What good is it to live with nothing left to give, forget but not forgive, not loving all you see?

~ Coldplay

loving all we see…

it’s important to define what this can mean.

loving all we see is not an approval of what is harmful, what is cruel, of what is injustice or inequality, or of what is violent and destructive.

loving all we see is our response to a world with injustice and inequality, with violence and destruction, with what is harmful and cruel.

loving all we see, is loving justice, loving equality, and working toward these things, bringing what is healing to the world.

our love is an offering of heart, of hope, of peace. the transformative practice of love is the alchemy of our lives.

our life as an offering.

love it all.

~j

#LoveItAll #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #ThisPassingLife #MakeItCount #alchemy #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

Your up and down emotions are like clouds in the sky; beyond them, the real, basic human nature is clear and pure.

~

Lama Thubten Yeshe

we can allow our thoughts and emotions to arise and fall away. unpleasant and pleasant, we don’t grasp after them or run away from them, or ignore them. we can acknowledge them with a light touch and just see them for what they are, thoughts and emotions. we are not our thoughts and emotions.

~j

#luminous #mind #path #practice #thoughts #emotions #EngagedBuddhism #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

it is #HolocaustRemembranceDay.

it didn’t happen overnight. it began with lies, propaganda, hateful rhetoric, public discrimination born out of anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia. it was an outcome of White Supremacist cult.

sound familiar from recent memory of Confederate flags flying at the Capital insurrectionist siege, of a man wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” or another man wearing a shirt with “6MWE” on it which is an abbreviation of “6 Million Wasn’t Enough”? or perhaps another not too distant memory of torch carrying White Supremacists chanting “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville? in both cases Donald Trump gave a nod of approval with statements “there are good people on both sides” and “We love you. You’re very special.”

these moments are lines in the sand. this really isn’t that difficult. to continue to be loyal to Trump and the movement that took hold of him and elevated him to figurehead, to leader, is to be on the wrong side of history. it’s siding with White Supremacy, it’s siding with anti-Semitism. those who have supported Trump and are moved by this and don’t want to be aligned with such associations, should abandon their support and abandon such a path. it only leads to destruction and suffering.

#NeverForget 🙏🏻

~j

#TheLongArc #SpeakUp #SpeakOut #EngagedBuddhism #path #practice #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

in recognition of the truth of interdependence, our view should be one of community rather than individualism. there’s no moral or ethical reason that supports allowing people to go hungry or die from lack of healthcare when others live in exorbitant wealth that they can’t possibly spend or use in not just this one, but multiple lifetimes. it is a failure of our species to place a priority of individualism at the cost of others and the environment. it is a path that leads to destruction. may we embrace and engage a more altruistic view.

~j

#LongerTables #interdependence #community #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

ah, words.
our superpower. able to lift others out of darkness or put them there in the first place. when we realize just how harmful or beneficial our words can be, and the nuance, we may just choose to speak with more care and a bit less.
deep listening is an ally to Right Speech. so is working with our minds. thoughts give birth to words. 
may we become more spacious and less attached to thoughts, and more aware of our speech.

~j

#RightSpeech #benefit #harm #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

Offering Practice

Rather than ignoring, or running away from unpleasant feelings, thoughts, situations, and rather than grasping onto pleasant feelings, thoughts, and situations, we can simply offer them. Whatever we are feeling – sadness, loneliness, anger, fear, grief – we can offer it. When we are feeling happiness, comfort, bliss, we can offer these also, knowing that these feelings also do not last and when they leave us we usually suffer. So, we can offer them.

We can make this into a practice, using the breath as our vehicle for support and letting go. Breathing in, we can feel supported by life, by our body, by the oxygen filled air. Our bodies need oxygen to function properly and survive, so when we breathe, our body is receiving what it needs and is supported by the oxygen in the air right here in our life. We don’t even have to try to do it, it just happens, we can just allow it. We can also feel supported emotionally, spiritually as we breathe in. We may not know why we are here or how we got here, but we are here – right here in this life, where our lives are supported by innumerable conditions. Then, feeling supported, we can acknowledge how we feel, no matter what we are feeling. We can acknowledge it, touching it lightly – ah, yes, this is sadness or fear or anger or happiness, or whatever. Then as we breathe out, we can release whatever we are feeling, allowing it to go out with the breath back into the air. We can offer it back to life – here is my sadness, here is my anger, here is my happiness, I release it, I let it go, I offer it.

~j

#offering #release #LetGo #LetBe #allowance #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

we’ve seen very recently how true this is.

seeds of untruth, of conspiracy and aggression came to fruition in the violence we saw on Jan 6th.
seeds of hope, powered by fierce compassion and engagement came to fruition on Nov 3rd and Jan 5th. there’s also another seed that i’ve seen posted this week quite a lot. the seed of cynicism.

here’s the thing. we exhaust ourselves trying to be something, trying to prove our worth, to attain and then hold onto some portion (or all portions for some!) of power. we dream of being super heroes with super powers. and the whole time, we have the greatest powers available right at the end of our tongue and at our finger tips – our words and our actions. what seeds are we planting? what words are we planting? what actions are we planting into this world?

train your mind to be steady, balanced, grounded and spacious. train your heart to be open, tender, warm, and resilient.

what seeds do you want to plant into this flowering garden that is our life?

~j

#PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #path #practice #bodhisattvas #life #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

These photos came up in my FB memories today. The first Women’s March on Jan 21st 2017. We didn’t carry guns, we didn’t threaten violence, and we didn’t overtake National or State Capital Buildings. We chanted, we sang, we marched in diverse unity joining millions not just in the US, but around the world to publicly oppose the harmful, sexist, racist, xenophobic rhetoric, incitement of violence and discriminatory policies we had and were already seeing from Trump, long before separating families/caging children, undoing climate initiatives, attacking minority rights or the pandemic. We were scared, worried, deeply concerned, but also filled with a sense of resilience, and joyful energy that comes from unity in common purpose to shine light and stand on the side of love. Grateful for the people in these photos and that first of many days, but even more grateful today that he is no longer President or holding such power. 🙏🏻

~j
01.21.2021

#WomensMarch #SDWomensMarch #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #LoveWins #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

gratitude for this day, four taxing and testing years in the making.

today we begin anew. a reminder that change is a constant, that even the coldest winters begin to thaw.

there are some dire challenges ahead, but to have leaders who value empathy, compassion, community…ahhh, a needed breath and exhalation.

i began this day sitting in meditation, from the darkness of night to the rise of the sun and awakening of hope.

we are here.

~j

1.20.2021

#InaugurationDay #BidenHarris #PresidentBiden #VicePresidentHarris #history #change #BeginAnew #empathy #compassion #community #meditation #practice #path #EngagedBuddhism #zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

heading to sleep on this inaugural eve with a sense of deep hope and a sense of exhausted unease. an opportunity to turn a page on the cruelty and harm of the past four years. and a long, challenging road ahead. holding all of it in this tender, resilient muscle in my chest.

may all be safe.

may all be at ease.

~j

#hope #Inauguration #BidenHarris #ANewDay