“Close your eyes. Feel it. The light…it’s always been there. It will guide you.”
~
Maz Kanata
stop. sit. breathe. let go. allow.
(rinse and repeat)
when renewed, get back up and do generous, kind, compassionate work to benefit a world that is suffering.
~j
#StarWarsWisdom #StarWarsQuotes #MazKanata #TheForce #StarWars #LucasFilm #Disney #light #meditation #JustSit #breathe #LetGo #bodhisattvas #EngagedBuddhism #JMWart
I will love the light
for it shows me the way,
yet I will endure the darkness
for it shows me the stars.
~
Og Mandino
#light #darkness #balance #meditation #JustSit #breathe #JMWart
though darkness may come
open hearts will light the night
shine on, dear friends, shine
~j
this evening, a #haiku for you 😌🙏🏻📿
happy 1st night of #Hanukkah 😌🙏🏻🕎
& thank you #Alabama voters 😌🙏🏻👍🏻
#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #LoveWins #shine #light#Enso #JMWart
in for the long haul.
practice self-care and care for others during this challenging time.
this world needs authentic, open hearted, fierce bodhisattvas offering healing where destructive forces lay waste.
keep your light shining.
~j
I began meditating nearly a decade ago. Similar to now, my meditation practice was mindfulness of breath as taught by the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Soon after I had started my meditation practice, I had a very valuable friendship fall apart. At the time, it was quite devastating. Looking back, it was a pivotal growth moment in my practice. I didn’t know a lot about meditation or Buddhism at the time, but I did know that the only way I was going to get through that period of time, those moments, was to find a way to BE with what was happening in a balanced way – to not run away from it, but to also not live out the storyline of what was happening over and over again, replaying it in my mind. To hold that person and friendship in love with no ill feelings, but also to completely let them go.
Just sitting with my breathing at times was too painful and overwhelming, so taking the lead from Thich Nhat Hanh who uses “gathas” or verses, I wrote one for myself to use with my breathing.
The verse was:
(breathing in – saying silently in my mind)
May I have the capacity of heart to hold the entire world and all of life
(breathing out – saying silently in my mind)
And the wisdom of mind to let go
I would sit with this verse and for quite some time it was my only practice. I would sit for 10 mins, 20 mins or a half hour, breathing in and out, repeating this verse. I would picture the friend, as I thought the first part while breathing in, and then picture them fading off into the horizon as I thought the second half while breathing out. I wasn’t immediately relieved, but within time, I grew more and more at ease, the burden was lifted and I felt some peace.
Though the anchor of my practice is still simply sitting and breathing, at times when life feels overwhelming, I will come back to this verse and use it. I have in recent years changed the “I” to “we” understanding that we are all in this together, sharing in suffering, sharing in joy, interdependent as a community.
We seem to be living in a time that is quite chaotic and can feel overwhelming. I would like to offer this verse to you for practice. If it’s too wordy, a simple version could be:
(breathing in – saying silently in your mind)
May I hold all of life in love
(breathing out – saying silently in your mind)
And in love, let it go
My gut says we are in for a long haul, my friends. We need sane people doing good work to counter that which is harmful. We need bearers of light and healers in love. We need bodhisattvas. Even as the world spins around you, hold to center, maintain your balance, maintain your sanity.
Breathe.
May all be at ease and free from suffering.
~j
11.30.17
there is so much to be grateful for.
I am grateful for family and friends both near and far.
…
I am grateful for my practice, the stillness within the chaos.
I am grateful for nature, so humble and present just by Being, pointing us to the inherent beauty of all things.
I am grateful for empathy and compassion, which break down walls and borders, both from the outside and from within our own making.
I am even grateful for the darkness, which provokes and challenges our light from within to come forth.
may it come forth.
may the gift of gratitude, the practice of gratitude, expand our ever opening hearts to a world in need. may we journey forward in that love, together.
grateful for you all. may you be happy, may you have peace, may you be free from suffering.
~j
11.23.17
do your part, in your way, from your heart, using your talents – your experience – your wisdom, to expand minds, open hearts, to bear witness to suffering, to honor another’s story, to bring light, to embody love, with a steady-confident calm presence.
~j
the basic Buddhist understanding of life is one of interdependence, that we have no independent self, that many co-arising conditions have come together to manifest this body and life. this is the case with all things, including all people. as it has been often quoted and re-quoted (to paraphrase) we are related to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, and to the entire Universe atomically. all have their rightful and honored place in this web-like tapestry of Life.
understanding this, how can anyone say that one thing is more important or superior to another?
this is Achilles Heel of the White Supremacist movement, the White Nationalists movement, the Nazis, the Neo-Nazis, the KKK, the Alt-Right movement, and all the other racist movements that have sprung up through time over and over pitting one group of people against another manifesting in physical violence, economic/structural/institutional violence, and political violence.
They are all eventually doomed. Why? Because they act contrary to Life itself which is at its foundation interdependent and always changing. Yet, these movements rise up again and again – sometimes hiding under a rock sheltered in darkness, until finding home once more in fragile egos and closed hearts. This is why it is so important that we stand as allies to Life and to all who are oppressed. Life acts through us, and sometimes in spite of us, so it is each one of us who have to wake up, listen, stand, speak, write, create art, practice and serve, as allies to Life and all who are oppressed finding themselves on the receiving end of the fear, anger, bigotry, racism, aggression and violence that has found its way into the light. We MUST be engaged. Naming the darkness and what lies beneath it, so that we can defeat it, without becoming it.
in this moment our greatest enemies are what we call in Buddhism, The 3 Poisons – our tendency to avoid the discomfort of our situation of this life by either grasping (greed), being aggression (hatred), or lost in our ignorance (delusion – ignorance is NOT bliss). these are the driving reactive force for those who would put themselves above others, the roots of the fear and anger we see motivating racism and these hostiles groups. we counter these by authentically engaging life in all of its challenge and discomfort with an open heart through practicing The 4 Immeasurables, which are lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. these aren’t to be confused with being “nice” as we may think. compassion can be fierce, cutting and precise. we need the fiercest compassion at this time.
the rock has been turned over again and what has been hiding underneath once more is in the light. what will we do? the world is watching and history will record these moments.
~j
08.14.17
in the thick of things, the darkness and difficulty, don’t forget who you are. you are Love, luminous and open.meet life with empathy, with compassion, and the steady, purposeful, and unshakable strength that comes from being grounded in Love.
~j
[…if you want a master class in what happens when we allow our wounds to close up and drag us into a bitter anger, and then what happens when this is met with empathy, compassion, and courage, watch the end scenes of Moana. be a healer. meet life with empathy, compassion and courage grounded in Love.]
our path is to contribute to the work of love, in smalls ways and large, planting seeds for the long arc. we can take heart in our work, knowing that even as we face what seems an overwhelming darkness at times, even the tiniest of light brings hope. after winter there is spring, after night there is the dawn.
~j
05.21.17
The Metta Garden 