Namaste to All ... Today this page is honoring and reminding me (and maybe you) of the words of our Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh.  He brought to us the saying "no mud, no lotus" as a metaphor for the ups and downs of life.
  

Here are some examples of "the mud" of it.  For me, it has been a long time of physical illness with treatments, surgeries, and rehab.  Perhaps, you are going through the difficulty of breaking a particular habituation or having a hard time with starting a new project or have an uneasiness with a job or relationship or dealing with an unusual happening in your life.  All of these challenging situations whether small or large that life brings us are symbolized by the mud. 

Instead of folding up and being angry, frustrated or sad, we can work through the mud.  It gives us an opportunity to make choices, to do some inner and outer work, to make changes in our life, to grow, to blossom, to gain wisdom in mind and spirit.

We can be led to another place of being.  This place is "the lotus" of it.  The lotus flower is a symbol of wisdom or  awareness or rebirth or awakening --- whatever you want to call that "aha" moment where you start to see with a new perception. 

We can keep striving for the uplifted place during that time of frolicking in the mud.  Thich Nhat Hanh tells us without these muddy and not-so-much-fun events of life, there is no chance for the lotus to bloom for this flower grows only in mud.

Thich Nhat Hanh mediatating on the Lotus!

This beloved teacher has his own challenges.  Last November he had a stroke so it had been almost a year of physical and speech therapy.  He has started taking some steps and most recently he has spoken a few words.  His teachings continue as he voiced these words several times:

                                          In out in out in out 
                                          Happy happy happy
                                Thank you thank you thank you


   Here we have the basis of the Thich Nhat Hanh teachings:                       
              Conscious breathing, attitude and gratefulness!

     Thank you to Thich Nhat Hanh for his dedicated 

      teachings and thank you for joining all of us on 
the pathway to awareness!

With palms together, I am bowing ... 

In my continuing effort toward growth in awareness and getting "unstuck" from certain mind thoughts, my seeking goes on.  I have been reading the works of Terrence McKenna, the philosopher, author, lecturer and ethnobotanist.  I had an "aha" moment when his following quote crossed the page.

Terrence McKenna (1946-2000)

                                   “Nature loves courage. 

You make the commitment 

and nature will respond to that commitment 

by removing impossible obstacles. 

Dream the impossible dream 

and the world will not grind you under, 

it will lift you up. 

This is the trick.   
This is what all these teachers and philosophers 
who really counted, 
who really touched the alchemical gold, 
this is what they understood.
This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. 

This is how magic is done. 

By hurling yourself into the abyss 

and discovering its a feather bed.”
– Terence McKenna

To me, the metaphors ... hurling into the abyss  and  leaping from the 100 foot pole ... from my last post, sound so very similar.  Remember, these are just figures of speech and symbolize in their context, I believe, the abstract concept of that place of oneness and fearlessness.

While Buddhist Suzuki Roshi talks of the nature of mind and meditation practice, McKenna would discuss the primordial mind, shamanism and visionary drugs.  These two men present different pathways to reach the recesses of the mind to lift one to that place of awareness, to that place of clear seeing.                 

Just a bit of info that I would like to pass along ... Some of you know there has been a renaissance of medical research and study of visionary/psychedelic drugs as treatment for those dealing with post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety due to emotional and physical ailments.

The studies are finding new depths of significance for people who are out of balance in body, mind and/or spirit.  They have found that using psychedelics in controlled therapy can open the door of the mind to a different perception allowing for suppressed thoughts and feelings to reveal themselves.  And to make way for confrontation and potential healing.

This reminds me of these famous words of the poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827):

          "If the doors of perception were cleansed every 
          thing would appear as it is Infinite.  For man has 
          closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow 
          chinks of his cavern."

Although I would always recommend the practice of meditation as the way to your true nature and awareness, all of this is very interesting to me.  I also believe in being open to all pathways of healing.  Look at me!  A proclaimer of natural healing having to turn to surgery, chemo and radiation.  There are times when one may need some extra help.

In passing along this information, I am not advocating or recommending anything ... just passing along my thoughts, actually.  Always! Always! Always!  Look deeply into everything for yourself.

Thank you for being here on this pathway

    to awareness with me! 

  

Namaste ... I am humbly bowing.  It has been a long and wild journey of healing and now I will "forget this moment and grow into the next."  That is what Shunryu Suzuki Roshi would suggest to me. 

Suzuki Roshi (1904-1971)

Remember ... Suzuki Roshi is a Soto Zen monk and teacher who was among those who brought Zen Buddhism to the western world. He founded Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in 1967 and became a well known teacher and author.  I am restudying a chapter in his book Not Always So.  It starts on page 16 ... Jumping off the 100-Foot Pole. 

I must admit to having an ongoing fascination with this metaphor of leaping from the pole.  What does it mean, really?  

The following Roshi quote may be helpful.  To set it up, I will tell you the scenario he used in explaining this concept: His wife is calling him into the kitchen for breakfast with the wooden clappers ... he is in the moment ... at the top of the pole ... perhaps, doing something he thinks is important.  When he doesn't answer, he doesn't jump off (into the next moment).  He says this creates problems.  In this instance, his wife may be mad because he didn't answer and he is angry because he was interrupted.

          "So the secret is just to say "Yes!" and jump off 

          from here. Then there is no problem. It means 

         to be yourself in the present moment, always 

         yourself, without sticking to an old self. You 

         forget all about yourself and are refreshed. You

         are a new self, and before that self becomes an 

         old self, you say "Yes!" and you walk to the kitchen

         for breakfast. So the point on each moment is to 

         forget the point and extend your practice.

         As Dogen Zenzi says, 'To study Buddhism is to
         study yourself.  To study yourself is to forget
         yourself on each moment.'  Then everything will 
         come and help you.  Everything will assure your 
         enlightenment."

 There is so much more to understanding mindfulness. However, this chapter in the book Not Always So is so very helpful in explaining how we get stuck in a thought.  But you know Buddhism, one must keep going back again and again to be reminded.  The studying and the practice are endless.

 Points of the chapter

"Things are continuously growing or changing ... "

"To be flexible, not sticking to anything."

"Forget this moment and grow into the next." 

"To forget about the top of the pole is to be where you are right now."

                  Thank you, Suzuki Roshi, for this teaching.  
                          And thank YOU for being here. 

 
 
            

Namaste to my dear friends and family ... Happy Solstice to YOU.  Today marks the beginning of a new season and I am reminded of a song, Turn Turn Turn, written by Pete Seeger and popularized by the Byrds in 1965.  

The words except the title were taken from one of the books of the Bible.  They tell us of the opposites that are so prevailent in life.  This yin and yang concept (and the balancing of these opposites) is meaningful in Taoism, Buddhism, Sufism and Paganism as well as in the religions that use the Bible as a historical guide.

The Yin and Yang symbol

 Here are the words to Turn Turn Turn:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. - Pete Seeger

I believe you will agree with me that now is a time for all of us to gather together and create our time of world peace!

Again, Happy Solstice and thank you for being with me on the pathway to awareness!

 

Namaste to Everyone ... I have been spending more time with meditation.  Not always just sitting down for a lengthy time, but remembering to spend more time with my breath throughout the day and night.  

Meditation has been the topic of conversation many times lately.  I ask myself:  What is meditation?  What good is it?  Do we have to go into the cave or cave-like conditions to have results?

 Someone once asked the Buddha:

      "What have you gained through meditation?"

      The Buddha replied, "Nothing at all."

     "Then Blessed One,  what good is it?"

     "Let me tell you what I have lost through meditation:         anger, depression, insecurity, the burden of old age, the fear of death.  That is the good of meditation, which leads to Nirvana."

So there you have it.  The Buddha tells us the advantage of meditation.  And we have another question:  What is Nirvana?  Some say it is just the peace of mind that comes from being present with the moment.  

How do we get there?   Do we have to live the life of a monk?  Sitting, sitting and more sitting.  Or do you think meditation can be defined in different ways?  

To toss around some ideas:   There is the traditional sitting in meditation for a designated amount of time.  Or can it be the simple act of contemplating on a particular thought (like "I will meditate on that.")?   Or is it being with your breath, following it in and out at different intervals during the day?  Or can it be just being mindful of, let's say, the wind blowing through your hair, feeling the sun on your face or looking at an insect scurrying across the ground?

For me it can be all of the above.  Being mindful or being present or being in the moment (whatever you want to call it), I believe is our gift.  Sitting in meditation and its practice of mindfulness of our breath and body, I believe to be the roots of the practice.  We can teach ourselves to be in the moment during meditation and that will lead to mindfulness in the other parts of our life.   

  There are many ways of meditation and to reap the benefits,   it takes practice practice practice.  

We know that, don't we?

  
   Thank you for being on the pathway of awareness with me. 

With palms together, I bow and say Namaste ... to you and to the happenings of my life.  

I bring Matsuo Basho to the page again.  He was a Japanese haiku poet who practiced Zen meditation to calm his mind. 

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Having been challenged with health issues that have temporarily altered my life, I was drawn to this poem by Basho.  In an immediate moment of watching the clouds drift by here on Kauai, I can think of these words:

"Clouds now and again

gives a soul respite from

moon-gazing --- behold." 

Having my own life experience, I can look to these lines and contemplate and, perhaps, be reminded that life is full of changes.  Every thing comes and goes.  Does the poem ask us to just enjoy it all?

 Thank you for being with me on the pathway to awareness! 

  

Namaste to You ... I have been enjoying all of my reading these past months.  If you don't know this author, I would like to introduce him ... David Chadwick, a Buddhist who was ordained a Zen priest by Suzuki Roshi in 1971.  

I recently finished Chadwick's book Thank You and OK! ... An American Zen Failure in Japan.  This was such an entertaining book about his very own everyday life in and about a Buddhist temple in Japan ... the meditating, the chores, the meals, and the drinking of tea, the quarrels, the humor and the harmony.

David Chadwick

Chadwick managed to weave Zen teachings throughout the book.  Here is one paragraph that reveals being in a beautiful rainy moment:

              "To me the rain was a type of music, calling in 

               different tones and textures with the sounds of 

               all the drips, drops, sheets and sprinkles on the 

               ground and rocks, in trees and on leaves, into 

               other water and onto the roofs.  With wind for 

              backup, there came a chorus of these wet sounds, 

              full, round and ringing, deliciously coming from 

              all sides, through the windows and doors and from 

             the roof.  It was a rhythmic message of the immediate, 

             beyond human emotions and symbols, washing through 

             our ears and bidding us stay in, relax and enjoy the show."

           Thank you to David Chadwick for his teachings and                    thank YOU for being here in this moment.

Namaste to Everyone ... As I lifted my sight to the sky last night to view the lunar eclipse, I was overtaken by awe with the coppery beauty of this magnificent natural event ... the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon in alignment once again.  The colors, the shadow, the movement of the clouds, the moon in all her glorious blushing energy was looking down upon us.  I am that.  I am that, I am that, I thought. 

Many of our great teachers have guided us in our search of finding out who we really are.  My friends, Chon and Jasmine, came back from India with their guru Mooji's words ringing in their ears:  Find out who the "I" is.

           I have turned again to one of the Buddhist teachers.

Suzuki Roshi (1904-1971)

 Who am I?  Who am I?  we ask the eternal question.  I 
meditate, I contemplate, I study on this question.  I was randomly reading Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind and these words popped from a page.     

What we call 'I' is just a swinging door

 which moves when we inhale 

and when we exhale.

He explains that when we practice sitting meditation, the movement of the breath is all that exists:  "When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing:  no 'I,' no world, no mind nor body, just a swinging door."

The practice brings us to a place where we see we are purely independent of and, at the same time, dependent upon everything.  Like the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon, dependent and independent upon one another.  

So I keep breathing in and out, in and out working on bringing the inner world and the outer world together, eliminating all duality, revealing my universal nature, my Buddha nature. 

  Thank you for joining me on the pathway to awareness. 

Namaste ... Happy Spring to us.  And today is National Happiness Day!

Here is a beautiful Buddhhist mantra:

"May all beings everywhere be happy and free, 

and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my 

own life contribute in some way to that happiness 

and to that freedom for all."

Painting by Sucheta Lillane

I say "YES" to this mantra.  Can you imagine our every thought, action or word can have a positive effect on others?

                             Thank you for sharing happiness!

Namaste ... As our Earth keeps spinning, we are about to enter Spring, the time of new beginnings and renewal.  Time keeps moving as everything keeps changing.  I look to the beauty that is all around and my heart spontaneously sings praises for our Mother Earth.  I love being alive, I chant silently.

Spinning Earth Under the Cosmic Bodhi Tree

  

I look out to the water of the river that is so ever constant in its movement toward the sea.  With arms lifting high and wide, I take a deep breath of air and look to the sky.  I feel the sun's fiery warmth upon my face.  I look to the mountains and see the deep carvings sculpting the earth.  They are all around ... the elements of the earth are the elements that make me.  The colors, the sounds, the scents, the movement of nature.  I am in awe.

With palms together, I bow.  I am in gratitude ... thank you.  Here are some words from the Sufi poet Rumi:

"Let the beauty we love be what we do. 

There are hundreds of ways to kneel 

                                     and kiss the ground.”


                                         Think about it! 
             Thank you to everyone for doing what they can.
 

Namaste to my friends and family ... During this healing time that is stretching out in front of me, I am having a harder time remaining focused and staying in a calm and peaceful place.  

A painting by Prince Chand, an artist of India

In an effort to try something different or to even remind myself of something that I already know or to even give me a boost, I did some research.  With the help of my computer, I found a mindfulness teaching from the sacred text Anapansati Sutra.  

"There is a story where a monk, having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty room, sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding the body erect, and setting mindfulness to the fore.  Always mindful, he breathes in, mindful he breathes out."

This is what the Buddha taught:

"Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.  Breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short; breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.

He trains himself: 'I will breathe in sensitive to the whole body.'  He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the whole body."

Again, the practice becomes clearer.  We are training our minds to clear the pathway.  (Did I know that? I ask myself with a smile.) For my situation, I am sometimes using a prayer like this:  I am breathing in healing.  I am breathing out healing.  I am breathing in healing.  I am breathing out healing.  I synchronize this thought with my breath.  Over and over again, I think my mantra as I breathe. 
                                                Or

Om mani padme hum, I breathe in.  

Om mani padme hum, I breathe out. 

Will you join me? 

Namaste ... to ALL ... Om mani padme hum, I recite many times a day.   It is a prayer and meditation for me.   "Praise!  ... the jewel is in the lotus."   This is just one simple translation.   I invite you to research and contemplate for yourself the beauty of this mantra.  

I would say the traits of love and compassion are the jewel and they are found in the lotus which symbolizes wisdom.  Where do we find this wisdom?

In a novel I am reading, I came across some verses that are quite beautiful.   Within the poem, is the Buddhist mantra.

              

“The dew is on the lotus!–Rise, Great Sun!

And lift my leaf and mix me with the wave. 
Om Mani Padme Hum, the sunrise comes!  
The Dewdrop Slips Into The Shining Sea!”

These lines come from Sir Edwin Arnold's, The Light of Asia, which was published in 1903.  This is a long poem that tells of the life and teachings of the Buddha. 



I found that I could listen to an audio version at this website right here:

https://archive.org/details/The-Light-of-Asia

Thank you for joining me on the pathway to awareness.  And thanks to the computer for enabling us an easy connection. 

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Namaste to you, my Friends and Family ...  I was recently introduced to the writings of John O'Donohue, the poet, mystic, and Celtic spirituality virtuoso.  I read his book Anam Cara which means soul friend in Gaelic.   His beautiful words describe the energy connection that we have with our friends and family.

John O'Donohue (1956-2008)

Here are some lines from this book where he tells us of how our friends help in our personal growth:

"A friend is a true mirror in which we begin 

to get some little glimpse of who we are and 

the immensity that we carry - and that 

sometimes haunts us. Friendship is the shelter;

and it's not a complacent shelter but a shelter 

that settles some primal restlessness down 

within us. It liberates us to get into the dance 

of our own life." 

I have so much gratitude for the support and love that I have received from my friends and family during these challenging times.

                                          Thank you!  

Namaste ... and Happy February ... I am continuing to meditate upon the river of life and work to remain with an impartial and humorous eye when watching the ups and downs of my life.

  

A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive.

"I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."

I follow my breath ... in and out ... in and out ... and in that calmness, I can bring me back to the moment.  Let me watch "me" with love and compassion.  Let me see and feel the oneness of all things.  Yes, I say to going with the flow of life. 

Thank you for joining me on the pathway toward awareness.

Namaste to You ... Although my health has given me some temporary limitations, I am still loving life and laughing as much as possible.    I catch glimmers of a in-between space nestled among the joys of life and the quiet times of contemplation and meditation.  

Osho also known as Rajneesh

I came across these beautiful and meaningful words of Osho, the Indian mystic and spiritual teacher:

     “Your ecstasy is a movement towards the height 
       and your meditation is a movement towards the depth. 
      And once you have both, your life becomes a celebration.

    “Every man now is responsible to create a buddhafield
     around himself, an energy field that goes on becoming 
    bigger and bigger. Create as many vibrations of laughter, 
    joy, celebration, as possible; dance, sing, let the whole 
   of humanity by and by catch the fire of Zen and the wind 
   of Zen."

                    Let us keep laughing and celebrating 
                                     life together.   
           Thank you, Osho, and thank You for being here!