everyone on earth...

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addressing suffering

I decided that my being should be dedicated to something useful for others. One of my favourite prayers says "So long as space remains... So long as sentient beings suffer and remain... I will remain in order to serve". This gives me a lot of comfort. This is the meaning of my life

The Dalai Lama

*

Ahimsa

By
Sri Swami Sivananda
[extracts]

.... There is one religion - the religion of love, of peace. There is one message, the message of Ahimsa. Ahimsa is a supreme duty of man.

Ahimsa, or refraining from causing pain to any living creature, is a distinctive quality emphasized by Indian ethics. Ahimsa or non-violence has been the central doctrine of Indian culture from the earliest days of its history. Ahimsa is a great spiritual force.

MEANING OF AHIMSA

Ahimsa or non-injury, of course, implies non-killing. But, non-injury is not merely non-killing. In its comprehensive meaning, Ahimsa or non-injury means entire abstinence from causing any pain or harm whatsoever to any living creature, either by thought, word, or deed. Non-injury requires a harmless mind, mouth, and hand.

Ahimsa is not mere negative non-injury. It is positive, cosmic love. It is the development of a mental attitude in which hatred is replaced by love. Ahimsa is true sacrifice. Ahimsa is forgiveness. Ahimsa is Sakti (power). Ahimsa is true strength.

SUBTLE FORMS OF HIMSA

Only the ordinary people think that Ahimsa is not to hurt any living being physically. This is but the gross form of Ahimsa. The vow of Ahimsa is broken even by showing contempt towards another man, by entertaining unreasonable dislike for or prejudice towards anybody, by frowning at another man, by hating another man, by abusing another man, by speaking ill of others, by backbiting or vilifying, by harbouring thoughts of hatred, by uttering lies, or by ruining another man in any way whatsoever.

All harsh and rude speech is Himsa (violence or injury). Using harsh words to beggars, servants or inferiors is Himsa. Wounding the feelings of others by gesture, expression, tone of voice and unkind words is also Himsa. Slighting or showing deliberate discourtesy to a person before others is wanton Himsa. To approve of another's harsh actions is indirect Himsa. To fail to relieve another's pain, or even to neglect to go to the person in distress is a sort of Himsa. It is the sin of omission. Avoid strictly all forms of harshness, direct or indirect, positive or negative, immediate or delayed. Practice Ahimsa in its purest form and become divine. Ahimsa and Divinity are one....

.... Ahimsa is never a policy. It is a sublime virtue. It is the fundamental quality of seekers after Truth. No Self-realization is possible without Ahimsa.... More

*

In Engaged Buddhism, Peace Begins with You
By John Malkin

Thich Nhat Hanh, who originated Engaged Buddhism, in an interview with John Malkin.

I met with Thich Nhat Hanh recently at the Kim Son Monastery in Northern California. I was happy to be seated on a zafu drinking tea with him, but I was also glad when he motioned with a simple gesture towards the page of questions sitting at my side: otherwise the lunch bell might have sounded an hour later without the interview having begun.

Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967, after playing a central role in the Vietnamese peace movement. He is the author of over one hundred books, including Love in Action, Peace Is Every Step, The Miracle of Mindfulness and No Death, No Fear. He currently lives at Plum Village Monastery in France.
-John Malkin

John Malkin: Will you describe the origins of Engaged Buddhism and how you became involved in compassion-based social change?

Thich Nhat Hanh: Engaged Buddhism is just Buddhism. When bombs begin to fall on people, you cannot stay in the meditation hall all of the time. Meditation is about the awareness of what is going on-not only in your body and in your feelings, but all around you.

When I was a novice in Vietnam, we young monks witnessed the suffering caused by the war. So we were very eager to practice Buddhism in such a way that we could bring it into society. That was not easy because the tradition does not directly offer Engaged Buddhism. So we had to do it by ourselves. That was the birth of Engaged Buddhism.

Buddhism has to do with your daily life, with your suffering and with the suffering of the people around you. You have to learn how to help a wounded child while still practicing mindful breathing. You should not allow yourself to get lost in action. Action should be meditation at the same time.

John Malkin: Why did you come to the United States for the first time in 1966, and what happened while you were here?

Thich Nhat Hanh: I was invited by Cornell University to deliver a series of talks. I took the opportunity to speak about the suffering that was going on in Vietnam. After that I learned that the Vietnamese government didn't want me to come home. So I had to stay on and continue the work over here. It was not my intention to come to the West and share Buddhism at all. But because I was forced into exile, I did. An opportunity for sharing just presented itself.

John Malkin: What did you learn from being in the United States during that time?

Thich Nhat Hanh: The first thing I learned was that even if you have a lot of money and power and fame, you can still suffer very deeply. If you don't have enough peace and compassion within you, there is no way you can be happy. Many people in Asia would like to consume as much as Europeans and Americans. So when I teach in China and Thailand and in other Asian countries, I always tell them that people suffer very deeply in the West, believing that consuming a lot will bring them happiness. You have to go back to the traditional values and deepen your practice.

John Malkin: What did you learn from Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement in the United States?

Thich Nhat Hanh: The last time Martin Luther King and I met was in Geneva during the peace conference called Paix sur Terre—"Peace on Earth." I was able to tell him that the people in Vietnam were very grateful for him because he had come out against the violence in Vietnam. They considered him to be a great bodhisattva, working for his own people and supporting us. Unfortunately, three months later he was assassinated.

John Malkin: What is your view of the current peace movement in the United States?

Thich Nhat Hanh: People were very compassionate and willing to support us in ending the war in Vietnam during the sixties. But the peace movement in America did not have enough patience. People became angry very quickly because what they were doing wasn't bringing about what they wanted. So there was a lot of anger and violence in the peace movement.

Nonviolence and compassion are the foundations of a peace movement. If you don't have enough peace and understanding and loving-kindness within yourself, your actions will not truly be for peace. Everyone knows that peace has to begin with oneself, but not many people know how to do it.

John Malkin: People often feel that they need to choose between being engaged in social change or working on personal and spiritual growth. What would you say to those people?

Thich Nhat Hanh: I think that view is rather dualistic. The practice should address suffering: the suffering within yourself and the suffering around you. They are linked to each other. When you go to the mountain and practice alone, you don't have the chance to recognize the anger, jealousy and despair that's in you. That's why it's good that you encounter people—so you know these emotions. So that you can recognize them and try to look into their nature. If you don't know the roots of these afflictions, you cannot see the path leading to their cessation. That's why suffering is very important for our practice.

John Malkin: When the World Trade Center was destroyed, you were asked what you would say to those responsible. You answered that you would listen compassionately and deeply to understand their suffering. Tell me about the practice of deep listening and how you think it helps in personal situations, as well as in situations like the World Trade Center attacks.

Thich Nhat Hanh: The practice of deep listening should be directed towards oneself first. If you don't know how to listen to your own suffering, it will be difficult to listen to the suffering of another person or another group of people.

I have recommended that America listen to herself first, because there is a lot of suffering within her borders. There are so many people who believe they are victims of discrimination and injustice, and they have never been heard and understood.

My proposal is very concrete: we have to set up a group of people—a kind of parliament—to practice listening to the suffering of America. It's my conviction that there are people in America who are capable of listening deeply, with compassion in their hearts. We have to identify them, and ask them to come and help us. Then we will ask the people who suffer to come forward and tell us what they have in their hearts. They'll have to tell us everything, and that won't be easy for those listening.

If America can practice this within her own borders, she will learn a lot. The insight will be enormous, and based on that insight, we can start actions that can repair the damage done in the past.

If America succeeded in that, she could bring that practice to the international level. The fact is that people know America has the capacity to hit. To hit very hard and make people suffer. But if America does not hit, that brings her more respect and gives her more authority.


Source

*

When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace. And there are ways in which we can consciously work to develop feelings of love and kindness. For some of us, the most effective way to do so is through religious practice. For others it may be non-religious practices. What is important is that we each make a sincere effort to take seriously our responsibility for each other and for the natural environment.

- The Dalai Lama

*

'The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more that you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt.'

'What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous.'

Thomas Merton

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The Infinite Heart

My sense is we can never 'share' or 're-live' an experience.
We can speak 'around it', point to it, tell tales or draw pictures to illustrate
- but the experience itself can only be experienced with awareness.

The experience can only be experienced in the present
once experienced
it is in the past
- a memory or fantasy
not 'the thing itself'

Since the beginnings of time beings have been on a search
to experience the utter sacredness of all
to find meaning of Be-ing

Endless books have been written, tales told, paintings painted and
The Enlightened Ones in their compassion have left us trails and signs
and we each walk a path on our Life's Journey

and every path leads to
Oneness which is beyond words
which only takes place in the present

So can I share an experience
I can only invite you to experience it...

gratitude, love, wonder, awe, devotion, surrender ... words keep flowing in the attempt...

... Be-ing whispers its heart-language as sacred prayer.

No words, just surrender, devotion, infinite love ...

the Infinite Heart is realised

No matter what our path
unobstructed, receptive Be-ing in the moment
- the Divine flows through the window

in the thunder of silence
Many Windows
One light
raising Gaia's vibrations

Bowing to Beloved Guruji [Swamiji Sraddhasudhasharananda, also lovingly known as Swamiji Eli] who brought the GIFT of The Gaia Minute to all of us

The Gaia Minute has two aspects:

1. Sincere prayer by 1,500-2,000 people EACH day at the SAME appointed time.

2. At the individual level, Prayer as Daily Practice.

"... morning and night, for 9 minutes beginning at 9:09, in each participant’s time zone, this Divine Mandate – will join my heart with yours in combined prayer. An hourly wave that takes place on opposite sides of the globe simultaneously, every hour. Every hour, somewhere, it will be 9:09.
Please consider also, if both morning or night at 9:09 in your time zone, does not work for you, that you may also define time by the word MUHURTA, the moment of NOW. As noted, at 9 past the hour, someone, somewhere, will eventually be part of this prayer project and will be meditating with you." Swamiji Sraddhasudhasharananda

sign in


practice The Gaia Minute daily


also join Siona's GAIA MINUTE CALL


organise a Gaia Minute prayer group where you live



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Q&A

Share experiences

Do you have a Gaia Minute link?

Prayers and Meditations

Spreading the message

Om Namo Narayanam

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Forgiveness

Sharing my post in One Light Many Windows, and some Rumi ...

I woke from a dream this morning round forgiveness. My dream chose deep seated subliminal material. Gien and I talked and processed - I, muddling along between intellect and heart tears. I realised, we simply cannot always understand - the intellect cannot always 'work it out'. Otherwise I could spend the rest of my life trying to unravel the details, trying to understand why someone did the particular harmful deed they did, or why I did something in my past which I would not do today, and still get no closer to the answer.

It becomes so clear when I think of my children. They aren't 'perfect' in all their actions, yet no matter what they do or will do, I love them. I hold no grievances. And it is this same approach needed for all beings. Forgiveness comes with unconditional love.

It always comes back to the spiritual path. Developing awareness - intellect just is not the same thing. Mmm, so…

The Buddha said

“Everything is so perfect you may as well

throw your head back to the sky and laugh.”

The Intellectual

The intellectual is always showing off;
the lover is always getting lost.

The intellectual runs away, afraid of drowning;
the whole business of love is to drown in the sea.

Intellectuals plan their repose;
lovers are ashamed to rest.

The lover is always alone, even surrounded with people;
like water and oil, he remains apart.

The man who goes to the trouble of giving advice to a lover gets nothing.
He's mocked by passion.

Love is like musk.
It attracts attention.

Love is a tree, and lovers are its shade.



THE NEW RULE

It's the old rule that drunks have to argue
and get into fights.
The lover is just as bad. he falls into a hole.
But down in that hole he finds something shining,
worth more than any amount of money or power.

Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street.
I took it as a sign to start singing,
falling up into the bowl of sky.
The bowl breaks. Everywhere is falling everywhere.
Nothing else to do.



Not Like This Before

I wasn't like this before. I wasn't out of my mind and senses.
Once I used to be wise like you, not crazy, insane and broken down like I am now.

I wasn't the admirer of life which has no trace, no being.
I used to ask : "Who is this?
What is that?"
and search all the time.

Since you have wisdom,
sit and think
that probably I was like this before.
I haven't changed much.

I used to try
to make myself better than everybody.
I hadn't been hunted
with the ever-growing Love before.

I tried to rise above the sky
with my ambition
yet I didn't know.
I was just wandering in the desert.
At the end,
I have raised a treasure from the ground.

~Rumi~

Thank you Swamiji Eli for this nurturing discussion topic

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When a beloved passes

“Last year at the end of August my father died.... I loved my father very much and for some months after he died I entered a strange sort of place. I found out I couldn’t relate to many things I usually do. So much seemed utterly irrelevant. I didn’t feel depressed, in fact looking back it was as if part of me was sort of in the realm of the dead, with my father in some way, kind of seeing him through. But so much in ordinary life, so much of peoples concerns, what people wanted to know, what people were concerned about, seemed pointless. Meaning was in the experience of mourning my father’s passing. Of fully acknowledging his passing. Meaning was in the experience of meeting people heart to heart. They as living, breathing beings. Meaning was in fact looking at leaves in the sunlight or listening to bird song in the early morning. Meaning was in these things. So much else seemed like empty noise.”

Padmavajra

This morning while I was driving my son Neville to school, we were listening these words in a recording of a teaching by Padmavajra from Padmaloka Retreat Centre. As I heard him describe his experience at the time of the death of his father, I felt for the 1st time that my experience at the time of Gra-anna’s passing and the year that followed had been put into words - I said to Neville, ‘that’s just how I felt!’... and to some extent still feel. It’s as though the passing my child has forever made an imprint on me. What I’m more conscious of these days is how she has opened my heart to compassion. I am aware that through her I feel the suffering of all beings. She has torn my heart wide open.

The other day, Courtney, who was like a sister to Gra-anna, therefore a daughter to me, said she felt that with Gra-anna’s passing my spiritual journey began. I hesitated because in a sense I’ve always been on a spiritual journey. My precious mentor for seven years, Bill Ainslie, whose 20th memorial it is today, was a formative person in my life in terms of raising my awareness in so many ways. Among so much else, he introduced me to the stories of Mullah Nasrudin and Rumi’s poetry, which Gra-anna loved. But certainly it is true that I have never been the same since Gra-anna’s passing.

Look at love
how it tangles
with the one fallen in love

look at spirit
how it fuses with earth
giving it new life

why are you so busy
with this or that or good or bad
pay attention to how things blend

why talk about all
the known and the unknown
see how the unknown merges into the known

why think separately
of this life and the next
when one is born from the last

look at your heart and tongue
one feels but deaf and dumb
the other speaks in words and signs

look at water and fire
earth and wind
enemies and friends all at once

the wolf and the lamb
the lion and the deer
far away yet together

look at the unity of this
spring and winter
manifested in the equinox

you too must mingle my friends
since the earth and the sky
are mingled just for you and me

be like sugarcane
sweet yet silent
don't get mixed up with bitter words

my beloved grows
right out of my own heart
how much more union can there be


Rumi

Love

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7 Years

It is raining today, Jopoa.
I see your traces
like lines on a tortoise shell
each time I look into Giens warm heart
your ancient lined face
made gold by the alchemy of love

this love between you two
I place on my inner shrine
next to Gra-anna's face
I see…

an ancient woman holding the hand of a young man
each adoring the other
and a young woman with beauty in her sad eyes
- sorrow - the source
of the River of Eternal Compassion…

7 years,
a sacred and complete cycle in time
It's raining today, Jopoa
this day of your memorial

I do not ask, 'where are you now'
or wish to hold you with questions.
May you be surrounded by that which you truly are

Love

In this picture you are with precious beings
- your daughter, the mother of your\my precious 'Sum Goon Day',
main artery to your\my heart,
Gien, your grandson,
my husband

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Forgot the moon

The thief left it behind:
the moon
at my window.


Ryokan

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Happy Birthday Genie love

Good morning on Giens b-day! All of 48 years old, he’s in bed with a hot cuppa litchi and lemon with a dash of green tea, homemade by his wife and room temperature – due to its being a winter morning - fruit salad. The fruit salad inspired by his dream where oranges featured strongly - the symbolism made me wonder if his body wished for those vitamins. He’s writing a book born today, about a love story - birthed on the internet – LOL guess who! This book seeded by our many discussions and the so many questions and mails we receive from others looking for love and too often not finding it. We so often ponder why so few seem to find love and remain seekers of it, or give up... so that’s the beginnings. Watch this space! Next to him lies the Nepalese meditation cushion and maroon Mala bag decorated with symbols I gave him as a birthday gift. Also the beautiful book by the Dalai Lama lent to him by a friend from our Sangha... the stage is set - the day is beginning...

Love

---------

my daughter, Natalie, emailed Gien

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Gien!
Happy birthday to you!

Hip hip hooooooraaaaaaaayyyyyy! Hip hip
hooooooorrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!

Wishing you a wonderful birthday and amazing year!

You are a wonderful addition to the family, thank you for making my
mom so happy.

Love Nats :)

----------

Gien replied

Hi Nats,

I love your mum a great deal
and she loves me in the same way
Our bliss is very natural and spontaneous

In Buddhism there is the idea of compassion or "Bodhicitta"
this means love for all beings
I think this is profoundly important in a relationship
and the actual "secret" to true happiness

For a genuine relationship to flow effortless and free
we must love both the other person AND ourselves in the relationship

We know that the joy we bring our partner
is returned to us many times over
In bringing joy to another
that is the only genuine way that we ourselves can receive the others joy

If we were to take a selfish view instead
and try to GET joy for ourselves from the other
by controlling the other and dictating conditions to the other
that is when it backfires

What we create instead
is an environment for a desire and attachment filled relationship
where the conditions no longer exist for love to flow freely

When we perceive that something is wanted from us
we feel used and objectified
and that closes down our natural propensity to give
How does it feel when someone comes to us
and demands "I want this", "Give me that"?
It doesn't feel right, does it?
There is no sense of gratitude
no expression of appreciation of the other

For this reason
we have the paradox
that the selfish attitude when manifest in relationships
leads to the very failure of the relationship
while the limitless giving to our partner
is what creates the condition
for our partner's limitless giving to us

Many Blessings to you and Jason

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The place which is home

After our long struggle for liberation, South Africa has placed economics above our hard won progressive stand for human rights and plain down right decency toward our fellow human beings. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an international icon of peace and compassion - objectively it makes no sense at all to ban such a person from any country. Personally, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is my spiritual leader and I feel very sad that my country has slammed its door closed in the face of someone so precious. I realise, in order not to feel loss and bereavement, that which I call home can no longer be limited to the soil on which I stand but has to expand to the place of my heart. We should all follow the example of His Holiness and embrace all beings lovingly. I hope the people governing the place where I was born will soon learn from their error, open their hearts and allow their actions to be governed by loving kindness rather than fear.

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South Africa - a REAL trail blazer!

Have you seen that South Africa is a REAL trail blazer?
http://silverscorpio.com/new-zealand-chinese-groups-want-ban-on-dalai-lamas-visit/#comment-11383

“Now is the time!”
I remember that power filled South African liberation cry!
It always applies.
Change is still imperative

I remember the days
when South Africans decided to bow to no one,
except Liberation…

Change requires
one not to be lethargic
- not to be a mere arm chair talker

I would so love Bishop Tutu for president! What an amazing being he is!
It's not such a crazy idea to have a holy man as president
- the Tibetans do...
maybe some day people will realise this is the way to go
- and have a president with real heart morality.

May all beings practice love and compassion.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/270266#tab=comments

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Do you believe there is value in suffering?

Suffering implies there is pain. How can there be any value in this? The only good that can arise from suffering is if we look deeply to the root of our suffering and learn from this. Then suffering becomes a significant teacher.


It does seem that sooner or later all beings experience suffering, in small and larger ways and eventually we all die which can be seen as the ultimate suffering if we are not prepared.

We do much to try and eliminate suffering but so often our attempts to avoid suffering simply bring about different suffering. It seems the major pursuit of human beings is happiness.

When I look at the causes of suffering, I see there is no simplistic answer - like 'oh, it's my karma (speaking of which I received a beautiful response to a question about karma from True Eloquence)

So much of our suffering seems to arise from our response to situations and if we learn to see things differently, the suffering falls away.

Some of our suffering is a result of how we've lived out our lives and although we may not be able to change the outcomes, we can learn from our history and avoid similar situations in the future.

There is also physical suffering, such as great pain in the body, say from genetically inherited illness, when we may need to learn how to live with suffering as a companion and acceptance seems to be a crucial attitude.

Sometimes there's the suffering which comes from natural disasters - our homes may be swept away, we may lose loved ones or be injured. Suffering then reveals to us the temporary nature of life. An awareness which can grow from this is to live fully and make the most of precious short time we have to learn.

Suffering so often can be the result of attachment and it is only in the letting go that relief can be found. Such as when something we love breaks or when a beloved dies.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
I never thought deeply about the why's of suffering until I encountered Buddhism. Here is a link re Buddhism on suffering (there are many links - I selected this one randomly).

"Whatever joy there is in this world
All comes from desiring others to be happy,
And whatever suffering there is in this world,
All comes from desiring myself to be happy.

Shantideva

Bodhicitta is a precious path where we change our focus from our suffering to the suffering of others as so beautifully described here ( http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/compassion.html ) in this prayer by Shantideva

"May I become food and drink in the aeons of famine for those poverty-stricken suffers.
May I be a doctor, medicine and nurse for all sick beings in the world until everyone is cured.
May I become never-ending wish-fulfilling treasures materialising in front of each of them
as all the enjoyments they need.
May I be a guide for those who do not have a guide, a leader for those who journey, a boat
for those who want to cross over, and all sorts of ships, bridges, beautiful parks for those
who desire them, and light for those who need light.
And may I become beds for those who need a rest, and a servant to all who need servants.
May I also become the basic conditions for all sentient beings, such as earth or even the sky,
which is indestructible.
May I always be the living conditions for all sentient beings until all sentient beings are
enlightened."

Shantideva

May all beings practice loving kindness

my gaia

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What has given you the most strength?

What has given me the most strength?

The challenges and teachings of Guru Life!

A scene pops into my mind...

When my daughter, Gra-anna passed on, I went to London, where she'd lived. It was the heart of Winter (I come from a country of sunshine). There were only a couple of hours of light each day - and even then there was seldom sun. One of those days I stood outside. In this gloom of cold and semi light (who dares breathe deep when the veil is terribly thin?), I saw a tree standing, silent and bare, so in keeping with the day - but - it was covered with white flowers! A silent, proud bearer of flowers in this zone of darkness, cold and concrete felt like such a contradiction, it was almost impossible to comprehend. I thought, 'omigod, just look at this! How does anything flower in such conditions?'

I think this is how we are as human beings

The gods and deity's must watch us sometimes and be so moved - maybe that's when it rains....



gaia

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yesterday

Yesterday we had an electric storm as we do at this time of the year
Yesterday was also Gra-anna’s 4th memorial



When I was driving home, the largest dragonfly I’ve ever seen weaved its way in front of my car for about half a block.
I decided the artwork which I’d been planning for Gra-anna needed to include a dragonfly.
I tend to see things as symbolic so I looked up ‘dragonfly’.

Because of the storm yesterday
and wishing to connect with friends and family on the actual day
I hurriedly posted off a webcam pic
Today I create a less hurried post:
In memory of beautiful Gra-anna
Who 4 years ago decided it was time to take flight from this planet
Who left us precious foot prints
For those who still haven’t taken a peek – Gra-anna's Book is brimming with treasures and gifts to you and for those who have - take another dip into her gifting

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waking at 4am

,

birds sing
the mornings 1st song

love's smiling eyes;
my horizon

we the weavers dance
suns golden hue

our heart is music
the birds sing to

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Something precious

(dedicated to those who are loving and all those who grant others the honor of loving them)


There was something precious
about the way you left your window open
that day it rained and the wind was howling
Your gauzy curtain, a dancing muse, flying
wispy poetry for all eyes to see

There’s something precious shared
When you leave your heart achingly wide
to share without withholding
loving without a single thought
For that utterly unprotected warm place

There’s something precious that happens
When you drop those boundaries
between self and others and objects
And gift all earth with the abundance
Of boundlessness

(1st published on Metta's new site: http://united-buddhist-networks.ning.com)

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Dancing

where is this dancer?

... when I look for it it is nowhere to be found

when I look without seeking

it is everywhere

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GURU LIFE

I call life GURU LIFE
because I'm finding Life to be the most amazing sacred teacher of all
- the perfect teacher -
all other teachers a mere shadow in comparison
I cannot begin to express...

I hear of those who have gurus
and their great love for these beings
- and know these gurus must either be direct channels of Guru Life
one and the same
or else paled
by their obstructions to this great guru
freelly available to all

I know the love of a disciple of a guru
I sing the same songs,
cry the same tears and dance the same ecstasy

how fortunate!
emaho

there is nothing Guru Life hands me
which is not sacred

my only desire
is to become one
with this great teacher of oneness

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Shadows & reflections and Before thought

1.
Shadows and reflections

Shadows and reflections have been inspiring me so!
I have been photographing them and contemplating painting too.




The other day while teaching an art class I noticed
a reflection cast by light through the window
reflecting on the floor tiles
I was enraptured.
The 'picture' was so powerful and entrancing

I glanced from the window which cast this image
back to the light reflecting
and back...
mesmerised!
in that moment I found they were the same

I posted photographs of shadows and reflections in a facebook album
I was delighted to see the responses of others
- they too were entranced
a dialogue started between myself and a friend
I tried to put in in a nutshell:

'...lately I'm looking at shadows and am not sure which is more 'the object' -
this is really abstract (love this word - it lets me off the hook of trying to explain!)
but I'm seeing the world and life as reflections or shadows

....Plato spoke of this:

""The Allegory of the Cave" symbolizes this trek and how it would look to those still in a lower realm. Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall."

2
Before Thought
Life is short and as long as we travel towards enlightenment we shall mourn this.
When we become enlightened we shall no longer be rocked by these journeys.

Life is so short
bearing this in mind – we need to use each jeweled possible second
because we do not know when it’s going to end.
We must love others in each second
because we do not know when their moment of passing will arrive.

I read something beautiful the other day about ‘before thought’ - and it has grabbed me!

'Before thought' is a place in the mind which is so sacred and liberating.
A simple shift of focus.
It is thought which creates all this pain, sorrow and passing joy.
There is peace, love and eternity in before thought

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Gra-anna's visit

I had a powerful dream where Gra-anna visited me

wearing a long flowing dress.
Her hair was long too.
She felt very beautiful and in a good space.
In the dream Gra-anna was going to a further realm
and wanted a blessing from me

She was carrying an ancient book
which she referred to
She’d chosen this day for departure based on the book which guided her to selecting this as the most auspicious day.

Time was running out and she had to go soon
moving to further realms

I said to her that if I could keep her I would
– but it wouldn’t be the right thing to do

I told her my wishes for her are wisdom, creativity and compassion
And that my personnel wish is that she carry my nurturing maternal love
with her to the furthermost reaches of the infinite universe
to draw from when she needs to

I woke feeling acceptance and also sadness



Gra-anna my beloved daughter
journeyed on this earth
1979-2004
She still is on a journey
We all are

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To my love

Come beloved
Let’s play again
The meadow dances
yesterday’s laughter!

Come beloved
Let’s play again
Hide and seek
Cat and mouse
Till we find
Ourselves again

Oh this is a death game!
I am so consumed by love
And you
Laughingly stoke the flames
Paying no heed to the funeral bells!

Now its ash ash ash
Ashes all about
I am gone!
The love furnace is all ablaze!

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