Showing posts with label Buddhist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buddhist. Show all posts

Sunday, July 15, 2007

One Hundred Names (The Nields)

The following is for Patty, whose infant granddaughter is hospitalized with a serious illness - through M's blog, she posted a few comments on my musings and I was compelled to investigate her Morning Ramble/ Daily Wanderer, finding a fascinating, inspiring, spiritual woman who's a wonderful writer and a freethinker. I'm convinced it's more about the questions than the answers - Patty honors the fact there is more than one path, literally and metaphorically, on the journey, and she seems to be traveling hers with great intent...

I am burning my purple candles, sending skyward thoughts and holding the vision for Mei-Ling's swift and full recovery - amen and blessed be... <3

Re: Prayer Flags, from the Daily Om:

"For centuries, humans from a diverse range of cultures have inscribed the whisperings of their souls onto pieces of cloth that served as mediators between the heart and the heavens. These prayer flags shared their messages of peace, wisdom, healing and love with the wind, which then carried their energy and their intent across the world. The flags are designed to inspire reflection, promote focused thought and spread a message of wellness amongst all beings. Displayed indoors, these flags act as a beacon of calm. When hung outdoors, they provide a means of sharing prayers with the world. If you choose to place your flags outside, as time passes the breath of Mother Nature will send a unique message to all beings while weathering the physical substance of the flags themselves. Tibetan Buddhists regard prayer flags as a tool that allows people to carry their compassion to the four directions. Even if you may be the only one to bask in the beauty of your flags, their meaning will travel outward, bringing blessings to the world."



POEM: Psalm by Jonah Winter

Emptying the trash,
going to sleep at night,
just daring to speak
in any language to anyone:
Our prayers are answered,
even if the words we say
are just dreamt-of
admissions of love to strangers,
unsent letters
shoved away, forgotten, at dawn,
like street lights turned off
as the sky begins to gray
above the black fields--
all of this is being written down somewhere.
See. Even that ladder leaning up against the barn
wants to make you feel better.
See how easily the dew collects on its white slats,
the way the morning hardly breathes?
See that man who drinks himself to sleep,
how his face is pressed against the kitchen table--
see how the light from his kitchen shines through the window
of the old farmhouse?
Somebody sees that light.

QUOTE: "May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May all beings be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow. May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless. May all live in equanimity, without attachment or aversion, believing in the equality of all that lives." ~ Buddhist "all-purpose" prayer

Monday, May 14, 2007

The Verdant Mile (Tracy Grammer)

"Green" has many meanings/connotations: of course there's the whole Oz/Emerald City imagery. Then there's lush, rich, fertile, novice, inexperienced, not fully developed or perfected in growth or condition, unseasoned, simple, fresh, recent, young, environmentally sound or beneficial.

This blogging thing is new to me... and I intend to start slowly... baby steps, as they say... or, to continue the metaphor, tendrils. Each day, for a while, I'm going to post a song, a book, a poem and a quote. I may eventually begin to bare my soul. Then again, the songs/books/poems/quotes I choose may just provide an indication of where my wisdom/serenity/courage lies at any given moment, eh?

SONG: The Verdant Mile by Tracy Grammer

BOOK: Walking a Literary Labyrinth by Nancy Malone

POEM: Messenger by Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird— equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.

The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.

Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is that we live forever.

QUOTE: "If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking." ~ Buddhist proverb