thank full ness

dear kind and generous dharma friends..
who share this karmic field ..

i am thankful for your
dana in the alms bowl..
that you found this a worthy cause
when there is so much need
and so many to care for ~
moves me greatly ..

as rumi tells us -
thankfulness brings one to alertness
 an alert wisdom of your presence in my life...

& the gifts, too, that arrive in other forms..
food and medicine and laughter and tea parties!
the greatest is love..threaded thru every encounter

i will write hand written thank you's
to each of you as i am able ..
please accept this e-mail for now..
palms folded in gratitude and admiration ~

WORDS FOR EACH DAY
each day of life is training
training for myself through failure is possible
living each moment equal to anything
ready for everything i am alive
i am this moment
my future is here and now
for if i can't endure today
when and where will i?
            - soen ozeki


this from a past post 2/25/2014 !!

my community was called a mendicant order -
begging, living off alms.
today begging is shameful to the middle class,
a scandal to those who think
everyone can and should work for a living.
the homeless person on the street is surrounded
by the emotional shadows of reprobation.

yet, the most spiritual activities are funded by begging:
public radio and television,
charities,
programs for the disadvantaged,
medicine,
education...
today many who enter
the most meaningful professions
become mendicants.

if we are not beggars,
we might ask ourselves if we have
any spirituality in our lives.
                   ~ thomas moore -  meditations


then this from now..

o sea of bliss, you have stored
transcendental forms of consciousness
in the heedless,
you have stored a wakefulness in sleep,
you have fastened dominion over the heart
to the state of one who lost her heart.

you conceal riches in the lowliness of poverty,
you fasten the necklace of wealth
to poverty's iron collar.
opposite is secretly concealed in opposite:
fire is hidden within boiling water.

income multiplies from giving ~
mohammad,
the king of prosperity
has said,
o possessors of wealth,
generosity is gainful trade.
riches were never lessened by sharing;
in truth,
acts of charity increase one's wealth.
             ~ generosity is gainful trade
                rumi
                mathnawi VI