Saturday, October 04, 2003

Francis of Assisi joins us.

Morning sunshine. Cesco and Sando in cabin with three of us. Walking meditation in dew bright green underfoot.
Chanting psalms celebrating nature and source.

Body impermanent like spring mist;
Mind insubstantial like empty sky;
Thoughts unestablished like breezes in space.
Think about these three points over and over.

- Godrakpa (1170-1249)

We are grateful for Francis' life then and now.

Simplicity. Acceptance of all beings. Dedication to Christ-mind and Christ-body.

Creation itself fills with quiet joy.

Francis, its offspring, wanders soundless at center.

Emptying Christ mirror!

Friday, October 03, 2003

Transitus of Francis.

Leaving time and body. Entering eternity and spirit.

Who enters this door, who studies this teaching
Has to be thorough and push to the end.
Empty your body, and reason remains;
Blank your mind, and the world is void.
Cloud-draped trees form a sheet of white;
In a mountain’s mouth the sun’s a red slice.
The flag moves or is it the wind?
It isn’t the wind or the flag.

- Stonehouse

Forgiveness returns us to original reality. To the unborn. Where what is is itself.

The pain of dwelling in original reality while yet in time and body was for Francis perfect joy.

Tonight we celebrate his return.

Write it down, Brother Leo.

All life is original life.

Greet God!

In this time. In this body.

Peace.

And all.

Good.

Thursday, October 02, 2003

We remember angels. Silent presences. Unseen.

What communication with God? Just that. Entering God.

Whatever you are doing, twenty-four hours a day, in all your various activities, there is something that transcends the Buddhas and Zen Masters; but as soon as you want to understand it, it’s not there. As soon as you try to gather your attention on it, you have already turned away from it. That is why I say you see but cannot do anything about it.
- Foyan (1067–1120)

Angels are just that.

Monday, September 29, 2003

Our barn roof leaks.

Extension rains drenched coast of Maine yesterday through morning. Hurricane Juan washed ashore at Halifax Nova Scotia and passed through PEI.

In my house there is a cave
In the cave, there’s nothing at all
Pure emptiness, really wonderful
Glorious and splendid, bright as the sun

- Han Shan (c. 730)

Sitting in cabin last night with rain along roof, three times 20 minute bell struck. No movement save the moth immolating itself in candle sending waves of extinguished light to vacant and occupied cushions and mats.

Angels today -- Gabriel, Michael, Raphael -- a feasting.
Alone, we are never...alone.

Is that a message? That we are never alone when we are alone?
Is this what the hermit experiences? We are more alone when with others?

Paradox? If solitude is gift, no one can give it to you. It is something taken away.
Solitude is the realization we are alone with others when we are fully with them.

Fully with is beyond the need to make oneself understood.
It is silence that makes gift of solitude when alone with others.

Archangels with us. Emptying.
They say, "The Lord is with you."

Mary said, "Let it be so!"
We say, "Ah, yes, may it be, so."

A dissolving emptiness.
Then, solitude.

The beauty of your house, Lord, the place your glory dwells.
Home.

Sunday, September 28, 2003

Bookshop/Bakery closed today.

In honor of Rosh Hashana, Sunday day of rest, Hurricane Juan bearing toward Nova Scotia, Saskia visiting family, and some silence, some solitude.

Cesco on rug, Mu-ge in basket on kitchen daybed. Rain light, then torrential, then pausing, and then again falling steady between mountains.

Living alone where none other dwells,
Shrine among the pines where mountain tints encroach,
Old man’s been ninety years a monk:
Heart beyond the clouds a lifetime long.
White hair hangs down, his head’s unshaven:
Clear black pupils smile deep mysteries.
He can still point to the orphan moon
For me alone, relaxes his discipline, this moment.

- Kuan Hsiu (832– 912)

There's joy, Emily D. says, in being nobody.

The same joy, one might say, in greeting everybody... as God... greeting.

This moment.

For giving.

A way.

Near.