posted January 20, 2002 04:16 PM               

Stop, to think, to listen along your steps
It's this path, we've been digging.

Oh, how cool this whiteness.
It's peaceful, it's pure.

Stop along your steps to listen.
Who's is it really for?

Stop, look and listen, stop, look and listen Stop, look and learn,stop, look and learn.

How much are you listening?
How much have you heard?

Wavey on the path, wavey on this path.
Glory for this day, Glory for this day.

In honor of the day. 01/20/02

© 2002, Mrbf Prods. All Rights Reserved.

posted January 27, 2002 11:02 AM               

With that in mind, let us try and have a Mindful day..... and be conscious of our Actions and Speech through the day.

Peace.
Hope this finds you all well.

posted January 27, 2002 02:35 PM               

I wanted to respond to Blackwuzzy's question about loving someone you don't like. Most definately. Isn't that, often, the very definition of family? Mom has always called me her "sometimes bear" because of a beautiful (and, sadly, out of print) book from my childhood called "Why Do You Love Me?" The answer, of course, is "because you're you." But the little bear asks his mother about behaviors of his ("Am I ever mean like that?") and mom's response, each time, is "Sometimes yes and sometimes no." From that book I learned very young that it's possible to not like someone you love very much.

It was later that I had to struggle with the problem of both liking and loving someone, but being horrified by their actions.

As for quotes, I have a huge selection (many hanging on my walls) that have gotten me through some really tough times. I love words, the ways in which the human spirit expresses itself. That's my passion... Of course, I'm not yet sure how that fits into a degree plan Here are a couple of my favorites:

And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in the bud was mroe painful than the risk it took to blossom. -Anais Nin

I'm there in the cause of happiness and I don't care what nobody thinks. -Louis Armstrong

Have a joyful week!

posted February 17, 2002 03:25 PM               

It starts and ends with each ever changing moment. It is the spark that makes us all Sing and create. It is the Love in our hearts and in the beauty and darkness of the days.

***Given with much love.

posted February 24, 2002 05:08 PM               

Have you noticed that lately?

Also, notice that we must be aware of what we say to others, unless it's out of kindness and compassion that we speak, for it all comes right back you see.
You can be sure of that.

posted March 14, 2002 02:46 PM               

Are people suppose to be walking around or sitting with their underwear showing or sticking out???? I just don't get it. Maybe it's my old age, but maybe someone can explain this to me????? A girl sitting in front of me here at the library has her Calvin Klein white jockey shorts sticking out of her jeans about 5-6 inches......It just does not seem appropriate or of any real taste. ??

posted April 25, 2002 01:27 PM               

I read that if someone says something wrong or unkind to us...or treats us badly...that we should look upon them as a Spiritual Teacher. Why???? Because they pave the way for us to have love and compassion in our very own hearts towards them and their actions inable us to practice our own spiritual paths and spiritualness. Someone who holds Anger..... cannot have Peace. On the other hand..... we can deal with Anger by being more compassionate towards them and for understanding their needs. It is with this love, compassion and sense of our own inner peace that we carry on through each day. If we are angry or mad...it is better not to say anything. We can surely be at Peace with ourselves and the world through practice and a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong. Let's practice Peace, Love and Compassion in our hearts and in our dealings with the world. It's a very bright, bright day. The day is what WE choose to make of it.

posted May 30, 2002 08:13 PM               

That's very cool. Hope the Summer brings much peace to all. Love.

posted June 07, 2002 04:03 PM               

BW

posted June 17, 2002 06:37 PM               

May sound corny but, while driving over here to the library just this afternoon... up in the sky were very dark blackish clouds. Beyond those clouds though were bright clear clouds and the Sun shining through. It was really beautiful. Had I not come out to drive to the library, I would not have seen that beauty. Also, I would not have seen that tiny, tiny little bird that landed next to my car after I had just parked my car. It flew away quickly. Yes, it is the little things that we observe and appreciateif we take the time to see them each ady. It is those things which do not cost a penny.

posted July 08, 2002 09:23 PM               

FIRST, LOOK TO your posture: arrange the legs in the most comfortable position; set the backbone as straight as an arrow. Place your hands in the position of meditative equipoise, four finger widths below the navel, with the left hand on the bottom, right hand on top, and your thumbs touching to form a triangle. This placement of the hands has connection with the place inside the body where inner heat is generated. Bending the neck down slightly, allow the mouth and teeth to be as usual, with the top of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth near the top teeth. Let the eyes gaze downwards loosely—it is not necessary that they be directed to the end of the nose; they can be pointed toward the floor in front of you if this seems more natural. Do not open the eyes too wide nor forcefully close them; leave them open a little. Sometimes they will close of their own accord; that is all right. Even if your eyes are open, when your mental consciousness becomes steady on its object, these appearances to the eye consciousness will not disturb you.

For those of you who wear eyeglasses, have you noticed that when you take off your glasses, because of the unclarity there is less danger from the generation of excitement and more danger of laxity? Do you find that there is a difference between facing and not facing the wall? When you face the wall, you may find that there is less danger of excitement or scattering. These kinds of things can be determined through your own experience. . . .

TRY TO LEAVE YOUR mind vividly in a natural state, without thinking of what happened in the past or of what you are planning for the future, without generating any conceptuality. Where does it seem that your consciousness is? Is it with the eyes or where is it? Most likely you have a sense that it is associated with the eyes since we derive most of our awareness of the world through vision. This is due to having relied too much on our sense consciousness. However, the existence of a separate mental consciousness can be ascertained; for example, when attention is diverted by sound, that which appears to the eye consciousness is not noticed. This indicates that a separate mental consciousness is paying more attention to sound heard by the ear consciousness than to the perceptions of the eye consciousness.

With persistent practice, consciousness may eventually be perceived or felt as an entity of mere luminosity and knowing, to which anything is capable of appearing and which, when appropriate conditions arise, can be generated in the image of whatsoever object. As long as the mind does not encounter the external circumstance of conceptuality, it will abide empty without anything appearing in it, like clear water. Its very entity is that of mere experience. Let the mind flow of its own accord without conceptual overlay. Let the mind rest in its natural state, and observe it. In the beginning, when you are not used to this practice, it is quite difficult, but in time the mind appears like clear water. Then, stay with this unfabricated mind without allowing conceptions to be generated. In realizing this nature of the mind, we have for the first time located the object of observation of this internal type of meditation.

The best time for practicing this form of meditation is in the morning, in a quiet place, when the mind is very clear and alert. It helps not to have eaten too much the night before nor to sleep too much; this makes the mind lighter and sharper the next morning. Gradually the mind will become more and more stable; mindfulness and memory will become clearer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This first appeared in A Policy of Kindness, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and is reprinted with permission from Snow Lion Publications.

posted July 09, 2002 01:31 PM               

Before we do anything, we should always ask ourselves whether we will be able to do it properly and complete it. If the answer is no, we should not start. Leaving tasks uncompleted creates a habit for the future. So once we have begun something, we should be sure not to go back on our decision.

Self-confidence is not to be confused with pride. Pride is thinking highly of oneself without good reason. Self-confidence is knowing that one has the ability to do something properly and being determined not to give up.

50. Enfeebled by their minds' afflictions,
Worldly ones are helpless to secure their happiness. Compared to those who wander, I am able; Therefore, this shall be my task.

Taken from:
A Flash Of Lightening In The Dark Of Night-
A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life

The Dalai Lama, 1994
Shambhala Publications, Inc.

posted July 12, 2002 11:27 AM               

Chapter # 9: The Invaluable Lessons of Miserable Days

Story number two. My friend Mary Jo has more bad hair day stories than anyone I know. This is always a surprise to those of us who have become her friends over the years, because she just doesn't strike you as a person who has tough days. First of all, she has money, so even if she isn't working her bills get paid. Second, she is gorgeous in a blue-eyed blond, jock sort of way. She's also smart and funny. Jo is generous and kind and in many ways is a role model for the type of leadership we could use as we march into the next millennium. But in spite of all her advantages, awful things happen to her. Not big "A" awful, but embarrassing things that make great stories. In 1995 she had more rotten days than anyone else I know.
Among her stories is one which has become a sort of a mini-leg-end around the Midwest. When I first met her, Mary Jo was organizing a foundation in Michigan. She was also its first major donor and the key to putting together the outstanding staff and board that now run it. She really worked hard. Mary Jo is quite the businesswoman, but she is also homespun in that her lifestyle is simple and wholesome. Cloth napkins, daisies in vases, hardy work clothes, and a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Because her life is such a motivating story she is often asked to speak publicly, which she hates to do. One evening she was sharing a stage with six national women leaders at a mega-fundraiser dinner where each speaker had been asked to share her best wisdom with the audience. Jo was the last speaker, which meant that she sat at the far end of a long formal dinner table right up on the stage. About halfway through the dinner she noticed that her napkin had fallen to the ground. She picked it up and tucked it into her waistband as she had been taught to do as a little girl.
When her turn to speak finally came, Mary Jo stood up, turned around, and started to walk toward the center of the stage. Except she had tucked the tablecloth into her skirt, not her napkin. By the time she realized what she had done, all of the glasses, carafes, plates, spoons, coffee cups, and flowers on the table had been dragged sideways and down onto the laps of the other speakers. Suffice it to say she never did share her wisdom.
What is the lesson here? Clearly it is this: Don't believe that because you think you are paying attention to the situation you are. We all live with the delusion that we are paying full attention to the situation we are in. In truth this is rare. As a result we have experiences that may have been prevented.

Story number three. When I first started volunteering at the temple, long before my seminary years, one of the first chores I was given was to clean the temple bathrooms. So I did. When I was done and asked for something else to do, the person running the temple looked at me and said, "Clean the bathrooms." So I went back and noticed that I had really missed a lot. There was gunk around the edges of the sink and on the floor right next to the toilet, and a little nest of pubic hairs in one corner behind the door. So I cleaned some more.
When I was done I went and asked for another job to do. You know the response: "Clean the bathrooms." By now you can guess my mood. I was quickly deciding that this mild-mannered person who was giving me instructions was really some sort of sadistic freak and I had become caught in his web. But, practicing my new friend, patience, I went back. And as I looked at the bathrooms I noticed stains on the walls I had completely missed and a glob of soap by the sink well. There were still spots on the mirror I had cleaned and tiny bits of newspaper were stuck in it's edges where I had hurricaned through in my initial cleaning frenzy. On this third try I took a deep breath and decided to just slow down and clean inch by inch. I was amazed by the dirt I found. This time, when I went back to say I was leaving, the young man walked with me to the bathroom, looked at them, and smiled. "Wonderful," he said.
I was amazed at how good I felt after cleaning the bathroom three times! I learned that paying attention, really paying attention, feels great; delicious even. It's too bad that most of us need a couple of really bad hair day experiences to learn this truth.
So miserable days have a purpose. They teach us to appreciate the softer, kinder days. We see how our practice impacts our day-to-day living. They teach us to think ahead, to pay attention and to get over ourselves because we will never, ever be perfect. These days teach us mindfulness and force us to simply stay open to the situation, watching it unfold so we can respond in a skillfull way. Since they're here to stay, we might as well intergrate them into our practice, making our lives somehow juicier.

posted July 13, 2002 02:03 AM               

Heart Sutra/Lecture give in 6 parts, Spring of 2001 - His Holiness The Dalai Lama, translated into English.

http://www.lamrim.com/hhdl/