may we be mindful to manifest heaven and not hell, even as we commit to the needed and challenging work of justice, equality and healing, in the face of destruction.

may love be our refuge and resource ❤️🙏🏻

~j

The Zen Monk and The Samurai: A Parable

A large, tough Samurai, known in all the land for his greatness, once approached a little Zen Monk who was sitting deep in meditation.

Rude and impatient, the Samurai demanded harshly, forcefully, “Tell me the nature of heaven and hell.”

The Zen Monk opened his eyes, looked directly into the eyes of the Samurai, and replied, “Why should I answer such a rude, shabby, disgusting slob like you? A worm like you, why I should tell you anything? Leave. I have no time for such ridiculous questions.”

The Samurai, taken back, could not bear these insults. Consumed by rage, he drew his sword and raised it to strike the Zen Monk.

The Zen Monk, looked directly into the eyes of the Samurai and calmly declared, “That is hell.”

The Samurai froze in place. He suddenly saw clearly that anger had him in its grip. He saw that his own mind had created hell. Hell was manifest in his pride, his resentment, his rage and his hate.

The Samurai’s eyes filled with tears. He dropped his sword and put his palms together and bowed in gratitude to the Zen Monk for the insight.

The Zen Monk looked directly into the eyes of the Samurai and said calmly and gently with a smile, “That is heaven.”

#rage #hell #heaven #Zen #Buddhism #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

“There is only one teacher.

What is that teacher?

Life itself.”

~

Charlotte Joko Beck

this moment.

so much happening.

pain, grief.

empathy, courage.

cruelty, indifference.

tenderness, beauty.

joy, laughter.

tears of both.

what is life teaching?

where do we sit?

what are our words?

where do we call home?

what is our practice,

as the world

changes seasons

daily?

~j

#life #practice #meditation #Zen #Buddhism #Enso #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

This shell is not of my own making.

Borrowing it from heaven and earth,

I live out each and every day.

~

Eiichi Enomoto

#Zen #Buddhism #poetry #shell #snail #nature #photography #BWphotography #JMWphotography #JinpaLhaga

In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner – not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.

~ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

#shine #light #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #Enso #Zen #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

i am home.

inspired by my root teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who has a gatha (verse) and calligraphy containing the phrase, “I have arrived, I am home.”

this is a practice, a practice i am engaging (and then re-engaging) during this time.

the urge is to want to flee. there is so much to be concerned about, so much that is painful and worthy of grief, that there can be an urge to flee from the discomfort of all that is going on. it can be easier to just pay no attention. but of course, we can only flee for so long. life and all that comes with it, catches up with us eventually.

where would we flee to anyway? wherever we go, still we are right here. and right here, is where life needs us, where we can be of benefit, where we can embody the love needed in this world to bring healing and to reduce suffering.

when we say, “i am home,” we are saying that we are invested in this place, in the people, animals, life that is also here in this place and also call it home. when we say, “i am home,” we are saying we care.

we can also take comfort in the phrase, “i am home.”

home is a place where we belong, a place where we can keep our heart open and relax into the comfort love can bring. we can trust that.

home is a place of safety, of sanctuary. we can learn to practice in that and find that within the spaciousness of our own open hearts.

the practice, isn’t magic, in the way of whisking away our troubles. the practice is, however, magical in that it reveals to us what has already been given and available within us, what once seen as vulnerability begins to be seen as bravery and resilience, a bravery and resilience that can be found in the multitude of generations before us who also faced great troubles as well.

“i am home” is a practice of love.

~j

#iamhome #meditation #practice #openheart #vulnerability #bravery #resilience #engagedbuddhism #zen #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

the answer to a lot of the harm and destruction we are seeing right now is – empathy.

opening our hearts to empathy, gives birth to compassion. the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes or to connect one’s own personal suffering to the suffering of others can be a practice and isn’t that difficult if we care to open our hearts to it.

a world of empathy is a world that cares about justice and equality, that cares for our fellow human beings that are actively oppressed and targeted, that cares to take precautions like wearing a mask and social distancing to keep family-friends-neighbors from getting sick, that cares for the children and parents still being separated at the border and housed in detention facilities, that cares about the huge wealth inequality leaving increasing millions in poverty and so many struggling, that cares for an environment desperately in need of help, that cares for the many species that are dying and going extinct due to climate change, that cares for the many animals horribly slaughtered in factory farming and suffering in the diary industry.

we have incredible power and potential to bring benefit and end suffering. we have the capacity to end all of these atrocities, because we have the capacity for empathy.

may we connect to and embody empathy, today.

~j

#empathy #potential #OpenHeart #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhism #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

happy 85th birthday to His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama @dalailama !

i’ve had the great pleasure of attending a handful of his public talks over the years and his message is consistent, unwavering, and simple – compassion and connection are the answer. the simplicity of the message shouldn’t distract from its power and His Holiness doesn’t shy away from the idea of compassion being at times hard work and fierce rather than just some platitude.

i once heard or read that we can see enlightenment in a person, because they laugh a lot. the Dalai Lama laughs A LOT, but you can just as easily see him become serious, thoughtful and sympathetic when connecting with intellectuals, visitors, and the Tibetan people who come to see him. he connects in the moment.

the message of compassion is sorely needed at this time. we see it alive and well in health professionals and essential workers, but we also see the need for many others to open to it.

may His Holiness continue on for many more years extolling the beneficial and healing message of compassion and connection.

wishing him health and happiness every day! 🙏🏻

~j

#TheDalaiLama #HHDalaiLama #DalaiLamaBirthday #Compassion #TibetanBuddhism #Buddhism

i love our country and i love what our country can be. i’m grateful for our country and for living here, but i am grieved by its past sins and our lacking ability to come together in moral unity to recognize our past and resolve to make change.

this country was built for freedom, but was built on the lives of those who didn’t receive freedom or rights and weren’t recognized as equal in their humanity. for so many descendants and many BIPOC those rights and freedoms are still illusive in cultural, structural, systemic ways.

we have a long way to go in forming a more perfect union. we won’t get further without awareness and recognition of the past aligned with a vow to make the changes and sacrifices necessary to ensure that ALL people are recognized as equal in their embodiment of life and that the socio-economic, governmental structures and systems in place reflect that value.

we are in a challenging time in this country. we have so many who have awakened to this need for change and progress, but we also have many who feel their privilege being threatened and are desperately clinging to an illusion of a “great” past where/when not everyone was/is included, being led by a man who stokes the fire of division and separation, racism and violence in his words and policies.

how ironic that on Independence Day, I should say that our emphasis on our independence is our downfall, but I do and it is. our worship and celebration of individualism is not a truthful reflection of how life is or how life works and this causes harm. we are not independent, we are interdependent. our lives, our words and actions, are intertwined. our welfare, our future as a species on this planet is in jeopardy precisely because we are not aware or do not recognize this. this harmful ignorance is alive in a phrase such as “America First”, it is alive in our clinging to celebratory monuments to a past that was oppressive and harmful, it is alive in our unwillingness to wear a mask or responsibly socially distance for the welfare of others during a rising pandemic.

we aren’t guaranteed a future, friends. but in the life we embody, in the short time we embody it, we have such a great and sacred opportunity to be beneficial, to offer our lives to a movement of love, one that embraces the beauty inherent in our diversity and the necessity for equality and justice, so we can indeed form that more perfect union, not just in these United States, but a union of all humanity and all life.

~j

07.04.2020

#July4th #InterdependenceDay #SitDownRiseUp #NoJusticeNoPeace #BlackLivesMatter #EqualityForAll #EngagedBuddhism #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

the world needs us to wake up to our interdependence and let go of the myths of individualism and essentialism. we hide behind our accumulation and consumption and the myth of the rugged individual, because the recognition of our interdependence comes with immense responsibility to each other and the world. the truth always finds its way to the surface no matter how deep we try to bury it, though. we are in a time when the truth of our interdependence is coming forth in multiple areas, calling on us to wake up – what an opportunity to welcome transformation, justice, healing and peace!

~j

#interdependence #EngagedBuddhism #SitDownRiseUp #NoJusticeNoPeace

sitting with this life,
sometimes

your
heart
must
break

allow it

over and over again
allow it

offer it

allow your heart to break open
allow love to pour out

pouring pouring pouring
offering offering offering

a tsunami
to overwhelm
this suffering world
with love

your love

then
when love has been
set free

love
can fill your words
life your feet
and
put your hands to work

reminding us,
there is goodness
there is beauty
there is hope

~j

#empathy #compassion #OpenHeart #meditation #EngagedBuddhism #SitDownRiseUp #healing #JinpaLhaga #poetry