hello dear friends ~
please check out One Earth Sangha and read about their post The Earth as Witness: International Dharma Teachers’ Statement on Climate Change. if this speaks to you, please sign as either a Dharma Teacher or Sangha Member. if you do not belong to a sangha, you can still provide your name, email and where you are from.
here touching the Earth
awakening to Her breath
there is no other
~j
January 22, 2014
From the wisdom of Alan Watts ~
first ENSO of 2014…
~j
is it possible for us to find happiness with just this?
with just this moment as it is?
with its frailty, its delicate and persistent heartache?
with its sadness and weight?
can i see also resilient beauty hiding in forms masked?
can i hear music that speaks of Love as no word can?
can i see life in death and wholeness in what otherwise feels broken and sick?
is it possible for me to find happiness with just this?
this is the beginning of our practice
this is our path
~j
November 14, 2013
i look outside and see beautiful yellowed green trees gently dancing with the breeze
i see rugged brown mountains dotted with rock, standing still, standing strong
i see a vast blue sky almost glowing vibrant with possibility
nature, once again, stands hand in hand reminding us what is always
HERE
nature doesn’t hold, it let’s go and just flows
if that is not grace, i don’t know what is
“all shall be well…”
~ j
*“all shall be well…” is a celebrated phrase of the 14th Century Christian Mystic, Julian of Norwich, from her collection of “Showings”
it is, it seems to me, the courage to recognize that whether in our joy or suffering, we are One. there is no division, no duality. just One.
it is why i practice Buddhism, it is why i still love the teachings of Jesus who aligned himself with the poor and those who were outcasts. it is why i find the words of the current Pope encouraging.
and when it seems impossible to live this Compassion, to live as One, we can take comfort and encouragement in each other as we practice together.
September 11, 2013
…still so present
…still so fresh
after all of these years…
eyes frozen on images, pulling at my heart, calling on my soul to…to what? jump up? to hide? to fight?
this chest heavy, this throat tight – choked with emotion. this heart trying to hold it all…
the fear, the anger, the grief.
do me a favor will you?
let us sit. together. let us sit and invite these emotions to be our friends, our teachers, shall we?
before we act out of turn, let us allow time and space to do their work, for the fear, the anger, and the grief to shed their weight and reveal their gifts. shall we?
even as the door to our heart begins to close under the overwhelming burden of it all, even as our chests tighten again and our tears freely flow, let us allow a window in our heart to open.
a window for fear, a window for anger, a window for grief.
shall we dare?
even as we feel fear, we can allow a window in our heart to open to all others who feel fear – fear of loss, fear of age and illness, fear of death…
even as we feel anger, we can allow a window in our heart to open to all others who feel anger – anger at loss, anger at injustice, anger at feeling powerless…
even as we feel grief, we can allow a window in our heart to open to all others who feel grief – grief for loved ones gone, grief for dreams not lived, grief for the mortality of life…
shall we dare?
shall we dare Life, even in the most tragic of circumstances, to reveal Her Beauty?
if we dare to open the windows of our hearts
if we dare to allow such nakedness – such vulnerability
if we dare to open our eyes – to see how we all suffer the same fear, the same anger, the same grief…
then, even as the Lotus growing out of the mud, reaches up revealing Life’s Beauty
we, too, can grow from the darkest and most tragic places in life, revealing that we are also capable of Beauty
shall we dare?
~ j
rooted in the earth
these arms reaching to the sun
momentary tree
~ j
here in this beautiful moment
finding rest
finding peace
where it has been all along
Life
~ j
The Metta Garden 