“In the struggle between the stone and water, in time, the water wins.” ~Japanese Proverb
love and light will endure, friends. align yourselves with and center yourselves in love. and keep on keeping on ~j
#MeditateAndResist #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #LoveWins #FlowLikeARiver #bodhisattvas #TheResistance
“It is this tender heart that has the power to transform the world.” ~ Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Sitting quietly,one minute, one hour, no matter,
finding the quiet within
I find myself again and again.
Finding myself, I offer the quiet light
to those on the street, in the office,
all around me.
To the lost and suffering beings, to the
bewildered
and questioning,
even to the bare tree with its leafless
branches filled with chirping sparrows.
~ Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara
gorgeous moon tonight. seeing her beauty reminded me of a favorite Zen story…
enjoy
~j
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.
Ryokan returned and caught him. “You may have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you shoud not return emptyhanded. Please take my clothes as a gift.”
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.
Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.”
#moon #zen #parables #Ryokan #beauty #JMWart #TheMettaGarden
friends ~
a new favorite poem to share. this one from Rainer Maria Rilke. please read and enjoy. short comment follows ~j
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29
by Rainer Maria Rilke
as the Buddhist scholar and environmentalist, Joanna Macy, has said about this poem – each of us can claim this. each of us was born from the web of life. take joy in this. no room for self-pity.
~j
Zen student: “When times of great difficulty visit us, how should we greet them?”
Zen teacher: “Welcome.”
#zen #tao #open #InTheFlow #JustGoWithIt #AlwaysLearning #welcome #wisdom
My work is loving the world.Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.
~ Mary Oliver
#love #OurPurpose #WorkToDo #gratitude #awe #BeginnersMind #MaryOliver
The Metta Garden 