isn’t it?

[…] “everything in the realms of the lower, middle and upper heavens is engaged in spiritual training. All at some point or other become bodhisattvas, so that the title bodhisattvas is unnecessary. If all are becoming Buddha and bodhisattva, surely there is no reason to make a distinction between ‘Buddha nature’ and all living creatures? At this moment you, us, and the ground we are treading on, all of us are in a process of striving and growth. The very motion of the whole universe is a process of profound spiritual growth. All change, all life and death, loving and hating, all is training and growth. Isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

Ko Un, Little Pilgrim, Parallax Press, Berkley, 2005

may I be a bed for all who wish to rest

18
May I be a protector for those without one,
A guide for all travelers on the way;
May I be a bridge, a boat and a ship
For all who wish to cross (the water).

19
May I be an island for those who seek one,
And a lamp for those desiring light,
May I be a bed for all who wish to rest
And a slave for all who want a slave.

20
May I be a wishing jewel, a magic vase,
Powerful mantras and great medicine,
May I become a wish-fulfilling tree
And a cow of plenty for the world.

21
Just like space
And the great elements such as earth,
May I always support the lives
Of all the boundless creatures.

22
And until they pass away from pain,
May I also be the source of life
For all the realms of varied beings
That reach unto the ends of space.



Shantideva

excerpt from Chapter III – Full Acceptance of the Awakening of the Mind, in A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, translated by Stephen Batchelor, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, 1979/2007

do this

The altruism of bodhichitta is the path of all beings of great potential. Therefore train yourself in the deeds of bodhisattvas, and do this on a grand scale! Shoulder the responsibility of freeing all beings from samsara. Of all the eighty-four thousand sections of the Buddha's teachings, none is more profound than bodhichitta.


Dudjom Rinpoche



in Counsels from my Heart, Shechen Publications, New Delhi 2004


above: Great Bodhisattva, Gupta period, Ajanta caves, Indıa

turning into bodhisattvas

I ought not to turn back towards the past. My road always lies ahead of me.

“Thanks to you,” the Brahman said, “my eyes of crimson fire, my body of crimson fire and blood have at last found sleep. I could never have attained this purified body without you. Many, many thanks indeed.”

“Master, as I entered the flames, my body was filled with intense wellbeing!” Sudhana spoke in aew. Sacred bliss flowed from his penance. He no longer feared sword or fire. He knew that swords, fire, and evil spirits, too, were all love. All evil was Buddha. All fear was compassion.

“It is not possible to restrain what flows,” Prabhuta whispered in his dream. “You cannot restrain water, wind, or all the immensities of time. I couldn’t force you to stay here, even if I wanted to, just as I couldn’t command a bird to perch on a branch.”

“For me, things that stay in one place all part from me, as I flow on,” Sudhana replied. “If I decided to settle somewhere, everything else would flow away from me. There are people who live beneath trees that span a hundred and fifty generations, until the trunk rots into the ground, but that is not for me.”

“How could I ever experience unending bliss without undergoing the Eight Sufferings? Birth, age, disease, and death are the first four, of course. Then there are the last four: parting from what we love, meeting what we hate, failing to attain our aims, and all the ills of personality, the five skandhas. As I cut off my toes one by one I’m gaining my joy. You have to know that truth, don’t you?”

“Look! Fix your whole heart on the center of the empty air. See how all creatures become bodhisattvas in the empty air. Look! Look!”

[…] “Look, they are turning into bodhisattvas, then as bodhisattvas they are reborn and take on the sufferings of life again. It’s a life of greater suffering they take on now. There is no bodhisattva life without living creatures. Without sentient beings there can be no bodhisattva and no Buddha.”

“My path exists,” he thought, “even if no one tells me where it lies. I have to make my roads as I go. For me, every road is newly made.”



Ko Un, Little Pilgrim, Parallax Press, Berkley, 2005

drawing by Warwick Globe found at the marvelous blog Japonisme

dissolve among things

When I ask Phap An about the meaning of love, he says, “When your eyes are open, the love happens. Love is a state of mind where you are very bright, very clear. There is connectivity between you and the rest of the universe. It is a source of energy that makes you dissolve among things. Slowly a process of opening begins, your mind begins to expand, and you begin to see things much more clearly. You hear the sound of bird chirping and you see the green on the bamboo. You feel a lot of energy to be alive. That is love. It gives you the energy to serve. You feel your life is very wonderful. That is spiritual love.”

I love asking about love, now that I’m in love. I ask Sister Chan Khong what love is, and her response is so beautiful I am in tears. She speaks from such a deep place of knowing, with a sweet, soft, strong voice. Sweet as a flower and strong as a lion. She says that we need to love a person the way we love a tree – not just the surface, not just the branches or the trunk, but also the roots. We need to know all of them – their ancestors, their family, their friends, their dreams. This is all part of who they are. What is it that really matters to them? A lover always offers joy and eases suffering.

Excerpt from I Am Home by Velcrow Ripper, who reports on Thich Nhat Hanh’s historic second trip home to Vietnam, in 2007. To read the entire text please refer to:
http://www.plumvillage.org/pressrelease/pressrelease.html

Photo: Sister Chan Kong in a school at Buong Dang, Vietnam, March 5th 2007 ©David Nelson

Photos taken by David Nelson can be seen on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rezdog/sets/72157594580266211/

our true home

When we practice walking meditation we are walking without needing to arrive anywhere, walking just to walk, each step you take brings you back to life, because in Buddhism we say that life can only be found in the present moment. The past has already gone, the future has not yet come, there is only one moment to live, and that is the present moment. Therefore, you have an appointment with life. If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. Therefore, when you practice walking meditation, with each step you arrive in the present moment, and that is the address of our true home: life.


If someone asks you, "What is the Buddha’s address, what is the bodhisattvas’ address?" we say that the Buddha’s address is the here and the now. If you want to meet Buddhas, great beings, bodhisattvas, that is the address where you will meet them. Each brings you to the here and the now, so that you can be in touch with life as it really is. Everything you are looking for is to be found in the here and the now, because the here and now is the only place where life is available. Therefore, walking meditation is something very enjoyable to do. You can practice according to this formula: "I have arrived, I am home."


excerpt from the Dharma Talk on Mindful Consumption given by Thich Nhat Hanh on July 17, 1998 in Plum Village, France.

Photo above: Walk as a Sangha. I do not forget this magical moment, such a beautiful scene captured in a picture by Richard, taken during a walking meditation in Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, The Breath of the Buddha retreat, June 2006. Peace is beauty, beauty is peace. And our sister carries a piece of blue sky during her walking meditation, to bring with her the energy of the Sangha, and never be lonely. ©Richard Friday

If you would like to know more about Plum Village Practice Center, please refer to:
http://www.plumvillage.org/