it’s been a little over a week since i joined in my first post-vaccinated pandemic gathering to celebrate a dear friend and teacher Laura Whitten as she retired from over 3 decades of teaching. it was so inspirational to be in that space, to hear testimonials to the beneficial influence she has had on so many lives. to bear witness to all the love.

i know in my high school experience, she was a safe space, a place of open hearted love – sometimes tough and fierce, sometimes warm and gentle, but always open and ready to dive in and do whatever was necessary to benefit her students. love does what it needs to do.

i know i was extremely fortunate to have a few teachers in my life who filled this space. it really makes a difference for the better. teachers need to be celebrated more! the value of a teacher and the benefit they have on their students cannot be overestimated or over celebrated.

i want to share the enso/calligraphy art i gifted, because i think its message can apply to our lives as well. i will borrow from the message i shared on the back of the art:

when we live with an open heart, when we teach with an open heart, we are teaching others how to be more human. they are learning how to be a presence of unconditional love, a space of safety, and beneficial force for others in the world.

additionally, when we ourselves practice having an open heart, we are welcoming life and those around us to teach us how to be a more beneficial force in the world, in this life, and to be more human. so, with an open heart we are both teacher and student. in this way, an open heart is the best teacher.

grateful to Laura and all incredible teachers out there changing lives and life for the better. true bodhisattvas! may i too live and teach in such a way. ❤️🙏🏻

~j

#teachers #OpenHeart #benefit #bodhisattvas #education #learning #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #enso #calligraphy #zen

felt moved this evening by the great mystery of this place, this life. had the sudden urgency to paint my own rendition of the famous Zen art of the circle, triangle and square. the original art is by the Japanese Zen Master, Sengai Gibon from the Edo period. the piece was not titled by Sengai, but has often been titled by others as Maru-Sankaku-Shikaku, or in English as The Universe.

here we are.

~j

#universe #life #mystery #gratitude #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #Zen #calligraphy #art #enso #Sengai #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

may we embody love.

may we abide in love.

may we align with love.

may we let go

into the flow

of love.

~j

oof! love.

so much to say. i’ve written three versions of commentary to my verse above. here’s the shortest:

love.

it isn’t attachment.

it is much more spacious, vast, and resilient than we think.

it leaves no one out (including ourselves).

it is who we fundamentally are.

may we live it as so.

~j

#path #practice #love #life #presence #OpenHeart #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

may i have eyes that see

and ears that hear.

a heart that is open

and a mind that is clear.

~j

#path #practice #presence #mindfulawareness #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

i saw this quote yesterday on Twitter and it resonates.

such a beautiful way to honor loved ones who have passed on.

also a deeply meaningful way to live and love one’s own life and reflect on our own legacy of words and actions and how they too may live on in others when we have passed.

such a direct and profound teaching. 🙏🏻

~j

#life #death #love #karma #cycles #legacy #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

I don’t believe that this is a call to complacency. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t work to be done or that we shouldn’t do it.

We should bring our attention to life in this moment. And in this moment where we see harm, we can work to bring healing.

This quote reminds us that we also don’t have to be overwhelmed. In this work and in this moment we can remember that there’s always change. There are seasons and cycles in this life.

That’s a very hopeful message, because that means there’s opportunity for healing, opportunity for love, opportunity to bring benefit. And this can give us peace.

~j

#life #seasons #cycles #impermanence #change #EngagedBuddhism #Zen #Taoism #TaoDeChing #JinpaLhaga

Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment.

This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor (or employee), every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every breath.

Every moment is the guru.

~

Charlotte Joko Beck

when we allow our mind to settle and our heart to open, all of life and every moment, and every little and big thing becomes our teacher. meditation practice helps us to allow such spaciousness to arise.

~j

#life #teacher #guru #buddha #meditation #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #photography

you are valuable. you are essential.

…and so is everyone else.

the music plays through our lives.

when we allow that to flow, there is a beauty, a wholeness.

interdependence.

~j

#interdependence #StayOpen #OpenHeart #flow #Tao #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

…and in the words of Yoda – “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

are you aware that “Fear not!” is the most repeated command/phrase in the Bible? and then there’s one of my favorite sections in 1 John where it is said (and i paraphrase) that God is love and that there is no fear in love.

when we live in fear, there is a tightening that occurs, a narrowing of thought and vision. possibility diminishes and life is oppressed. fear in a very real way, brings death.

the answer to fear is love and love in action is compassion. in Buddhism, we practice loving-kindness and compassion as a way to address our fear and the fears of others. a closed heart and mind can become reactive, paranoid, and aggressive. an open heart and spacious mind are expansive and generous, allowing for possibility and life. so, we practice with our heart and we practice with our mind.

~j

#fear #NoFear #love #lovingkindness #compassion #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

light.

why not?

it’s always here.

always available.

~j

#light #life #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #photography