#thelongarc

[jmwart]

In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner - not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.

~ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

#shine #light #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #Enso #Zen #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#shine #light #thelongarc #plantingseeds #zen #engagedbuddhist #buddhism #jmwart #jinpalhaga #candle

[otheunstoppable]

... from @jaysenwaller - why not me? why not you? why not us? #InThisTogether #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #MeditateAndResist #LoveWins #interdependence #EngagedBuddhist #SitDownRiseUp #Zen #JMWart - - #consciousnessshift #collectiveevolution https://www.instagram.com/p/BrQYrgUF_W8/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=36d3o5d7pw0a

#inthistogether #thelongarc #plantingseeds #meditateandresist #lovewins #interdependence #engagedbuddhist #sitdownriseup #zen #jmwart #consciousnessshift #collectiveevolution

[jmwart]

What good is it to live with nothing left to give, forget but not forgive, not loving all you see?

~ Coldplay

loving all we see...

it’s important to define what this can mean.

loving all we see is not an approval of what is harmful, what is cruel, of what is injustice or inequality, or of what is violent and destructive.

loving all we see is our response to a world with injustice and inequality, with violence and destruction, with what is harmful and cruel.

loving all we see, is loving justice, loving equality, and working toward these things, bringing what is healing to the world.

our love is an offering of heart, of hope, of peace. the transformative practice of love is the alchemy of our lives.

our life as an offering.

love it all.

~j

#LoveItAll #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #ThisPassingLife #MakeItCount #alchemy #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #Zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#loveitall #alchemy #path #practice #thelongarc #plantingseeds #jmwart #zen #enso #engagedbuddhist #engagedbuddhism #jinpa lhaga #love #life

[jmwart]

apocalyptic

darkened orange skies rain ash

over grieved nation

~j

#FireEnso

may all be safe, may all be well 🙏🏻

#VOTE

#SitDownRiseUp

#wildfires

#EngagedBuddhism

#zen #enso #haiku

#JinpaLhaga #JMWart

#jmwart #zen #thelongarc #plantingseeds #engagedbuddhist #enso #jinpalhaga #wildfires #vote #climatechange

[jmwart]

our greatest strength is love.

a brave heart is an open heart.

i open my heart as an act of love.

to begin anew, i simply breathe.

this is it, so love.

~j

#love #life #practice #path #vow #OpenHeart #EngagedBuddhism #PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#love #life #practice #path #engagedbuddhism #plantingseeds #thelongarc #openheart #jmwart #jinpa lhaga

[jmwart]

“Hate leaves ugly scars, love leaves beautiful ones."

~ Mignon McLaughlin

none of us exit this journey unscathed.

let’s leave with beautiful scars.

let’s leave having loved.

~j

🌍❤️🙏🏻

#life #love #wounds #OpenHeart #EngagedBuddhism #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#jmwart #zen #buddhism #plantingseeds #thelongarc #engagedbuddhist #jinpalhaga #life #love #openheart

[jmwart]

seeds buried in deep

life stirs beneath this winter

love calls us to rise

~j

#rise #life #love #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhism #Zen #haiku #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#jmwart #zen #buddhism #thelongarc #plantingseeds #engagedbuddhist #enso #haiku #jinpalhaga #life #love

[jmwart]

it is #HolocaustRemembranceDay.

it didn't happen overnight. it began with lies, propaganda, hateful rhetoric, public discrimination born out of anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia. it was an outcome of White Supremacist cult.

sound familiar from recent memory of Confederate flags flying at the Capital insurrectionist siege, of a man wearing a "Camp Auschwitz" or another man wearing a shirt with "6MWE" on it which is an abbreviation of "6 Million Wasn't Enough”? or perhaps another not too distant memory of torch carrying White Supremacists chanting "Jews will not replace us" in Charlottesville? in both cases Donald Trump gave a nod of approval with statements "there are good people on both sides" and "We love you. You're very special."

these moments are lines in the sand. this really isn’t that difficult. to continue to be loyal to Trump and the movement that took hold of him and elevated him to figurehead, to leader, is to be on the wrong side of history. it’s siding with White Supremacy, it's siding with anti-Semitism. those who have supported Trump and are moved by this and don’t want to be aligned with such associations, should abandon their support and abandon such a path. it only leads to destruction and suffering.

#NeverForget 🙏🏻

~j

#TheLongArc #SpeakUp #SpeakOut #EngagedBuddhism #path #practice #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#HolocaustRemembranceDay #Holocaust #thelongarc #path #practice #engagedbuddhism #jmwart #jinpa lhaga

[jmwart]

"I've found it is the small things. Everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love." ~ Gandalf The Grey

we got this.

together, our open hearts, fueling beneficial work in the world, in this life. just keep doing the work. seeds planted will one day grow.

~j

#PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #kindness #love #ItTakesAVillage #EngagedBuddhsim #sangha #JinpaLhaga #LOTR #GandalfTheGrey

#jmwart #plantingseeds #thelongarc #engagedbuddhist #JinpaLhaga #kindness #love #ItTakesAVillage #sangha #LOTR #gandalfthegrey

[jmwart]

there is a dignity

to just sitting and

breathing.

seated on the earth,

head reaching toward

the sky.

strong back, open heart.

still.

calm.

breathing.

present.

bearing witness to life -

sights, sounds, feelings, thoughts.

allowing life,

is an act of generosity and

spaciousness.

~j

#meditation #practice #JustSit #BeStill #breathe #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #JinpaLhaga #JMWphotography #BWphotography #photography

#zen #buddhism #thelongarc #plantingseeds #jmwphotography #photography #bwphotography #meditation #practice #JustSit #breathe #BeStill

[jmwart]

“There is only one teacher.

What is that teacher?

Life itself.”

~

Charlotte Joko Beck

this moment.

so much happening.

pain, grief.

empathy, courage.

cruelty, indifference.

tenderness, beauty.

joy, laughter.

tears of both.

what is life teaching?

where do we sit?

what are our words?

where do we call home?

what is our practice,

as the world

changes seasons

daily?

~j

#life #practice #meditation #Zen #Buddhism #Enso #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#jmwart #zen #buddhism #thelongarc #plantingseeds #engagedbuddhist #enso #jinpalhaga #seasons #meditation #practice #life

[jmwart]

the mundane as sacred...

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while peeling potatoes. Zen is just peeling potatoes."

~

Alan Watts

i love this quote. i suppose it can be perceived as a bit provocative. some may shutter a bit when first reading it. it shakes you loose a bit, as Zen often does.

but what is provocative about recognizing the sacred in the ordinary?

if we cannot find the sacred in peeling potatoes, in washing the dishes, in sweeping, then where can we find it?

it is easy to find the sacred in what we perceive as beautiful, but what about the things we perceive as mundane? can we find the sacred there as well?

in Zen monasteries, novice monks are given toilet duty, cleaning the toilets. can we find the sacred in cleaning a toilet? there is a reason some Zen Masters continued to do it even in old age.

in the Khuddaka Nikaya, the Buddha stated, “In your seeing, there should be only the seeing. In your hearing, nothing but the hearing; in your smelling, tasting, and touching, nothing but smelling, testing, and touching; in your thinking, nothing but the thought.”

so the question remains, can we be with our life as it is right now? in Zen, that is sacred, not some other place, being some other person, doing some other thing. it IS here and now. it is in the doing, in the being, it is the journey.

when we open to this, when we are aware of the freedom and responsibility of this, we find our balance, we see our interconnection, and we open further and further, embracing this fleeting world and our fleeting relationships with love.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #Zen #Buddhism #sacred #mundane #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#thelongarc #plantingseeds #zen #enso #engagedbuddhist #jmwart #jinpalhaga #sacred #mundane

[jmwart]

lost in the bloodshed

we keep fighting to find peace

when peace is the way

~j

#InternationalDayOfPeace

#PeaceIsTheWay

#peace

#EndViolence

#TheLongArc

#PlantingSeeds

#EngagedBuddhism

#haiku

#JinpaLhaga

#JMWart

#internationaldayofpeace #peace #nonviolence #thelongarc #plantingseeds #jinpalhaga #jmwart #engagedbuddhism

[jmwart]

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil.”

~

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

indeed.

may we be forces of love, light, and a fierce compassion to bring an end to the aggression, the harm and the suffering we are bearing witness to.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #BearWitness #SitDownRiseUp #love #light #FierceCompassion #bodhisattvas #EngagedBuddhism #LOTR #Gandalf #wisdom #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#jmwart #thelongarc #plantingseeds #engagedbuddhist #jinpalhaga #fiercecompassion #love #light #LOTR #gandalf #wisdom #sitdownriseup

[jmwart]

showing up is our role in all of the suffering we see.

showing up is our privilege and responsibility.

showing up is brave and a form of warriorship.

this is what we practice in meditation - showing up. over and over again, we keep coming back and showing up to the moment, to ourselves. the practice of showing up for ourselves, is a practice for showing up for others. harm and suffering do not magically go away. they go away, because people choose to show up.

showing up can look like meditation.

showing up can look like listening.

showing up can look like laughing or crying.

showing up is also to #WearAMask.

showing up is also to #VOTE.

just show up!!

~j

#JustShowUp #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #EngagedBuddhism #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#showup #jmwart #thelongarc #plantingseeds #engagedbuddhist #engagedbuddhism #sitdownriseup #jinpa lhaga #vote #vote2020

[jmwart]

19 years.

today continues to grieve me.

not just because of the horrific events that I woke up to 19 years ago on September 11th and the sadness that still lingers, but because we still appear to have learned so little from that experience – an experience, that should be noted, happens elsewhere in the world and at times on a greater scale.

immediately after that tragic day the world outstretched its arms to us and our nation opened our hearts to each other. nearly 3000 people lost their lives that day and now as many people lose their lives every 3-5 days during this pandemic, yet people refuse to wear masks. where did the empathy go? in the years that have followed we’ve lost tens of thousands of our troops in ongoing wars that were a response to the tragic events of that day. and now, in the past 7 months we’ve lost nearly 200,000 people due to a pandemic, yet people refuse to wear masks and we have a preventable failure of leadership from the top. where did the empathy go?

it seemed on that day that our hearts opened and we relearned empathy and compassion. even in the horror of that tragedy, there was a glimmer of hope. 19 years later we are living through increased division, rage, hate and cruelty from the highest office, where we are also seeing white nationalism and conspiracy cults like QAnon embraced.

we say “never forget” yet it seems we have failed to remember, failed to remember our initial unity, our empathy, our compassion even amid the horror of that day.

caught up in fear, we give rise to selfish individualism, anger, aggression and hate. these feed division and opportunity for unscrupulous people in power.

if we truly want to honor the victims of 9/11, the lives lost since, and our humanity, we must reject ideologies of division, lies, aggression, cruelty and hate we are bearing witness to and perhaps participating in.

may truth, open-heartedness, empathy, and compassion prevail.

~j

#VOTE

#September11th

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #SitDownRiseUp #EngagedBuddhist #zen #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

#vote #september11th #plantingseeds #thelongarc #engagedbuddhist #zen #jmwart #enso #jinpalhaga