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MAHATMA GANDHI 1869 -1948), India’s peaceful activitst
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”
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PEACE
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LOVE
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STEWARDSHIP
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IN LOVING MEMORY
for
THE FALLEN
and
THEIR FAMILIES
Tag: peace
I WOULD BE
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However, nothing is just what it seems to be.
My objects dream and wear new costumes,
compelled to, it seems, by all the words in my hands
and the sea that bangs in my throat.
The Room of My Life by Anne Sexton in The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton
I WOULD BE
by
Jamie Dedes
I would be that ancient red rosebush
sitting in meditation beside the creek
that flows near the home-place and
a belt of vacant land, wide-awake wood
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I would be a thorn-and-thistle-free me,
a cool, soothing fog, a silken river-stone,
or a whiff of magnolia traveling through
dark night on an aquamarine breeze
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An old hunger rises in me to rest calm
beside the safe harbor of rambling rill,
days writ in gently cautious calligraphy,
mind as empty and conscious as a forest
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But rosebush and wood endure winter
and the creek its dry-spell, river-stone’s
silken finish is born of the chaffing wave,
the magnolia was felled by the gardener
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Photo credit ~ Christine Vincent, Public Domain Pictures.net.
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THE GARDEN OF MY HEART
Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926) Zen Monk, Dharma Teacher, Social Activist, Writer, Poet, Peacemaker
Nhat Hanh is now recognized as a Dharmacharya and as the spiritual head of the Từ Hiếu Temple and associated monasteries. On May 1, 1966 at Từ Hiếu Temple, Thich Nhat Hanh received the “lamp transmission”, making him a Dharmacharya or Dharma Teacher, from Master Chân Thật. MORE [Wikipedia]
Though a Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh combines traditional Zen with techniques from Theravada Buddhism, the wisdom of the Mahayana tradition, and ideas of modern Western psychology to teach meditation and spiritual values and practices in a way that resonates for people from diverse religious, political, and cultural backgrounds. He is a writer, poet, and peacemaker with over 100 books published (many in English). He was suggested for but never received the Nobel Prize for Peace by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Since 1966, Thich Nhat Hanh has lived in exhile in France. Based at Plum Village, a meditation community in the south of France, he is a leading Buddhist teacher, encourages engaged Buddhism (a movement for social activism that he founded), and conducts humanitarian efforts.
Thich Nhat Hahn coined the term “interbeing,” a pointer to the Buddhist principles of impermanence and nonself, which bring light to the idea and ideal of the inter-connectedness of all things. He founded The Order of Interbeing, the members of which include lay people. Link HERE to brief summaries of each of the fourtheen mindfulness trainings of the Order of Interbeing. J.D.
“If in our daily lives we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile? Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy. The source of a true smile is an awakened mind.”
~ from Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
Here is a meditative interlude. The title of this post is a quote from the meditation, which is an excerpt from an album called Graceful Passages: A Companion for Living and Dying. It features spiritual teachers from many traditions offering advice to the dying – in other words, advice to all of us. Today and everyday : in metta, A.E., R.R., J.D.
Video posted to YouTube by pantheist46n2.
CHIAROSCURO PLEASURES
CHIAROSCURO PLEASURES
by
Jamie Dedes
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Midnight blue, so long and empty
it swallows the moon to fill heart
and still the strings of that beat
playing amber vibrato on the
dew breezes. It stings with lusts of
whispered secrets, of river speak.
Listen, before the mourning dove.
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Pink pale love found, lost again.
Time and mind drift on ‘til there sets
a lotus peace. In that place full now
with chiaroscuro pleasures, neither
the moon or the sun, nor even stars.
Pure internal verities, unalloyed joy.
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Photo credit ~ Petr Kratochvil, Public Domain Pictures.net.
THE SUN & THE MOON ARE FREE
We cannot rest on the notion of the “innocent civilian.” Morally, when it comes to a free and powerful nation like ours, I believe there are no innocent civilians. If I pay taxes, I am a combatant.” Rick Steves, historian, author, TV Personality in Travel As a Political Act
On Memorial Day: in the hope that the human race will work to find solutions other than war, which is not a solution at all.
THE SUN AND THE MOON ARE FREE
by
Jamie Dedes
Why do I write this in ink so black
it melts the pages of my journey?
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It is a peaceful night here.
The stars are tossed across a
clear, dark velvet sky like the
garden fairies dancing at dusk.
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The moonlight reaches down
to embrace me in its silver light,
its touch delicate as a whisper.
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What of you, dear brother?
And what of you, dear sister?
Are they free by you …
the moon and the stars?
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Is the night sky at peace?
My ink burns to bone and
melts the pages of my journey
for you …
– who were born of violence
– who were born into violence.
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Your pain and your losses are
not mandated by any god.
The murders, the maiming, the
hunger, homelessness, loneliness …
the disenfranchisement: man made.
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Why do I write this in ink so black
it melts the pages of my journey?
Because I fear, because I know
my fragile, cherished kin, I KNOW –
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Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!
– for what we have done
– what we have not done
– we are culpable.
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PEACE:
IT’S A DECISION
NOT A PRAYER
Photo credit~ Peter Griffin, Public Domain Pictures.net
GREAT JOYFUL PROCLAIMER
Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda (1929 -2007)
Buddhist Monk of the Theravada tradition.
Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism during Pol Pot’s reign of terror
Maha Ghosananda, his Pali Monastic name means joyful proclaimer
He lost his entire family and his friends at Khamer Rouge
Biography HERE
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“Peace is possible!”
Maha Ghosananda’s motto.
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“Don’t struggle with people, with men. Struggle with the goals and conditions that make men fight each other.”
“If a driver is not sober how can he drive a car? If you don’t calm your spirit, you cannot bring peace to the country.”
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“I do not question that loving one’s oppressors – Cambodians loving the Khmer Rouge – may be the most difficult attitude to achieve. But it is a way of the universe that retaliation, hatred, and revenge only continue the cycle and never stop it. Reconciliation does not mean that we surrender rights and conditions. It means that we see ourselves in the opponent – for what is the opponent but a being in ignorance, and we ourselves are also ignorant of many things. Therefore, only loving kindness and right mindfulness can free us. [From his essay The Human Family.]
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“We must find the courage to leave out temples
and enter the temples of human experience,
temples that are filled with suffering.
If we listen to the Buddha, Christ or Gandhi, we can do nothing else.
The refugee camps, the prisons, the ghettos
and the battlefields will then become our temples.”
and enter the temples of human experience,
temples that are filled with suffering.
If we listen to the Buddha, Christ or Gandhi, we can do nothing else.
The refugee camps, the prisons, the ghettos
and the battlefields will then become our temples.”
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I was so taken with the story of this “joyful proclaimer” in Rob’s story yesterday, that I had to do research on him. I don’t think he’s written any books and there are few videos and none with a dharma talk, but the whole of the man’s life was a dharma talk,* an inspired and inspiring one. J.D.
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The quotes were gleaned from two sites, which others may wish to visit:
Photo credit –nyana_ponika under under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license via Wikipedia.
* Dharma talk – public discourse. The wonderful thing about dharma is that it is not dogma! J.D.
CHERISH HOME
Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and popularizer of natural and space science
CARL SAGAN was the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University. He played a leading role in the American space program since its inception. He was a consultant and adviser to NASA since the 1950’s, briefed the Apollo astronauts before their flights to the Moon, and was an experimenter on theMariner, Viking, Voyager, and Galileoexpeditions to the planets. He helped solve the mysteries of the high temperatures of Venus (answer: massive greenhouse effect), the seasonal changes on Mars (answer: windblown dust), and the reddish haze of Titan (answer: complex organic molecules). MORE [The Carl Sagan Portal. This site is recommended, well worth your time.]
Carl Sagan may not be a teacher in the Buddhist sense, but he is a teacher with a wise and compassionate message. Here Sagan puts things into perspective for all human kind:
Video posted to YouTube by CarlSaganPortal.
Earth as seen from Apollo 17.
“A mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam . . . ” Carl Sagan
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Let there be peace.
It’s a decision not a prayer.
The BeZine 