🌀

the sacredness of life & the preciousness of this life are informed by its characteristics of impermanence & interdependence. whatever our belief of what happens after this life, the inescapable truth for all of us is that this particular incarnation, this specific life, will come to an end. the conditions that have come together to allow for our lives, are in constant movement. this is the nature of all in this life. we see it constantly day to day, season to season. none of us escape this truth, including leaders and empires no matter how desperately they try to hold on. we all fall. our only true choice, the only true power we have been gifted, is whether or not we do so with love & in love. how we treat others is testimony of how well we understand & accept this truth.

so every moment counts – every word, every action counts & is an opportunity to participate in & embody love. because of interdependence, how we live deeply matters & defines our lives.

this includes our #vote.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#life #death #impermanence #interdependence #love #OpenHeart #path #practice #MatthieuRicard #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🌀

in Buddhism, it is that all beings have Buddhanature, the seed that is already awakened, luminous, & whole. 

likewise Franciscan contemplative, Father Richard Rohr, has often quoted author Paula D’Arcy who has written, “God comes disguised as our lives.”

knowing this, believing in the sacredness of every life, how can any of us support any potential leader who reduces the humanity of another calling them vermin, animals, & impure?

we cannot love thy neighbor & then proceed to label them in such ways, to marginalize them, to oppress them, to banish them, to kill or destroy them.

we cannot love our neighbor & supports such fascist rhetoric or actions.

this is a look ourselves in the mirror moment. this is a look within our hearts moment.

may open hearts, sanity, & wisdom prevail.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#LoveThyNeighbor #immigrant #sacred #buddhanature #OpenHeart #path #practice #AldousHuxley #PaulaDArcy #JinpaLhaga 

🌀

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” ~ Emma Lazarus

loving thy neighbor.

remember dear fellow mortals, none of this is permanent, constructed borders included. BUT the harm we allow, we are responsible for. AND how we love is remembered & carried beyond.

it’s so easy – & lazy – to target, to blame & find someone or someones to scapegoat. BUT we are called to love & love is the narrow road. the way. the truth. the life.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#immigrants #immigration #refuge #love #OpenHeart #path #practice #EmmaLazarus #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #vote #HarrisWalz2024

🌀

Tibetan Om.

the sound of Life, loosening the grip of ego fixation.

may we be free of “me” and embrace the “we” for the benefit of all.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#Om #TibetanOm #life #we #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🌀

“Times are difficult globally; awakening is no longer a luxury or an ideal. It’s becoming critical. We don’t need to add more depression, more discouragement, or more anger to what’s already here. It’s becoming essential that we learn how to relate sanely with difficult times. The earth seems to be beseeching us to connect with joy and discover our innermost essence. This is the best way that we can benefit others.” 

~ Pema Chödrön

connecting with hope is connecting with love, the ultimate nature of existence. such hope includes everyone & all life, without exclusion, without targets of oppression & marginalization. may we elect leaders who lead with such messaging, with a narrative of love. here’s to being woke.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#WakeUp #love #joy #hope #OpenHeart #connection #path #practice #PemaChodron #JinpaLhaga #JMWart 

🌀

when we choose healing over destruction, we are not doing it alone. we can take refuge in our own awakened capacity to heal within ourselves & cultivate healing qualities & practices for our world. we can take refuge in the healing wisdom we find in nature & in the teachings of those who have gone before & those now who show the way of & to healing. we can take refuge in each other, in community, made up of others past & present who embody & practice healing for our world. from such space of practicing healing, of love in action, we are planting beneficial seeds for our future & future generations. 

this was my inspiration for this art piece – Medicine Buddha Refuge in the Triple Gem.

fascism is not healing. it is by its very nature destruction. 

harmony & healing, over chaos & destruction. this is a choice. this can be our choice. may we choose healing & may we vote for leaders who choose the same.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#MedicineBuddha #TheThreeJewels #healing #harmony #love #PlantingSeeds #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art

#vote

🌀

“Am I part of the cure, or am I part of the disease?”

~ Coldplay

voted in alignment with my values today.

voted for decency today.

voted for democracy today.

voted for the benefit of all today.

voted love.

i believe voting is a sacred act when we vote as an act of Love, as an extension of our love, for those that we love, & for the benefit of life on this planet.

when we vote as an act of Love, we are voting in service of a higher call, we are voting for hope, for unity, for healing, for the possibility of building something new, something better, something more beneficial for all.

please do not waste what can be a sacred act on retribution, vengeance, division, & a reach for oppressive power.

Vote Love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#vote #love #VoteLove #Election2024 #VoteBlue2024 #HarrisWalz2024

🌀

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

~ Alice Walker

one of the most underappreciated powers we have is the power of our vote.

may 2024 be the year we collectively exercise this power for the benefit of all!

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#VOTE #Election2024 #VoteBlue2024 #HarrisWalz2024

🌀

learning to stop and simply come back to our bodies and be with our breath is a super power.

even if it is just for a minute or two, or a few breaths, learn to hit the pause button. with practice we can find ourselves the still center of any storm that comes.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#JustStop #pause #breathe #meditate #meditation #path #practice #LilyTomlin #JinpaLhaga

🌀

that so many have fully accepted the language of fascism is alarming. yet even more alarming, is that so many seem numb to this & are only mildly alarmed or not alarmed at all.

if we follow historical examples, this normalizing to the language of fascism sets the stage to normalize the acts of fascism, which bring immense harm & suffering.

as a Buddhist, we are called to tend to all who are and that is suffering in our world. this includes welcoming the immigrant, the refugee who is suffering. Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha himself along with his community, was regularly on the move as he shared the path to waking up, depending on the generosity & kindness of strangers. in the Sutta Nipata it is said, “As I am, so are these. As are these, so am I.” the Nirvana Sutra states, “By taking refuge…one’s mind should be free from hurting or harming others.”

as a Christian growing up, it was clear to me that Jesus himself was a refuge at birth & an itinerant preacher of the good news of God’s love, who himself was often rejected rather than accepted by this world. can the following biblical verses being any more clear?

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

~ Leviticus 19:33-34

(attributed to Moses)

“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren you did it to me.””

~ (Jesus in) Matthew 25:35, 40

this is a defining moment in our time, a clarion bell ringing, calling us to ourselves, to each other, to our world. how we respond will say everything about what we believe and how we love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#NoFascism #Vote #VoteBlue2024 #HarrisWalz2024 #democracy #immigration #refugees #Buddha #Buddhism #Jesus #Christianity #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga