(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
--------------------------------------------
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)
----------------------------------
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
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
