skillful means

love is a place

love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world
of yes live
(skillfully curled)
all worlds.

e.e. cummings

there will come soft rains..

there will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
and swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

and frogs in the pools singing in the night,
and wild plum trees in tremulous white;

robins will wear their feathery fire,
whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

and not one will know of the war, not one
will care at last when it is done.
not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
if mankind perished utterly;

and spring herself, when she woke at dawn
would scarcely know that we were gone.
                             ~ sara teasdale


this poem and sentiment comes to mind and heart
when i get tangled up in any of the seductions ~
power..bigotry..intolerance..
elections..war zones..terror..
trees being logged and hauled
for the bigger, better homes of glory..
& my own judgement therein

in the early morning walkabout..
the wind rises..the sun moves up..
goldfinch plays tag on the
scrub bush and berry..
robin hops the two step in front -
leading the way along the path..
bunny and bunny (after bunny)
scampers from hiding place to hiding place..
heron..glides as their pterodactyl cousin..
hugeness and grace ..to rest
on a wire just above no name slough..
hawk sits and sits and sits on phone pole
waiting for food to show itself..

are they in any way, shape or form
wringing their wings and fur about anything
that the humanoids are up to..?
i think not..

over and ever
i urge myself to join their club..
the wild..the peace of wild..
as wendell b. speaks of:

When despair for the world grows in me 

and I wake in the night at the least sound 

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, 

I go and lie down where the wood drake 

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. 

I come into the peace of wild things 

who do not tax their lives with forethought 

of grief. I come into the presence of still water. 

And I feel above me the day-blind stars 

waiting with their light. For a time 

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

always and ever again ~

counsel to myself..

and others who ask..

stay awake..

be feral..

be  fearless..

self-reliance

let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today.
let us treat men and women well:
treat them as if they were real:
perhaps they are.

..................................

without any shadow of doubt, 
amidst this vertigo of shows and politics,
i settle myself ever firmer in the creed
that we should not postpone
and refer 
and wish,
but do broad justice where we are,
by whomsoever we deal with,
accepting our actual companions and circumstances,
however humble or odious,
as the mystic officials
to whom the universe
has delegated its whole pleasure to us.

               ~ r w emerson

awe..aw..astounding

timely rain

in the jungles of flaming ego,
may there be a cool iceberg of bodhichitta.

on the racetrack of bureaucracy,
may there be the walk of the elephant.

may the sumptuous castle of arrogance
be destroyed by vajra confidence.

in the garden of gentle sanity,
may you be bombarded by coconuts of wakefulness.
                                      ~ chogyam trungpa

The Buddha said that we are never separated from enlightenment. Even at the times we feel most stuck, we are never alienated from the awakened state. This is a revolutionary assertion. Even ordinary people like us with hang-ups and confusion have this mind of enlightenment called bodhichitta. The openness and warmth of bodhichitta is in fact our true nature and condition. Even when our neurosis feels far more basic than our wisdom, even when we’re feeling most confused and hopeless, bodhichitta—like the open sky—is always here, undiminished by the clouds that temporarily cover it.                                                   

                                            ~ pema chodron

vajra ..sanskrit .. diamond / thunderbolt  

..a power tool of.. indestructibility 

instructions to myself:

eat nourishing food..
sleep just enough..
wake early..
be feral..
be fearless
be fearless
be fearless

and kind.......

what is the knocking?

what is the knocking at the door in the night?
it is somebody wants to do us harm.

no, no, it is the three strange angels.
admit them, admit them.
                                  ~ d.h. lawrence
                     song of a man who has come through


'tis a world out there..in here..
what do we make of it?
how to we live in it and not of it?


recommendation

promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me:

even as they
strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember, brother and sister,
remember;
man is not our enemy.

the only thing worthy of you is compassion -
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
hatred will never let you face
the beast in man.

one day, when you face this beast alone,
with your courage intact, your eyes kind,
untroubled
(even as no one sees them)
out of your smile
will bloom a flower.

and those who love you
will behold you
across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.

alone again,
i will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
on the long, rough road,
the sun and the moon
will continue to shine.
                           ~ thich nhat hanh
                              being peace

yoga classes with dunja..laconner..

our training of the heart is like this..
after a moment of mindfulness, 
it's thinking of this and thinking of that again.
it is agitated and mindfulness is not continuous.
but whatever it thinks about, never mind,
just keep putting forth effort.
start right now.
give it a try.
                  ~ ajahn chah


tuesdays 6:30 - 8:30 pm
         MoNA

http://monamuseum.org/event/practicing-art-stillnesshttp://monamuseum.org/event/practicing-art-stillness


wednesdays  9:30 - 11am
crescent moon yoga
http://www.yogalaconner.com


thursdays 7 -8:30 pm
fridays 9:30 - 11am
swinomish spiritual center



when we practice our mind always follows our breathing.
when we inhale, the air comes into our inner world.
when we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world.
the inner world is limitless, the outer world is also limitless.
we say inner world or outer world
but actually there is just one whole world.
                               ~ shunryu suzuki roshi

net of indra

imagine a multidimensional spider's web
in the early morning, covered with dewdrops.
and every dewdrop contains the reflections
of all the other dewdrops.
and, in each reflected dewdrop,
the reflections of all the other dewdrops
in that reflection..and so..ad infinitum..
                        ~ alan watts


if we are peaceful, if we are happy,
we can blossom like a flower,
and everyone in our family,
our entire society,
will benefit from our peace.
               ~ thich nhat hanh

as the astronauts were circling the moon -
looking back at their home,
the blue white pearl - floating in a sea of stars -
they saw no boundaries...

interdependence day!

since i am here,..
seemingly you are here too.
let us practice!
sitting is a jewel that ornaments our precious life.
                            ~ chogyam trungpa

i am not as good as i would like to be..
seeing others as myself..
my self rears up and claims its autonomy -
yet when gazing on the rose red sky at sunset ..
listening to the chittering of hummingbirds,
catching the wind catching me..
solving crossword puzzles with my pal, nancy..
eating a fresh made gathered salad..
standing in tadasana..
walking the trail or bike riding ..
my independence merges, converges
and my i joins the party..

emptying i me mine
into a bowl of galaxies..
dust, gas, gravity..
i get it, am it..for the briefest of time..
out of time, in time,
in harmony .. balance.. grace.. gratitude..
then - poof!
back to me and them..

begin again!
the practice ..of interbeing

interbeing is a word that is not 
in the dictionary yet,
but if we combine the prefix inter
with the verb to be, we have a new verb,
inter-be. 
                 ~ thich nhat hanh