“You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” ~ Virginia Woolf

lean in.

#LeanIn #engage #JustBe #presence #HereAndNow #YourLife #ThisLife #life #practice #meditation #Zen #Buddhism #enso #JMWart

Om mani padme hum

#OmManiPadmeHum #compassion #mantra #TibetanBuddhism #Buddhism #Avalokiteshvara #photography #BWphotography #JMWphotography

Awake in the world

What is this meditation?

Dirt beneath these nails

~j

“A long time ago in China, a Zen student asked if any of the sages had ever fallen into hell. His teacher answered that they are the first to go there! The shocked student asked, ‘But if they are enlightened, why would they fall into hell?’ The teacher looked at the student and with a smile said, ‘If I didn’t fall into hell, how could I help you?’ Do you see what he is doing here? He completely reverses the student’s problem, saying this is not about the student’s idea of purity, but about helping and caring. That is what’s important. He’s saying that you have to get your hands dirty; you have to dig right in. Just as you are, without some special robe or degree or twenty years of meditation practice. Just as you are, you can help.”

~ Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara (@enkyoo)

from “Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life’s Challenges”

#bodhisattva #service #generosity #compassion #wisdom #PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #Zen #Buddhism #haiku #art #JM

today many Buddhists celebrate Vesak, commemorating the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death. having come from excess, having seen the face of suffering, and finding no escape in extreme aestheticism, Siddhartha Gautama sat beneath the Bodhi tree setting in motion the path to end suffering (dissatisfaction) which begins with authentically meeting ourselves where we are and life as it is.

if we are to wake up, it can happen with this life, with this heart and this mind.

this is it.

today i commemorated with some extra meditation, listening to talks and making these ensos 😌🙏🏻📿

~j

#Vesak #BuddhaDay #Buddha #Buddhism #enso #Zen #JMWart

the opportunity to be of benefit, to do good, to open our hearts, to be kind, generous, and compassionate is now.

~j

#StartOfTheDay #opportunity is #now #ThisMoment #intention #morning #PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #LoveWins #bodhisattva #DalaiLama

forgot to pay this last night from my social media post:

today was (is) Arbor Day.

i can’t overstate my love for trees. they are sacred monuments of balance, strength, flexibility, hope, wisdom, and generosity. they give us air to breathe, provide home for creatures small and large, and add great beauty to this world and life.

hug a tree, you won’t regret it.

then do what you can to protect their forest homes.

~j

#ArborDay #trees #nature #life #breathe #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #enso #Zen #JMWart

we can get through whatever it is that weighs us down. our hearts have a capacity for love and life that is far beyond a limited vision or perception. so much of what we bear as struggle and burden, is an opportunity and path for healing and transformation.

~j

“Do you know how

the caterpillar

turns?

Do you remember

what happens

inside a cocoon?

You liquefy.

There in the thick black

of your self-spun womb,

void as the moon before waxing,

you melt

(as Christ did

for three days

in the tomb)

conceiving

in impossible darkness

the sheer

inevitability

of wings.”

~ Kim Rosen

#suffering #struggle #healing #transformation #fly #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #enso #Zen #JMWart

we will all encounter loss, be faced with illness and age, and eventually that great equalizer, death. our time here is increasingly limited and the opportunity to bring healing, light and love, easily escapes.

knowing this how can we harm?

many of us don’t face this difficult truth. many of us don’t know how to transform or heal our suffering, so we transmit it, feeding into the cycle of pain and suffering.

don’t fight people. shed light on destructive ideology. work to end what is harmful – the greed, the fear, the anger and aggression, the violence, the hate.

~j

#AllInThisTogether #OneBoat #interdependence #activism #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #LoveWins #bodhisattvas

…when we see impermanent things as solid, this is called suffering. This cessation of suffering is when we release our demand for the world to be as we want it to be and let it resume its own contours and textures.

~

Sobun Katherine Thanas

#freedom #wisdom #impermanence #life #Zen #Buddhism #enso #JMWart

birds sing, this Spring day

her heart, the seed of our love

this sphere, our mother

~j

#EarthDay #EarthDay2018 #LoveYourMother #nature #life #haiku #EarthEnso #enso #Zen #JMWart