a sharing of readings, thoughts, and photographs
across a concealed blue sky, drifting signs
imaginary birds and dragons, in flight
aimless shifting stories, impermanent
gathering and dispersing, obscure particles
empty of clouds
post inspired by Travel with Intent’s Six Word Saturday
“for us to survive, both as individuals and as a species, we need a revolution in consciousness.”
Love Letter to the Earth, Thich Nhat Hanh, April 21, 2019 Plum Village
Another with same thoughts
May be gazing at the pale morning moon
Of the Long-night month–
No sight is more sorrowful
~Izumi Shikibu,
Trans: AS Omori & K Doi, Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan
BELOVED MOTHER OF ALL THINGS
“I bow my head before you as I look deeply and recognise that you are present in me and that I’m a part of you. I was born from you and you are always present, offering me everything I need for my nourishment and growth. My mother, my father, and all my ancestors are also your children. We breathe your fresh air. We drink your clear water. We eat your nourishing food. Your herbs heal us when we’re sick. …
“Sometimes I forget. Lost in the confusions and worries of daily life, I forget that my body is your body, and sometimes even forget that I have a body at all. Unaware of the presence of my body and the beautiful planet around me and within me, I’m unable to cherish and celebrate the precious gift of life you have given me. Dear Mother, my deep wish is to wake up to the miracle of life. I promise to train myself to be present for myself, my life, and for you in every moment. I know that my true presence is the best gift I can offer to you, the one I love.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh, Love Letter to the Earth Plum Village
it stirs the soul
of even
the most
indifferent person —
first autumn winds.
~Saigyō
“Many of us have forgotten that we are one with the Earth. The Earth is not a separate entity from us. We are part of the Earth, and the Earth is part of us. The Earth is not a resource for us to exploit at our will. The Earth is us; we are intimately interconnected with the Earth, just as we inter-are with all other species on Earth, too. Our spiritual ancestors have taught us about the law of interdependent co-arising: this is because that is. We are here because the Earth is here. All species are our brothers and sisters; we are all children of the Earth.
“When we see our deep interbeing with the Earth and with all species, we will see what to do—and what to stop doing—to help the situation. We will have the clarity and compassion we need to help change the situation, so that a future can be possible for us all.
“…Mother Earth has been crying out for so long. She has never stopped giving us whatever we needed: food, water and shelter, allowing us to flourish in her abundance, never asking for anything in return. …”
~Sister Chan Khong “Can You Hear Mother Earth?” July 2016 Plum Village
“Please stop your day, September 20, and join with the wise voices of our Courageous Young People”. “Remember, as adults in the September 20th Climate Strike and Week of Climate Action, our role is to support and amplify the voices of young people”
May I find the Courage to withstand the crumbling of my
delusions so that the light of right understanding guides me on a life path absent of greed, anger, and ignorance.
” ‘To find a pathway absent of greed, anger, and ignorance’ messages hope that there is indeed a way of life that leads out of this petrified forest in which there looms gigantic trees twisted and bent by an ego intent on creating a self- referenced world. Each tree has been tagged with a label that takes possession of it through the identification of “my memory”, “my feelings”, “my ideas”, or “my dreams”. Circling the trees are multiple pathways carved out by the anger of unmet desires and covered over by entangled vines driven by a need to satiate an unquenchable thirst. For years I have wandered in the shadows of this forest unable to see that it is of my own creation.
I come to a place where I envision myself eagerly before bookshelves, my eyes lightly and briefly touching upon one book’s title and then another, feeling their words tickle my thoughts until I surrender to their unspoken promises. Once engaged by the promising nature of a title, it is hope that opens a book jacket and begins another journey through pages. With the turning of each page, desire seeks the experience of validation within the configuration of a writer’s text. All of this, I believe, is driven by memory traces of how the words of unknown authors enfolded my emotional self as they alleviated the subsequent emotional chaos that followed the death of my father when I was three years old.
Later, literature provided me with alternate threads by which to darn a harmonious, yet delusional, understanding of death, of fatherless children, of a family.”
~B C Koeford (A Meditative Journey with Saldage)
With blooms of pampas grass
for markers
I push my way along,
no trace of the trail
I vaguely remembered.
~Saigyō (cited: B Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)
Come again,
if you don’t mind
pushing your way through
dewy eulalia blossoms
to reach this twig-bound hut.
~Ryokan (cited: K Tanahashi, Sky Above Great Wind)
