why fear this moment
when no thoughts come
at last I lie naked
in the arms of experience
why fear this moment
when no words come
at last I find rest
in the lap of silence
why fear this moment
when love finds itself alone
at last I am embraced
by infinity itself
why fear this moment
when judgment falls away
at last my defenses
fail to keep intimacy at bay
why fear this moment
when hope is lost
at last my foolish dreams
are surrendered to perfection


-- from the Gifts with No Giver: a love affair with truth, by Nirmala

The Dalai Lama has said: "There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; my philosophy is kindness."

At Tower Peak

Every tan rolling meadow will turn into housing
Freeways are clogged all day
Academies packed with scholars writing papers
City people lean and dark
This land most real

After a long day's walking
Packing burdens to the snow
Wake to the same old world of no names,
No things, new as ever, rock and water,
Cool dawn birdcalls, high jet contrails.
A day or two or million, breathing
A few steps back from what goes down
In the current realm...

A kind of ice age, spreading, filling valleys
Shaving soils, paving fields, you can walk in it
Live in it, drive through it then
It melts away
For whatever sprouts
After the age of
Frozen hearts...

Twenty million human people, downstream, here below.

Gary Snyder
(some lines have been omitted)

"Night Mirror"

Li-Young, don't feel lonely
when you look up
into great night and find
yourself the far face peering
hugely out from between
a star and a star. All that space
the nighthawk plunges through,
homing, all that distance beyond embrace,
what is it but your own infinity.

And don't be afraid
when, eyes closed, you look inside you
and find night is both
the silence tolling after stars
and the final word
that founds all beginning, find night,

abyss and shuttle,
a finished cloth
frayed by the years, then gathered
in the songs and games
mothers teach their children.

Look again
and find yourself changed
and changing, now the bewildered honey
fallen into your own hands,
now the immaculate fruit born of hunger.
Now the unequaled perfume of your dying.
And time? Time is the salty wake
of your stunned entrance upon
no name.

~Li-Young Lee

"Parting" by Li Po

Green mountains rise to the north;
white water rolls past the eastern city.

Once it has been uprooted,
the tumbleweed travels forever.

Drifting clouds like a wanderer's mind;
sunset, like the heart of your old friend.

We turn, pause, look back and wave,
Even our ponies look back and whine.

Because the flowers blooming
In our original home
Are everlasting,
Though springtimes may come and go
Their colors do not fade.

~Dogen

Rest in natural great peace
This exhausted mind
Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thought,
Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves
In the infinite ocean of samsara.

Rest in natural great peace.

NYOSHUL KHEN RINPOCHE

WELCOME HOME MOM AND DAD! I LOVE YOU!

Is there anyone in the universe,
among heavenly or earthly beings,
who can understand what Kali is?
The systems of all traditions
are powerless to describe Her.
Is Mother a feminine being
or greater than Being itself?

Chanting Her transforming Name --
OM KALI OM KALI OM KALI,
empowers Lord Shiva,
Who is transcendent Knowledge,
to drink the negativity of all beings,
turning His Throat dark blue.
With Her protection
such poison would be deadly,
even to the highest Divinity.

More than Creator and creation,
Mother is sheer Creativity
beyond the notion of duality.
Universe and Father-God
are thrilling glances
from Her seductive Eyes.
Always pregnant with ecstasy,
She gives birth to manifest Being
from Her Womb of primal Awareness,
nursing it tenderly at Her Breast,
then playfully consumes Her Child.
The world dissolves instantly
upon touching Her white Teeth,
attaining the realization
of Her brilliant Voidness.

The various Divine Forms
that manifest throughout history
take refuge at Her Lotus Feet.
The Essence of Divinity,
the Great Ground of Being,
lies in ecstatic absorption
beneath Her red-soled Feet.

Is Mother simply a Goddess?
Does She need a male consort
to protect or complete Her?
The cycle of birth and death
bows reverently before Her.
Is She simply naked
or is She naked Truth?
No veil can conceal Her.
Her naked radiance slays demons
not with weapons but with splendor.

If Mother is a conventional wife,
why is She dancing fiercely
on the breast of Shiva?
Her timeless play destroys
conventions and conceptions.
She is primal purity,
Her ecstatic lovers are purity.
Purity merges into purity,
with no remainder.

I am totally inebriated
by Her wine of timeless bliss.
The wine cup is Her Name --
OM KALI OM KALI OM KALI.
Those drunk on ordinary wine
assume I am one of them.

Not everyone will encounter
the dazzling darkness
called Goddess Kali.
Not everyone can consciously receive
the infinite treasure of Her Nature.
The foolish mind refuses
to perceive and accept
that She alone exists.
Even the noble Lord Shiva,
most enlightened of beings,
can barely catch a glimpse
of Her flashing crimson Feet.

The wealth of world-emperors
and the richness of Paradise
are but abject poverty
to those who meditate on Her.
To swim in a single Glance
from Her three Cosmic Eyes
is to be immersed
in an ocean of ecstasy.

Not even Shiva, prince of yogis,
can focus upon Her dancing Feet
without falling into trance.
Yet the worthless lover
who sings this mad song
aspires to conscious union with Her
during waking, dream, and deep sleep.

~Ramakrishna

You stop to point at the moon in the sky,

By Ryokan
(1758 - 1831)

English version by Sam Hamill



You stop to point at the moon in the sky,
but the finger's blind unless the moon is shining.

One moon, one careless finger pointing --
are these two things or one?

The question is a pointer guiding
a novice from ignorance thick as fog.

Look deeper. The mystery calls and calls:
No moon, no finger -- nothing there at all.

Since everything is but an apparition,
Perfect in being what it is,
Having nothing to do with good or bad,
Acceptance or rejection
You might as well burst out laughing!

LONGCHENPA

Sunrise

By Mary Oliver
(1935 - )



You can
die for it--
an idea,
or the world. People

have done so,
brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound

to the stake,
creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But

this morning,
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar
fabric of dawn, I thought

of China,
and India
and Europe, and I thought
how the sun

blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises

under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.

here is the Bio i posted at a show that starts tonight at Java Joes...
it will be up for a month!

Artist: Karen Carmona

Karen Carmona is a contemporary painter who presently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She grew up in the rolling hills of Southern California and then moved to Washington where she earned her BFA in Fine Arts. Karen mainly does oil paintings and acrylic paintings but has tampered in sculpture and printmaking.
Currently Karen Carmona is teaching art in Santa Fe Public Schools and is involved in the healing arts as a massage therapist.

Abstract art, in which objects are not depicted in their original state but rather as shapes and colors in a non-objective way, has influenced her a lot. Most of her paintings are abstract in form and depict her freedom of expression. She mainly uses very bright and bold colors in her acrylic and oil paintings. She mostly does her paintings on canvas, yet some of her pieces exhibited here are painted on wood panels; these pieces express her intrigue with recycled materials.

Karen Carmona mainly presents images from her dreams and imagination. She allows her thoughts to flow in a free manner and that is what forms the base of most of her paintings All the paintings of Karen Carmona clearly depict her expressionism and inner thoughts. It is the artist's intention that her paintings may be hung in multiple directions. There are online shops where one can order and buy the paintings of Karen Carmona.


"My images are created from
moments: forms found in
glimpses of self-realization.
Images are fluid in experience
and created in a process from
within."...


Please feel free to contact the artist or visit her website:

www.karmona.us

(818) 857-9857

painting by beloved Bill Matthews

Anyone looking honestly at life will see that we live in a constant state of suspense and ambiguity. Our minds are perpetually shifting in and out of confusion and clarity. If we could be confused all the time, that would at least make for some kind of clarity. What is really baffling about life is that sometimes, despite all our confusion, we can also be really wise!

This constant uncertainty may make everything seem bleak and almost hopeless; but if you look more deeply at it, you will see that its very nature creates "gaps," spaces in which profound chances and opportunities for transformation are continuously flowering ­ if, that is, they can be seen and seized.

Sogyal Rinpoche

"each image painted
on the canvas of existence
is the form
of the artist himself.
Eternal Ocean
spews forth new waves.
"Waves" we call them;
but there is only the Sea."

~Fakhruddin Iraqi

He's there among the scented trees,
playing the notes he has taught you.
Too late for embarrassment, shy doe
nibbling at the forest's edge,
shawled in deep blue shadows.
He's calling you. The flower of your soul
is opening, little deer.
The river of scent will lead you
deep into the trees where he waits.
The bihanga also plays tonight --
do you hear his more distant flute?
Black bees carry the moon's luster
from flower to flower.
The rest of the grove will bloom tonight, I think.
How he looks at you, young animal.
He shames the moon with his own dark light.

Let's bow down before the young Lord,
the deep blue flowers at his feet.

~ Tagore

"Still"

I said I will find what is lowly
and put the roots of my identity
down there:
each day I'll wake up
and find the lowly nearby,
a handy focus and reminder,
a ready measure of my significance,
the voice by which I would be heard,
the wills, the kinds of selfishness
I could
freely adopt as my own:

but though I have looked everywhere,
I can find nothing
to give myself to:
everything is

magnificent with existence, is in
surfeit of glory:
nothing is diminished,
nothing has been diminished for me:

I said what is more lowly than the grass:
ah, underneath,
a ground-crust of dry-burnt moss:
I looked at it closely
and said this can be my habitat: but
nestling in I
found
below the brown exterior
green mechanisms beyond the intellect
awaiting resurrection in rain: so I got up

and ran saying there is nothing lowly in the universe:
I found a beggar:
he had stumps for legs: nobody was paying
him any attention: everybody went on by:
I nestled in and found his life:
there, love shook his body like a devastation:
I said
though I have looked everywhere
I can find nothing lowly
in the universe:

I whirled though transfigurations up and down,
transfigurations of size and shape and place:

at one sudden point came still,
stood in wonder:
moss, beggar, weed, tick, pine, self, magnificent
with being!

-A.R. Ammons

today i slid down my driveway on a cardboard box...what FUN!
May all beings try it something new today!

distractions.

so my year started a little late and better than ever: so many simple goals have been sustained and so many blessings have shined their way into my life. it is amazing how many times we can start over. some of my goals include staying away from the things that do not uplift my higher self, getting closer to the things that i love, and using better judgment. so far so good. may your year be as blessed. cheers!

Free Glitter Graphics

if i know anything, it is about starting over... and what better time then Now! May all beings follow their bliss, their heart, and their higher way.

Sitting alone in peace before these cliffs
the full moon is heaven's beacon
the ten thousand things are all reflections
the moon originally has no light
wide open the spirit of itself is pure
hold fast to the void realize its subtle mystery
look at the moon like this
this moon that is the heart's pivot

~Han-shan

He who binds himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy.
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise.

~William Blake

Your world and My world,
On every side of the Star,
Fit like a puzzle.

Gaurdian Angel

* dedicated to Coach Steve Ilg
www.wholisticfitness.com

I am the bird that flutters against your window in the morning,
and your closest friend, whom you can never know,
blossoms that light up for the blind.

I am the glacier shining over the woods, so pale,
and heavy voices from the cathedral tower.
The thought that suddenly hits you in the middle of the day
and makes you feel so fantastically happy.

I am the one you have loved for many years.
I walk beside you all day and look intently at you
and put my mouth against your heart
though you're not aware of it.

I am your third arm, your second
shadow, the white one,
whom you cannot accept,
and who can never forget you.

~Rolf Jacobsen

In Loving Memory of Scooter Boy


"We Must Die Because We Have Known Them"

The Moment

And not once,
but many times over,
again and again,
how we disappeared
into that deep well
of darkness, shuddering beneath that load of silence,
clinging to our narrow ledge.

Yet the darkness, sometimes,
unfolded as light.
Our atoms dissolved in it,
each separate molecule opening
into a radiant disk of feeling.

How still we became,
witness and thing seen,
spectacle and observer,
each point admitting an untrammeled flood.

by Dorothy Walters

Doubt is not a disease but merely a symptom of a lack of what we in our tradition call the View, which is the realization of the nature of mind, and so of the nature of reality. When the View is there completely, there will be no possibility for the slightest trace of doubt, for then we'll be looking at reality through its own eyes. But until we reach enlightenment there will inevitably be doubts, because doubt is a fundamental activity of the unenlightened mind, and the only way to deal with doubts is neither to suppress nor indulge them.

~Sogyal Rinpoche

Middle of the night
Trying to express mySelf,
It's total madness.

Rama Ramkali

The ira-vein,
the pingala-vein,
the sukhmana-vein --
these three
converge at one spot.
Where the three rivers meet,
there is found holy Prayag --
and it is there
that the heart bathes
and becomes clean.

O you saints,
it is there that you find
the faultless Ram.
Only the fortunate few
who follow the guru's path
understand this truth:
the eternal Ram
is forever blended therein.

What are the manifestations
of Deva's abode?
There,
resounds the Word unspoken.
There,
neither moon nor sun,
air nor water exist.
Those who follow
the guru's words
know all this already.

Divine wisdom awakens
and hard-heartedness
melts away;
sweet ambrosia
soaks and wets
the inner sky.
Those who know the secret
of this discipline
will surely meet
the primal Gurudeva.

Beyond the Tenth Door
is the abode
of the inaccessible,
the unfathomable
Primal Being.
Above the body,
upon the body
is an alcove.
Within this alcove
is His abode.

Be vigilant;
do not fall asleep.
Attain that stage
wherein the three qualities
and the three worlds
count for nothing.
Place the seed-mantra
within your heart.
Turn back your mind
and fix it upon Silence.

Be vigilant;
do not dwell in falsehood.
Restrain and hold back
the five senses.
Place the guru's teaching
in your thoughts,
and lay your body
and your soul
as an offering
to Krishna's love.

Deem your hands and fingers
as branches of a tree:
do not lose your life
as in a gambling match.
Well up the spring that feeds
the stream of evil deeds;
drive the sun away from the west.
Restrain what cannot be restrained,
and let the spring gush forth:
thus converse with Jaganath.

A lamp
with four wicks
illumines the Tenth Door:
countless petals surround
the flower's cup.
Therein dwells
the Lord Himself,
holding all His power:
a ruby hidden
by another precious ruby.

In the brain
is the lotus
encircled by diamonds.
Therein is Niranjan,
the Holder
of the three worlds.
All the five types of instruments
play sweetly on;
the fan sways;
the conch forever resounds.

The guru's enlightenment
tramples all demons underfoot:
Beni begs for Your name.

~Beni
(14th century)

For six years sitting alone
still as a snake
in a stalk of bamboo
with no family
but the ice
on the snow mountain
Last night
seeing the empty sky
fly into pieces
he shook
the morning star awake
and kept it in his eyes

~Muso Soseki

Samadhi

Vanished the veils of light and shade,
Lifted every vapor of sorrow,
Sailed away all dawns of fleeting joy,
Gone the dim sensory mirage.
Love, hate, health, disease, life, death,
Perished these false shadows on the screen of duality.
Waves of laughter, scyllas of sarcasm, melancholic whirlpools,
Melting in the vast sea of bliss.
The storm of maya stilled
By magic wand of intuition deep.
The universe, forgotten dream, subconsciously lurks,
Ready to invade my newly wakened memory divine.
I live without the cosmic shadow,
But it is not, bereft of me;
As the sea exists without the waves,
But they breathe not without the sea.
Dreams, wakings, states of deep turiya sleep,
Present, past, future, no more for me,
But ever-present, all-flowing I, I, everywhere.
Planets, stars, stardust, earth,
Volcanic bursts of doomsday cataclysms,
Creation's molding furnace,
Glaciers of silent x-rays, burning electron floods,
Thoughts of all men, past, present, to come,
Every blade of grass, myself, mankind,
Each particle of universal dust,
Anger, greed, good, bad, salvation, lust,
I swallowed, transmuted all
Into a vast ocean of blood of my own one Being!
Smoldering joy, oft-puffed by meditation
Blinding my tearful eyes,
Burst into immortal flames of bliss,
Consumed my tears, my frame, my all.
Thou art I, I am Thou,
Knowing, Knower, Known, as One!
Tranquilled, unbroken thrill, eternally living, ever new peace!
Enjoyable beyond imagination of expectancy, samadhi bliss!
Not a mental chloroform
Or unconscious state without wilful return,
Samadhi but extends my conscious realm
Beyond the limits of the mortal frame
To farthest boundary of eternity
Where I, the Cosmic Sea,
Watch the little ego floating in me.
The sparrow, each grain of sand, fall not without my sight.
All space like an iceberg floats within my mental sea.
Colossal Container, I, of all things made.
By deeper, longer, thirsty, guru-given meditation
Comes this celestial samadhi
Mobile murmurs of atoms are heard,
The dark earth, mountains, vales, lo! molten liquid!
Flowing seas change into vapors of nebulae!
Aum blows upon the vapors, opening wondrously their veils,
Oceans stand revealed, shining electrons,
Till, at last sound of the cosmic drum,
Vanish the grosser lights into eternal rays
Of all-pervading bliss.
From joy I came, for joy I live, in sacred joy I melt.
Ocean of mind, I drink all creation's waves.
Four veils of solid, liquid, vapor, light,
Lift aright.
Myself, in everything, enters the Great Myself.
Gone forever, fitful, flickering shadows of mortal memory.
Spotless is my mental sky, below, ahead, and high above.
Eternity and I, one united ray.
A tiny bubble of laughter, I
Am become the Sea of Mirth Itself.

~Paramahansa Yogananda

Listen, my friend, this road is the heart opening,
Kissing his feet, resistance broken, tears all night.

If we could reach the Lord through immersion in water,
I would have asked to be born a fish in this life.
If we could reach Him through nothing but berries and wild nuts,
Then surely the saints would have been monkeys when they came from the womb!
If we could reach him by munching lettuce and dry leaves,
Then the goats would surely go to the Holy One before us!

If the worship of stone statues could bring us all the way,
I would have adored a granite mountain years ago.

Mirabai says: The heat of midnight tears will bring you to God.

~Mirabai

A fiery chariot borne on nimble wings (from Faust)


A fiery chariot borne on nimble wings
approaches me. I am prepared to change my course,
to penetrate the ether's high dominions
toward novel spheres of pure activity.
Do you, scarcely better than a worm, deserve
this lofty life and heavenly delight?
Now be resolute and turn your back
on our earth's endearing sun!
Be bold and brash ad force the gates
from which men shrink and slink away!
The time has come to prove by deeds
that man will not give in to gods' superior might
and will not quake before the pit where fantasy
condemns itself to tortures of its own creation
when he advances to the narrow passageway
about whose mouth infernal flames are blazing.
Approach the brink serenely and accept the risk
of melting into nothingness.

Every single negative thing we have ever thought or done has ultimately arisen from our grasping at a false self, and our cherishing of that false self, making it the dearest and most important element in our lives. All those negative thoughts, emotions, desires, and actions that are the cause of our negative karma are engendered by self-grasping and self-cherishing. They are the dark, powerful magnet that attracts to us, life after life, every obstacle, every misfortune, every anguish, every disaster, and so they are the root cause of all the sufferings of samsara.

-Sogyal Rinpoche

(painting by beloved Bill Matthews entitled "Reap")

Pink Monkeyflower

Mimulus lewisii
(pink)

Positive qualities: Emotional transparency; courage to take emotional risks with others

Patterns of imbalance: Feelings of shame, guilt, or unworthiness; fear of exposure and rejection due to prior abuse or trauma

White Chestnut

also known as Horse Chestnut


Aesculus hippocastanum
(white with pink, red and yellow centers)

Positive qualities: Tranquil disposition, spacious mental state that transcends personal or petty thoughts

Patterns of imbalance: Worry-bound repetitive thoughts, chattering mind; restless and agitated mental condition; insomnia

Walnut


Juglans regia
(green)

Positive qualities: Freedom from limiting influences, making healthy transitions in life, inner strength to follow one's own path and destiny

Patterns of imbalance: Overly influenced by the social expectations or values of family or community, past experiences or beliefs that inhibit the soul's evolution

Mariposa Lily

Calochortus leichtlinii
(white/yellow center/purple spots)

Positive qualities: Maternal consciousness, warm, feminine and nurturing; mother-child bonding, positive connection to mother and similar female figures

Patterns of imbalance: Alienated from mother or from mothering role, feelings of childhood abandonment or abuse; orphan state of consciousness

Manzanita

Arctostaphylos viscida
(white-pink)

Positive qualities: Joyous embodiment, spiritual identity integrated with the physical body

Patterns of imbalance: Estranged from the earthly world; aversion or revulsion toward the body and physical world; eating and sleeping disorders

Angelica

Angelica archangelica
(white)

Positive qualities: Feeling protection and guidance from spiritual beings, especially during threshold experiences such as birth and death, or other life passages

Patterns of imbalance: Feeling cut off, bereft of spiritual guidance and protection; spiritual orphan
Arnica

Agrimony


Agrimonia eupatoria
(yellow)

Positive qualities: Emotional honesty, acknowledging and working with emotional pain, ability to radiate genuine equanimity and inner peace

Patterns of imbalance: Anxiety hidden by a mask of cheerfulness; denial and avoidance of emotional pain, addictive behavior to anesthetize feelings

my new Love...Flower Essences.

i have met with a Beautiful Jane Ellen to help me develop a perfect Flower Essence tincture. Jane is an expert with Essences and i would highly recommend you make an appointment to speak with her.

Jane Ellen

Transitional Integration

505-570-1208



Email: Jane@TransitionalIntegration.com

Website: http://www.TransitionalIntegration.com


As i deepen my relationship to these essences, i anticipate subtle and dramatic changes within my spiritual, emotional, mental and physical being. i Trust that this journey will bring me Home to my truest Self and Highest Potential. it will be a trying and liberating experience i am sure. already, i feel more calm and centered.

i encourage you to learn more about Flower Essences and begin your journey today!


in Guiding Light,
karen

www.fesflowers.com

Worldly affairs are all deceptive;
So I seek the Truth Divine.

Excitements and distractions are illusions;
So I meditate on the Non-dual Truth.

Companions and servants are deceptive;
So I remain in solitude.

Money and possessions are also deceptive;
So if I have them, I give them away.

Things in the outer world are all illusion;
The Inner Mind is that which I observe.

Wandering thoughts are all deceptive;
So I only tread the Path of Wisdom.

Deceptive are the teachings of Expedient Truth;
The Final Truth is that on which I meditate.

Books written in black ink are all misleading;
I only meditate on the Pith-Instructions of the Whispered Lineage.

Words and sayings, too, are but illusion;
At ease, I rest my mind in the effortless state.

Birth and death are both illusions;
I observe but the truth of No-Arising.

The common mind is in every way misleading;
And so I practice how to animate Awareness.

The Mind-holding Practice is misleading and deceptive;
And so I rest in the realm of Reality.

Milarepa

Trembling


It's dark and
I can't find my face.
Did I leave it on a canvas
somewhere by accident?
Last night was filled
with the passions of owls.
Now it's snowing
wonder in my soul.
Dawn bleeds into me
playing its morning flute.
I tremble without my face
but oh, what a trembling.

Today I awoke, finally I see the Self has re-turned to the Self.
The Self is none other than the Self.
I am deathless. I am endless. I am free.
The birds outside sing...
The birds outside sing and there am I.
The seeing of leaves on the trees, that seeing am I.
The body breathes, breathing am I.
I am awake and I know that I am awake.
Seen from the old eyes, everything is asleep, a game, a delusion.
But now I am awake. I am the play. I am the game. I am the delusion.
I am the enlightenment I sought, looking everywhere.
Nothing is separate, nothing is alone.
I am all that I see. All that I smell, taste, touch, feel, think and know.
I am awake and this awakeness is the same as Shyakyamuni Buddha's.
Today the leaf has returned to the root.
I am all name and form and beyond all name and form.
I am Spirit, no longer trapped in a body.
I am free. I am free because I am awake.
So ordinary. Who would have thought ? Who could have guessed?
I am home. I am really home. Ten thousand life times.
Ten thousand life times but today I am home.
Ten thousand life times but today I am home.
This is not an experience. This is me.
I am awake. Finally, I am awake.
Nothing has changed, but I am awake.
Before I tasted the root many times and felt, how delicious.
Today I became the root. How ordinary.

-Adyashanti

His Living Proof

By Abdul-Qader Bedil
(1644 - 1721)

English version by David and Sabrineh Fideler



The eternal mysteries,
following wisdom's lead,
brought forth
the human form
as their living proof.

As long as the drop
hadn't emerged from the sea,
the ocean
didn't notice
the depths of its splendor.

Into this new love, die
your way begins
on the other side
become the sky
take an axe to the prison wall,
escape
walk out like someone
suddenly born into color
do it now


-Rumi

The
Earth
Lifts its glass to the sun
And light -- light
Is poured.

A bird
Comes and sits on a crystal rim
And from my forest cave I
Hear singing.

So I run to the edge of existence
And join my soul in love.

I lift my heart to God
And grace is poured.

An emerald bird rises from inside me
And now sits
Upon the Beloved's
Glass.

I have left that dark cave forever.
My body has blended with His.

I lay my wing
As a bridge to you

So that you can join us
Singing.

-Hafiz

being present with your entire self for service of another is Divine.

In bricks and in granite,

By Civivakkiyar
(9th Century)

English version by Kamil V. Zvelebil



In bricks and in granite,
in the red-rubbed lingam,
in copper and brass
is Siva's abode --
that's what you tell us,
and you're wrong.
Stay where you are
and study your own selves.
Then you will BECOME
the Temple of God,
full of His dance and spell
and song.

Each one has come embodied into this world of joy and grief, of growth and decay in order to discover the way home, to get back to the source from which he has strayed into this wilderness. This has to be done within the allotted time of our life span. But, man is attracted by the phantom lights and he ignores the call of destiny. His senses lead him on and on, deeper and deeper into the maze until he dies with a moan instead of with a smile. The precious years between birth and death are wasted in worthless acquisitions and meaningless achievements.


- BABA

May I come to see with naked eyes
the form of the fully emergent mandala
of perfect deities, the sport of the ever-present mind
inside the courtyard of the heart's dharma chakra.

every inner detail is a mirror

okay okay, so i have been slacking on the blog thing. lo siento. it is only because i have been dazzled with this whole transition into Santa Fe. i love it; the people, my sweet location overlooking all of town and perfect for viewing the sunsets, my school (New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts), the sunshine--everything! this truely is the land of enchantment.