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“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”

~ Nido Qubein 

start here. start now.

with every breath we are reborn.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

*enso art is from 2015. ink on paper. a while before i developed my own calligraphic style. 

#BeginAgain #BeginAnew #HereAndNow #Rebirth #Breathe #OpenHeart #Path #Practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #EnsoArt #Zen #Enso #Art #Calligraphy #ArtisticGrowth #NidoQubeinQuote

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it is fear that underlies the gun violence we see & obsession with accumulating weapons, the anti-Semitism, the hate towards the LGBTQ+ & especially trans community, the racism, the oppressive politics & aggressive policing, the banning of drag shows & of books, the eroding of educational institutions, & revising/erasing of history by those on the far right. it is fear that paves the path to theocracy & authoritarianism, the path to hate. 

it is fear that betrays our original nature & who we are in the deepest sense. 

this leads to suffering.

fear is a poison & too narrow a path for life to flower. it leads to death. death of a moment, death of ideas & dreams, death of opportunity, death to growth, death to relationship, death to hope. this is why those who wish to manipulate, control, & oppress,  spread fear in their rhetoric & policies both as an overall message & more specifically toward groups as the blame.

this isn’t freedom, no matter how often or how passionately some will chant that it is.

fear freezes us = death

love frees us into movement, into flow, into relationship = life.

only love brings freedom & love is the antidote to the poison of fear. love celebrates the beauty in diversity,  promotes life, health, & well-being for all. love is life finding & lighting a way through the darkness, no matter the obstacle.

i do believe in the end love prevails. love IS the ultimate reality, the absolute truth, the unborn, luminous wisdom that has no beginning or end, the ground of being, which pervades & gives life to all things.

fear is a perversion of this, born from ignorance. it isn’t the truth. it is a lie. we have the immense opportunity & responsibility to bring it into the light by calling it out for what it is.

may hearts open, may sanity arise, & may we find our refuge, our courage, our path, our practice, in Love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#Love #UltimateReality #AbsoluteTruth #BuddhaNature #NoFear #OpenHeart #Path #Practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #YodaWisdom #Yoda #Jedi #TheForce #StarWars

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“The universe and I are of the same root.

The myriad things and l are one body.

That is zazen.”

– Kodo Sawaki

maybe we will stop othering, manipulating, oppressing, and over consuming when we realize that there is no “other.”

may hearts open, may sanity arise.

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#Zen #interdependence #interconnection #interbeing #life #one #love #OpenHeart #path #practice #Buddhism #JinpaLhaga #KodoSawaki #KodoSawakiQuotes

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tradition, ritual, practice, cultural norms, systems, institutions.

these words and what they stand for can hold great and even beneficial value. however, when aligned with power and othering they can be contributors to harm and suffering. when we attach to them and are loyal to them rather than valuing life and a commitment to a path of love, it can be (for lack of a better word), idolatrous.

love is our path and practice, and from where we measure all other things.

may we commit to a path of love, may we practice non-harming. may hearts open, may sanity prevail.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#love #interdependence #nonharming #nonaggression #nonviolence #OpenHeart #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #WaltWhitman #WaltWhitmanQuote

this is what happens every time i even suggest there should be space for dialogue around 2A and AR-15s along with weapons like it, and express frustration at our willingness to let children and whole crowds of people to continue to be massacred…and these are the tame replies. 

overwhelming, people consistently suggest such weapons are needed for defense against our own government, or say they don’t need a reason it is simply their god given right. as if… 

i’m not intimidated by such replies, not in the face of children being ripped apart, but there is a minority population who see 2A in a very unlimited no holds barred way, no matter the cost. this is a minority view that is perfectly ok with crowds of innocent people being slaughtered by such weapons, under the view that one day such weapons may be needed to keep innocent people from being slaughtered. wrap your head around that.

how do we move forward with such a view or do we move forward despite of such a view?

and how do we stay the course with hope still afire in our hearts in the face of such challenge, such violence, such horror and destruction?

this is the practice of our time.

may hearts open, may sanity prevail.

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

i haven’t posted in a week so i’m way late on posting about the passing of #HarryBelafonte.

what an artist, what a heart, what a soul. a true icon. may he rest in peace 💛🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Posted @withregram • @starsofthescreen

RIP Harry Belafonte (March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, activist, and actor.
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Original portrait, photographer: The amazing @Pal_Hansen 📸
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An absolute legend. He broke barriers as a hugely successful Caribbean-American pop star, with his recordings of “The Banana Boat Song”, with its signature “Day-O” lyric, “Jump in the Line”, and “Jamaica Farewell”. His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.
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He also became a celebrated actor, starring in several groundbreaking films, including Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones (1954), Daryl F. Zanuck’s Island in the Sun (1957), Robert Wise’s Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) Robert Altman’s Kansas City (1996), Emilio Estevez’s Bobby (2006) and Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman (2018)..
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..as well as being the subject of Susanne Rostock’s acclaimed documentary Sing Your Song (2011).
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Belafonte was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. And was a leading advocate for political and humanitarian causes, such as the Anti-Apartheid Movement and USA for Africa. From 1987 until his death, he was a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
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Belafonte won three Grammy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy Award, a Tony Award, the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts. In 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards, and in 2022 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Belafonte died from natural causes at his home in Manhattan, at the age of 96. He leaves behind four children, including actress/model Shari Belafonte, and five grandchildren.
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The man will be greatly missed. What are your fondest memories of the great Harry Belafonte?

Barry Humphries, Australian actor and comedian of stage, screen, and television (aka @dameednaeverage) has died. Tony Award winner Humphries, at 89 years old, was still touring this last year of his life. 

although he had other memorable characters that poked fun at the elite and powerful, both in the characters played and in what they said, it is Dame Edna who stole the show for me and so many others. sometimes cutting, sometimes naughty, often politically incorrect – on purpose as a

commentary, and always hilarious.

in a time when Drag is being dragged and targeted, it can be a good reminder that Barry Humphries played drag to great success and popularity for 70 years internationally with great hilarity and joy for audiences.  Dame Edna always cracks me up.

Barry Humphries is survived by his wife, his children, grandchildren, and millions of adoring fans. may his travels ahead be held in love and may he rest in peace. i’m so grateful for his life.

if you’re familiar with this great entertainer, you’ve been blessed. if not, do yourself a favor and head over to YouTube and watch the tributes, the interviews and show clips. you’ll be glad you did.

i’ve also included a link to a short video of select clips here:

~j

🤩💅🏻💛✨🙏🏻

#BarryHumphries #DameEdna

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a swirl of stardust

passing through this fleeting life

instruments of love

~j

we have within us vast potential for empathy, to be kind and gentle, open and tender, resilient and filled with compassion, guided by wisdom.

may it be our choice, may it be so.

may open hearts, may sanity and wisdom arise.

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#Existence #Life #Stardust

#Love #OpenHeart #Kindness #Compassion #Gentleness #Resilience #Wisdom #Bodhicitta #Prajna #EngagedBuddhism #Haiku #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #ZenEnso #Enso #ZenArt #BuddhistArt

#ContemplativeArt #Art

Happy #EarthDay2023 dear friends!

interdependent with all the life that abounds and is in danger on this spinning beauty we call home, may we LOVE our home for ourselves and others. may we take seriously the challenges before us. 

the stark truth is, if we have small children or grandchildren, their lives will be adversely affected by the consequences of climate change. that’s the new reality. we have only a couple of decades. IF we don’t make dramatic changes in our consumption, use of energy, and way of life – especially in industrialized affluent nations, the very near future (2050 onward) will see severe consequences with some areas of the earth uninhabitable with mass migration, hunger, and extinction of species. 

may our love and wisdom arise to meet this moment in time.

~j

🌍🌱💚🙏🏻

#EarthDay #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Interdependence #Life #Love #OpenHeart #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #EarthArt #EnsoArt #ZenArt #BuddhistArt #ContemplativeArt #Art

shot for ringing a doorbell.

shot for pulling into the wrong driveway.

shot for approaching the wrong car in a parking lot.

shot for chasing a ball into a neighbor’s yard.

we have a choice in the reality we create. 

we, in the US, are creating a culture of death, with a foundation built on fear where the only answer to that fear is violence. this is a delusional path.

a self-fulfilling hell of our own making.

be mindful! discern! 

we who have been given this gift of life – how is this fear and violence, loving our neighbor?

how does this fear and violence, honor life? 

there is an Indian Proverb ~ “All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.”

what seeds are we, each of us, planting today? seeds of fear and violence? or seeds of love, kindness, faith in goodness, tenderness, and nonaggression?

may hearts open, may sanity and wisdom arise.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#GunViolence #GunReform #PlantingSeeds #Nonaggression #Nonviolence #Love #OpenHeart #SitDownRiseUp #PlantingSeeds #Path #Practice #EngagedBuddhsim #JinpaLhaga