first hill

hello leading lady..
the large african american wooed
to me as i puffed up capital hill..
i stopped to inquiry as to the source of his greeting..
being pleased that i had paused for a chat,
he told me he sees plenty of leading ladies
on his daily walk up and down madison avenue..
he feels it is his duty to let the lovelies know
that their power and glory is acknowledged..
i gave him a bow and continued the climb...

coming up behind me was another gent..
walking his bike up the hill..
i teased...
you better get on that bike and ride!
he laughed and told me there was
plenty of ground to cover so he was taking a break..
we hiked up the hill and spoke about work and play..
l.j. then asked if i was married..
..noooooo..
what luck!
he was just out of a relationship..
i suggested he take a break..
he replied..
yes! let's!
the conversation circled around
the shape of my legs; the size of my bum..
trader joe's showed up just in time..
he rode down the hill smiling..

on the way back to pioneer square,
i found myself walking with a UW microbiologist...
she loves to walk to her favorite shoppes..
the polish place for sausages,
madison street market for everything else..
the gardens at seattle university for a rest..

the ease of street speak..

if you want peace of mind,
do not find fault with others.
rather learn to see your own faults.
learn to make the whole world your own.
no one is a stranger, my child;
this whole world is your own.
~ sarada devi

emptiness

unborn emptiness has let go of the extremes
of being and non-being.
thus it is both the center itself and the central path.
emptiness is the track on which the centered person moves.
~ tsongkhapa

to experience this emptiness
is to experience the astonishing absence
of what often creates the sense
of who i am and the reality i inhabit.

this moment of the empty field ~
experienced ~ over and over..
is dharma practice..
the instruction being:
short moments, many times..
life centered in the awareness of emptiness..
- is the heart of the matter..
the central path..the track...
on which the centered one
lives and moves and has her/his being..

playful, poignant..a passer-by..
to be infinitely empty
on the great ballfield of life..
and death..
everything has already died..this is the other world....
WO-HE-LO!

all things arise,
suffer change,
and pass away.
this is their nature.

when you know this...
...you become still.
it is easy.
~ ashtavakra gita

in sickness and in health

a brief touchdown..
in the great northwest..
now...a quick trip to calif orn i a
to be in presence with my long time pals..
B and her dear husband, dave..
(you may remembre him as the duck..during the walk..)
~ while i was in greece, barbara decided
a visit with dave would be wise..
he is thick with complications from the disease..

it is not easy to see the quacker..duck..
in his new configuration AND it is so good
to be with him ..holding his hands,
feeding him turkey bits..
putting his shoes on..
hanging ten with B....
resting in the middle
of birth, olde age, illness and death....

for age is opportunity no less
than youth itself, though in another dress,
and as the evening twilight fades away
the sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
~ henry wadsworth longfellow

resting in the middle of love...

miscellaneous advice...

one day an olde man
was circumamubulating
reting monastery..
geshe drom said to him:
sir, i am happy to see you
circumambulating, but
wouldn't you prefer to
be practicing the dharma?

thinking this over, the olde man
felt he'd better cover himself
by reading some buddhist scriptures.
while he was reading
in the temple courtyard,
geshe drom said:
i am happy to see you
reading the dharma, but
wouldn't you prefer
to be practicing it?

at this, the olde man
thought that the best way
to cover himself would be
to meditate single-pointedly.
he put aside his reading
and sat on a cushion,
his eyes half-closed.
drom said;
good to see you meditating, but
wouldn't you rather be
practicing the dharma?

with nothing else left to do,
the olde man asked:
geshe, please,
how do i practice the dharma?

drom replied:
when you practice,
there is no distinction
between the dharma
and
your own mind....
~tsun ba je gom

wisdom

we do not receive wisdom,
we must discover it for ourselves,
after a journey through the wilderness,
which no one else can make for us,
which no one can spare us,
for our wisdom is the view from which
we come at last to regard the world.
~ marcel proust

silver coins

put your cheek against this cheek.
forget anger and men planning war.
when i hold out silver coins, take them,
and give me a cup of gold light.
you can open the wide door of the sky.
surely you will open me.
all i have is emptiness.
give it a nickname.
breaker and healer, break and heal this head.
do not press your seal to that pistachio nut.
put it here. there is that in me
that has to be told fifty times a day.
stop hunting. step on this net.
~rumi

returning with a bag of pistachios from aegina..
always rough on the thumb nails..those nuts..
the effort is worth the lime - pink gem inside..

fifty times or more..
stop hunting..
be the bounty in the net..
caught in the cup of golden light..

remembering a story by chogyam trungpa..
he drew on a sheet of paper
a wobbly triangular shape..
asking his students to tell him..
what is this?
they all answered ..
a bird of some sort..
he replied..bright-eyed ..
it is the sky..
the wide door of the sky..
with a bird flying thru....

see big..
listen wide..
then..
step on the net..
and let it all down..

if you would be fed, be bread.

mother's day...

Christina Aguilera Grammy 2007 Its a Mans Mans Mans World

may i suggest you head on over to youtube
and cheque out mz. aguilera
for a very fine mother's day ballad?

& may every blessing follow you like a faithful puppy!

tadasana

i was gone away over half a year,
a lovely moon in a great void.
today i am back. the clouds seem joyful.
i love this mountain more than before.
~ dogen

cinco de mayo..
everything has a crispness, a clarity to it..
the houses have been freshly painted,
the streets - swabbed and swept..
new windows and doors on all the shoppes..
the green of each tree and shrub..
a mind of their own..
whether it is chartreuse, emerald or jade..
the hawks are still winking at me..
i know this place; it is new ~