The Song of Enlightenment is a Chan Buddhist poem that dates back to the middle years of the Tang Dynasty. The text is attributed to the poet-monk Yongjia Xuanjue who was a disciple of Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch in the Chan line and the founder of the Southern School of Enlightenment, which puts him and this text in the direct up line of the great Zen tradition.
Zombiism is a word that encapsulates the rise of a modern trend; the age of the living dead. When having too much of everything has simply overwhelmed the senses and left an awful lot of people in a semi-conscious state.
You see, in my work with animals and Reiki over the years, I began to notice something interesting; when I would meditate and my animals would happen to be with me, I found myself able to quiet my mind and be present with an open heart much more easily.
If you are meditating to go beyond mindfulness, seeking insights, vipassana, then I recommend sitting for more than an hour because your mind needs time to let go, and then the really interesting things start.
We sit in a circle. I wait until the group is silent, and then we begin. First I shake my hands in the air and the kids join in automatically. Then we tap on our knees, soft, louder, soft again, we tap on our chests and cheeks. The kids focus to not miss a gesture and follow the dynamics joyfully.
I walked through life like a horse with blinkers on the side, not seeing clearly. But after this experience, between the majestic trees, I realized that I was not seeing through blinkers at all. Instead, I realized that my eyes had been covered over completely! I had been stumbling in the dark for all these years!
My work is driven by a curiosity into the investigation of mind thru art. None of us can avoid thoughts, but through awareness of our pitfalls, beauty, strengths and weaknesses we can open windows into the mind. The core of my contemplative art practice is to visually embody the blind spots as a result of our thoughts.
I sit in the same seat, staring at the same sky, as I have the last three years, on the bones of the morning, fleshing out with joyful diligence my heart’s expanse, that lucid cognizance, the sun’s rays bring to the sky.
Who is Padmasambhava, the Guru Rinpoche, the Lotus Born? From where did he emerge, and how did his appearance transform the minds and landscape of the Himalayas? How does a man who walked in the shadows of mountains a thousand plus years ago, continue to leave traces of his steps today?
Unfounded and unguided spiritual training like excessive detachment ability, one-sided focus on positive thinking, fear of anger and artificial kindness, neglect of emotions and difficulty in setting limits.
Covered in mist and walled by snow walls, Serene, the lion’s fortress stands, Voice-less, but I guess it calls, I’ve reached here, but how? I… Read More »BREATHLESS THOUGHTS AT THE LION’S FORTRESS
A year ago I was hospitalized and created a new mandala each day for healing purposes. It helped me calm my mind, and each day the mandalas improved as well as my health, an amazing parallel healing process, both physical and spiritual from the very deep tissue level.
Her precious words have been echoing through millions of eons since that time thanks to the twelve Dzogchen buddhas of which the last four where human beings, and in our time thanks to the Indian master Padmasambhava.
Eventually, the innate intelligent evolutionary energy freely flows through the human organism as the integrator and emanation point of primordial presence on this planet. This is the integration free from subject-object duality.
As I walk on, streams of clouds sedately roll past on a pale blue sky illuminated by a milky-white sun. I center deeply in my breathing as if to gently cradle the world in my arms. For a split of a moment it seems that my consciousness is ceasing the subtle motion in all elements.
Sex is conscious. Breathing in, breathing out, presence, awareness. Trusting myself, trusting you. Vulnerable surrender, openness. Love resides here, where souls meet and bliss is never-ending.
When I’m meditating, I abide In the natural state, effortlessly settled In the unwavering state, freely settled In the open state, luminously settled In the… Read More »MILA’S SONG OF REALIZATION
The Tibetan doctor took the sample of her urine and bustled into his courtyard to test it. He returned, without a word, looked at her kindly, and rather deeply, and seemed to scan her body visually. He then took her pulse for some time. What arose was astonishing.
When we encounter suffering in our lives, we sometimes incorrectly view it as punishment. For some of us, this comes from our childhood sense of a punishing God. We are suffering because God is punishing us for being bad. This is not a Buddhist view.
The melancholy and dark approach somehow fit the frustration and sadness that hit me in the light of the sad events that happened at venues, cafes and in the streets of Paris, November 13, 2015. This is a tribute to peace and the multicultural City of Light.
Lying to ourselves, Every day in a million ways, Pretending to be a little more green, special, a little more enlightened, a little more yogi, pretending to be a little more wise, smart, tough, retrospective, wiseass, noble, athletic, gentle, colloquial, worldly, competent, competitive.