you yourself

You can search through the universe for someone who is more deserving of love and affection than yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anyone in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Buddha



I thank this photo and quotation to Rick Gunn and his beautiful, heartfelt photos, and inspiring travel journal, to be read at:
http://www.rickgunnphotography.com/project.php

but there indeed it is

Chandogya Upanishad

There lived once Svetaketu. . . To him his father Uddalaka . . . said: "Svetaketu, go to school; for no one belonging to our race, dear son, who, not having studied, is, as it were, a Brahmin by birth only"

Having begun his apprenticeship when he was twelve years of age, Svetaketu returned to his father, when he was twenty-four, having then studied all the Vedas,conceited, considering himself well-read, and stern.

His father said to him: "Svetaketu, as you are so conceited, considering yourself so well-read and so stern, my dear, have you ever asked for that instruction by which we hear what cannot be heard, by which we perceive what cannot be perceived, by which we know what cannot be known? "

"What is that instruction, Sir?" he asked. . .

"Fetch me . . . a fruit of the Nyagrodha tree."

"Here is one, Sir."

"Break it."

"It is broken, Sir."

"What do you see there?"

"These seeds, almost infinitesimal."

"Break one of them."

"It is broken, Sir."

"What do you see there?"

"Not anything, Sir."

The father said: "My son, that subtle essence which you do not perceive there, of that very essence this great Nyagrodha tree exists.

"Believe it, my son. That which is the subtle essence, in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and you, . . . Svetaketu, are it. "

"Please, Sir, inform me still more," said the son.

"Be it so, my child," the father replied.

"Place this salt in water, and then wait on me in the morning."
The son did as he was commanded.

The father said to him: "Bring me the salt, which you placed in the water last night."

The son having looked for it, found it not, for, of course, it was melted.

The father said: "Taste it from the surface of the water. How is it?"

The son replied: "It is salt."

"Taste it from the middle. How is it?"

The son replied: "It is salt."

"Taste it from the bottom. How is it?"

The son replied: "It is salt."

The father said: "Throw it away and then wait. . .on me.

He did so, but the salt exists forever.

Then the father said: "Here also, in this body, . . . you do not perceive the True, my son; but there indeed it is.

"That which is the subtle essence, in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and you, Svetaketu, are it."


The Upanishads are the principle texts of what is often regarded as the Hindu religion. Compiled between 800 and 500 BC, they are the result of meditations on many of the themes found in the Vedas, but brought to a new philosophical and spiritual level through the introduction of the concept of Brahman or universal spirit (India, the Vedic Era).

India

magic carpet
flying me
in and out of pain
in and out of bliss
I surrender

what do Hindus teach their children about God?

In many Hindu families children are taught about one supreme God who is in everything. They are shown a glass of water and told the following story:

Svetaketu always came proudly home from school each day.
One day his father asked him about God but Svetaketu didn’t know anything. His father sent for a glass of water and asked Svetaketu to put some salt in it. The next day he asked where the salt was. Svetaketu could not see the salt but he could taste
it in the water in the glass.
‘That’s a bit like God in the world’, said his father. ‘God is invisible, but is there in everything.’


Photo ©Superhero Journal

when will it ever end?

To me the goal or destination of a trek, or the spiritual path for that matter, is of secondary importance. Each step, the journey itself, is the interesting part, the important part, the crucial part, the practice. If our mind is in the future, if we are unmindful, careless, any step could mean disaster. Only thinking about the goal will not get you there. It helps, it motivates you, but you have to keep walking. When you are struggling up a steep section, tired and hot, muscles aching, heart pounding, the thought, “When will it end?” is the distant future. It is not real.

Each step is real; the aching of bones, the sweat, the shortness of breath is real, the present moment. Wanting it to end, the jump to the future, is like a mirage; it can bring more suffering. When you finally reach the top and rest a bit, soon the misery of the climb disappears, like the mirage, and the pain is forgotten. You now have the next destination, the path in front of you, until the next up hill. On the Himalayan trails there is always another hill – when will it ever end?

It is important to pick a trail, a destination that is not too easy, which is just beyond our reach, to stretch our limits. Otherwise we will not increase our stamina, develop our strength, or know what is possible, what lies beyond. It is like the carrot and the stick edging the donkey forward. To face our fears, loneliness, to go without our creature comforts, not knowing what is around the corner, stretching the threshold of pain, even to face death. This brings us face to face with our deeper self, to deal with it right there, not avoiding it, not masking over it with superficial amusements that make us feel comfortable.

Choosing a guide, knowing the right path is important in the beginning. It is a necessary help to get our bearings, become familiar with the terrain, and learn how to detect dangers. However, ultimately, especially on the spiritual path, no one can take us there. Moreover, this is where the metaphor breaks down. We have to walk alone, leave our companions behind, because it is an inner journey, not an outer journey; a journey of the mind, and not of flesh; an individual journey, not a group trip. No one can come with us. Everyone must go on their own way according to their karma. Guides only point the way.

The Himalaya are your own mind. When you have traversed the peaks and valleys, going beyond pleasure and pain, gain and loss, like and dislike, explored the caves of sadness, loneliness, fear, unfulfilled hopes, walked the slippery slopes of desire and lust, pride and conceit, and ultimately crossed the glacier of the ego, this is the end of the trail.





Preface from Traversing the Great Himalaya, a Photo Documentary by Yogavacara Rahula, published by Bhavana Society, 2001 -- though the photos in this post are not from the book.

on a trek

For a Buddhist, spiritual practice means purifying the underlying forces of attachment/greed, aversion/hatred, and the selfish ego/delusion in one’s mind. It is weakening the habitual patterns of clinging to security (as the known), of fearing the unknown, on of protecting the ego’s boundaries. It is also cultivation of compassion and loving kindness for oneself and all beings. I know of no better place to do all that than on the trails of the Himalaya in India.

A Himalayan trek is a metaphor for life itself. On a trek we are searching for a majestic peak or high plateau, a beautiful stream or waterfall, or a shrine or monastery. The destination or goal serves to quench our thirst, our desire. It provides a short respite from the rigors of the trail, a brief “One Night’s Shelter”. Then we have to descend, to move on. We cannot stay there.


Preface from Traversing the Great Himalaya, a Photo Documentary by Yogavacara Rahula, published by Bhavana Society, 2001.



Photo below © Delwa, more from this traveler to be read and seen at http://www.delwa.org/delwa01/ladakh56.html

the law of our being

There are times when you have to obey a call which is the highest of all, i.e. the voice of conscience even though such obedience may cost many a bitter tear, and even more, separation from friends, from family, from the state to which you may belong, from all that you have held as dear as life itself. For this obedience is the law of our being.


Mahatma Ghandi





Photo (top) of Ladakh's 16th-century Phyang Monastery and (bottom) Puja call at Ladakh's 15th-century Tikse Monastery ©Steve McCurry/National Geographic; to see more photos please refer to:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/photos/india0611/ladakh/ladakh_gallery.html

to conquer

It is not the mountains that we conquer, but ourselves.


Sir Edmund Hillary

the same water

Rain, hail and snow,
Ice too, are set apart,
But when they fall, --
The same water
Of the valley stream.



from Zen and Zen Classics - Volume One by R. H. Blyth, The Hokuseido Press/Heian International, San Francisco, 1982

if you would like to read more excerpts from this book please refer to:
http://home.att.net/~paul.dowling/archive/zen/blyth/blyth-all.htm


Photo: trekking in Ladakh

man's stripe is inside

The inhabitants of 'Little Tibet," who have turned the wasteland like the elephant's skin into the oasis like a bright green gem. The way that they express time is also peculiar like this: 'after the sun sets,' 'when the sun is suspended on the mountain top,' 'at the singing time of the birds before the sun rises.' Helena Norberg-Hodge, a Swedish linguist, writes in as following:

"The most important thing for Ladakhi people is to build community without avarice and to coexist with nature. They brew the beverage from food left out after a meal, feed the animals wash water, use the animal excrement as compost, and help others after finishing their own work."

Tzering Dolma, a country girl asks the author,
"You said that other people are not happy like us?"

Ladakh lacks a lot of things. It is short of natural resources, oxygen, and water. Nevertheless, they have turned the shortage into abundance by practicing a simple and plain life in insufficiency. So they are poor but their minds are not poor. There is a famous saying in Ladakh: "The tiger's stripe is outside, while man's stripe is inside." It means that one's inside or personality is more important than one's appearance.


excerpet from Delwa's travel journal; more to be read at:
http://www.delwa.org/delwa01/ladakh56.html




Photos: top, fields and mountains around Leh, Ladakh ©Oriental Travels; bottom, young monk ©Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre in Ladakh

use your imagination...

can you spot me on the terrace shown above, mindfully drinking water (for that is all you should drink here, due to the high altitude...) and looking at the mountains? Or practicing walking meditation in these beautiful gardens? Use your imagination, because that's what I did to get here, at this Shangri-lah on Earth...





if you'd like to see more of Omasila Hotel, please refer to:
http://www.hotelomasila.com/aboutomasila.wdf

I see that instant I fall in love with

The night is black and the forest has no end;
a million people thread it in a million ways.
We have trysts to keep in the darkness,
but where or with whom- of that we are unaware.
But we have this faith- that a lifetime's bliss
will appear any minute, with a smile upon its lips.
Scents, touches, sounds, snatches of songs brush us,
pass us, give us delightful shocks.
Then peradventure there's a flash of lightning:
whomever I see that instant I fall in love with.
I call that person and cry:
'This life is blest! For your sake such miles have I traversed!'
All those others who come close and
moved off in the darkness -I dont know if they exist or not.



On the nature of love - I see that instant I fall in love with by Rabinder Nath Tagore, translated from Bengali by Ketaki Kushari Dyson from Chaitali (1896)

If you'd like to read more by this author, please refer to:
http://www.poetseers.org/nobel_prize_for_literature/tagore/tagores_poems

Photo: rush hour in central Delhi -- where I am today...

If you'd like to see some more pictures of India and its people (though not the one above) you can check those by Karen Glassford at: http://adventures4god.blogspot.com/2007/08/india-land-bustling-with-beautiful.html

I only observe

Omou koto
nakute mimashiya
to bakari ni
nochi no koyohi zo
tsuki ni nakinuru



Without a thought,
for a while, I only
observe,
but later this evening
I will shed tears under
the moon.

Rai Shizuko , or Baishi (1760-1842)




print by Terukata Gyokudo

Poem and image taken from one of my favorite blogs, precious Japonisme.

working meditation

Laundry anguish:
I cannot wash
off the suffering
Our hearts

(A dirty linen
I cannot wash
your heart
so I'll try mine)

before i go out again

Now that i have entered
this holy place
i must use the sacred medicine
to enlighten my spirit
before i go out again.



taken from Fragrance of Tea Flower, by Sr. Dang Nghiem (December 12, 2005). If you'd like to read more, please refer to:

http://www.deerparkmonastery.org/news/dharmabreeze/fragranceofteaflower.html


Photo ©Deer Park Monastery

drifting

Petals drop
thoughts and tears
drift.



(Plum Village, Summer 2008)

no trace

When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.


Shunryu Suzuki



Photo: paper lanterns, Plum Village, Summer retreat 2006 ©Denise Kato

http://www.plumvillage.org/

quietly there

PWM: "You will be 80 this year. Do you plan to retire as a spiritual teacher at any point?”

TNH: In Buddhism we see that teaching is done not only by talking, but also by living your own life. Your life is the teaching, is the message. And since I continue to sit, to walk, to eat, to interact with the Sangha and the people, I continue to teach, even if I have already encouraged my senior students to begin to replace me in giving Dharma talks. In the last two years, I have asked Dharma teachers, not only in the monastic circle but also in the lay circle, to come up and give Dharma talks. Many of them have given wonderful Dharma talks. Some Dharma talks have been better than mine. I see myself in my continuation, and I will not retire. I’ll continue to teach, if not by Dharma talks then in my way of sitting, eating, smiling, and interacting with the Sangha. I like to be with the Sangha. Even if I don’t give a Dharma talk, I like to join walking meditation, sitting meditation, eating in mindfulness and so on. So don’t worry. When people are exposed to the practice, they are inspired. You don’t need to talk in order to teach. You need to live your life mindfully and deeply. Thank you.


An answer of Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh to Questions from Publishers Weekly Magazine, 2006


if you'd like to learn more about zen master Thich Nhat Hanh (pictured above), please refer to:
http://www.parallax.org/about_tnh.html

disappearance

The leaf tips bend
under the weight of dew.
Fruits are ripening
in Earth's early morning.
Daffodils light up in the sun.
The curtain of cloud at the gateway
of the garden path begins to shift:
have pity for childhood,
the way of illusion.

Late at night,
the candle gutters.
In some distant desert,
a flower opens.
And somewhere else,
a cold aster
that never knew a cassava patch
or gardens of areca palms,
never knew the joy of life,
at that instant disappears-
man's eternal yearning.


Thich Nhat Hanh



to read more poems by Thich Nhat Hanh please refer to:
http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotional_poets/buddhist/thich_nhat__hahn/thichp

wake-up call

Heart to heart,
that is how I would speak with you.

Words are not necessary
in the language of the Heart.
And yet, the mind at times needs words
to understand what only the Heart knows
beyond words.

I would speak to the Totality of who you are,
mind and Heart, body and Spirit,
with words and in Silence.

Creature of the Earth,
you are not the self
you suppose yourself to be.
Child of the Cosmos,
you are more than the self
you think you are.

YOU ARE A BUDDHA

It is time to remember and awaken
to the Truth of Who You Are.

I Am
What You Will Be,
What You Are,
What You Have Always Been,
only you have forgotten,
only you have simply to remember.

I Am the Awakening.
I Am the Voice of your Heart.
My Word is the vibration of
every atom and every star,
the Light of all beings in the Universe.

Listen to the Voice of Awakening,
the Truth of your Heart.

It is time now,
time to listen and remember.

This is your Wake-Up Call:

YOU ARE A BUDDHA



A Message from the Buddha, by Br. Chi Sing - January 2005

Photo: Bell pagoda at Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, June 2006 ©Richard&Joanne Friday

awareness in the moment

"Every breath which is exhaled from within must be exhaled with awareness and presence of mind and so that the mind does not stray into forgetfulness."

Baha ad-din Naqshband said: "The foundation of our work is in the breath. The more that one is able to be conscious of one's breathing, the stronger is one's inner life. It is a must for everyone to safeguard his breath in the time of his inhalation and exhalation and further, to safeguard his breath in the interval between the inhalation and exhalation."

As the seeker becomes occupied with the exercise of the moment (i.e. remembering the breath), he turns his attention from remembering the past and thinking of the future, and focuses on each breath until it is expired.

Sa'd ud-din Kashghari added: "Hush dar dam is moving from breath to breath so there is no heedlessness but rather there is presence, and with each breath that we take should be the remembrance of the Real."


from Awareness in the Breath / Awareness in the Moment (Hush dar dam), The Eleven Principles of the Naqshbandi Path; if you'd like to read more please refer to:
http://www.goldensufi.org/elevenprinciples.html

the river and the clouds

a story by Thich Nhat Hanh


Once upon a time there was a beautiful river finding her way among the hills, forests, and meadows. She began by being a joyful stream of water, a spring always dancing and singing as she ran down from the top of the mountain. She was very young at the time, and as she came to the lowland she slowed down. She was thinking about going to the ocean. As she grew up, she learned to look beautiful, winding gracefully among the hills and meadows.

One day she noticed the clouds within herself. Clouds of all sorts of colors and forms. She did nothing during these days but chase after clouds. She wanted to possess a cloud, to have one for herself. But clouds float and travel in the sky, and they are always changing their form. Sometimes they look like an overcoat, sometimes like a horse. Because of the nature of impermanence within the clouds, the river suffered very much. Her pleasure, her joy had become just chasing after clouds, one after another, but despair, anger,and hatred became her life.

Then one day a strong wind came and blew away all the clouds in the sky. The sky became completely empty. Our river thought that life was not worth living, for there were no longer any clouds to chase after. She wanted to die. "If there are no clouds, why should I be alive?" But how can a river take her own life?

That night the river had the opportunity to go back to herself for the first time. She had been running for so long after something outside of herself that she had never seen herself. That night was the first opportunity for her to hear her own crying, the sounds of water crashing against the banks of the river. Because she was able to listen to her own voice, she discovered something quite important.

She realized that what she had been looking for was already in herself. She found out that clouds are nothing but water. Clouds are born from water and will return to water. And she found out she herself was also water.

The next morning when the sun was in the sky, she discovered something beautiful. She saw the blue sky for the first time. She had never noticed it before. She had only been interested in clouds, and she had missed seeing the sky, which is the home of all the clouds. Clouds are impermanent, but the sky is stable. She realized that the immense sky had been within her heart since the very beginning. This great insight brought her peace and happiness. As she saw the vast wonderful blue sky, she knew that her peace and stability would never be lost again.

That afternoon the clouds returned, but this time she did not want to possess any of them. She could see the beauty of each cloud, and she was able to welcome all of them. When a cloud came by, she would greet him or her with loving-kindness. When the cloud wanted to go away, she would wave to him or her happily and with loving kindness. She realized that all clouds are her. She didn't have to choose between the clouds and herself. Peace and harmony existed between her and the clouds.

That evening something wonderful happened. When she opened her heart completely to the evening sky she received the image of the full moon - beautiful, round, like a jewel within herself. She had never imagined that she could receive such a beautiful image. There is a very beautiful poem in Chinese: "The fresh and beautiful moon is traveling in the utmost empty sky. When the mind-rivers of living beings are free, that image of the beautiful moon will reflect in each of us."

This was the mind of the river at that moment. She received the image of that beautiful moon within her heart, and water, clouds, and moon took each other's hands and practiced walking meditation slowly, slowly to the ocean.

There is nothing to chase after. We can go back to ourselves, enjoy our breathing, our smiling, ourselves, and our beautiful environment.

the good news

They don't publish
the good news.
The good news is published
by us.
We have a special edition every moment
and we need you to read it.
The good news is that you are alive,
and the linden tree is still there,
standing firm in the harsh Winter.
The good news is that you have wonderful eyes
to touch the blue sky.
The good news is that your child is there before you,
and your arms are available:
hugging is possible.
They only print what is wrong.
Look at each of our special editions.
We always offer the things that are not wrong.
We want you to benefit from them
and help protect them.
The dandelion is there by the sidewalk,
smiling its wondrous smile,
singing the songs of eternity.
Listen! You have ears that can hear it.
Bow you head.
Listen to it.
Leave behind the world of sorrow
and preoccupation
and get free.
The lastest good news
is that you can do it.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Plum Village, March 1992


To see more photos by Zeynep Kanra please refer to:
http://www.zeynepinyeri.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeynepk/

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

why we walk

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."


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




Photos: walking meditation led by Thich Nhat Hanh in Vietnam, 2005© Plum Village sites; if you'd like to see more pictures from this series, please refer to:
http://villagedespruniers.net/index.lasso?locate=photo&categorie_photo=Voyage%20au%20Vietnam%20-%202005&langue=francais


If you'd like to watch a walking meditation led by Thich Nhat Hanh (in Deer Park Monastery, Escondido, California, USA), please click bellow:

our friends in the practice

Do not imagine things and lose yourself in the future. What is the future? Is the future with ghost number two? Why are we so afraid of the future? What is fear? Is fear our plans about things which will happen tomorrow? Or is our fear our projections we have of the future, tomorrow? Maybe this will happen, or that will happen…we project it like that. And that is what makes us afraid. Fear does not naturally come about, fear comes from our thinking. Our thinking that this will happen tomorrow, that will happen tomorrow. Notice the future is something that is not yet there. Because the future is never there--once it’s there it’s the present. But the future is a ghost. A very big ghost, which sucks us up, and our fear arises from our projections that tomorrow this will happen, or tomorrow I will be like that. "What will become of me tomorrow?" Our fear is based on that. And the ghosts of the past and the ghosts of the future are two ghosts with great responsibility for taking away our freedom. We are slaves of these two ghosts. What is Mara? Who is Mara? Mara is the past, Mara is the future, those two Maras follow us and condition our life, order us about. We should not allow this to happen, we should not lie under the influence of these two ghosts. We have to have a way of dealing with these two ghosts, and the method is the better way to live alone, the way of living each moment in the present moment, not pursuing the past and not running after the future.

"The past is no longer there. The future has not yet come." That is just logic. We all know the past is just a ghost, why should we be so attached to it? And the future is just a ghost, why do we have to be so afraid of it? There’s only one thing, that is the present, but we don’t know how to live the present moment, and we allow the past and the future to drown us, to overwhelm us. "The past is no longer there. The future has not yet come." Are there any words in the sutra which are more precise, more concise? No word too many. You should live your daily moments deeply, as they occur: live and know that you are living. Like a flower, you know that it is alive, and you can look at it deeply and you can live with it deeply, and you can see the deep levels of the flower. You live with a smile, you live with the sunshine. All these things become the objects of your looking deeply. They are your friends in the practice.



excerpt from the Dharma Talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh on April 5, 1998 in Plum Village, France, on The Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone


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

If you would like to read the whole text, please refer to:
http://www.plumvillage.org/dharmatalks/html/betterwaytolivealone.html


Photo above; Thich Nhat Hanh in The Netherlands ©Plum Village sites

the three jewels

We can kneel, we can close our eyes, join our palms, and visualize this moment with the water of compassion falling on our head, and we can see ourselves being born anew. Our teacher and the Sangha are transmitting to us our precepts body, and we have the duty to allow our teacher and the Sangha to lead us step by step on this new path. We see we are protected, we are secure, with security from the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, and the precepts; and never before in our life have we felt as we feel at this moment. If we allow the Sangha to wake us up, if we allow our teacher to wake us up, we will see that we are in a state of security we have never been in before. If we live like that every day, our feelings of anxiety, of fear, will disappear. We will be able to dwell happily in the present moment, and each step will take us into happiness in the present moment, into freedom. That is our daily practice. "Do not pursue the past" is what this means. Sometimes we don’t want to go back into the past, but the past grabs hold of us and pulls us back, so we have to organize things carefully, and we have to base our organization on the support of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We have to look directly into the past and smile at it, and say, "You can no longer oppress me. I am free of you." Only the energy of mindfulness, the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, have enough power and strength to help us to be free of the past. We see that the past is just a ghost. We know that the past is a ghost, but we allow the ghost to imprison us. Therefore a practitioner should know how to take hold of the present with the help of the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha and the precepts, in order to come back to the present, and not allow the ghosts of the past to pull us back into the past. "Do not pursue the past," can you hear the Buddha saying that to you?


excerpt from the Dharma Talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh on April 5, 1998 in Plum Village, France, on The Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone

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

If you would like to read the whole text, please refer to:
http://www.plumvillage.org/dharmatalks/html/betterwaytolivealone.html

we are surrounded by miracles

Whatever you do mindfully is meditation. When you touch a flower, you can touch it with your fingers, but better yet, you can touch it mindfully, with your full awareness. "Breathing in -- I know that the flower is there; breathing out -- I smile at the flower." While you are practicing in this way, you are really there and at the same time, the flower is really there. If you are not really there, nothing is there. The sunset is something marvelous and so is the full moon, but since you are not really there, the sunset is not for you. From time to time, I let myself look at the full moon; I take a deep breath in and a deep breath out, and I practice: "I know you are there, and I am very glad about it." I practice with the full moon, with the cherry blossoms... We are surrounded by miracles, but we have to recognize them; otherwise there is no life.

The Buddha told us: "The past is no longer there, the future is not here yet; there is only one moment in which life is available and that is the present moment." To meditate is to bring body and mind back to the present moment so that you do not miss your appointment with life.

Thich Nhat Hanh, True Love, A Practice for Awakening the Heart, Shambhala Publications, 2004

praising Buddha!

.年よりや月を見るにもなむあみだ

growing old--
even while moon gazing
praising Buddha!



And in Plum Village celebrating the 2 years old baby Buddha, The Guiding Light of the Heart...

at Plum Village

daily blessings

There is this nice ritual at the Findhorn Foundation, of picking your Angel for the day:



They are picked from a set of 72 illustrated cards, each depicting a unique angelic quality with a word and a picture, on which you can meditate. They usually offer an insight.



You can pick yourself an Angel for your day, by accessing the link:
http://www.findhorn.org/inspiration/angels.php?tz=180


Just like I have done today here at the Findhorn Foundation, on this day that is certainly one of the most joyful dates, when beloved Bettina is getting married to noble Iain. Viva!

what do you see?

Looking from these windows above, from the dining hall in Cluny Hill College, at the Findhorn Foundation, you see the far horizon... and green it is as far as you can see, grass, woods, hills...

And from the facing green hills, this is how Cluny Hill College can be seen (bellow), immersed in green... One facing the other, the view from the interior to the exterior, the view from the exterior to the facade...




And in between, right in the middle, what do you see?

Do you see the angels dancing in the that garden, on those hills, in these rooms?

What do you see?

(yes, the window with lights on is that of the picture at the top of this post)

guidance for the day

As you search diligently, you will surely find what you are looking for, your atonement with Me, the Source of all life. But you have to take time to search. It is something that will not drop into your lap without the deep desire in you to know Me, to know the truth, and to seek until you find what it means to you. This deep spiritual experience of inner knowing only comes to those souls who want to know; therefore never dabble vaguely in these spiritual experiences. It is up to you to go forth and experience it within. How completely empty and futile life is until you start living it to the full and putting everything to the test to see whether this spiritual life is practical and worth living! Start now doing something about it. Let there be no armchair spirituality. Let it be living and vibrating and there for all to see. Let Me see you start living a life now�



From Eileen Caddy's book Opening Doors Within, published by Findhorn Press, you can receive Daily Guidance by accessing the link:

http://www.findhorn.org/inspiration/daily_guidance.php?tz=180


Photo: lilac flowers in Forres, Scotland, May 2006

in his heart he prayed for guidance

The wind blowing over the mountain often turned into a tornado – the birds and animals living there, even the smaller rocks, found themselves whirled up into the air. When the gardenia flowers blossomed, a special gardenia wind blew. Not a single petal would fall to the ground, instead they would be swept up into the sky and their scent would fill the air.

Still, if he has come, he can’t really have come too soon. When anything comes or appears, it comes when it has to come, appears when it has to appear.

[…] he gathered his wits and made a sign of reverence in the direction he was heading. In his heart he prayed for guidance.



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


drawing by Nakamura Hochu, taken from the marvelous blog Japonisme, a link that in my absence I leave as a gift for you to browse...

someone who is enlightened

Becoming a Buddha is not difficult because "Buddha" means
someone who is enlightened, who is capable of loving and forgiving.



Thich Nhat Hanh


from the opening page of the Plum Village site at:
http://www.plumvillage.org/

Photo: white Buddha at Upper Hamlet, Plum Village

the mind -- is not the heart

[...]

It wasn't my not weighing anything
So much as my not knowing anything --
My brother had been nearer right before.
I had not taken the first step in knowledge;
I had not learned to let go with the hands,
As still I have not learned to with the heart,
And have no wish to with the heart -- nor need,
That I can see. The mind -- is not the heart.
I may yet live, as I know others live,
To wish in vain to let go with the mind-
Of cares, at night, to sleep; but nothing tells me
That I need learn to let go with the heart.


This is the end of Robert Frost's long poem, Wild Grapes, from the book New Hampshire (Published/Written in 1923). To read the entire poem I kindly ask you to refer to:
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/robertfrost/699


Photo: one of the many hearts I kept bumping into, at Plum Village. They would appear to me in the form of a stone, a leaf, a cloud or the open space among the clouds... Later those days, I would be able to find that The Guiding Light of the Heart was the Dharma name I would be given. Photo ©zentobe

depart towards heaven

Ode 2180

From these depths depart towards heaven;
may your soul be happy, journey joyfully.
You have escaped from the city full of fear and trembling;
happily become a resident of the Abode of Security.
If the body’s image has gone, await the image-maker; if the
body is utterly ruined, become all soul.
If your face has become saffron pale through death, become a
dweller among tulip beds and Judas trees.
If the doors of repose have been barred to you, come, depart
by way of the roof and the ladder.
If you are alone from Friends and companions, by the help of
God become a saheb-qeran.
If you have been secluded from water and bread, like bread
become the food of the souls, and so become!

Rumi


"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2" A. J. Arberry
The University of Chicago Press, 1991

(*) The Abode of Security seems to be an allusion to heaven which is sometimes called "the abode of peace" (dar-al salam) by Rumi as against "the abode of pride" (dar-al gorur) i.e., the world..

(**) Saheb qeran is a person who is born under a happy conjunction of the planets. [lord of happy circumstance]


If you'd like to read more poems by Rumi, please refer to:
http://www.rumi.org.uk/poetry/

he bids his beloved be at peace

I hear the Shadowy Horses, their long manes a-shake,
Their hoofs heavy with tumult, their eyes glimmering white;
The North unfolds above them clinging, creeping night,
The East her hidden joy before the morning break,
The West weeps in pale dew and sighs passing away,
The South is pouring down roses of crimson fire:
O vanity of Sleep, Hope, Dream, endless Desire,
The Horses of Disaster plunge in the heavy clay:
Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat
Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast,
Drowning love's lonely hour in deep twilight of rest,
And hiding their tossing manes and their tumultuous feet.


William Butler Yeats, from The Wind among the Reeds, 1899


If you'd like to read more of W. B. Yeats poetry, please refer to this extensive link:
http://www.csun.edu/~hceng029/yeats/poemsalpha.html

we practice and serve

We bow deeply to express our gratitude
to the land and animals,
the Earth & Sky,
and all of our ancestors, spiritual and blood
for their support and wisdom,
for helping us experience
a wonderful and transformative retreat
this Memorial Day Weekend.
All the joy and peace,
all the wholesome energy that we received,
we offer it to the benefit of all beings,
to our children
who we hold dear in our heart
as we practice and serve.


If you'd like to read more, please refer to:
http://www.deerparkmonastery.org/news/reflectionsfromretreat/noregrets.html

More photos from Deer Park albums available at:
http://deerparkmonastery.org/news/albums.html

And I bow to you, dearest Silvinha.

throw away

o no naka ni
michi yori soto wa
nanigoto mo
supporapon no
pon ni shite oke



Whatever in the world
lies outside
the Way
throw
away!

Rai Shizuko, or Baishi (1760-1842)


Poem and image taken from one of my favorite blogs, precious Japonisme.