Go forth.....to bless the many.

InLove said:
Sometimes you are spot on, Angel. (And besides, you are such a cute little devil!) :D
Click to expand...

*Twirls his little devil tail around his fingers and giggles* ^_^ Thank you... It don't come easy!


InLove said:
Sometimes you are spot on, Angel. (And besides, you are such a cute little devil!) :D
Click to expand...

I step up to that plate... And swing... It maybe a swing and a miss but eventually you got to hit a home run ;)
 
From the whimsical pen of Billy Collins........."Shovelling Snow with Buddha"


In the usual iconography of the temple or the local Wok
you would never see him doing such a thing,
tossing the dry snow over a mountain
of his bare, round shoulder,
his hair tied in a knot,
a model of concentration.

Sitting is more his speed, if that is the word
for what he does, or does not do.

Even the season is wrong for him.
In all his manifestations, is it not warm or slightly humid?
Is this not implied by his serene expression,
that smile so wide it wraps itself around the waist of the universe?

But here we are, working our way down the driveway,
one shovelful at a time.
We toss the light powder into the clear air.
We feel the cold mist on our faces.
And with every heave we disappear
and become lost to each other
in these sudden clouds of our own making,
these fountain-bursts of snow.

This is so much better than a sermon in church,
I say out loud, but Buddha keeps on shoveling.
This is the true religion, the religion of snow,
and sunlight and winter geese barking in the sky,
I say, but he is too busy to hear me.

He has thrown himself into shoveling snow
as if it were the purpose of existence,
as if the sign of a perfect life were a clear driveway
you could back the car down easily
and drive off into the vanities of the world
with a broken heater fan and a song on the radio.

All morning long we work side by side,
me with my commentary
and he inside his generous pocket of silence,
until the hour is nearly noon
and the snow is piled high all around us;
then, I hear him speak.

After this, he asks,
can we go inside and play cards?

Certainly, I reply, and I will heat some milk
and bring cups of hot chocolate to the table
while you shuffle the deck.
and our boots stand dripping by the door.

Aaah, says the Buddha, lifting his eyes
and leaning for a moment on his shovel
before he drives the thin blade again
deep into the glittering white snow.

:)

(17th Angel, I suppose the moral is, whether shovelling snow or sticking a thermometer up a cow's bum.................just be with the moment!)
 
I loved that poem, Tariki. :)

I've recently discovered Kenya-Lee Province:

MYTH

Myth does not equal...lie
Myth does not equal...true
MYTH equals...MIND...beyond language
Beyond............time;
An infinite...EVENT,
Another way
Of saying, yes
To life..
A song of permanence
And change
Without warning,
The wax and wane
Of worlds
We do create
Yet never name,
While we use the word...'believe'
To silence doubt
To fix the game
In favor of
Survival
In the ..dream.

MYTH holds the HEAT
To fuse the sand
Of 'search'
Into the GLASS
Of ......certainty.
Within
Amida's golden light
A silver moon
Alone
Is 'myth'
Reflecting
In
A hundred million
streams.
______________________

CLOSE-CALLING

YOU,
a bonbu?
NO......well
maybee...
me tOO
so, WHO
cares??????
Oh,
YES...
namu
Amida BUTSU

_______________________________

And I posted this on the poetry thread, but I wonder if it doesn't fit well here? From Euro/Cherokee descendent Marijo Moore:

TO CELEBRATE NOT EXPLAIN THE MYSTERY

And I heard a voice
a silvery voice wrapped
in secrets of red and purple
telling me to go deep, deep inside myself
deep to the deepest part where the light lay
in the center of the darkness
that it would be here
I would find the celebration
of who I am, why I exist,
where I come from and where I am going
and in this celebration I would find

the explanation that requires no explaining
the knowledge that requires no knowing
the answer that requires no questioning

and then I would understand
and then I would not understand
and then it would not matter.

______________________

And from Iris Dement: The Shores of Jordan

Well, I looked up into heaven, I thought I'd solve life's mysteries.
I observed the constellations for a clue to my destiny.
But the rhyme of life confounds me, things will be as things will be.
So I'll just dance the shores of Jordan 'til the angels carry me.

I'm gonna let my feet go dancing to my very favourite songs,
'Cause I know my time for leaving is bound to come before too long.
And there ain't no way of me knowing how tomorrow's gonna be,
So I just dance the shores of Jordan 'til the angels carry me.

And I traveled to a prison; I saw my share of shattered dreams.
Were the tables slightly tilted? I could be bound, they could be free.
But I believe no tear goes wasted, and so I fell there on my knees,
Vowed I'd dance the shores of Jordan 'til the angels carried me.

I'm gonna let my feet go dancing to my very favourite songs,
'Cause I know my time for leaving is bound to come 'fore too long.
And there ain't no way of me knowing how tomorrow's gonna be,
So I just dance the shores of Jordan 'til the angels carry me.

An' I saw a weary traveller heading down a dusty road.
And I said "Friend, please may I help you, it seems you haul a heavy load."
But he said: "Though my burden's heavy, in my heart I'm travelling light,
"So I can cross old river Jordan when I'm called to the other side."

I'm gonna let my feet go dancing to my very favourite songs,
'Cause I know my time for leaving is bound to come before too long.
Oh , and there ain't no way of me knowing how tomorrow's gonna be,
So I just dance the shores of Jordan 'til the angels carry me.

I just dance the shores of Jordan 'til the angels carry me.
I know they'll carry me.

___________________________

Don't know why I put all these together. Just seemed like the thing to do in the moment. :) People from different places and backgrounds just pondering the mystery and seeking reconciliation, I suppose. Hope it all fits here...oh, wait--it doesn't really have to fit perfectly, does it?

InPeace,
InLove
 
InLove,

Thanks for your little sequence of poems...............and to my mind you are right, why strive to make things "fit"? Why should things "fit"............the old "self-power" game! Til the angels carry me...........it all suggests to me what I have always called the "keep the bugs away" approach..........the Pure Land tradition speaks of the way of "no calculation" where no-working is true working.

Do not worry about enlightenment. When growing a tree, you plant it, water it, fertilize it, keep the bugs away; and if these things are done properly, the tree will naturally grow. How quickly it grows, however, is something you cannot control.

(Achaan Chah, Thai meditation master)

Thus you must understand the difference between your work and the plant's work. Leave the plant's buisness to the plant, and be responsible for your own. If the mind does not know what it needs to do, it will try to force the plant to grow and flower and give fruit in one day. This is wrong view......

"And the teachings of Jesus are perfumed with Dharma...................".........

And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

(St Mark, 4:26-29)

....and....

If we wish to be sure of the road we tread on we should close our eyes and walk in the dark

(St John of the Cross)


:)
 
Tariki said:
If we wish to be sure of the road we tread on we should close our eyes and walk in the dark
Click to expand...

Yeah, that'll work a charm lol.... To be sure of somehting you should mask off own ablities to identify this "road" and also to see incoming threats and hazards.. Nice.

Also closed eyes? And in the dark? Isn't that as useful as blindfolding a blindmen, or putting ear plugs on a deaf person?
 
17th Angel said:
Yeah, that'll work a charm lol.... To be sure of somehting you should mask off own ablities to identify this "road" and also to see incoming threats and hazards.. Nice.

Also closed eyes? And in the dark? Isn't that as useful as blindfolding a blindmen, or putting ear plugs on a deaf person?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that Tariki does not mean to close our eyes to wisdom, but simply to learn to walk in "faith" or "trust". Practice doesn't hurt either--for example, if someone is trying to break into your home, and you know how to walk through its hallways without the lights on because you've learned how to get to the cookies without waking anyone up, then you have a certain advantage in a threatening situation, right? (Terrible analogy to post here, probably, but I'm too tired to think of something better at the moment.)
sleep022.gif


InPeace,
InLove
 
If we wish to be sure of the road we tread on we should close our eyes and walk in the dark

17th Angel said:
Yeah, that'll work a charm lol.... To be sure of somehting you should mask off own ablities to identify this "road" and also to see incoming threats and hazards.. Nice.

Also closed eyes? And in the dark? Isn't that as useful as blindfolding a blindmen, or putting ear plugs on a deaf person?
Click to expand...


17th Angel,

Yes, on reflection, perhaps not the best advice to give to someone about to embark upon a trek across the Himalayas...............

............yet as InLove has pointed out, and in the context on my entire post, maybe more to do with trust/faith?

I've loved that quote since first reading it in the book by Jack Kornfield, "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry". Perhaps it would help to give its full context there?

Underneath all the wanting and grasping, underneath the need to understand is what we have called "the body of fear." At the root of suffering is a small heart, frightened to be here, afraid to trust the river of change, to let go in this changing world. This small unopened heart grasps and needs and struggles to control what is unpredictable and unpossessable. But we can never know what will happen. With wisdom we allow this not knowing to become a form of trust. We rest on what Buddhist elder Jocelyn King laughingly called "the Firm Ground of Emptiness." Chogyam Trungpa described this as giving up the ego's territory and trusting in groundlessness. St. John of the Cross described it this way..."If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark."

:)
 
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