our job is to keep our heart open, our mind steady, and through our words and actions, plant seeds of lovingkindness, of compassion, of joy in the happiness of others, and equanimity for the benefit of a world that suffers.
we have no idea if, when, or where these seeds will bear fruit, but we plant them nonetheless.
theatre has been such a gift in my life. some of the best memories & friendships. wish i had more pics digitized from the 1990s when i was in my 20s doing theatre, but i think that was before digital cameras & those pics are packed away somewhere 😂
combining some pics of productions i’ve been in multiple times or shows back to back, but also trying to keep in chronological order. Instagram only allows 10 pics 😑
so much growing up through so many stages of my life.
long live the theatre & storytelling!! 🤗💛🙏🏼
pic 1
Lend Me a Tenor – Orange Glen High School 1992 (or ’93?)
Comedy of Errors – Palomar College 1999
pic 2
Berzerkergang – Sledgehammer Theatre 2003
[sic] – Sledgehammer Theatre 2003
NU – Sledgehammer Theatre 2003
pic 3
Deporting the Divas – Diversionary Theatre 2003
The Miser – La Jolla Playhouse 2005
pic 4
A Man of His Word – Playwright’s Project at The Old Globe 2006
pic 5
A Christmas Carol – Cygnet Theatre 2008
pic 6
Journey To The Lost Temple – Legoland California 2008-2012
Mail Order Monsters – Legoland California 2011-2015
pic 7 & 8
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) – w/ Palomar College 2000, 2006
w/ Luminary Arts 2012, 2016
pic 9
A Slip From Reality – Scripps Ranch Theatre 2017
pic 10
West Side Story – Moonlight Stage Productions 2007 & 2019
it was a call to nonaggression, non-harshness, to simply (though not so simple) shine our light of love and lead by example.
and while the spirit of this still resonates with me, and i still think aggression is destructive and embodying love in the long term is most beneficial, i’ve grown in my perspective around this.
sometimes love does embody as a bullhorn, because we need to wake up. we can’t see the light if our eyes are closed and we’re asleep.
a bullhorn can wake us up to the harm and suffering around us, to the work we need to do within ourselves and in the world.
so…now i’d say:
“Be a lighthouse, and when needed, be a bullhorn as well.”
there are solutions to immigration and border challenges that don’t involve putting up razor wire on a bank of a river, where human beings and their children are desperate to cross.
in a relative way, borders can serve a practical purpose. but we’d be wise not to lose our humanity over them. they are constructed and impermanent. they were not always there, nor will they always be there. they do not occur in nature, they are not visible from space, and they are not ordained from on high.
it’s mindboggling to watch professed “Christian” politicians not only resort to such cruelty but encourage and celebrate it as some sort of victory moment, or pass the blame for cruelty. they should read what the Bible and what Jesus have to say about immigrants.
but what do i know as a Buddhist, who still attempts to follow Jesus’ teachings? i know one thing, borders built on the outside likely begin as borders built on the inside. also, that no one person is more sacred or deserving of a full, healthy, and happy life than another. if all things come from God who is beginningless and endless, we can also say: if God is in one, God is in all. or as a Buddhist, we may say all beings have Buddhanature and are interdependent.
we forget ourselves, when we forget this, when we forget others.
so, if we want to take up immigration and border challenges, we should begin with opening the borders of our own heart and proceed with empathy and compassion. there will be a time when we need it as well.
perhaps the most beneficial practice? if we are not able to simply breathe, to be at home with our own breath, then how can we practice anything else?
breath is the foundation of all practice. as we breathe in, we are saying yes to this moment, to this life, to all that is possible. we are saying “i am at home, here and now.” as we breathe out, we are saying yes to letting go, to impermanence, to change, to generosity and offering.
as we breathe in, we accept our life. as we breathe out, we offer our life back.
to be able to accept our life, and offer it back, we are allowing for equanimity and peace within ourselves.
imagine such steadiness.
how would our lives change, acting from such spaciousness? how would it benefit our relationship to ourselves, others, and all life?
i have a calligraphy by Thich Nhat Hanh hanging on my wall that reads, “Peace is every breath.”
are we able to open to, to see and hear the sacred in all things?
in the car in front of us, the neighbor across the street?
the person on the other side of a border we constructed, not just physically, but within our own hearts and minds?
are we able to settle our minds and open our eyes and hearts where we are, to all around us?
love is always calling, life is always teaching.
this is the practice, to let go of all that separates us, and realize the interdependence, the interrelatedness of all things. then who would we seek to harm?
That’s what a Bodhisattva does, day in and day out,
Serving all of life.”
~
Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara
we practice to be of benefit, to ourselves and others, a life as an offering. during challenging times, we can lean into our practice, take refuge in our practice of having a steady mind and an open heart, and then get up off the cushion and offer it. just offer it back to life, to others who are suffering, in whatever ways we can.
~j
⭕️♥️🙏🏼
*quote from, “A Little Bit of Zen: An Introduction to Zen Buddhism” by Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara
this precious human birth. with awareness and gratitude may we grow in wisdom and love to the benefit of all life. ~j ⭕️♥️🙏🏼
Posted @withregram • @jtenzinpalmo You know, you’re so lucky. You’re so lucky because you have all the conditions. You have a human body. That’s a big condition. You have intelligence. You have teachers. You have the teaching. You have the path. And you have the interest. You have the desire. I wonder if you realize how rare that those conditions are.
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Photo: Jetsunma sitting on the steps in front of a bright, blue door
The Metta Garden 