defining who our neighbors are, has consequences. defining who our neighbors are, reveals how vast our love is, how open we’ve allowed our hearts to be.

who are your neighbors?

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds

#neighbor #OpenHeart #EngagedBuddhist

#power

#TheLongArc

#PlantingSeeds

#EngagedBuddhist

i sit

so that

i may stand

i breathe in

with love

allowing

all that i feel

all that is around me

into my heart

i breathe out

with love

allowing all that i hold

all that i carry

to sink

into the earth

in her generosity

i am emptied

in her generosity

i am free

to rise up

to love

i touch the earth

she bears witness

to love

to life

to all.

~j

#meditation #OpenHeart #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #SitDownRiseUp #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #JinpaLhaga #JMWpoetry #JMWphotography #BWphotography #photography

“We are life, and life is far vaster than this body, this concept, this mind.”

~

Thich Nhat Hanh

we human beings are great at labeling things and in some sense it is beneficial to do so, to have a common way of communicating about a situation, a feeling, a person, an object. naming things can also imbue them with a sense of power, with life.

however, an unfortunate problem arises out of this. once we name something, or label a situation or a person, all of a sudden we think we know all there is to know about it. story done, the end. signed, sealed, delivered – it’s ours! in some sense, we do take ownership or possession of things, situations, and people once we name or label them and we think – yes, this is the truth!

but it isn’t, at least not completely. in thinking we know all there is about something, a situation, an object, or a person we are no longer allowing things, situations, objects, and people to be fully what they are or ourselves the opportunity to learn and grow.

it is important to keep a sense of mystery, of humility, of open-heartedness toward all of life.

~j

#Tao #Life #TheForce #Zen #EngagedBuddhist #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #Enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

darkness and the light

all things dancing in between

nature’s harmony

~j

#PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc

#Tao #TheWay #YinYang #balance #harmony #haiku #enso #Zen #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

i missed posting for #NationalComingOutDay on Friday.

for so many of us, coming out is a daily occurrence. not in large ways perhaps anymore, but in subtle ways, the minutia of conversation, words and actions can carry such weight.

the journey can be short or long, but it is a journey into the heart of life and love. the road can feel so long, to realizing the innocence in one’s life, our embodiment of love, and our worthiness to be loved, and the offering and gift it is to give our love and live our love in this world.

to live one’s life authentically and openly, offering our life to the world, is a gift to the world, helping the world to expand its capacity to hold and celebrate love.

please know that you are an embodiment of love. please know that you are worthy of being loved. please know that the love you have in your heart is a love that is meant to be lived and offered to this world. this world needs your love.

~j

#ComingOut #Love #life #LGBTQIA #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

No external condition can prevent love; no one and no thing can stop it. The awakening of love is not bound up in things being a certain way.

~ Sharon Salzberg

#UpToYou #ChooseLove #Love #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #SitDownRiseUp #OpenHeart #Zen #Buddhism #PhotoArt #photography #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

“Everything terrible is something that needs our love.”

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

there’s a lot of “terrible” right now, but there’s also a lot of beauty, a lot of love. just respond to all of it with love, giving love. add to the love and the beauty. giving love could simply be offering a stranger a smile, listening to a friend, fostering an animal, writing letters or calling Congress, marching and striking. whatever the case, do so with love, and as an offering of love to a world in need.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #love #RainerMariaRilke #Rilke #RilkeQuotes #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga #photography #PhotoArt

happy Autumnal Equinox to those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, my friends!!

my favorite season Fall has arrived! may this time of transition bring reflective and fresh awareness to the sacredness of each passing moment!

~j

😊❤️🙏🏻🍁🍂🎃

#AutumnalEquinox #FallEquinox #Autumn #Fall #seasons #transitions #life #reflection #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

building peace in the world begins with building peace within our own hearts.

here are some words from Pema Chödrön in honor of yesterday’s World Peace Day – International Day of Peace:

“War and peace start in the hearts of individuals…so the solutions have to come from a change of heart, from softening what is rigid in our hearts and minds…Shantideva says something along the lines of, ‘If these long-lived, ancient, aggressive patterns of mine that wellspring only of unceasing woe, that lead to my suffering as well as the suffering of others, if these patterns still find their lodging safe within my heart, how can joy and peace in this world ever be found?’…(what he is saying is) that as long as we justify our own hard-heartedness and our own self-righteousness, joy and peace will always elude us.”

*from “Practicing Peace in Times of War”

#InThisTogether #Community #Peace #WorldPeaceDay #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga