#repost …still practicing 😉

we eventually come to the realization that life doesn’t bend to our comfort level.

instead, it provides the opportunity to grow in our capacity to open to life as it it in this moment.

~j

#TheLongArc #ForeverOpening #practice #OpenHeart #PlantingSeeds #life #mindfulness #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #Buddhism #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

there’s a lot that is happening or that can happen in life, that may move us away from love.

here are some favorite quotes to support the path of choosing to love.

~j

“You know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, a single power, a single salvation… and that is called loving. Well, then, love your suffering. Do not resist it, do not flee from it. It is your aversion that hurts, nothing else.”

~ Hermann Hesse

“This sky where we live is no place to lose your wings. So love, love, love.”

~ Hafiz

“Hate leaves ugly scars, love leaves beautiful ones.”

~ Mignon McLaughlin

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #love #life #practice #ChooseLove #BeautifulScars #EngagedBuddhist #zen #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

“It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.” ~Rabindranath Tagore

i love this quote.

the practice of renunciation is important in Buddhism and other traditions, not only as an act of sacrifice, but i’d say even more so as an act of freedom.

the more we add into our lives, the more we complicate our lives, the more we can feel trapped and bogged down. the freedom given in simplicity allows us to give more of our life and love fully to what is in front of us.

simplicity is a practice of freedom.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #simplicity #practice #life #JustThis #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

O Nobly Born, O you of glorious origins, remember your radiant true nature, the essence of mind. Trust it. Return to it. It is home.

~

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

we stop. we breathe. we rest with an open heart and calm mind free from clinging.

in that rest, that place of silence, we reconnect with life, we reconnect with our tenderness of heart. in Buddhism this is called buddha-nature. in Christianity you might say it is who we are in God. in other practices one might say it is our deepest, authentic self beyond the layers of ego and suffering.

this is our practice, over and over again, so that we may be of benefit to others, filled with love and free in our openness.

you are a unique expression of life and love in this place and at this time. what a gift! act from that place of love and life – be luminous as you are!

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #OpenHeart #BuddhaNature #tenderness #love #life #luminosity #EngagedBuddhist #TibetanBuddhism #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

we are suffering from an illness, a delusion. we believe and act as if we are separate, as if we can exist solely outside the reality of interdependence.

the truth is “ubuntu” – i am because we are.

when we see ourselves as separate from others, from nature, somehow set apart from life or above rather than among other life or in union with all life, we are more apt to objectify, to dehumanize others, to devalue all aspects of life. this causes harm, this causes suffering.

we are parts of a whole and it is going to take all of us who see the harm, who choose the path of open heartedness – of compassion – of kindness – of nonviolence, engaging and participating to turn the current tide of fear, anger, hate, aggression and violence.

awakening is collective, it is communal, it is embodied love.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #interdependence #ubuntu #OpenHeart #community #love #awakening #OneLove #EngagedBuddhist #zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

“With life as short as a half-taken breath, don’t plant anything but love.”

~ Rumi

#OurWork #OurPractice #love #life #PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #RumiQuote #SufiQuote #bodhisattvas #EngagedBuddhist #zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

cruelty and deception can win for a period of time.

however, these traits and actions are contrary to life itself.

who amongst us can go to war with life and come out winning in the end?

in their delusion and fear, those who choose deception and cruelty will have their time and then their time will end.

our responsibility and our practice is to work with life, to bear witness to the harm of deceit and cruelty, to bring light to their horror and destruction, to limit their time and reach, and to be a source of healing for the suffering they have caused.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #SitDownRiseUp #StandUp #SpeakUp #EngagedBuddhism #Bodhisattvas #Zen #Enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#repost

empty, i am full…

Only one thing

made him happy

and now that

it was gone

everything

made him happy

~

Leonard Cohen

empty,

i am able to receive

the fullness

of life.

~j

#empty #full #life #practice #meditation #Buddhism #Zen #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #presence #JMWart #poetry #TheMettaGarden

Mornië utúlië

(darkness has come)

Mornië alantië

(darkness has fallen)

if our hearts are open, if we can manage to stay with the suffering we see, allowing it in, so that our compassion may be awakened, then that compassion will lead us into action to end suffering.

darkness may have come and imbalance taken hold, but with the engagement of open hearts, empathy, and fierce compassion courageously put into action, this imbalance of darkness will fall and harmony can manifest.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #Darkness #Light #balance #harmony #FierceCompassion #Bodhisattvas #SitDownRiseUp #EngagedBuddhism #JMWart #JinpaLhaga #MornieUtulieMornieAlantie #Tolkien

“Is the dark side stronger?”

~ Luke

“No…no…no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.”

~ Yoda

we are seeing so much cruelty.

this can feel overwhelming and disheartening for those of us concerned with justice, truth, open-heartedness, and non-harming.

but life has a way of regaining balance in the long arc of things. that which burns most aggressively and fast, will also burn out sooner. nothing lasts forever, even power and cruelty.

breathing. keeping focused. keeping our hearts open, our bravery quivering, with patience and endurance, speaking out and taking action – compassion, kindness, and peace will prevail.

~j

#endurance #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #light #TheForce #OpenHeart #MindfulResistance #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #Buddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga