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“The biggest thing in the world, bigger than the ocean and the sky, is your heart.”

~ Do Hyun Choe

our vast capacity for presence, awareness, & wisdom is right here within this very heart, this body, & life we experience around us. if we can give ourselves the permission to be still, to sit in silence, & allow the arising & falling of thought, emotions, sensations without interfering by grasping or pushing away, just allowing the unfolding with gentleness & grace, we begin to see we can be with this life just as it is now. in that spaciousness insight, on how to act (not react), beneficially arises. this can be our path & practice.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#heart #OpenHeart #presence #awareness #insight #wisdom #path #practice #DoHyunChoe #JinpaLhaga #JMWart 

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The Zen Master asked, “A piece of gold, a pile of mud. Which is more useful?”

The monk answered, “The gold, of course.”

The Master replied, “But to a seed?”

He continued, “Everyone has a purpose.”

~ from the film, “Shaolin: Protect The Temple”

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#value #sacred #purpose #PlantingSeeds #Zen #insight #wisdom #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #enso #tree

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“Love is of one piece.  We either love everybody or we do not really love.”

~ Richard Rohr

love is not just some saccharine, superficial way we respond to those close to us or what we like in the world. LOVE is how we are called to respond to all things, even the ugly, horrible, harmful, destructive things. love is what gives us clarity to call out harm & hold powers accountable. love is how we heal, create, build all things anew. it’s what inspires, motivates, & sustains our work for a more empathetic, kind, compassionate, peaceful, equitable world through to its fruition. love is the compass, the wind in the sails – & the sails themselves! it’s all encompassing. anything short of that is just a shadow of love’s light.

love it all.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#love #LoveItAll #OpenHeart #wisdom #path #practice #RichardRohr #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #calligraphy

when i speak of Love i’m speaking of a moral love, an ethical love, a recognition of our interdependence kind of love, a choosing love, an energy in action kind of love, a dig into the work & get your hands dirty kind of love, a pursuit of justice & equity kind of love, a step into the muck as healer & builder kind of love, it is bodhisattva love.

this is the love we are called to embody in this life for the benefit of the world & all life.

may we embody THIS love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#love #RiseUp #SpeakUp #NoJusticeNoPeace #SitDownRiseUp #EngagedBuddhsim #GodIsLove #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #bodhisattvas #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #calligraphy

🇺🇸 thoughts…

this is a triage moment in our democracy, when the many issues we care about are threatened by a possible 2nd Trump presidency which promises to be the undoing of our democracy. 

i am grateful for the awareness & selflessness of President Biden to do what Trump would never do, place ego aside. though i remain critical of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict & its horrific humanitarian suffering/destruction, i can’t ignore the immense good he has brought to many other areas – seeing us through a pandemic/economic recovery, infrastructure, student loan forgiveness, lowering insulin costs, expanding care for veterans, & more. he’s been a champion of incredibly qualified diverse professionals. just look to his Cabinet & addition of Justice Jackson to SCOTUS. i’ll remind my LGBTQ+ family that it was VP Biden who pressed privately & publicly President Obama in 2012 to embrace marriage equality. it may have not happened or certainly not as quickly. i think of the friends’ ceremonies i’ve presided over, the love & commitment fully & publicly declared & recognized – thank Joe Biden. some will say his legacy will be mixed – aren’t all legacies so? but i think in half a century of service what will be seen is more good than not.

i’m excited for & all in for Kamala Harris as President. i voted for her as AG, Senator, VP, & now will do so for her to be our 1st female, black, Asian American President! she has the experience, presence, mind & the heart for the job. i’ll likely never approve of all her decisions or policies, but i have confidence she’ll do more good than not & keeping our democracy allows us to push & pressure for better. there isn’t an issue of concern now that won’t be horrifically worse w/ Trump, fascism, or a theocracy.

may democracy survive this triage moment forward toward a more perfect union & to the benefit of the world.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#Biden #Harris #democracy #legacy 

HAPPY PRIDE SAN DIEGO!

🤍🩷🩵🤎🖤

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

“I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the Astonishing Light of your own Being!” ~ Hafiz 

we are luminous life, embodied love. now is the time to shine. even as delusion, fear, & hate are on the attack, we shine w/ the authenticity of our lives in all of their beautiful diversity. now is the time to love, perhaps even more so, teaching this passing world to be open hearted, to embrace authenticity, diversity, beauty, empathy, kindness, & compassion. even as some single us out, may we know that we are part of a vast, diverse, interdependent, beautiful tapestry of life. no one can redefine that or take that away.

be beautiful, be you, you are loved.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#SDpride #pride #LGBTQ #gay #queer #life #love #authenticity #diversity #beauty #OpenHeart #path #practice #QueerArt #LGBTQart #art #JMWart #JinpaLhaga #HafizQuote

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“If someone thinks love and peace is a cliche that’s their problem. Love and peace are eternal.” 

~ John Lennon

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#love #peace #OpenHeart #path #practice #JohnLennon #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #calligraphy

meeting this moment with love, kindness, fierce compassion, & wisdom, through word & action, planting seeds for the future.

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#ThisMoment #OpenHeart #love #kindness #FierceCompassion #wisdom #PlantingSeeds #path #practice #JinpaLhaga

Happy 88th Birthday to Pema Chödrön! 🙏🏼

bows of gratitude for her life, practice, teaching, & many books that have benefited multitudes – including me.

from her book, “Practicing Peace in Times of War”:

“War and peace start in the hearts of individuals…We can talk about ending war and we can march for ending war, we can do everything in our power, but war is never going to end as long as our hearts are hardened against each other…there will never be peace until somebody softens what is rigid in their heart…So the solutions have to come from a change of heart, from softening what is rigid in our hearts and minds.”

so it seems to me our challenge in our time is to work on ourselves – the delusion, aggression, & violence w/in ourselves – while also pointing to & calling out what is harmful in our world, standing w/ those who are targets of harm & oppression, working to dismantle institutional harm, & being instruments of healing, while not adding to the harm & destruction we are bearing witness to.

silence is certainly not the answer in the face of harm or danger of harm.

rather, we can speak from our open hearts w/ clarity, compassion & wisdom, for the benefit of all.

~j

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#PemaChodron #peace #war #nonviolence #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga

📷: Pema Chodron Foundation

“For hate is not conquered by hate: hate is conquered by love. This is the law eternal.”

~ Buddha (Dhammapada vs. 5)

love is the path and practice.

the source, the compass, the wind in the sails, the journey, and destination.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#NoHate #love #EternalLaw #EternalRule #UnalterableLaw #UnendingTruth #TheBuddha #SiddharthaGautama #TheDhammapada #Buddha #OpenHeart #path #practice #RussellSimmonsQuote #JinpaLhaga