dirt beneath these nails…

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dirty nails

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
from the chapter “Living In The Suffering World”
from her book, “MOST INTIMATE: A Zen Approach To Life’s Challenges”

this life! this life!

~ jaysen ~ 2 Comments

Love Raining Down

 

we have within our hearts
the capacity to

hold all of this

the tears, the laughter
the noise, the silence
the stillness, the loss

the love

we also have the wisdom to

let it all go…

and here we are on this journey together
learning to

dance between the two

this life!
this life!

~ j

February 3, 2014

one earth, one sangha…

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LightColorTree2 (2)

 

hello dear friends ~

please check out One Earth Sangha and read about their post The Earth as Witness: International Dharma Teachers’ Statement on Climate Change.  if this speaks to you, please sign as either a Dharma Teacher or Sangha Member.  if you do not belong to a sangha, you can still provide your name, email and where you are from.

here touching the Earth
awakening to Her breath
there is no other

~j
January 22, 2014

daybreak…

~ jaysen ~ 3 Comments

daybreak
    
     An old Hassidic rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell exactly when the night had ended and the day begun (daybreak is the time for certain holy prayers).  “Is it when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?” one student proposed.  “No,” answered the rabbi.  “Is it when you can clearly see the lines on your own palm?” another asked.  “Is it when you can look at a tree in the distance and tell if it is a fig or a pear tree?”  “No,” answered the rabbi each time.  “Then, what is it?” the pupils demanded.  “It is when you can look on the face of any man or woman and see that they are your sister or brother.  Until then it is still night.”

~ as told by Jack Kornfield in his book:
Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are

 

 

 

the illusion of security and the reality of Life…

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ENSO 2014

From the wisdom of Alan Watts ~

“There is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity. But the contradiction lies a little deeper than the mere conflict between the desire for security and the fact of change. If I want to be secure, that is, protected from the flux of life, I am wanting to be separate from life. Yet it is this very sense of separateness which makes me feel insecure. To be secure means to isolate and fortify the “I,” but it is just the feeling of being an isolated “I” which makes me feel lonely and afraid. In other words, the more security I can get, the more I shall want.
 
To put it still more plainly: the desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing. To hold your breath is to lose your breath. A society based on the quest for security is nothing but a breath-retention contest in which everyone is as taut as a drum and as purple as a beet.”
 
~ Alan Watts