Joe asks about faith. He's got none, he says.
I tell him, for me, faith is not knowing anything, but trusting it being there.
O, Master of the Secret, what is enlightenment?
It means knowing your own mind as it really is.
This is unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment,
In which there is nothing at all that can be attained.
Why?
Because the form of it is enlightenment,
It has no knowledge and no understanding.
Why?
Because enlightenment has no form.
The formlessness of all things is called the form of space.
- The Scripture of Vairochana attaining Buddhahood
Shawn wonders why there's a body on the cross. It don't make no sense, he says, the guy is dead, raised, and ascended.
I tell him, as companioning comparison, about the Bodhisattva vow, how Buddhists consider Jesus a great Bodhisattva. Jesus, in this Christian iconography, not going anywhere until we all gather and go with him in love.
If you took notice of our transgressions, Lord -- Lord, who would be left?
But with you is forgiveness, and for this we revere you.
Psalm 129 (130)
We don't own God.
Ours is an unknown God.
There, and here, and everywhere.
Faith-fully.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Be careful as you live.
How?
Errant thoughts are fundamentally empty; the essence of mind is fundamentally pure. You suddenly realize this essence is originally free from afflictions; the essence of knowledge is inherently complete, no different from Buddha. To cultivate practice based on this is called the Zen of the highest vehicle, and it is also called the pure Zen of those who realize suchness.
- Master Chinul (1158-1210)
"Suchness" was the last word Charlotte wrote me. Things as they are. Such it is. As it is.
about competition
the higher you climb
the greater the pressure.
those who manage to
endure
learn
that the distance
between the
top and the
bottom
is
obscenely
great.
and those who
succeed
know
this secret:
there isn't
one.
(Poem: "about competition" by Charles Bukowski from the Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line the Way. c. Ecco.)
No distance; no secret.
Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
—Ephesians 5:15-20, NIV
"Be careful how you live," in Greek is "See to things very carefully."
Seeing to things very carefully is paying attention to what is taking place.
Out in the open.
The presence of truth, of God, whole and complete.
Listen.
Speak to one another.
How?
Errant thoughts are fundamentally empty; the essence of mind is fundamentally pure. You suddenly realize this essence is originally free from afflictions; the essence of knowledge is inherently complete, no different from Buddha. To cultivate practice based on this is called the Zen of the highest vehicle, and it is also called the pure Zen of those who realize suchness.
- Master Chinul (1158-1210)
"Suchness" was the last word Charlotte wrote me. Things as they are. Such it is. As it is.
about competition
the higher you climb
the greater the pressure.
those who manage to
endure
learn
that the distance
between the
top and the
bottom
is
obscenely
great.
and those who
succeed
know
this secret:
there isn't
one.
(Poem: "about competition" by Charles Bukowski from the Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line the Way. c. Ecco.)
No distance; no secret.
Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
—Ephesians 5:15-20, NIV
"Be careful how you live," in Greek is "See to things very carefully."
Seeing to things very carefully is paying attention to what is taking place.
Out in the open.
The presence of truth, of God, whole and complete.
Listen.
Speak to one another.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
I know why we are in pain. Without 'my' we don't believe we exist.
My interests. My profit. My desires. My way. My beliefs. My ass.
It seems easy to figure how we go missing. We are not there (we think) but with 'my' 'my' 'my.'
Everything is the original law;
Every day the morning sun
Clears the sky,
In every mind there is no
Separate mind.
In every place the pure wind
Circles the earth.
If you can understand in this way,
Then there is no need for Buddha
To appear in this world
Or for Bodhidharma to come
From the west.
- Daio (1235-1309)
'My' is a filter eliminating 'we.'
Is this why Christians fear Buddhists? The notion of no-self is too terrifying to contemplate.
Is this why Buddhists fear Christians? The notion of three-we (trinity) is too mysterious to meditate?
No-self is three-we; three-we is no-self.
Definitions of trinity:
* three: the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
* the union of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost in one Godhead
* trio: three people considered as a unit
(wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)
Where society goes wrong is teaching my my my as primary craving. This primary craving is original separation. All that is wrong falls from this misunderstanding.
Brahms
It must be that my early friendship with defeat
Has given me affection for the month of August.
The potato fields belong to early night.
So many times as a boy I sat in the dirt
Among dry cornstalks that gave assurances
Every hour that Francis has his ear to the night.
Columbus's letters tell us that we will receive
The gifts that mariners all receive at the endÂ?
Memories of gold and a grave in the sand.
The shadow of a friend's hand gives us
Promises similar to those we received from
The light under the door as our mother came near.
Each of us is a Jacob weeping for Joseph.
We are the sparrow that flies through the warrior's
Hall and back out into the falling snow.
I don't know why these images should please me
So much; an angel said: "In the last moment before night
Brahms will show you how loyal the notes are.
(Poem: "Brahms" by Robert Bly from My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy. © Harper Collins Publishers.)
What is true to itself resides in the no-other.
It's what Christ is.
It's what Buddha is.
No-self, only, one and one and one.
Micah had it right. He himself will be peace. (Micah 4:14ff)
Be it.
Loyal.
No my.
No other.
Truly.
Peace.
Itself.
My interests. My profit. My desires. My way. My beliefs. My ass.
It seems easy to figure how we go missing. We are not there (we think) but with 'my' 'my' 'my.'
Everything is the original law;
Every day the morning sun
Clears the sky,
In every mind there is no
Separate mind.
In every place the pure wind
Circles the earth.
If you can understand in this way,
Then there is no need for Buddha
To appear in this world
Or for Bodhidharma to come
From the west.
- Daio (1235-1309)
'My' is a filter eliminating 'we.'
Is this why Christians fear Buddhists? The notion of no-self is too terrifying to contemplate.
Is this why Buddhists fear Christians? The notion of three-we (trinity) is too mysterious to meditate?
No-self is three-we; three-we is no-self.
Definitions of trinity:
* three: the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
* the union of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost in one Godhead
* trio: three people considered as a unit
(wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)
Where society goes wrong is teaching my my my as primary craving. This primary craving is original separation. All that is wrong falls from this misunderstanding.
Brahms
It must be that my early friendship with defeat
Has given me affection for the month of August.
The potato fields belong to early night.
So many times as a boy I sat in the dirt
Among dry cornstalks that gave assurances
Every hour that Francis has his ear to the night.
Columbus's letters tell us that we will receive
The gifts that mariners all receive at the endÂ?
Memories of gold and a grave in the sand.
The shadow of a friend's hand gives us
Promises similar to those we received from
The light under the door as our mother came near.
Each of us is a Jacob weeping for Joseph.
We are the sparrow that flies through the warrior's
Hall and back out into the falling snow.
I don't know why these images should please me
So much; an angel said: "In the last moment before night
Brahms will show you how loyal the notes are.
(Poem: "Brahms" by Robert Bly from My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy. © Harper Collins Publishers.)
What is true to itself resides in the no-other.
It's what Christ is.
It's what Buddha is.
No-self, only, one and one and one.
Micah had it right. He himself will be peace. (Micah 4:14ff)
Be it.
Loyal.
No my.
No other.
Truly.
Peace.
Itself.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Stephen's Day. The motif of a father's grief for his son. Contemplation takes in both sorrow and joy. At times they are indistinguishable.
Once, in Vienna Austria, inside the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, a late afternoon light through stained glass fell to floor. That was 17 years ago.
Stephen wrote the Admonitiones (Admonitions) in Latin for his beloved and talented Christian son Imre. This writing was the most noteworthy piece of literature in Hungary at that time. After his power was consolidated, Stephen planned to abdicate in the favor of Imre and dedicate the rest of his life to God. The Illustrated Chronicle reports about this in chapter 69:
"After God's glory and mercy was made manifest in King Saint Stephen, by driving off kings before him and subduing the principalities and powers of the neighboring nations, King Saint Stephen decided and was determined to leave all the pomp of this world, to lay down the crown of the fleeting earthly kingship and to dedicate himself to God only. He planned to cast off worldly problems, to spend his life in quiet peacefulness and contemplation, and to give the crown to his son, Prince Imre, who was blessed and full of holy virtues and was raised this way."
But Imre died unexpectedly in 1031: "By God's secret decision, he died, so that wickedness would not change his soul and false imaginations would not deceive his mind - as the Book of Wisdom teaches about early death." (Chapter 63) Mourning took its toll on Stephen and he became very ill:
"The great and bitter anguish made King Saint Stephen very sick; after many days his health recovered somewhat, but his old health never returned. He suffered from pains in the foot and was tormented by sadness, mainly because he couldn't find anyone among his brethren who would keep the Hungarians in their Christian faith after his death. For Hungarians were attracted more to pagan rituals than to the faith in Christ. (Chapter 69)"
King Stephen died on August 15, 1038 at Szekesfehervar (a city in central Hungary) and he was buried there. His people mourned for three years:
(from "Stephen I, the First Christian Hungarian King, Reigned 997-1038" http://www.cryingvoice.com/Christianity/HunIstvan.html)
We worry and pray that our Father will not grow sick at our plight. There is so much to despair, sorrow, and lament. Is there light for joy?
Joy is prayer- Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
Mother Teresa 1910-1997
Today, faith in Christ is grounded trust there is no place foreign to redeeming presence.
There are times I cannot see. I cannot see anything but the suffering of human minds being played out in the drama of take and hurt. At other times I cannot see anything but the light of Christ shining through every crack in the masking protection we wear in the cultures of this existence that demand protective masking and hard faces.
I prefer the light. I often do not know what is meant when people say, "We are a Christian nation." In my view, to be Christian is to allow the light of God be seen through. This "seeing through" is the view of Christ.
At times I wonder what I am -- who I am.
A man who is a former chaplain once said, "I always saw you as a Zen Catholic Hybrid." (I think his caps are overstated.) I'd write it, "zen catholic hybrid."
American Heritage Dictionary has "zen" as
[Japanese zen, from Chinese (Mandarin) chan, meditation, from Pali jhanam, from Sanskrit dhyanam, from dhyati, he meditates.]
That fits.
American Heritage Dictionary has "catholic" (with a small 'c') as:
cath'·o·lic (kath'-lik, kath'lik) pronunciation
adj.
1. Of broad or liberal scope; comprehensive: "The 100-odd pages of formulas and constants are surely the most catholic to be found" (Scientific American).
2. Including or concerning all humankind; universal: "what was of catholic rather than national interest" (J.A. Froude).
That fits.
American Heritage Dictionary has "hybrid" as:
hi'-brid pronunciation, n.
1. Genetics. The offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock, especially the offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties, species, or races.
2.
a) Something of mixed origin or composition.
b) Something, such as a computer or power plant, having two kinds of components that produce the same or similar results.
3. A word whose elements are derived from different languages.
That, too, fits.
As a "zen catholic hybrid," then, I seem to have something to do, as well as something to be.
-- One who meditates
-- Broad or liberal scope; comprehensive.
-- Including or concerning all humankind; universal.
-- Looking at words whose elements are derived from different languages.
Thomas Merton said we need a new language of prayer. I think we need a new mind to look at everything as a whole.
Stephen's son Imre died, the narrative tells us, "By God's secret decision, he died, so that wickedness would not change his soul and false imaginations would not deceive his mind - as the Book of Wisdom teaches about early death." (Chapter 63)
The son of the Creator Itself also died early -- perhaps, as the teaching of his followers goes, "By God's secret decision, he died, so that wickedness would not change his soul and false imaginations would not deceive his mind - as the Book of Wisdom teaches about early death."
And us? Are we ready for such a death? Maybe not the stop-breathing death, but the non-change, non-deceive kind of death?
This keeps-breathing death says we will not be changed by wickedness and falsity. The wicked and the false will not withstand light. They will have to stand upright in the light.
Christ is the transparent emerging light that shines though everything as it is.
Our task is to let fall all that blocks that light.
(Buddhists call this Buddha-nature: awake and aware. Can we learn to see and speak all and everything through many ways of expression?)
This Christ-light and Buddha-nature encourages us.
To become transparent.
To be seen through.
To see through.
With this light.
Our true nature.
As our life.
Once, in Vienna Austria, inside the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, a late afternoon light through stained glass fell to floor. That was 17 years ago.
Stephen wrote the Admonitiones (Admonitions) in Latin for his beloved and talented Christian son Imre. This writing was the most noteworthy piece of literature in Hungary at that time. After his power was consolidated, Stephen planned to abdicate in the favor of Imre and dedicate the rest of his life to God. The Illustrated Chronicle reports about this in chapter 69:
"After God's glory and mercy was made manifest in King Saint Stephen, by driving off kings before him and subduing the principalities and powers of the neighboring nations, King Saint Stephen decided and was determined to leave all the pomp of this world, to lay down the crown of the fleeting earthly kingship and to dedicate himself to God only. He planned to cast off worldly problems, to spend his life in quiet peacefulness and contemplation, and to give the crown to his son, Prince Imre, who was blessed and full of holy virtues and was raised this way."
But Imre died unexpectedly in 1031: "By God's secret decision, he died, so that wickedness would not change his soul and false imaginations would not deceive his mind - as the Book of Wisdom teaches about early death." (Chapter 63) Mourning took its toll on Stephen and he became very ill:
"The great and bitter anguish made King Saint Stephen very sick; after many days his health recovered somewhat, but his old health never returned. He suffered from pains in the foot and was tormented by sadness, mainly because he couldn't find anyone among his brethren who would keep the Hungarians in their Christian faith after his death. For Hungarians were attracted more to pagan rituals than to the faith in Christ. (Chapter 69)"
King Stephen died on August 15, 1038 at Szekesfehervar (a city in central Hungary) and he was buried there. His people mourned for three years:
(from "Stephen I, the First Christian Hungarian King, Reigned 997-1038" http://www.cryingvoice.com/Christianity/HunIstvan.html)
We worry and pray that our Father will not grow sick at our plight. There is so much to despair, sorrow, and lament. Is there light for joy?
Joy is prayer- Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
Mother Teresa 1910-1997
Today, faith in Christ is grounded trust there is no place foreign to redeeming presence.
There are times I cannot see. I cannot see anything but the suffering of human minds being played out in the drama of take and hurt. At other times I cannot see anything but the light of Christ shining through every crack in the masking protection we wear in the cultures of this existence that demand protective masking and hard faces.
I prefer the light. I often do not know what is meant when people say, "We are a Christian nation." In my view, to be Christian is to allow the light of God be seen through. This "seeing through" is the view of Christ.
At times I wonder what I am -- who I am.
A man who is a former chaplain once said, "I always saw you as a Zen Catholic Hybrid." (I think his caps are overstated.) I'd write it, "zen catholic hybrid."
American Heritage Dictionary has "zen" as
[Japanese zen, from Chinese (Mandarin) chan, meditation, from Pali jhanam, from Sanskrit dhyanam, from dhyati, he meditates.]
That fits.
American Heritage Dictionary has "catholic" (with a small 'c') as:
cath'·o·lic (kath'-lik, kath'lik) pronunciation
adj.
1. Of broad or liberal scope; comprehensive: "The 100-odd pages of formulas and constants are surely the most catholic to be found" (Scientific American).
2. Including or concerning all humankind; universal: "what was of catholic rather than national interest" (J.A. Froude).
That fits.
American Heritage Dictionary has "hybrid" as:
hi'-brid pronunciation, n.
1. Genetics. The offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock, especially the offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties, species, or races.
2.
a) Something of mixed origin or composition.
b) Something, such as a computer or power plant, having two kinds of components that produce the same or similar results.
3. A word whose elements are derived from different languages.
That, too, fits.
As a "zen catholic hybrid," then, I seem to have something to do, as well as something to be.
-- One who meditates
-- Broad or liberal scope; comprehensive.
-- Including or concerning all humankind; universal.
-- Looking at words whose elements are derived from different languages.
Thomas Merton said we need a new language of prayer. I think we need a new mind to look at everything as a whole.
Stephen's son Imre died, the narrative tells us, "By God's secret decision, he died, so that wickedness would not change his soul and false imaginations would not deceive his mind - as the Book of Wisdom teaches about early death." (Chapter 63)
The son of the Creator Itself also died early -- perhaps, as the teaching of his followers goes, "By God's secret decision, he died, so that wickedness would not change his soul and false imaginations would not deceive his mind - as the Book of Wisdom teaches about early death."
And us? Are we ready for such a death? Maybe not the stop-breathing death, but the non-change, non-deceive kind of death?
This keeps-breathing death says we will not be changed by wickedness and falsity. The wicked and the false will not withstand light. They will have to stand upright in the light.
Christ is the transparent emerging light that shines though everything as it is.
Our task is to let fall all that blocks that light.
(Buddhists call this Buddha-nature: awake and aware. Can we learn to see and speak all and everything through many ways of expression?)
This Christ-light and Buddha-nature encourages us.
To become transparent.
To be seen through.
To see through.
With this light.
Our true nature.
As our life.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Old woman closes her eyes.
Sitting meditation is a method of great liberation;
all teachings flow forth from this,
myriad practices are mastered this way.
- Daikaku (1213-1279)
Goes to place we cannot follow.
Yes, I'm truly a dunce
Living among trees and plants.
Please don't question me about illusion and enlightenment --
This old fellow just likes to smile to himself.
I wade across streams with bony legs,
And carry a bag about in fine spring weather.
That's my life,
And the world owes me nothing.
--Ryokan
Walking from cabin after dark, stopping to look up to stars, the thought: who are we?
Goodbye Charlotte.
Bell rings.
Pizza.
Sitting meditation is a method of great liberation;
all teachings flow forth from this,
myriad practices are mastered this way.
- Daikaku (1213-1279)
Goes to place we cannot follow.
Yes, I'm truly a dunce
Living among trees and plants.
Please don't question me about illusion and enlightenment --
This old fellow just likes to smile to himself.
I wade across streams with bony legs,
And carry a bag about in fine spring weather.
That's my life,
And the world owes me nothing.
--Ryokan
Walking from cabin after dark, stopping to look up to stars, the thought: who are we?
Goodbye Charlotte.
Bell rings.
Pizza.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Mother is strong medicine. Biological mother. Mother earth. Mother of God. All understanding of mother derives from direct, intuitive, experiential connection to source of being.
When suddenly mind and environment are both forgotten there is the ability to penetrate freely earth, mountains and rivers. The whole substance of the real body of the king of Dharma is manifest --
People these days face it without knowing it.
- Daio (1235-1309)
Not knowing our mothers is odd gift. We are all orphans and parents of orphans. Mother/Father disappears. We remain alone. Only one another to be, as community, mother/father to one another.
The Feast of the Dormition or Falling Asleep of the Theotokos commemorates the death, resurrection, and glorification of Christ's mother. To help us in our preparation of the feast, it is preceded by a two week fast. As with the Nativity of the Virgin (September 8/21) and the feast of her Entrance to the Temple (November 21/December 4), the Feast of the Dormition also comes from the Tradition of the Church.
There we learn that Mary died as all people die because she had a mortal human nature affected by the corruption of this world. The Church proclaims that Mary needed to be saved by Christ just as all of us are saved from trials, sufferings, and death of this world. Having truly died, she was raised by her Son as the "Mother of Life" and already participates in the eternal life of paradise which is prepared and promised to all who "hear the word of God and keep it." (Luke 11:27-28) Finally, we celebrate the fact that what happens to Mary happens to all who imitate her holy life of humility, obedience and love.
It is important to remember that there are no relics of the Theotokos. Their existence has never been mentioned throughout history. At one time in Constantinople there was a center of pilgrimage where the belt and veil of the Virgin were venerated.
(Adapted from The Orthodox Church, Volume II: Worship, by Fr. Thomas Hopko. http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/feasts/08-15.htm)
God-Bearer, she and we, must be.
The definition of the Council of Chalcedon states:
Following the holy Fathers we teach with one voice that the Son [of God] and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be confessed as one and the same [Person], that he is perfect in Godhead and perfect in manhood, very God and very man, of a reasonable soul and [human] body consisting, consubstantial with the Father as touching his Godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood; made in all things like unto us, sin only excepted; begotten of his Father before the worlds according to his Godhead; but in these last days for us men and for our salvation born [into the world] of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God according to his manhood. This one and the same Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son [of God] must be confessed to be in two natures, unconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably [united], and that without the distinction of natures being taken away by such union, but rather the peculiar property of each nature being preserved and being united in one Person and subsistence, not separated or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten, God the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prophets of old time have spoken concerning him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ hath taught us, and as the Creed of the Fathers hath delivered to us.
Source: http://www.monachos.net/patristics/christology/chalcedon_definition.shtml
The word Theotokos comes from the Greek Theos = God, and tiktein = to be the mother of a child, or to bear. Therefore the word is translated as "God-bearer" - or more eloquently, "she who bore God in her womb" or "she who birthed God into the world." This makes the real meaning behind the name "Mother of God" a lot less confusing and controversial.
We are theotokoi
In a non-biological sense, every Christian is also a theotokos, a God-bearer. All Marian titles teach us something about Christ, because Mary points us to Christ ("His mother saith unto the servants, 'Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.'" John 2:5, KJV) and Jesus Christ is the focus of our faith.
But it also teaches us about ourselves - Catholics regard Mary as the prototype follower of Christ. Her virginity represents the purity the Bible tells us to live up to. Her immaculate conception shows us our final state when our fallen nature is perfected by Christ. Her assumption into heaven depicts our future glory when our bodies and souls are united in heaven and spent eternity with God. And her role as God-bearer shows us in an intimate way how we are to personally bring Christ into the world for others. Jesus is the light of the world, and we are the bearers of that light, and he tells us not to hide that light (Matt 5:15.) We are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20.)
We are truly theotokoi because we bring Christ into the world to be experienced by others!
http://www.theotokos.co.za/theotokos.html
Charlotte R. died yesterday. I bow to Sando's grave in honor of that good dog's good friend Charlotte. They walked home often together.
This is how we mother each other.
Walking one another home.
May we safely arrive.
Right where we are.
Asleep or awake.
When suddenly mind and environment are both forgotten there is the ability to penetrate freely earth, mountains and rivers. The whole substance of the real body of the king of Dharma is manifest --
People these days face it without knowing it.
- Daio (1235-1309)
Not knowing our mothers is odd gift. We are all orphans and parents of orphans. Mother/Father disappears. We remain alone. Only one another to be, as community, mother/father to one another.
The Feast of the Dormition or Falling Asleep of the Theotokos commemorates the death, resurrection, and glorification of Christ's mother. To help us in our preparation of the feast, it is preceded by a two week fast. As with the Nativity of the Virgin (September 8/21) and the feast of her Entrance to the Temple (November 21/December 4), the Feast of the Dormition also comes from the Tradition of the Church.
There we learn that Mary died as all people die because she had a mortal human nature affected by the corruption of this world. The Church proclaims that Mary needed to be saved by Christ just as all of us are saved from trials, sufferings, and death of this world. Having truly died, she was raised by her Son as the "Mother of Life" and already participates in the eternal life of paradise which is prepared and promised to all who "hear the word of God and keep it." (Luke 11:27-28) Finally, we celebrate the fact that what happens to Mary happens to all who imitate her holy life of humility, obedience and love.
It is important to remember that there are no relics of the Theotokos. Their existence has never been mentioned throughout history. At one time in Constantinople there was a center of pilgrimage where the belt and veil of the Virgin were venerated.
(Adapted from The Orthodox Church, Volume II: Worship, by Fr. Thomas Hopko. http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/feasts/08-15.htm)
God-Bearer, she and we, must be.
The definition of the Council of Chalcedon states:
Following the holy Fathers we teach with one voice that the Son [of God] and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be confessed as one and the same [Person], that he is perfect in Godhead and perfect in manhood, very God and very man, of a reasonable soul and [human] body consisting, consubstantial with the Father as touching his Godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood; made in all things like unto us, sin only excepted; begotten of his Father before the worlds according to his Godhead; but in these last days for us men and for our salvation born [into the world] of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God according to his manhood. This one and the same Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son [of God] must be confessed to be in two natures, unconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably [united], and that without the distinction of natures being taken away by such union, but rather the peculiar property of each nature being preserved and being united in one Person and subsistence, not separated or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten, God the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prophets of old time have spoken concerning him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ hath taught us, and as the Creed of the Fathers hath delivered to us.
Source: http://www.monachos.net/patristics/christology/chalcedon_definition.shtml
The word Theotokos comes from the Greek Theos = God, and tiktein = to be the mother of a child, or to bear. Therefore the word is translated as "God-bearer" - or more eloquently, "she who bore God in her womb" or "she who birthed God into the world." This makes the real meaning behind the name "Mother of God" a lot less confusing and controversial.
We are theotokoi
In a non-biological sense, every Christian is also a theotokos, a God-bearer. All Marian titles teach us something about Christ, because Mary points us to Christ ("His mother saith unto the servants, 'Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.'" John 2:5, KJV) and Jesus Christ is the focus of our faith.
But it also teaches us about ourselves - Catholics regard Mary as the prototype follower of Christ. Her virginity represents the purity the Bible tells us to live up to. Her immaculate conception shows us our final state when our fallen nature is perfected by Christ. Her assumption into heaven depicts our future glory when our bodies and souls are united in heaven and spent eternity with God. And her role as God-bearer shows us in an intimate way how we are to personally bring Christ into the world for others. Jesus is the light of the world, and we are the bearers of that light, and he tells us not to hide that light (Matt 5:15.) We are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20.)
We are truly theotokoi because we bring Christ into the world to be experienced by others!
http://www.theotokos.co.za/theotokos.html
Charlotte R. died yesterday. I bow to Sando's grave in honor of that good dog's good friend Charlotte. They walked home often together.
This is how we mother each other.
Walking one another home.
May we safely arrive.
Right where we are.
Asleep or awake.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
In the Tibetan folktale a bear squeezes the life out of someone who listened to the animals' conversations for his own personal gain and greed. The other man, the one who had a generous heart, who'd heard their wisdom and freely helped heal those who suffered -- he lived on as a humble and happy man.
Humility brings us to earth. Greed opens the door to hell.
Heaven is the realization of service. This service sees and engages everyone and everything as oneself. Put another way -- one's self is all around us -- no separation or exclusion or selfish fog of illusion is known in heaven.
What is really clear in heaven is really clear on earth. This is why loving service is an open doorway through which heaven is revealed.
It is most urgent that you seek real, true perception,
So you can be free in the world
And not confused by ordinary teachers.
It is best to have no obsessions.
Just don't be contrived.
Simply be normal.
You impulsively seek elsewhere,
Looking to others for your own hands and feet.
This is already mistaken.
- Linji (d. 867)
Some loving men from Kairos came into prison yesterday morning to meet with other men (some who are loving and know it, some who are loving and do not know it yet) who live there.
We step by step attempt to see what is love and what is our humility in the face of love. Nothing special.
Here is what is nothing special -- Presence without preference without prejudice.
Jesus said in reply, "Stop complaining to each other.
No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They will all be taught by God,
and to hear the teaching of the Father,
and learn from it,
is to come to me.
Not that anybody has seen the Father,
except the one who comes from God:
he has seen the Father.
I tell you most solemnly,
everybody who believes has eternal life."
Believe in Presence.
Hear it. Learn by it.
Come to see...
To be...
It.
Humility brings us to earth. Greed opens the door to hell.
Heaven is the realization of service. This service sees and engages everyone and everything as oneself. Put another way -- one's self is all around us -- no separation or exclusion or selfish fog of illusion is known in heaven.
What is really clear in heaven is really clear on earth. This is why loving service is an open doorway through which heaven is revealed.
It is most urgent that you seek real, true perception,
So you can be free in the world
And not confused by ordinary teachers.
It is best to have no obsessions.
Just don't be contrived.
Simply be normal.
You impulsively seek elsewhere,
Looking to others for your own hands and feet.
This is already mistaken.
- Linji (d. 867)
Some loving men from Kairos came into prison yesterday morning to meet with other men (some who are loving and know it, some who are loving and do not know it yet) who live there.
We step by step attempt to see what is love and what is our humility in the face of love. Nothing special.
Here is what is nothing special -- Presence without preference without prejudice.
Jesus said in reply, "Stop complaining to each other.
No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They will all be taught by God,
and to hear the teaching of the Father,
and learn from it,
is to come to me.
Not that anybody has seen the Father,
except the one who comes from God:
he has seen the Father.
I tell you most solemnly,
everybody who believes has eternal life."
Believe in Presence.
Hear it. Learn by it.
Come to see...
To be...
It.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Sing a new song to the Lord all the earth.
Everywhere turn around freely,
Not following conditions,
Not falling into classification.
Facing everything, let go and
Attain stability.
So it is said that the earth lifts
Up the mountain without
Knowing the mountainÂ?s
Stark steepness.
A rock contains jade without
Knowing the jade's flawlessness.
This is how truly to leave home.
- Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157)
The song's name is "All the Earth"
Be that new song.
Speak well of God.
Speak well of one another
Speak well of yourself.
This song of life.
Love itself.
Everywhere turn around freely,
Not following conditions,
Not falling into classification.
Facing everything, let go and
Attain stability.
So it is said that the earth lifts
Up the mountain without
Knowing the mountainÂ?s
Stark steepness.
A rock contains jade without
Knowing the jade's flawlessness.
This is how truly to leave home.
- Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157)
The song's name is "All the Earth"
Be that new song.
Speak well of God.
Speak well of one another
Speak well of yourself.
This song of life.
Love itself.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Gossip is toxic. Gossip is toxic because it tricks us into believing we are talking about someone else -- and not ourselves.
God's life flows within and through every one of us, everyone. Call it Christ life. Call it the life of the Holy Spirit. It fills and empties every one of us. Now. And always.
When we gossip we are intending (whether we are aware of it or unaware of it) to decide for God where God is. They say the sin against the Holy Spirit is saying and believing that the Holy Spirit is not where the Holy Spirit is.
I explain to you matters
Pertaining to enlightenment,
But don't try to keep your mind on them.
Just turn to the ocean of your own essence
And develop practical accord with its nature.
- Yangshan
Billy Graham winds up centrist at 87. Far to the right of him, hard core fundamentalists denounce him for allowing God the room to be God. A Vietnam vet said tonight he was scared of fundamentalists because they remind him of the fundamentalism and fear to open up that resides in himself.
For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life?
(from Matthew 16:24 - 28)
The world isn't worth one life. And yet One Life is in and beyond the world. Now the world is worth it.
Seven Tips for Giving Up Gossip
1. Recognize that gossip doesn't undo the situation you're talking about. It only puts in motion another situation based on negative feelings.
2. Know that comparing yourself to others is useless. Everyone has his or her own talents. In this way, give up jealousy and the wish to put others down.
3. Be aware of and transform your own thoughts, words, and deeds rather than commenting on those of others.
4. Train your mind to see others' positive qualities and discuss them. This will make you much happier than gossiping ever could.
5. Forgive, knowing that people do harmful things because they are unhappy. If you don't make someone into an enemy, you won't want to gossip about him.
6. Have a sense of humor about what you think, say, and do, and be able to laugh at all of the silly things we sentient beings carry out in our attempt to be happy. If you see the humor in our human predicament, you'll be more patient.
7. Practice saying something kind to someone every day. Do this especially with people you don't like. It gets easier with practice and bears surprisingly good results.
(Seven Tips for Giving Up Gossip, in article "the truth about gossip -- if you don't have anything nice to say..." by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, published in Tricycle, Summer 2006)
These are words that are useful. I listen to them.
I have to forgive myself for trying to limit God.
No gossip. Nothing to hide. There is no other.
Open view.
God's life flows within and through every one of us, everyone. Call it Christ life. Call it the life of the Holy Spirit. It fills and empties every one of us. Now. And always.
When we gossip we are intending (whether we are aware of it or unaware of it) to decide for God where God is. They say the sin against the Holy Spirit is saying and believing that the Holy Spirit is not where the Holy Spirit is.
I explain to you matters
Pertaining to enlightenment,
But don't try to keep your mind on them.
Just turn to the ocean of your own essence
And develop practical accord with its nature.
- Yangshan
Billy Graham winds up centrist at 87. Far to the right of him, hard core fundamentalists denounce him for allowing God the room to be God. A Vietnam vet said tonight he was scared of fundamentalists because they remind him of the fundamentalism and fear to open up that resides in himself.
For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life?
(from Matthew 16:24 - 28)
The world isn't worth one life. And yet One Life is in and beyond the world. Now the world is worth it.
Seven Tips for Giving Up Gossip
1. Recognize that gossip doesn't undo the situation you're talking about. It only puts in motion another situation based on negative feelings.
2. Know that comparing yourself to others is useless. Everyone has his or her own talents. In this way, give up jealousy and the wish to put others down.
3. Be aware of and transform your own thoughts, words, and deeds rather than commenting on those of others.
4. Train your mind to see others' positive qualities and discuss them. This will make you much happier than gossiping ever could.
5. Forgive, knowing that people do harmful things because they are unhappy. If you don't make someone into an enemy, you won't want to gossip about him.
6. Have a sense of humor about what you think, say, and do, and be able to laugh at all of the silly things we sentient beings carry out in our attempt to be happy. If you see the humor in our human predicament, you'll be more patient.
7. Practice saying something kind to someone every day. Do this especially with people you don't like. It gets easier with practice and bears surprisingly good results.
(Seven Tips for Giving Up Gossip, in article "the truth about gossip -- if you don't have anything nice to say..." by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, published in Tricycle, Summer 2006)
These are words that are useful. I listen to them.
I have to forgive myself for trying to limit God.
No gossip. Nothing to hide. There is no other.
Open view.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Before I wake up, tell me one thing -- what is life awake like? Would I be alone?
The teaching of the mind ground
is the basis of Zen study.
The mind ground is the
great awareness of
being as is.
- Fayan (885-958)
A retired minister in the Methodist tradition wandered into the shop during conversation tonight. He stood by the bakery case and joined in the circle. Tom and Maria were up. Jayen and Saskia were on the other bench.
God is ground. Jesus understood this. Don, the visitor heard Tom say that "revitalization" was his understanding of "born again." Maria said it was "turning point" for her. And for me? I like not knowing the unknowable.
God's ways are not our ways.
From an Orthodox website:
"Wake Up O Sleepers" to Newness In Christ!
+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP! St. Paul tells us all "... It is high time to awake out of sleep ... the night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Romans 13:11-12).
Or in short: Wake Up O Sleeper!
St. Paul is urging us to wake up to the spiritual realities which direct our destinies. It is very true that we can -- and often do -- sleep through some very important and vital aspects of our Christian lives.
Therefore, it is very important to ask, " ARE WE AWAKE ENOUGH TO BEGIN ?"
TO BEGIN WHAT?
There is another message which goes with this call to sobriety -- this call to be awakened to the spiritual realities of life. It is a message which comes from beyond space and time; across the past, through the future, and into the present moment of eternity. Indeed, it is a message meant to secure our living in the Eternal Now! The message is from God Himself, and its significance is so great, but at the same time, it is so very subtle, that we can easily miss it. You have heard it many times already.
Jesus Christ, the God-man, says to us: " Behold, I make all things new ." Let me repeat that: " Behold, I [Jesus the Son of God] make all things new ." Do you hear that?
God does not say, " I am going to make all things new tomorrow." Nor does He limit its application by saying, " Behold, I made all things new at one point and then stopped ." The sense of God's message to us is this:
Behold --Listen up, this is very important -- I have, and will continue to make all things new in your life. It is a process which I have begun for you, and will continue to do with you -- if you live the Christian life of faith and action -- and this newness will be an ongoing process of life springing up in you for all eternity!"
(From website, a piece adapted from a Homily By +Fr. Isaac Henke, http://www.antiochian.org/wake-up-o-sleepers)
Karl Rahner talked about anonymous Christians.
Unknown authorship.
No-name God.
Who are you?
And are you alone?
The teaching of the mind ground
is the basis of Zen study.
The mind ground is the
great awareness of
being as is.
- Fayan (885-958)
A retired minister in the Methodist tradition wandered into the shop during conversation tonight. He stood by the bakery case and joined in the circle. Tom and Maria were up. Jayen and Saskia were on the other bench.
God is ground. Jesus understood this. Don, the visitor heard Tom say that "revitalization" was his understanding of "born again." Maria said it was "turning point" for her. And for me? I like not knowing the unknowable.
God's ways are not our ways.
From an Orthodox website:
"Wake Up O Sleepers" to Newness In Christ!
+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP! St. Paul tells us all "... It is high time to awake out of sleep ... the night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Romans 13:11-12).
Or in short: Wake Up O Sleeper!
St. Paul is urging us to wake up to the spiritual realities which direct our destinies. It is very true that we can -- and often do -- sleep through some very important and vital aspects of our Christian lives.
Therefore, it is very important to ask, " ARE WE AWAKE ENOUGH TO BEGIN ?"
TO BEGIN WHAT?
There is another message which goes with this call to sobriety -- this call to be awakened to the spiritual realities of life. It is a message which comes from beyond space and time; across the past, through the future, and into the present moment of eternity. Indeed, it is a message meant to secure our living in the Eternal Now! The message is from God Himself, and its significance is so great, but at the same time, it is so very subtle, that we can easily miss it. You have heard it many times already.
Jesus Christ, the God-man, says to us: " Behold, I make all things new ." Let me repeat that: " Behold, I [Jesus the Son of God] make all things new ." Do you hear that?
God does not say, " I am going to make all things new tomorrow." Nor does He limit its application by saying, " Behold, I made all things new at one point and then stopped ." The sense of God's message to us is this:
Behold --Listen up, this is very important -- I have, and will continue to make all things new in your life. It is a process which I have begun for you, and will continue to do with you -- if you live the Christian life of faith and action -- and this newness will be an ongoing process of life springing up in you for all eternity!"
(From website, a piece adapted from a Homily By +Fr. Isaac Henke, http://www.antiochian.org/wake-up-o-sleepers)
Karl Rahner talked about anonymous Christians.
Unknown authorship.
No-name God.
Who are you?
And are you alone?
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Reality is the answer.
"It doesn't matter what you say in answer," said the monk's father, "it's what the reality is."
Our words only try to point to the reality. They cannot contain it, nor can they substitute for reality.
As an old friar once said of God -- "God is God!" So too with reality -- Reality is Reality!"
The World Dharma is the same as the Buddha Dharma. If you do not have faith that you can attain enlightenment through the World Dharma, you know nothing of the true essence of Buddhism.
- Shosan
Reality is not what we think it is. God is not what we think God is.
Perhaps for Christians "being saved" means being saved from exclusionary thinking about Christ by embodying what the reality of Christ is.
But at once Jesus called out to them, saying, "Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid."
Matthew 14:22 - 36
Maybe saying 'reality is the answer' falls short. Maybe reality is the whole circle outside of which there is no outside.
I look on Christ -- not as the one punished by the Father for our sins -- but as the very wholeness of reality come to our particular existence to invite us into the wholeness of Christ life as way to the wholeness of God Itself.
The blood, gore, formulas, and punishment motif is far down the line of explanation.
'God is movement, not explanation,' wrote the novelist Elie Wiesel.
Let's move through reality with grace and wholeness. We are not separate from wholeness.
We are saved from separateness by wholeness itself.
"It doesn't matter what you say in answer," said the monk's father, "it's what the reality is."
Our words only try to point to the reality. They cannot contain it, nor can they substitute for reality.
As an old friar once said of God -- "God is God!" So too with reality -- Reality is Reality!"
The World Dharma is the same as the Buddha Dharma. If you do not have faith that you can attain enlightenment through the World Dharma, you know nothing of the true essence of Buddhism.
- Shosan
Reality is not what we think it is. God is not what we think God is.
Perhaps for Christians "being saved" means being saved from exclusionary thinking about Christ by embodying what the reality of Christ is.
But at once Jesus called out to them, saying, "Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid."
Matthew 14:22 - 36
Maybe saying 'reality is the answer' falls short. Maybe reality is the whole circle outside of which there is no outside.
I look on Christ -- not as the one punished by the Father for our sins -- but as the very wholeness of reality come to our particular existence to invite us into the wholeness of Christ life as way to the wholeness of God Itself.
The blood, gore, formulas, and punishment motif is far down the line of explanation.
'God is movement, not explanation,' wrote the novelist Elie Wiesel.
Let's move through reality with grace and wholeness. We are not separate from wholeness.
We are saved from separateness by wholeness itself.
Monday, August 07, 2006
The Hawaiian uses two phrases: "I'm sorry"; and, "I love you." That's what the note said. Along with the suggestion that he healed by working on himself. Clearing and cleansing that in him which kept another the way they were.
He has practiced "Ho'oponopono" with the late Morrnah Nalamaku.
The road runs into pine sighs;
From far off, it's even stranger.
Mountain light and colors in the water,
Tufted, raggedy.
On a crag in the middle,
In zazen, all alone,
One monk,
Sits facing the cassia bough:
Already old, long ago.
- Chiao Jan (730-799)
Old and long ago -- who? The monk? Or the bough?
Or the fact that once we knew how to heal, but choose not to practice, not to remember.
Morrnah Simeona...is a native Hawaiian Kahuna Lapa'au. Kahuna means "keeper of the secret" and Lapa'au means "a specialist in healing."
She continues, "The main purpose of this process is to discover the Divinity within oneself. The Ho'oponopono is a profound gift which allows one to develop a working relationship with the Divinity within and learn to ask that in each moment, our errors in thought, word, deed or action be cleansed. The process is essentially about freedom, complete freedom from the past."
Every memory of every experience, since the first moment of our creation, eons ago, is recorded as a thought form which is stored in the etheric realm. This incredible recorder/computer is also known as the subconscious, unihipili or child aspect within us. The inner child is very real and comprises one part of the Self. The other aspects are the mother, also known as the uhane or rational mind and the father, the superconscious or Spiritual aspect. The three comprise the inner family, which, in partnership with The Divine Creator, makes up one's Self I-Dentity. Every human being in creation, every plant, atom and molecule has these three selves and yet each blueprint is completely different.
The most important task for people is to find his or her true identity and place in the Universe. This process allows that understanding to become available.
The purpose of Ho'oponopono is to: 1) Connect with the Divinity within on a moment-to-moment basis; 2) To ask that movement and all it contains, be cleansed. Only the Divinity can do that. Only the Divinity can erase or correct memories and thought forms. Since the Divinity created us, only the Divinity knows what is going on with a person.
In this system, there is no need to analyze, solve, manage or cope with problems. Since the Divinity created everything, you can just go directly to Him and ask that it be corrected and cleansed.
(from "100% Responsibility and the Possibility of a Hot Fudge Sundae: Cat Saunders gets the scoop on Haleakala Hew Len", http://hooponopono.org/Articles/100_percent_responsible.html
Sorrow is acknowledgement of some pain and harm. Love is affirmation and acceptance of what is, or who is, there in our presence.
Sorrow invites forgiveness. Love invites wholeness and interconnection.
There is so much we do not understand.
Our interconnection. Our interdependence. Our profound need to be a place of healing and unity. Our longing to be beings sharing light and peace with one another without exception.
In zazen.
We practice.
All.
Alone.
He has practiced "Ho'oponopono" with the late Morrnah Nalamaku.
The road runs into pine sighs;
From far off, it's even stranger.
Mountain light and colors in the water,
Tufted, raggedy.
On a crag in the middle,
In zazen, all alone,
One monk,
Sits facing the cassia bough:
Already old, long ago.
- Chiao Jan (730-799)
Old and long ago -- who? The monk? Or the bough?
Or the fact that once we knew how to heal, but choose not to practice, not to remember.
Morrnah Simeona...is a native Hawaiian Kahuna Lapa'au. Kahuna means "keeper of the secret" and Lapa'au means "a specialist in healing."
She continues, "The main purpose of this process is to discover the Divinity within oneself. The Ho'oponopono is a profound gift which allows one to develop a working relationship with the Divinity within and learn to ask that in each moment, our errors in thought, word, deed or action be cleansed. The process is essentially about freedom, complete freedom from the past."
Every memory of every experience, since the first moment of our creation, eons ago, is recorded as a thought form which is stored in the etheric realm. This incredible recorder/computer is also known as the subconscious, unihipili or child aspect within us. The inner child is very real and comprises one part of the Self. The other aspects are the mother, also known as the uhane or rational mind and the father, the superconscious or Spiritual aspect. The three comprise the inner family, which, in partnership with The Divine Creator, makes up one's Self I-Dentity. Every human being in creation, every plant, atom and molecule has these three selves and yet each blueprint is completely different.
The most important task for people is to find his or her true identity and place in the Universe. This process allows that understanding to become available.
The purpose of Ho'oponopono is to: 1) Connect with the Divinity within on a moment-to-moment basis; 2) To ask that movement and all it contains, be cleansed. Only the Divinity can do that. Only the Divinity can erase or correct memories and thought forms. Since the Divinity created us, only the Divinity knows what is going on with a person.
In this system, there is no need to analyze, solve, manage or cope with problems. Since the Divinity created everything, you can just go directly to Him and ask that it be corrected and cleansed.
(from "100% Responsibility and the Possibility of a Hot Fudge Sundae: Cat Saunders gets the scoop on Haleakala Hew Len", http://hooponopono.org/Articles/100_percent_responsible.html
Sorrow is acknowledgement of some pain and harm. Love is affirmation and acceptance of what is, or who is, there in our presence.
Sorrow invites forgiveness. Love invites wholeness and interconnection.
There is so much we do not understand.
Our interconnection. Our interdependence. Our profound need to be a place of healing and unity. Our longing to be beings sharing light and peace with one another without exception.
In zazen.
We practice.
All.
Alone.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Right now, in eternity, the dead from Hiroshima make their way through the veil.
Clear dawn enters the ancient temple.
First sun brightens the lofty grove.
Winding paths lead off to secret places.
ChÂ?an chamber: flowers deep among trees.
In mountain light, singing joy is bird-nature.
Pool shadows: empty, the hearts of men.
All sounds here fall to silence.
All that remains: the bell-stone's tone.
- Ch'ang Chien (708-765)
Within me, I drop bomb with my ignorance. Many, bewildered, scream.
Within 1.2 km. (.74 mi.) of the hypocentre there was probably a 50% death rate of the 350,000 people estimated to have been in Hiroshima at the time. Hiroshima City Survey Section estimated a figure of 118,661 civilian deaths up to 10 August 1946. Add to this a probable figure of 20,000 deaths of military personnel and the current figure -- for people are still dying as a result of the radiation received -- is in the region of 140,000. Among those who survived, the long-term effects of radiation sickness, genetic and chromosome injury, and mental trauma have been catastrophic, even unborn children having been stunted in growth and sometimes mentally retarded.
(Committee on Damage by Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings; London, 1981). http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/levine/bombing.htm
No one is better having exploded the bomb.
Right now, in time, I stop the bombing.
One down for peace.
Clear dawn enters the ancient temple.
First sun brightens the lofty grove.
Winding paths lead off to secret places.
ChÂ?an chamber: flowers deep among trees.
In mountain light, singing joy is bird-nature.
Pool shadows: empty, the hearts of men.
All sounds here fall to silence.
All that remains: the bell-stone's tone.
- Ch'ang Chien (708-765)
Within me, I drop bomb with my ignorance. Many, bewildered, scream.
Within 1.2 km. (.74 mi.) of the hypocentre there was probably a 50% death rate of the 350,000 people estimated to have been in Hiroshima at the time. Hiroshima City Survey Section estimated a figure of 118,661 civilian deaths up to 10 August 1946. Add to this a probable figure of 20,000 deaths of military personnel and the current figure -- for people are still dying as a result of the radiation received -- is in the region of 140,000. Among those who survived, the long-term effects of radiation sickness, genetic and chromosome injury, and mental trauma have been catastrophic, even unborn children having been stunted in growth and sometimes mentally retarded.
(Committee on Damage by Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings; London, 1981). http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/levine/bombing.htm
No one is better having exploded the bomb.
Right now, in time, I stop the bombing.
One down for peace.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Seeing the kingdom is an inside looking through the outside into the Inner Itself.
Ask Peter, James, and John. They saw the kingdom while still in the breath. (So many are willing to bide time and wait to be out of breath to see the glorious reality of the kingdom.) It is right here. Right now. No waiting.
See?
1 He also said to them, "Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power." (Mark 9:1)
What does it take to see what is here and now?
You want to be a mountain-dweller,
No need to trek to India to find one.
I've a thousand peaks
To pick from right here on the lake.
Fragrant grasses and white clouds
Hold me here.
What holds you there,
World-dweller?
-- Chiao Jan (730-799)
Elie Wiesel said, "God means movement, not explanation." (In Legends of Our Time, c.1968). We need to move with the Holy Spirit through what disturbs us to the place we are no other -- where Reality of God speaks truth with love -- a Christing Expression shown transparently in our transforming surrender to being-peace.
And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, "This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him." (from Mark 9: 2-10)
Voice from cloud -- origin ever-present -- word from silence.
We must listen to one another.
There are only two options: welcome God in one another; or, welcome one another in God. Many think there is a third option: not welcoming. That, I've come to see, is not an option.
It's welcome all the way down and up, inside and outside, like or dislike, oranges or silly putty.
The greatest welcome is kindness.
Be kind to yourself.
And, thus, to everyone.
Becoming Beloved.
Ask Peter, James, and John. They saw the kingdom while still in the breath. (So many are willing to bide time and wait to be out of breath to see the glorious reality of the kingdom.) It is right here. Right now. No waiting.
See?
1 He also said to them, "Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power." (Mark 9:1)
What does it take to see what is here and now?
You want to be a mountain-dweller,
No need to trek to India to find one.
I've a thousand peaks
To pick from right here on the lake.
Fragrant grasses and white clouds
Hold me here.
What holds you there,
World-dweller?
-- Chiao Jan (730-799)
Elie Wiesel said, "God means movement, not explanation." (In Legends of Our Time, c.1968). We need to move with the Holy Spirit through what disturbs us to the place we are no other -- where Reality of God speaks truth with love -- a Christing Expression shown transparently in our transforming surrender to being-peace.
And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, "This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him." (from Mark 9: 2-10)
Voice from cloud -- origin ever-present -- word from silence.
We must listen to one another.
There are only two options: welcome God in one another; or, welcome one another in God. Many think there is a third option: not welcoming. That, I've come to see, is not an option.
It's welcome all the way down and up, inside and outside, like or dislike, oranges or silly putty.
The greatest welcome is kindness.
Be kind to yourself.
And, thus, to everyone.
Becoming Beloved.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Nothing to gain. Nothing to lose.
What is going on between us?
Yes.
The true follower of Tao does not grasp at the Buddha, nor at bodhisattvas, nor at arhats, nor at the exceeding glories in the three realms. Attaining transcendental independence and untrammeled freedom, the true follower adheres to nothing. Even if the universe should collapse, their faith would not falter. Should all the Buddhas from the ten heavens appear before them, there would not be the slightest elation. Nor would they experience the slightest fear, should all the demons come out. How can one be this calm?
- Lin chi
No ego means it doesn't start, nor finish with you, with me. Transparent self means awareness of what is passing between us.
The Lyric
Suffering
lament, sorrow and wild
joy commingle in
the lyric -- a collective
sigh of relief comes cascading
out of the blue --
a yearning to submerge
in life like the swimmer
in the pool forgetful
immersed and quenched --
water trailing scattered
diamonds in a rustling
voice of resigned subsidence
as though in the same stroke
everyone alive were speaking through you --
(Poem: "The Lyric" by Tom Clark from Light & Shade: New and Selected Poems. Coffee House Press.)
Through you. Through me.
What is taking place is what is going on between us.
Let it go.
What is going on between us?
Yes.
The true follower of Tao does not grasp at the Buddha, nor at bodhisattvas, nor at arhats, nor at the exceeding glories in the three realms. Attaining transcendental independence and untrammeled freedom, the true follower adheres to nothing. Even if the universe should collapse, their faith would not falter. Should all the Buddhas from the ten heavens appear before them, there would not be the slightest elation. Nor would they experience the slightest fear, should all the demons come out. How can one be this calm?
- Lin chi
No ego means it doesn't start, nor finish with you, with me. Transparent self means awareness of what is passing between us.
The Lyric
Suffering
lament, sorrow and wild
joy commingle in
the lyric -- a collective
sigh of relief comes cascading
out of the blue --
a yearning to submerge
in life like the swimmer
in the pool forgetful
immersed and quenched --
water trailing scattered
diamonds in a rustling
voice of resigned subsidence
as though in the same stroke
everyone alive were speaking through you --
(Poem: "The Lyric" by Tom Clark from Light & Shade: New and Selected Poems. Coffee House Press.)
Through you. Through me.
What is taking place is what is going on between us.
Let it go.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
When the bomb fell on Hiroshima many thought, "Oh, It is the Christian face of Jesus come visit. It is the Transfiguration." The religious mind called the test "Trinity" and the bomb "Big Boy." The mind that wants to build tents when the sacred is seen also wants to destroy houses and human life when its interests are in question.
From Bamboo Forest Temple,
I faintly hear the evening bell.
Twilight touches the brim of your hat
As you turn and enter dark blue hills.
- Lui Ch'angt-ch'ing (710-785)
If form is emptiness (as Buddhists hold), then metamorphosis (a transformation; a marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function) is the shining of our deeper intuition and insight through who we thought we were into the vital appearance of now merely who we really are.
"WE WAITED UNTIL the blast had passed, walked out of the shelter and then it was extremely solemn. We knew the world would not be the same," recalled J. Robert Oppenheimer, first director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, moments after the first nuclear weapon test explosion, code-named Trinity, on July 16, 1945. Twenty-one days later, at 2:45am on Sunday, August 6, the Enola Gay lifted off with its single-bomb payload from Tinian Island and headed for its target. At 8:15am, the Air Force B-29 dropped the bomb, "Little Boy," from an altitude of 31,000 feet. Forty-three seconds later, the bomb detonated 1,800 feet above Hiroshima. Aboard the Enola Gay from a distance of 11 miles from ground zero, tailgunner George Caron described the scene as a "peep into hell." Of Hiroshima's population of 340,000 people, 130,000 were dead by November 1945 and by 1950 an additional 70,000 had perished, mainly from radiation-related illnesses. On August 9, another nuclear bomb fell on Nagasaki.
(Nuclear Testing Index: 54 Years After Trinity, Hiroshima, It Is Time to Cage the Nuclear Genie I S S U E B R I E F, VOL. 3, NO. 8, August 6, 1999, at http://www.clw.org/archive/coalition/briefv3n8.htm)
Pause here to stop the mind that attempts to justify such killing. Rest a while in the absence of compassion as (then and now) military powers force their will and wares on bodies of humans, suffering.
Once I was secure. I said, "I will never be shaken."
Lord, by your favour you had given me strength, set me high;
but then you turned your face from me and I was shaken.
I cried to you, Lord, and prayed to my God.
"What use is my life, when I sink into decay?
Will dust proclaim you, or make known your faithfulness?"
The Lord heard and took pity on me. The Lord became my helper.
You have turned my weeping into dancing, torn off my sackcloth and clothed me in joy,
It is my glory to sing to you and never cease: Lord, my God, I will proclaim your goodness for ever.
(from Psalm 30)
God will not be consoled. Not 61 years ago. Not today.
God says, "They have been Christed, yet they do not see. They have been Spirited, still they don't hear."
Off to the side there is weeping.
Don't ask whose.
Face it.
From Bamboo Forest Temple,
I faintly hear the evening bell.
Twilight touches the brim of your hat
As you turn and enter dark blue hills.
- Lui Ch'angt-ch'ing (710-785)
If form is emptiness (as Buddhists hold), then metamorphosis (a transformation; a marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function) is the shining of our deeper intuition and insight through who we thought we were into the vital appearance of now merely who we really are.
"WE WAITED UNTIL the blast had passed, walked out of the shelter and then it was extremely solemn. We knew the world would not be the same," recalled J. Robert Oppenheimer, first director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, moments after the first nuclear weapon test explosion, code-named Trinity, on July 16, 1945. Twenty-one days later, at 2:45am on Sunday, August 6, the Enola Gay lifted off with its single-bomb payload from Tinian Island and headed for its target. At 8:15am, the Air Force B-29 dropped the bomb, "Little Boy," from an altitude of 31,000 feet. Forty-three seconds later, the bomb detonated 1,800 feet above Hiroshima. Aboard the Enola Gay from a distance of 11 miles from ground zero, tailgunner George Caron described the scene as a "peep into hell." Of Hiroshima's population of 340,000 people, 130,000 were dead by November 1945 and by 1950 an additional 70,000 had perished, mainly from radiation-related illnesses. On August 9, another nuclear bomb fell on Nagasaki.
(Nuclear Testing Index: 54 Years After Trinity, Hiroshima, It Is Time to Cage the Nuclear Genie I S S U E B R I E F, VOL. 3, NO. 8, August 6, 1999, at http://www.clw.org/archive/coalition/briefv3n8.htm)
Pause here to stop the mind that attempts to justify such killing. Rest a while in the absence of compassion as (then and now) military powers force their will and wares on bodies of humans, suffering.
Once I was secure. I said, "I will never be shaken."
Lord, by your favour you had given me strength, set me high;
but then you turned your face from me and I was shaken.
I cried to you, Lord, and prayed to my God.
"What use is my life, when I sink into decay?
Will dust proclaim you, or make known your faithfulness?"
The Lord heard and took pity on me. The Lord became my helper.
You have turned my weeping into dancing, torn off my sackcloth and clothed me in joy,
It is my glory to sing to you and never cease: Lord, my God, I will proclaim your goodness for ever.
(from Psalm 30)
God will not be consoled. Not 61 years ago. Not today.
God says, "They have been Christed, yet they do not see. They have been Spirited, still they don't hear."
Off to the side there is weeping.
Don't ask whose.
Face it.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
On Beech Hill at dusk view of Ragged, lake, bay, and fields in haze. Car lights up from route 17 curl west. Everything is as it is.
If you create the idea of a Pure Land and your aim is to be saved by the vow of Amida, a demon will attach himself to you through that aim. Because doubt, like the great sky, has no subjective body, the demon has nothing to hold on to.
- Shosan
Doubt and certainty meet on double rutted road. Certainty says, "Out of my way!" Doubt asks, "What way?"
Counting the Mad
This one was put in a jacket,
This one was sent home,
This one was given bread and meat
But would eat none,
And this one cried No No No No
All day long.
This one looked at the window
As though it were a wall,
This one saw things that were not there,
This one things that were,
And this one cried No No No No
All day long
This one thought himself a bird,
This one a dog,
And this one thought himself a man,
An ordinary man,
And cried and cried No No No No
All day long.
(Poem: "Counting the Mad" by Donald Justice from Selected Poems. Atheneum.)
The insane live among us with no one allowed on their way, or good enough for it.
The ordinary man lives with others secure in the knowledge there is no way out alone.
I ask you -- tell me about the way you see yourself?
We have time to talk. It's really all we do have.
If you create the idea of a Pure Land and your aim is to be saved by the vow of Amida, a demon will attach himself to you through that aim. Because doubt, like the great sky, has no subjective body, the demon has nothing to hold on to.
- Shosan
Doubt and certainty meet on double rutted road. Certainty says, "Out of my way!" Doubt asks, "What way?"
Counting the Mad
This one was put in a jacket,
This one was sent home,
This one was given bread and meat
But would eat none,
And this one cried No No No No
All day long.
This one looked at the window
As though it were a wall,
This one saw things that were not there,
This one things that were,
And this one cried No No No No
All day long
This one thought himself a bird,
This one a dog,
And this one thought himself a man,
An ordinary man,
And cried and cried No No No No
All day long.
(Poem: "Counting the Mad" by Donald Justice from Selected Poems. Atheneum.)
The insane live among us with no one allowed on their way, or good enough for it.
The ordinary man lives with others secure in the knowledge there is no way out alone.
I ask you -- tell me about the way you see yourself?
We have time to talk. It's really all we do have.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Nobody's gone anywhere. We're all still here. Living and dead -- all still here. Only, some of us move around more visibly. Think more loudly. Carry on more quickly. That's ok. It's all ok.
Of late, I love but quietness:
Things of this world are no more my concern.
Looking back, I've known no better plan
Than this: returning to the grove.
Pine breezes loosen my robe.
Mountain moonbeams play my lute.
What, you ask, is Final Truth?
The fisherman's song strikes deep into the bank.
- Wang Wei (710-761)
Someone wrote somewhere about Final Judgment something that made me think: That's when God says "Shut Up!" to someone making one more judgment on someone else. That's the final judgment -- after which "No More Judging!"
I think, this feast of Ignatius, about a Jesuit I've long respected. Dan Berrigan once reminded himself: "Color it not kind with skies of love and amber. Make it plain with death and bitter as remember."
Transfiguration
(For Philip)
Don't mourn for what was;
there's languishing, recoil
in dire recalling.
Seek an austere rejoicing
in ghostly angelic absence -
a purified presence, a whisper
of that lion hearted voice
urging heartfelt action and
biblical fluency:
"I believe,
therefore I tame the world's
clamor, chaos, inanity."
Then behold -
transfigured by ordeal,
a different, difficult friend.
(Poem by Dan Berrigan SJ)
A taming faith. It's a belief I can get behind. It stands aside as the masses of professing believers chant mantra-like the name of Jesus as their own personal possession. Then, when the noise has passed, steps out Christ from the shadows and ministers to those who've been left blunted by the exultant crowd, those forgotten in the ecstasy of others' remembrance of how special they are, those not worthy enough in the eyes of The Few to be gathered into their cadre of triumphal inner circularity.
Christ be there in the open!
Inanity be tamed! Clamor be quieted! Chaos be stilled!
It will come -- the time of transfiguration -- when we recognize that it is us here, just us, the family that will not go away. Not by judgment. Not by exclusion. Not by secret handshakes and signal coded formulas that puff up those claiming especial privilege. There where Christ continues quietly showing up after the crowds pass by.
No false deals of privileges and commendations and elevations and dense plea bargains sacrificing something other, someone other, in place of a more personal surrender and awareness.
Christ will not be tricked after two thousand years into that scam of religious and political delusion. Nor should we.
End wars. Be peace. For God's sake -- try loving what Christ loves!
Be Jesuits in motto today: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam ("For the greater glory of God").
One another.
Us all.
Different, difficult friend.
God is One.
Of late, I love but quietness:
Things of this world are no more my concern.
Looking back, I've known no better plan
Than this: returning to the grove.
Pine breezes loosen my robe.
Mountain moonbeams play my lute.
What, you ask, is Final Truth?
The fisherman's song strikes deep into the bank.
- Wang Wei (710-761)
Someone wrote somewhere about Final Judgment something that made me think: That's when God says "Shut Up!" to someone making one more judgment on someone else. That's the final judgment -- after which "No More Judging!"
I think, this feast of Ignatius, about a Jesuit I've long respected. Dan Berrigan once reminded himself: "Color it not kind with skies of love and amber. Make it plain with death and bitter as remember."
Transfiguration
(For Philip)
Don't mourn for what was;
there's languishing, recoil
in dire recalling.
Seek an austere rejoicing
in ghostly angelic absence -
a purified presence, a whisper
of that lion hearted voice
urging heartfelt action and
biblical fluency:
"I believe,
therefore I tame the world's
clamor, chaos, inanity."
Then behold -
transfigured by ordeal,
a different, difficult friend.
(Poem by Dan Berrigan SJ)
A taming faith. It's a belief I can get behind. It stands aside as the masses of professing believers chant mantra-like the name of Jesus as their own personal possession. Then, when the noise has passed, steps out Christ from the shadows and ministers to those who've been left blunted by the exultant crowd, those forgotten in the ecstasy of others' remembrance of how special they are, those not worthy enough in the eyes of The Few to be gathered into their cadre of triumphal inner circularity.
Christ be there in the open!
Inanity be tamed! Clamor be quieted! Chaos be stilled!
It will come -- the time of transfiguration -- when we recognize that it is us here, just us, the family that will not go away. Not by judgment. Not by exclusion. Not by secret handshakes and signal coded formulas that puff up those claiming especial privilege. There where Christ continues quietly showing up after the crowds pass by.
No false deals of privileges and commendations and elevations and dense plea bargains sacrificing something other, someone other, in place of a more personal surrender and awareness.
Christ will not be tricked after two thousand years into that scam of religious and political delusion. Nor should we.
End wars. Be peace. For God's sake -- try loving what Christ loves!
Be Jesuits in motto today: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam ("For the greater glory of God").
One another.
Us all.
Different, difficult friend.
God is One.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Here's the question.
Humans born into this floating world
Quickly become like the roadside dust:
At dawn small children,
By sunset already grown white-haired,
Without inner understanding,
They struggle without cease.
I ask the children of the universe:
For what reason do you pass this way?
- Ryokan (1758-1831)
If not love and understanding -- or as Sonny puts it "love of understanding" -- then, what?
Humans born into this floating world
Quickly become like the roadside dust:
At dawn small children,
By sunset already grown white-haired,
Without inner understanding,
They struggle without cease.
I ask the children of the universe:
For what reason do you pass this way?
- Ryokan (1758-1831)
If not love and understanding -- or as Sonny puts it "love of understanding" -- then, what?
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