April 10, 2013

April 10, 2013

(Please Read: Google has reintroduced the thumbnails at the bottom of the photos after you double click on any image.)

   While continuing to wait for the arrival of Spring my thoughts and photography have turned to the death of Winter and in turn the death of my longing for greener surroundings. Several weeks ago I received the  Transmission of the Five Mindfulness Trainings also known in Buddhist circles as the Five Precepts. What this Transmission means to me is the reception of the fact that the trainings have always been alive and well within my self, and that the all morning ritual I was part of served to remind me of what already exists. It was a symbolic rite that brought forth the death of Winter as the prevailing weather over my heart and into the Spring of mindful awareness of the "What Is."

   So why the photos of dead things this week? They are reminders of where I was in this cycle of the years of my life, and of the memories I want to keep fresh, because when Winter is over the cold, lifeless days are soon easily forgotten. The story of ressurection is well defined in the changing of the Seasons as new growth is right around the corner for the trees below, and in the changing of heart's Seasons which has already begun. 

   I have included the Five Mindfulness Trainings at the end of the blog for any who might wish to know what they are. 

   Leonard is ever in view as I make the right turn at the end of the road we live on. The older cemetary where Leonard is buried on a small rise gives assurance that this life will not be forgotten as long as the stone remains readable. I say hello to him almost every day. Yes I talk to the dead - something a long ago mentor by the name of Bernie Shannon told me many years ago that he did as a remembrance ritual to honor his friends. Leonard has become something of a friend so I greet him often. 

   

- Earth Roots –

What are Earth Roots, my daughter asked

     when she was just a child,

examining each flower in its home.

Earth Roots are a special connection,

     a sacred thread that joins our spirits

     to every living thing, I said. Earth Roots

Join me to you, and you to birds and flowers.

In her hand my daughter held a sparrow

     with a broken wing. She said:

Can Earth Roots make the sparrow fly again?

The sparrow can become a rose, in time,

     just as the rose takes wing, I said.

Earth Roots make all things possible.

My daughter did not understand these things

     until she had a daughter of her own.

     Then she saw the way Earth Roots join

     The sparrow to the rose.

                                                                Nancy Wood

- Gravity –

How surely gravity's law,

strong as an ocean's current,

takes hold of even the smallest thing

and pulls it toward the heart of the world.

Each thing –

each stone, blossom, child –

is held in place.

Only we, in our arrogance,

push out beyond what we each belong to

for some empty freedom.

If we surrendered

to earth's intelligence

we could rise up rooted, like trees.

Instead we entangle ourselves

in knots of our own making

and struggle, lonely and confused.

So, like children, we begin again

to learn from the things,

because they are in God's heart;

they have never left God.

This is what the things can teach us,

to fall,

patiently to trust our heaviness.

Even the birds have to do this

before they can fly.

                                                                  Rainer Maria Rilke

( The poem above is a repeat worthy of another reading.)

The Negative/ The Positive

The Positive/ The negative

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   Some humor followed by the Five Mindfulness Trainings. If you don't read them all the preamble encapsulates their essence.

Waiting on Spring    (From the Web)

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   The Five Mindfulness Trainings - From Thich Nhat Hahn and the Order of Interbeing.

   The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.

The First Mindfulness Training: Reverence For Life

   Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

The Second Mindfulness Training: True Happiness

   Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to practicing Right Livelihood so that I can help reduce the suffering of living beings on Earth and reverse the process of global warming.

The Third Mindfulness Training: True Love

   Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness – which are the four basic elements of true love – for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.

The Fourth Mindfulness Training: Loving Speech and Deep Listening

   Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope. When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into my anger. I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person. I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other person to transform suffering and see the way out of difficult situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I will practice Right Diligence to nourish my capacity for understanding, love, joy, and inclusiveness, and gradually transform anger, violence, and fear that lie deep in my consciousness.

The Fifth Mindfulness Training: Nourishment and Healing

   Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I will practice looking deeply into how I consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments, namely edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. I am determined not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs, or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films, magazines, books, and conversations. I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by losing myself in consumption. I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the Earth.

Peace until next week,

   Bill Lagerstrom