not able to make it this year, but thinking back to the first march in 2017 (which feels like a decade ago 😑) with this wonderful group of people!

it was and continues to be so empowering to join in community with big – fierce, compassionate – hearts, standing up and speaking out for what is moral and just.

bravo and blessings to all who are able to attend today and all who continue to bring voice and presence in opposition to cruelty and harm.

🌍❤️🙏🏻

#womensmarch #TheLongArc

#PlantingSeeds

#EngagedBuddhist

The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences.

What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature, and its power is never diminished.

~ Deng Ming-Dao

when we are faithful to our true nature, which is our awakened nature, which is open hearted and spacious, we too are in our place of power, a power that cannot be diminished.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #nonaggression #nonviolence #TruePower #TrueInfluence #moon #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #art #BuddhistArt #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

Is peace something you get, or is peace something you are? If you can get it, you can lose it. If you are it, it is never gone.

~

Scott Shaw

our practice can be one of expanding the spaciousness of our hearts, opening our hearts wider and wider, a practice where we are cultivating peace within our hearts, a peace not dependent on outside circumstances. rather, a peace that we find has been in our hearts all along, a peace we notice when we finally stop for a while, when we finally let go, let be, allowing our thoughts to arise and fall away.

what are we left with when we finally allow such tenderness, such vulnerability to reveal itself, to be recognized, and valued, when we aren’t trying to ignore, avoid or go to war?

and far from being inactive, this state of peace frees us to act beneficially, without the burdensome load that fear, anger and aggression carry.

~j

#peace #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #JMWphotography #JinpaLhaga

when fear is present and the circumstances seem so dire, a desire to control outcomes can arise.

we can even feel this in our body when things don’t seem to be going the way we wish, the way we have been working for. there is a tightening of the muscles, a heaviness in the head and chest, a sinking in our stomach.

there is an opportunity in that moment when we feel this. we can stop, we can reconnect to our breath, and take a step back to look at the larger picture.

in any given scenario there are multiple forces at work, and we are one of those forces. our power is in our choices, how we think, speak, and act. one choice can be to work with our own hearts and our own minds, to plant seeds that are beneficial, that reduce harm and suffering, that bring healing, and genuine connection to ourselves, our families, our communities. our work can contribute to change for the better, to build a better world.

we do our work with intention, with love and compassion, diligently and purposefully, moment by moment, day by day, week by week and year-by-year throughout our lifetime.

we do so as an offering, letting go of our desire to control outcomes.

this is a journey free from the poisons of resentment and bitterness, of aggression and hate. it is a journey built on love, compassion and healing.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #life #GoodWorks #love #compassion #healing #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

it isn’t beneficial to add flames and heat to an already burning fire.

the world is burning and we must be engaged and take action.

and although anger at injustice and inequality may be our initial motivator, our source of power for engagement must be grounded in love and compassion. otherwise, we too just burn with it, and we too are consumed.

there are a lot of people burning.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #WakeUp #love #compassion #EngagedBuddhist #ThichNhatHanhQuotes #JinpaLhaga

…and repeat.

you can do this. your heart is stronger and more resilient than you may yet know.

#breathe #JustBreathe #YouGotThis #YouCanDoIt #StayOpen #StrongerThanYouThink #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #TheResistance #MindfulResistance #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

This is the moment to return to whichever practice reinforces our moral clarity, so that we do not wake up one day to find it eroded beyond recognition.

~ Sofia Ali-Khan

…yep, this seems like an appropriate time 🙏🏻

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #WakeUp #EngagedBuddhist #JMWphotography #photography #JinpaLhaga

2020, to begin anew…

 

I begin each year with a new enso and new haiku, poem, or mantra to reflect on through the year. It usually is a response to how life has been in the previous year.

Keeping it real – 2019 was a struggle for me.  In addition to the communal struggles of the state of our country, the world, the environment, 2019 saw new and continued health struggles for dear friends and my parents. I, too, have seen an over health decline from workplace stress and exhaustion accumulated over years, and culminating in what felt like constantly moving structural changes.

A lot has suffered due to this – my meditation practice, my art, my friendships, connecting with nature, and the joy I usually feel in life.  All the while, life seems like it is flying by in a whirl and I’ve been distracted by pressures outside my control.

2019 felt like a year out of balance and has left me diminished.

To be fair 2019 also brought highlights of gratitude and happiness – my mom’s positive response to cancer treatment, getting to play in West Side Story at Moonlight, and taking my Buddhist Refuge Vows with my meditation teacher, Susan Piverand the Open Heart Project Sangha, and of course so much Star Wars (which I love to share with my nephew).

The latter is a reminder that even in the struggle and exhaustion, there was an undercurrent of strength and buoyancy throughout the challenges this past year. My practice, even when inconsistent, was my refuge and my anchor, and was a source of sharing, offering, and connecting through my mom’s cancer treatments.

Life is change and life can be very hard. The truth is, it’s always out of our control (even though we like to feel like we have some control) and it’s always a little bit hard, a little bit sad, even in the best of times.

We can choose, however, how we participate – to engage and make beneficial, balanced choices through the chaos. We can choose NOT to also be chaosourselves, within it.

2020 for me will be about making new choices and engaging in life in a way that doesn’t diminish my joy, doesn’t move in fear or reduce my light. 2020 will be about beginning anew, and not forgetting the Love that is always available, always present, always within and carrying us. Today I began with a recommitment to my practice with a 21 day meditation challenge, and recommitment to the 5 Buddhist Precepts.

A new enso for 2020, and a new haiku to accompany it as a daily reminder for me and an offering to you:

to begin anew – 
without fear, luminous and
abiding in love

Wishing everyone all that is good and much happiness in 2020.  You are loved.

~j

#HappyNewYear #2020 #BeginAnew #NoFear #Luminous #Love #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

the mundane as sacred…

“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while peeling potatoes. Zen is just peeling potatoes.”

~

Alan Watts

i love this quote. i suppose it can be perceived as a bit provocative. some may shutter a bit when first reading it. it shakes you loose a bit, as Zen often does.

but what is provocative about recognizing the sacred in the ordinary?

if we cannot find the sacred in peeling potatoes, in washing the dishes, in sweeping, then where can we find it?

it is easy to find the sacred in what we perceive as beautiful, but what about the things we perceive as mundane? can we find the sacred there as well?

in Zen monasteries, novice monks are given toilet duty, cleaning the toilets. can we find the sacred in cleaning a toilet? there is a reason some Zen Masters continued to do it even in old age.

in the Khuddaka Nikaya, the Buddha stated, “In your seeing, there should be only the seeing. In your hearing, nothing but the hearing; in your smelling, tasting, and touching, nothing but smelling, testing, and touching; in your thinking, nothing but the thought.”

so the question remains, can we be with our life as it is right now? in Zen, that is sacred, not some other place, being some other person, doing some other thing. it IS here and now. it is in the doing, in the being, it is the journey.

when we open to this, when we are aware of the freedom and responsibility of this, we find our balance, we see our interconnection, and we open further and further, embracing this fleeting world and our fleeting relationships with love.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #Buddhism #sacred #mundane #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

what child is this?

the child is our neighbor, the immigrant, the hurting, the outcast, the poor.

may the transformative message of the Christmas story not be lost on our hearts – that what is divine and sacred came to us in the humble form of a baby who with his parents was poor, an outcast, a refugee fleeing violence, seeking shelter and safety.

the wisdom of this message continues to be relevant today.

may we open our hearts to all who are Christ among us, all who are poor, outcast, fleeing violence, seeking refuge, shelter and safety.

wishing you a Merry Christmas friends. may your every day be surrounded in friendship and love, bringing happiness to your heart.

~j

#Christmas #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #OpenHeart #light #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga