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today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

may we remember and honor the six million Jews (two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe at the time) along with the millions of others (LGBTQ+, the Roma/Gypsies, Disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, along w/ political opposition) who were also targeted. so much suffering during an immensely dark chapter of human history.

did we learn? 

we say “Never Again”, but we’ve continued see a rise in anti-Semitism and we’ve continued to allow or excuse genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced migration across this earth since the Holocaust, to this day. 

may we open our eyes and ears, may we have awareness of our interdependence and interconnection, may clarity and wisdom arise, may we see through bias, and fully embrace the message of “Never Again” both for Jews and for all peoples across this planet, no matter their background, culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or geographic location.

~j

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#HolocaustRemembranceDay #NeverAgain #NoGenocide #NoEthnicCleansing #NoForcedMigration #NoOppression #NoMarginalization #OpenHeart #awareness #wisdom #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art

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a way to live, a way to practice, a way to embody love in our world.

~j

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#look #listen #care #OpenHeart #life #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #calligraphy

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a time such as now.

how can we, as individuals, counteract the onslaught of false speech from powers, governments, organizations, companies, and individuals?

Buddhism has guidance within its Fourth Precept. 

traditionally the Fourth Precept is stated as “I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech.“ the Precept can be understood as not causing or  participating in deceit and false speech. why? because it causes harm.

Thich Nhat Hanh imbuing the Fourth Precept with nuance and further awareness, and retitling it The Fourth Mindfulness Training: Deep Listening and Loving Speech writes, “ Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am determined to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. I will not spread news that I do not know to be certain and will not criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or the community to break. I am determined to make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.”

as a practice, we can follow the 5 guidelines for Right Speech: Is our speech timely, true, gentle, beneficial, and spoken with a mind of good-will?

may we all practice being truth tellers and revolutionaries of speech in a time of deceit.

~j

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#RightSpeech #TheFourthPrecept #TheFourthMindfulnessTraining #path #practice” #Buddhism #ThichNhatHanh #JinpaLhaga #GeorgeOrwellQuotes

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this is the moment we have to embody love. 

this is the moment we have to embody peace.

this is the moment we have to open our hearts, to settle our minds, and offer the world healing instead of harm and destruction.

so many of us hold on to our wounds, our anger, our fears and suffering as if they are a precious treasure we can’t let go of. 

but letting go is a practice, and if letting go is too difficult at first, at least we can loosen our grasp, and not hold so tightly.

why put this off for a future moment that may not be? a future moment that is not guaranteed?

all we have is now.

this is it. so love.

~j

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#impermanence #life #ThisMoment #love #peace #healing #LetGo #OpenHeart #SteadyMind #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #calligraphy

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Sometimes it is necessary 

to reteach a thing its loveliness,

to put a hand on a brow…

and retell it in words 

and in touch, it is lovely

until it flowers from within, 

of self-blessing.

~

Galway Kimmel

may the way we live our lives be one of gentleness. in words and actions, may we embody the warmth of lovingkindness. even so, may we not shy away from calling out harm and being a force for healing in our world, reminding all who have forgotten, who they really are.

~j

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#OhNoblyBorn #buddhanature #life #love #metta #maitri #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #JMWphotography #GalwayKimmelQuotes

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so many things happening in life, it can feel like the world around us is burning. and, in many ways it is. but there are also little delightful things, moments of joy, peeking through. and humor, even when it seems not so. it’s good to give such moments and things our attention as well, and allow ourselves to feel the reprieve and the bits of bliss. 

like this, today. Jiselle, sitting atop my shoulders eating the back of my head while i was having a conversation. and then decided she’d had enough, so she moved to kissing my ear. maybe she was appreciating our interdependent relationship. buddhanature to buddhanature.

she’s a sweetheart and moody. her hair gets in everything.

this also is life and love.

~j

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#Cats #CatLove #Kitty #KittyKisses #Life #Joy #Humor #Path #Practice #Interdepednence #Buddhist #JinpaLhaga

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“For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we…”

~ Yoda

dear people, let’s remember who we are. we are, beneath all the layers of mud, a lotus flower ready to reach the surface and bloom. we are embodied love and light. so let’s set down our fears and defenses, our baggage of unhealed hurts, and allow this quality of love, this quality of light to arise from within, from who and what we are.

ultimately, there is no separateness, separateness is a delusion – something to be fearful of losing and protect at all costs, even the cost of others (we can become quite neurotic about it!) – but there is really just one flesh to wound. so, let us show others it is possible to live as love in this world, to live as peace in this world, to choose healing rather than destruction. 

may hearts open, may wisdom arise, and may the Force be with you!

~j

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#love #light #life #peace #healing #interdependence #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #Yoda #TheForce #Jedi #StarWars

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When the power of love

overcomes the love of power, 

the world will know peace.

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Jimi Hendrix

only love – and an aware, deep understanding of love as the ultimate truth and connective tissue of all life – has the power to dismantle our delusion of separateness that allows for such gratuitous greed and thirst for power, that leads to such horrific harm and destruction.

may we know and embody such love, and may the world know and embody such peace.

~j

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#love #power #peace #OpenHeart #path #practice #JimiHendrixQuotes #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #illustration

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the great discovery is that love is the foundation of all things – the ultimate reality, that within us we have this love available. we are never far from it, because ultimately it is who we are.

we are expressions of and participants, dancing the dance within the music of love.

the great responsibility we have, is our choosing to embody this love with awareness, with intention, through our words and actions.

how fortunate are we?!

let us move with confidence as we keep dancing the dance, lovers.

~j

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#UpToYou #ChooseLove #Love #Metta #Lovingkindness #TheLongArc #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #SharonSalzbergQuotes

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every year on #MLKday i recommend and earnestly encourage the reading of The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. (edited by Clayborne Carson). to read his words not just as selected quotes or memes, but in full context is profoundly beneficial. this volume holds a sacred spot on my bookshelf and has for many years. please add it to your collection, if you haven’t already, and even more so, please read it. it is a collected works of love and wisdom, of real truth speaking and luminosity.

Dr. King was truly a bodhisattva and prophet. he was also a husband, a father, and a friend. a human being that knew history, the human condition, and listened to the voice that is at times still and quiet, and at times roaring, that calls us to Love in the most real, profound, and sacred meaning of the word.

may we listen, ingest, and be transformed by his words everyday. the long arc is possible only through the open hearts of those who take up the message of love and embody it through true justice, which is the only path to true peace.

may it be so.

~j

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#MartinLutherKingJr #MLK #DrKing #bodhisattva #prophet #love #justice #peace