Namaste ... In this moment, I am making a point to remember to love myself ... body, mind and spirit.  Especially, this body that I am dwelling within.    The Buddha taught ---

“You yourself, 

as much as anybody in the entire universe, 

deserve your love and affection.”

 

 

 

When I worked with the children back in California, we chanted love for our body parts taking turns around the circle to call:  Om I love my legs ... Om I love my back ... Om I love my knees ... Om I love my feet.  The children loved it and would chant on and on.   I loved it, too.  

 

                     Today I am chanting the same way!

 

Thank you for being here on the pathway with me.  

We are not alone! 

Namaste ... and Aloha Friday to YOU ... I am still here on the pathway to Awareness.   Yesterday I gathered with a group to casually discuss concerns for our island's health (and in the Oneness of all things, they are concerns for Mother Earth and all beings).  

Today ... I ponder on how to remain a peaceful activist and being instrumental in enlightening the attitudes of others.  "Am I doing enough?  Am I going in the right direction?"  I ask myself.

   

One beautiful pathway!

I keep remembering the Buddha's words about following the pathway.  He says,

“You cannot travel the path 

until you have become the path itself.”

May all hearts gather on the pathway in the  
Truth of Oneness!

Namaste to All ... I have been meditating on and contemplating the Oneness of all Things ... and realizing I am having a problem these days.  Again, it is about duality.  When all is beautiful, my energy is easily flowing with the Oneness of All.  

When I am confronted with anger, hatefulness, a lack of respect for Mother Earth or some other ignorance as defined by Buddhism, the feelings of oneness are illusive and harder to grasp.  It is taking more practice to feel love and oneness with someone who doesn't hold similiar values as myself. 

In asking for help, Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, comes to my heart.  Here is a lovely Asian depiction of her ...

                  

                       "Be like Kuan Yin" is my new mantra.  

                  Love everyone as if they were my own child.  

      Thank you for being here and joining me in our Awakening!

Namaste to You on this day that is one week into the new year ...  Today I was contemplating some life situations and suddenly Suzuki Roshi came into my thoughts.  I found this sweet and colorful painting of him.  Thank you to the artist.

Painting by David N. Goldberg 

Shunryu Suzuki came to San Francisco in 1959 and discovered a group of enthusiastic students who were willing and open to the Zen of Japan.

I came across one of his great quotes for you to ponder.

"If your practice is good, 
you may become proud of it. 
What you do is good,
 but something more is added to it. 
Pride is extra. 
Right effort is to get rid of something extra."

                                   -- Shunryu Suzuki-roshi (1905 - 1971)

                   Thank you, Suzuki Roshi, for your teachings.  

  And thank you for being here and joining me in our awakening.

Namaste to YOU ... In remembering one of the Buddha's teachings from the Dhammapada that can be loosely translated as "we create our lives with our very own thoughts," I am called to make a vow to have right thoughts in every moment --- ones that are positive in nature --- full of love and compassion for all things including myself.

        YES ... I AM THINKING BUDDHA THOUGHTS  

 2013

Smiling Buddhas in Cambodia, 12th Century CE

And I will see the buddhas 

all around me in this "House of Mirrors" life.  

Happy New Year to All.  

Thank you for being here!