Enlightenment Senryu

seek enlightenment

inside or outside myself

sometimes fragile peace

~cie~

note

There was a wall hanging depicting the picture above in the Buddhist Temple in Boulder. I used to enjoy going for Sunday meditation, although parking down there sucked. Then I had to start working nights again, and it just wasn't possible. Currently, these Haiku are my form of meditation.

Carpe Diem Shikoku Island Pilgrimage: Kanjizai-ji Senryu

Image Source

I wonder if you

are there, and can you help me

I am too far gone

~cie~

notes

Kanjizai-Ji is situated in the town called Ainan and is devoted to Yakushi Nyorai or the Buddha of Medicine and Healing. He is still one of the most important Buddhas especially during rituals that are performed at funerals because he is also the Buddha who leads the Buddhists to Nirvana.

Sara Lazar PhD

Eilona Ariel

End Worrying Forever. Train Your Mind

The Dalai Lama - Interfaith Dialogue

Rather than follow the path of the New Atheists, The Dalai Lama choses to embrace religious faiths. Even though he is not religious himself he recognises that, even with their faults, many of them historical, religion is not going to go away despite the rise of militant atheism.

What is so astounding with the Dalai Lama's approach is that he promotes the positive side of religious faiths thereby presenting the good rather than the bad. Obviously, he is fully aware of what has been going on in the name of religion but by taking the Buddhist path his efforts in bringing together a united front centred around The Golden Rule is slowly bearing fruit. He is managing to not only de-construct New Atheism's argument but also to defeat those who would usurp faith for their own purposes.

The Golden Rule - Karen Armstrong

Forgiveness

These words on forgiveness by Gelong Thubten...

"Who's really hurting? The first step is to recognise that holding on to anger just makes us burn. This person who hurt us did so in the past, but what is hurting us now in this moment? Our resentment and anger. Holding onto this anger is like holding a hot coal in our hand, it just burns us. If we could drop it, we would find relief. In the same way, if we work on our minds, we can free ourselves."

Let go of anger.

Let go of rage.

“If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.”  - Ajahn Chah

The Real Point of Meditation - Gelong Thubten

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In this excellent talk, Gelong Thubten explains why meditation is so vital to us. Not just Buddhists or Taoists or Hindus but us all. I have often said Meditation should be taught at school. Gelong holds the same view. You can hold dear to you whatever faith or philosophy you have and still practice Meditation. It will improve your life and thereby all the lives of those around you.

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Eckhart Tolle - Tao Te Ching

We Are The Universe

"The tao that can be told

is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named

is not the eternal Name.

The unnameable is the eternally real."

Some believe in God as a deity. Some believe there are no deities. It really doesn't matter. I don't believe in belief. God is a man made word as is deity.  Neither are right. Neither are wrong. What made us all is beyond words, beyond comprehension. IT doesn't need a label as IT just is. IT is unnameable. IT is unknowable. 

"There is a thing inherent and natural, which existed before heaven and earth. Motionless and fathomless, It stands alone and never changes; It pervades everywhere and never becomes exhausted. It may be regarded as the Mother of the universe. I do not know its name."

We are of the Universe. Indeed we are the Universe. Within us are the same atoms as found in the Universe. The same molecules as found in the Earth. We are one and the same thing. Haemin Sunim is his book "The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down" says this about our oneness with the Universe...

"The whole Universe is contained within an apple wedge 

within a lunch box.

Appletree, sunlight, cloud, rain, earth, air,

farmer's sweat are all in it.

Delivery truck, gas, market, money

cashier's smile are all in it.

Refrigerator, knife, cutting board,

mother's love are all in it.

Everything in the whole Universe depends

on one another.

Now think about what exists in you.

The whole universe is in us."

Haemin Sunim

Faith is overvalued while practice is undervalued.

If we emphasise faith over practice, spirituality remains ideology, creating theological conflicts.

But if we focus on carrying out the teachings of our very lives, we realize that the love taught by Jesus is no different from the compassion taught by the Buddha.

If you wish for peace am0ng the different spiritual paths then practice what you preach,

Haemin Sunim

Letting Go

Let Go of Comparing

^

Let Go of Competing

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Let Go of Judgements

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Let Go of Anger

^ 

Let Go of Regrets

^

Let Go of Worrying

^  

Let Go of Blame

^

Let Go of Guilt

^

Let Go of Fear 

The Art of Meditation - Matthieu Ricard

Matthieu Ricard received a Ph.D. degree in molecular genetics from the Pasteur Institute in 1972 He then decided to forsake his scientific career and turned instead to practice Tibetan Buddhism. Ricard is a board member of the Mind and Life Institute, an organisation dedicated to having meetings between scientists and Buddhist scholars who collaborate and share their research. He is engaged in research on the effect of mind training on the brain, at Madison-Wisconsin, Princeton and Berkeley. He makes the subject not only entertaining to listen to but brings back the practical origins of Buddhism aligning what some would call spiritualism with common sense. 

Compassion is Not Weakness

A to Z Blogging Challenge 2014: M is for Music

There is music for many belief systems.
The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir may not have any specific beliefs, but they like Gospel music.
It's hard to find specific Buddhist musicians. Many times the chants are done by monks.
Counting Crowns sing for Christ with their brand of contemporary Christian music.
I don't know if one could consider this music "representative of Deism," but it is cool.

People who follow the tenets of Eckankar believe that the sound HU has special meaning.

I once worked with a fellow who practiced Eckankar. I was interested to hear about his beliefs until I discovered that his real goal was to try and get into my pants. Then I stopped listening.

Hindu songs praise the various deities of Hinduism.

There are many others. We may examine them at another time!

~Gretyll~

A to Z Blogging Challenge 2015: D is for Discovery

A spirit of curiosity is a gift. A desire to discover amazing artifacts such as the one described in the video makes the world a better place.

Understanding our history helps us understand ourselves and each other better. The more we know about our ancestors, the more we can understand why we are the way we are.

~Blooming Psycho~

British Veteran Recounts D-Day

We need to listen to our war veterans, and yet we don't. The story he recounts is a terrible one, so many lives lost.

War is not a glamorous or an exciting thing. It is a blight on humanity. As long as there are those whose main motivation is greed and power over others, we will have war. As long as we have war, we will continue to repeat the cycle of suffering. And so it goes on.

~Wanda~

Peace in Solitude

Still I seek to find

Peace in times of solitude

Peace within myself

~Polly~

Cross-Posted to:

One Love

Poetry of the Netherworld

The True Light

We should share kindness

Not suppress others through hate

Hate extinguishes

~Cie~

Inspired by the Carpe Diem Haiku prompt, and the distressing recent news of Buddhist attacks on Muslims in Burma. The actions of these people goes against everything Buddhism stands for.

Cross Posted to:

One Love

Poetry of the Netherworld