Sitting quietly,one minute, one hour, no matter,
finding the quiet within
I find myself again and again.
Finding myself, I offer the quiet light
to those on the street, in the office,
all around me.
To the lost and suffering beings, to the
bewildered
and questioning,
even to the bare tree with its leafless
branches filled with chirping sparrows.
~ Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara
in my anger
i became a ghost
here, in my love
i become human
~j
Zen Parable of the Monk and the Samurai
A big, tough Samurai once went to see a little monk.
“Monk!”
He barked, in a voice accustomed to instant obedience.
“Teach me about heaven and hell!”
The Monk looked up at the mighty warrior and replied with utter disdain,
“Teach you about heaven and hell? I couldn’t teach you about anything. You’re dumb. You’re dirty. You’re a disgrace, an embarrassment to the samurai class. Get out of my sight. I can’t stand you.”
The Samurai got furious. He shook, red in the face, speechless with rage. He pulled out his sword, and prepared to slay the Monk.
Looking straight into the Samurai’s eyes, the Monk said softly,
“That’s hell.”
The Samurai froze, realizing the compassion of the Monk who had risked his life to show him hell! He put down his sword and fell to his knees, filled with gratitude.
The Monk said softly,
“And that’s heaven.”
Commentary:
anger in and of itself is just energy. like any other emotion. we are human and we experience anger. and when the sometimes intense, hot energy of anger is put into responsible use, it can be beneficial too! anger can be a powerful motivating force in our work to end injustice, for instance.
our experience of anger can also be an opportunity to investigate what gets under our skin and eats at us. what makes us lose our cool, how fast do we lose it? are we acting out of anger with our words and actions, adding to the harm and suffering in the world?
the celebrated Franciscan, Richard Rohr has said, “What we don’t transform, we transmit.” if we allow the experience of anger and the investigation of anger to transform us, we may find as the Samurai did in the Zen parable above, the healing energy of compassion as we connect to our own humanity and the humanity of others.
in this way, our experience of anger is just another teacher on the path to our own transforming and expanding heart, rather than the further transmission of aggression and suffering in this world.
~j
gorgeous moon tonight. seeing her beauty reminded me of a favorite Zen story…
enjoy
~j
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.
Ryokan returned and caught him. “You may have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you shoud not return emptyhanded. Please take my clothes as a gift.”
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.
Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.”
#moon #zen #parables #Ryokan #beauty #JMWart #TheMettaGarden
friends ~
a new favorite poem to share. this one from Rainer Maria Rilke. please read and enjoy. short comment follows ~j
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29
by Rainer Maria Rilke
as the Buddhist scholar and environmentalist, Joanna Macy, has said about this poem – each of us can claim this. each of us was born from the web of life. take joy in this. no room for self-pity.
~j
hello friends!
for those who may not know already, i’m participating in Sharon Salzberg’s 28 Day Meditation program, Real Happiness. it is free and beneficial to those just starting their meditation practice and also for those of us who have been meditating but can use a nice refresher or perhaps a refining of skillfulness in our practice (that’s me for sure!)
today’s meditation focus was Hearing Meditation. i probably won’t write on this meditation challenge daily due to other commitments and lack of time, but I wanted to share a phrase that came up in yesterday’s guided meditation (Breathing Meditation), the first day of the challenge. i keep coming back to Sharon’s wonderful phrase in the meditation, “It’s just one breath.”
breath by breath we build a practice.
i think it so perfectly and beautifully describes the grace of this practice. what a wonderful mantra to hold in our hearts and share. I came back to the phrase again last night and was inspired to paint an Enso with the phrase.
if you wish to participate in the Real Happiness 28 Day Meditation Challenge, you can still sign up until February 6th! just go to Sharon’s website, www.sharonsalzberg.com
wishing you wellness and happiness on this journey!
~j
February 2nd 2016
“You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.” ~ Pema Chödrön
“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. Tie no weights to your ankles.”
~ C. JoyBell
The Metta Garden 