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may it be our intention, commitment, & practice now & in the times ahead to engage & cultivate our capacity for empathy. our empathy can connect us to the tenderness in our heart & motivate our compassion. having empathy for others opens our awareness to the connection we already have with each other as interdependent life on this planet & in this universe. as our awareness opens to our connection each other, this also increases our capacity for empathy for each other. in this way, we are offering our lives as instruments of love & healing, even while some in their delusion may seek ever increasing power at the cost of others, leaving harm & destruction in their wake. being in touch with our empathy, increasing our capacity for empathy for all, is our superpower. this capacity for empathy, for open-heartedness, for tenderness, warmth, & compassion (all of which is to say – love), is what may very well save this world. 

how incredibly blessed are we who understand this as a privilege, as a responsibility, & can participate with such love for the benefit of all?

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#empathy #love #compassion #tenderness #warmth #OpenHeart #SuperPower #interdependence #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

study

practice

refuge

#JinpaLhaga #JMWart #buddhadharma #meditation #OpenHeart #SteadyMind #mindfulness #awareness #lovingkindness #compassion #BWphotography #photography

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“This life that is so short, so tenuous,

so precious, so valuable, so necessary, 

a life not to be squandered 

but to be used impeccably and usefully 

for the benefit and welfare of all.”

~

Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche

may every breath be filled with gratitude, aligned with love, & offered as a benefit to all without bias or exclusion.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#life #gratitude #offering #service #OpenHeart #love #NyoshulKhenpoRinpoche #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #PhotoArt #photography

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“When buddhas don’t appear and their followers are gone, the wisdom of awakening bursts forth by itself.”

~

Nargarjuna 

out of the darkness & into the light, love manifests presence, a lotus flower rising from the dark depths revealing its beauty for all to know.

who or what can stop such BEing?

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#awakening #presence #darkenss #light #buddhanature #wisdom #love #OpenHeart #enso #Nargarjuna #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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an important reminder in this last week before the next administration begins:

the abandoning of facts & objective truth propels forward a society where nothing matters, so anything goes – except that it isn’t “anything”, rather it is whatever those who propagandize & are in power say is so. what & where is the barometer to measure, if we do not accept facts as facts or objective truth as objective truth?

this leads to a “post-truth” culture, a culture where ignorance & indifference lead to harm, destruction, & death.

if we say we are devoted to love & its embodiments of empathy, tenderness, kindness, compassion, generosity, equity, justice, & peace, then we have an obligation to speak out on harm, to build against such destruction, to breathe healing life into death, to defend objective truth, & to do our due diligence to align with facts, & to speak no “post-truth.”

may we rise to this moment & may our democracy survive this era.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#RightSpeech #facts #truth #ObjectiveTruth #love #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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it’s important to honor our feelings of pain & suffering, feelings of overwhelm, of fear, of loss & grief. we should meet these experiences & feelings that arise with the same warmth & tenderness that we would offer for a loved one. but when we are in the middle of extreme challenges & difficulties, our view can narrow & increase the intensity & weight of the emotions we are experiencing. so, it can be helpful to remember to take a wider view as well, both in regards to space & time. we can recall the stories from those who have been through similar & made it through. we can also bring to mind when we went through other challenges, even if smaller in scale & intensity, & how we also made it through.

the world is still spinning, we are still here with heart beating, breath cycling, surrounded by others experiencing similar on this journey. life continues to flow & so do we, together.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#WiderView #perspective #life #community #OpenHeart #tenderness #warmth #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart 

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“We say, to shine one corner of the world — that is enough. Not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.”

~Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

shine on, dear friends.

shine brightly & shine on.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#shine #light #candle #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #OpenHeart #MindfulResistance #SitDownRiseUp #Buddha #Zen #OpenHeart #path #practice #ShunryuSuzukiRoshi

#JinpaLhaga #JMWart #photography 

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what a shame on the conscience of those who are dismissive of the suffering of all those affected by these horrifically destructive fires in Los Angeles. the destruction & suffering span all forms of life & economics, residential homes to small businesses, so many lives have been upended in a brutally traumatic way.

may we be reminded of our humanity. may we be reminded of our potential & capacity for altruistic love. there are beautiful examples of such love in the heroic actions of the firefighters, the first responders, restaurant owners opening their doors & giving away food, & community members banding together to take care of each other. 

we have such potential & capacity for beauty. may we shine a light on these examples of love in action & dismiss the ugliness of the small minded, & closed hearted.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#LAfires #empathy #compassion #generosity #love #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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this is a photograph of a statue of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara. this version has four arms & one face. however, in many painted & statue versions of the bodhisattva, they are depicted with a thousand arms & multiple faces. the multiple faces are representative of Avalokiteshvara looking in every direction where there is suffering & cries for help. the thousand arms are to reach in every direction in all the myriad of ways assistance is needed, tending to all the suffering.

the common mistake is to think that the bodhisattva is someone or something outside of ourselves, that we are simply calling upon some outside force to help end the suffering in this world. though that can be the case, we often miss the very real, important, & practical point that WE are the faces & the thousand arms of the bodhisattva. we are the ones who can look into the world, tending to the suffering of the world & assist in the myriad ways that are needed. when we call upon the Bodhisattva of Compassion, in a very real way we can call upon the compassion that is right here in our very own tender, open hearts, ready to engage our empathy, mercy, compassion, & put our love into action.

may it be so for those suffering in these fires, for those suffering in war zones, for those suffering oppression, poverty, hunger, illness, injustice & heartbreak.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#compassion #BodhisattvaOfCompassion #Avalokiteshvara #OpenHeart #LoveInAction #LAfires #WarZones #unhoused #poverty #hunger #injustice #inequity #heartbreak #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #photography

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a reminder every night before bed.

this life is impermanent, fleeting, like a flash of lightning across the sky.

how will we spend this time?

for benefit? for harm?

in service of love? 

may we practice opening our hearts to a world in need, speaking truth when others have abandoned it, living with dignity & integrity, with gratitude, generosity, & purpose for the benefit of all.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#Zen #EveningGatha #ZenEveningGatha #impermanence #life #gift #cherish #purpose #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart