Answering the cries of the world…

November 9, 2016 ~ jaysen ~ 1 Comment

For those of us in the LGBTQ community, for people of color, for Muslims, for the differently abled, for women, for the immigrant, and for anyone else who feels a sense of being the “other” or oppressed, the results of this election may feel frightening and concerning. Our hearts broken, vulnerable, and tender.
Stay with this.
STAY with this. Do not cover it up, do not hide from it, do not run from it. There is no need to pretend.
This brokenness, this vulnerability, this tenderness of heart, IS our strength and our power.
It is the same strength and power imbued and made manifest throughout history by artists, peacemakers, spiritual warriors, and lovers. This is what the world needs right now. Perhaps, more than ever.
For those of us who are LGBTQ – I love you, you are valued, you are loved.
For those who are people of color – I love you, you are valued, you are loved.
For those who are Muslim – I love you, you are valued, you are loved.
For those who are women – I love you, you are valued, you are loved.
For those who are immigrants – I love you, you are valued, you are loved.
For those who are differently abled – I love you, you are valued, you are loved.
For those whom I may not understand, who may hold opposite views (even views I consider harmful), who also seem to be feeling frightened, disenfranchised, and angry – I love you, you are valued, you are loved.
The road ahead will surely be work. Perhaps, very difficult to work. But I vow to continue to work in service of the values and principles that define my life, my art, my writing, my spiritual practice.
I vow to continue to work in service of the same values and principles that moved me to vote for whom I continue to believe is the most qualified and representative candidate.
I vow to continue to work in service of all that speaks to the best of who we are and can be.
I vow to continue to work in service of all that opens hearts, nurtures kindness, motivates fierce compassion, elevates the “other”, and opens doors to the immigrant – the hungry -the poor.
I vow to continue to work in service of all that produces dialogue, civility, nonaggression and nonviolence.
This is what I can do, what WE can do, no matter who is President or who is in Congress or who is on the Supreme Court.
This world desperately needs healers, lovers, peacemakers – bodhisattvas.
Will we hear the cries of the world and answer the call?

~j
11.09.16

Dia De Los Muertos…

November 1, 2016 ~ jaysen ~ 1 Comment

Dia de los Muertos
a day to reflect on those who have passed, but haven’t left us. a lifting of the veil revealing that we are all One, interconnected through space and time, life and death, in this always moving ground of Being. through memory and ritual, offering prayers of honor, respect and gratitude.
the theme of death is an integral part of Buddhist practice, not as some morbid practice – but practice for what is inevitable and a sacred part of life. something we so desperately try to avoid in our culture, namely: sickness, aging, and dying – in another word, change.
practicing “death” is practicing “life.” each out breath is a death and each in breath is life reborn. an opportunity to be grateful for, an opportunity to continue this adventure of learning to love better and open our hearts.
perhaps this is what our loved ones, who have passed, are trying to tell us.
~j
“In trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. It’s easy to forget that life and death are part of the natural scheme of things, intrinsic to our lives in an eternally shifting universe.”

~ Ronna Kobatznick
#DiaDeLosMuertos

#life #death #practice #love #meditation #buddhism #interdependence #change #family #relationships #ghosts #TheMettaGarden

happy 90th birthday Thay!

October 11, 2016 ~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

Happiest of birthdays to Thich Nhat Hanh who is 90 today. In many ways I consider Thay my root teacher and certainly my introduction to the Buddhist path. His approach to meditation, his teachings on mindfulness, interconnection, and loving kindness have been a cornerstone to my practice. Favorite selected readings include: Living Buddha Living Christ, Calming The Fearful Mind: A Zen Response To Terrorism, Peace Is Every Step, Answers From The Heart, For A Future To Be Possible, Love Letter To The Earth, and his book of poetry Call Me By My True Names.

May his teachings and wisdom continue to be of benefit to a world in need for generations to come.
Bows of gratitude, dear Thay!

10.11.16

shine your light…

September 21, 2016 ~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

If we keep our own light selfishly hidden, it will only provide a limited amount of illumination. But when we share our light with others, we do not diminish our own light. Rather, we increase the amount of light available to all.~Master Sheng-Yen

#light #shine #generosity #practice #compassion #kindness #bodhicitta #bodhisattva #meditation #JMWart

we practice for times like these…

September 15, 2016 ~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

This is what we’ve been practicing for: the situations where the practice doesn’t come easily. When the winds of change reach hurricane force, our inner refuge of mindfulness, concentration, and discernment is the only thing that will keep us from getting blown away.
~

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

#practice #meditation #change #refuge #mindfulness #concentration #discernment #grounded #steady #presence #JMWart

the next step…

September 13, 2016 ~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

my reading preparation…”Start Here Now: An Open-Hearted Guide to the Path and Practice of Meditation” by Susan Piver

“Turning the Mind Into an Ally” by Sakyong Mipham

“Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, & Wisdom” by Rick Hanson, PH.D. with Richard Mendius, MD
…after 8 years of a personal meditation practice and seeing the benefit, in two weeks I begin a nine week course through The Open Heart Project in Shamatha (Sanskrit for “peacefully abiding”) meditation to both strengthen and grow my own practice and to become a certified meditation instructor. grateful for this opportunity and next step on the journey.
~j

09.13.16
#Shamatha #meditation #practice #Shambhala #Buddhism #TheOpenHeartProject #gratitude

9/11 15 years later…

September 11, 2016 ~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

15 years ago the soul of this country received a shocking wound. the sky faded dark under ash, confusion and fear. the rug pulled out from under us. and in such a horrific moment we rose. the best of people rose to the surface wading through tears and differences.
it was a shift and an opportunity to stay with the rawness, the tenderness we felt, the feelings that inspired and motivated a sense of connection and community.
but we have forgotten, as we often do, save for special anniversaries set aside to remember. each of those, a chance to start fresh yet again…only to forget again.
“never forget, never again” is fine and well, but let’s really mean it and make it so through our own hearts, words and actions. that’s where the work is that needs to be done, that’s where the real change will begin.
there seems to be more fear and anxiety today and it is stoked by those who would seek gain from this suffering. this has only led to further division.

as we have seen, just naming it or calling it untruth and getting into a battle of words simply leads to more suffering and seems to evoke little or no change.
it is time for a shift. we, each of us, needs to answer the call to heal. using our words, our actions, our very lives to bring benefit to a world thirsty for an end to such suffering. we need to be healers, to be bodhisattvas, shining a light on the alternatives to fear and anxiety, to anger and hate, to division, cynicism, conspiracy and demagoguery, aggression and violence.
this is a journey of heart and mind, so these are what we need to work with.
let’s get to work.
~j

09.11.16

#Sept11th #September11th #15thAnniversary #shift #healers #bodhisattvas #community #sangha #interdependence #light #life #MedicineBuddha #meditation #JMWart

all that stillness can hold…

September 9, 2016 ~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

Being fully in the stillness was not about self-isolation or self-help but about standing in radical relationship with all that stillness holds—all the grief, all the loss, all the loneliness—and standing with it, rather than rushing to reason it away, arrest it, or lock it in a box.
~