to never use them again.

~j

#Hiroshima #Nagasaki #NoNukes #WakeUp #BearWitness #StayOpen #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #JMWart #JinpaLhag