all moments call for our attention, for the power of our presence to bear witness to what is happening around us.

there are moments, though, that are so filled with the fire of urgency, they call upon our presence, our open hearts, our fierce compassion, our voices, hands, and feet to respond. our answer to the call is vital to the well being of others and our collective future.

this is one of those moments.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #WakeUp #EngagedBuddhist #Bodhisattvas

the power of presence.

the past is over. we can learn from it, but we cannot return. when we try to return, it may look similar and share some similar qualities, but it is actually something new with only shadowy remnants of what was once life.

the future is yet to be. the future is an illusion. we never really arrive. for what is the future, other than a present we have yet to live? and even then, our thoughts of the future are illusions colored by our own desire, not reflecting all the variables and diversity of life. if we attempt to live in the future now, we are cheating ourselves out of life where it actually is – here in this moment. here and now as it is often said. in short, we aren’t really living.

so it is in this moment, in this place where we rest and offer our presence. it is in this moment, in this place where we can make choices that heal the past and plant beneficial seeds for the future.

what better way is there to live in gratitude for the life we have been given, than to offer our presence back to life? we cannot go back and offer a past that has happened. we cannot jump ahead and offer a future that has yet to be. we can, however, offer this moment which contains both our past and our future.

to be here, is to be present. in all of its joys and bliss, in all of its pains and suffering. only in the present can we act to bring transformation of these things, to bring healing, to bring renewal.

our power is in our presence, which is only available here in this place, in this moment.

to be here, is life.

may it be offered with generosity, with insight, warmth, and wisdom.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #presence #life #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

7 years ago.

26 human beings shot dead in a mass shooting where the overwhelming response was “Never Again.”

i read that there have been 2000 mass shooting since that horrific day in Newtown.

20 of this lives mowed down were children between the ages of 6-7.

i’ve known some individuals who have fallen for and taken up the lie that the Sandy Hook mass shooting was a hoax performed by crisis actors. is there anything more delusional, filled with paranoid fear, or cruel?

if the slaughter of 20 young children didn’t shake us awake, what will?

i grieve this failure of ours as a species. we are not reflecting the sacredness of life. we do not act with humility, gratitude or respect for the gift we have been given – to breathe, to hold this fleeting incarnation with love.

i recall the Zen admonition:

This night your days will be diminished by one. Take heed – do not squander your life!

there are bright lights though. human beings who are grounded, open, filled with love, connection and a fierce compassion. i look to them. they give me courage and they show that there is reason to hope.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #SandyHook #NewTown #G

#repost / reminder

though darkness may come

open hearts will light the night

shine on, dear friends, shine

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #shine #light #haiku #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

Over 2500 years ago, deeply moved by the suffering he saw in life (sickness, aging, and death), disenchanted with the excess from which he came, and the practice of extreme ascetism, the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) set out to meet life face to face, as it is. He sat until he woke up. And in waking up he became the Buddha, which means awakened or awakened one. Seeing the middle way – not running away from or grasping at life, rather meeting life with an open heart – he found freedom from suffering.

Today, December 8th, we Buddhists commemorate the Buddha’s awakening under the Bodhi Tree, as Bodhi Day. A day to remember the event, but to also be reminded that we too can wake up, we too have within us the ability to be with life as it is, to be free and at peace.

“Lotus”

remember

don’t despair, do grow

here is your life blossoming

called forth from the mud

remember

remember

~j

#BodhiDay #Buddha #Buddhism #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #OpenHeart #WakeUp #growth #struggle #mud #lotus #flower #beauty #WhoYouAre #poetry #JMWpoetry #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

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

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

this is a good and worthy code of conduct not only in how we treat those close to us, but our neighbors, the immigrant, the poor, the marginalized, and what food we eat. this can also apply to companies and corporations – along with those who work for them.

how we treat others, defines in part, who we have been and how we have lived this life.

how are you living your life?

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds

#EngagedBuddhist

#ThisLife #Practice

#Zen #Enso

#JMWart #JinpaL

defining who our neighbors are, has consequences. defining who our neighbors are, reveals how vast our love is, how open we’ve allowed our hearts to be.

who are your neighbors?

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds

#neighbor #OpenHeart #EngagedBuddhist

#power

#TheLongArc

#PlantingSeeds

#EngagedBuddhist

i sit

so that

i may stand

i breathe in

with love

allowing

all that i feel

all that is around me

into my heart

i breathe out

with love

allowing all that i hold

all that i carry

to sink

into the earth

in her generosity

i am emptied

in her generosity

i am free

to rise up

to love

i touch the earth

she bears witness

to love

to life

to all.

~j

#meditation #OpenHeart #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #SitDownRiseUp #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #JinpaLhaga #JMWpoetry #JMWphotography #BWphotography #photography