Just beyond
yourself
It's where
you need
to be.
Half a step
into
self-forgetting
and the rest
restored
by what
you'll meet.
(- from THE BELL & THE BLACKBIRD
and DAVID WHYTE: ESSENTIALS)
Saturday, February 06, 2021
the flash of a smile spoke love
Sadako Sasaki
By: nickyO
Published: Jun 11, 2011 Sadako Sasaki a thousand paper cranes carried her prayers for peace lay with her in sleep in her almond eyes the flash of a smile spoke love folded into death yet her mother held her hand recalling heavens of ash When will we clear the skies that the cranes may fly and little girls may live? |
Friday, February 05, 2021
what we know in our bones
There is a longing to enter into and comprehend what it means to share in the body of Christ.
An emerging mystical consciousness surrounds a grounding creation spirituality that begins to recognize the embodied reality throughout all of nature and material manifestation of a permeating reality of Christ-nature, an underlying essential and existential trueness and goodness that is our bodily and spiritual home with what is called God, with what-is love itself.
Abhishiktananda (Henri le Saux)3 is quoted:
“The discovery of Christ’s I AM is the ruin of any Christian theology, for all notions are burnt within the fire of experience.”4
Then Richard Kearney writes:
Though Abhishiktananda was the chief celebrant, he himself seems to have written little about this event—yet there are some telling hints in diary entries which I shall consider below. It was the host, Sara Grant, who provided the best account, describing the Vigil as a genuinely “trans-cultural celebration” which was much more than a “preparatory para-liturgy.” And while the sharing of scriptures from different biblical and Vedic sources was central, what was most striking for her personally was the “bodily aspect of the being and the fact that we experienced it as community.” She explains: “suddenly we realized that until his death, Jesus was bound by history and its limitations, but through his death and resurrection he had burst the bonds of space and time and could be recognized as not only Lord and Christ but as Sat purusha, the archetypal Man of Vedic tradition in whom every member of the human race can recognize the truth of his or her being” (Grant 2002: 72)
(—Ch.2, pp.140-141, TOWARD AN OPEN EUCHARIST, Richard Kearney, in Ritual Participation and Interreligious Dialogue Boundaries, Transgressions and Innovations, Edited by Marianne Moyaert and Joris Geldhof, 2015)
The world longs for unity.
Unity is the root reality of Being.
Why are we so slow to notice?
Why is it such a struggle to practice what we know in our bones and in our sight to be true?
Practice seeing!
A haiku:
Author: Kaga Chiyome
[Japanese]
朝顔に 釣瓶とられて もらひ水
Asagao ni/Tsurube torare te/Morai mizu
[English]
The well-bucket is
Taken by the morning glory
Going to a neighbour for water.
Thursday, February 04, 2021
those who felt we must remain free
Parable
(by Louise Glück)
First divesting ourselves of worldly goods, as St. Francis teaches,
in order that our souls not be distracted
by gain and loss, and in order also
that our bodies be free to move
easily at the mountain passes, we had then to discuss
whither or where we might travel, with the second question being
should we have a purpose, against which
many of us argued fiercely that such purpose
corresponded to worldly goods, meaning a limitation or constriction,
whereas others said it was by this word we were consecrated
pilgrims rather than wanderers: in our minds, the word translated as
a dream, a something-sought, so that by concentrating we might see it
glimmering among the stones, and not
pass blindly by; each
further issue we debated equally fully, the arguments going back and forth,
so that we grew, some said, less flexible and more resigned,
like soldiers in a useless war. And snow fell upon us, and wind blew,
which in time abated — where the snow had been, many flowers appeared,
and where the stars had shone, the sun rose over the tree line
so that we had shadows again; many times this happened.
Also rain, also flooding sometimes, also avalanches, in which
some of us were lost, and periodically we would seem
to have achieved an agreement; our canteens
hoisted upon our shoulders, but always that moment passed, so
(after many years) we were still at that first stage, still
preparing to begin a journey, but we were changed nevertheless;
we could see this in one another; we had changed although
we never moved, and one said, ah, behold how we have aged, traveling
from day to night only, neither forward nor sideward, and this seemed
in a strange way miraculous. And those who believed we should have a purpose
believed this was the purpose, and those who felt we must remain free
in order to encounter truth, felt it had been revealed.
(Glück, Louise. Faithful and Virtuous Night: Poems (pp. 3-4). Farrar, Straus and Giroux.)
the crow has flown away
Words have consequences.
When something is said there is meant to be a connection between the words spoken and what is commonly referred to as reality.
reality
[ ree-al-i-tee ]
noun, plural re·al·i·ties
When words and reality have little or no connection, there is a diminishment of both words and reality.
Things are not what we pretend they are. Things are what they are. It becomes the responsibility of anyone who speaks to re-present reality in words with as much clarity and fidelity as possible.
This responsibility to represent and clarify reality is singularly a duty of elected officials in their roles of governance and leadership.
When leaders fail to honor and respect the fact of and representation of reality, there is harm done to reality, words, and the human beings dependent on the healthy connection of word and reality.
Looking to another key rhetorical theorist, Plato defined the scope of rhetoric according to his negative opinions of the art. He criticized the Sophists for using rhetoric as a means of deceit instead of discovering truth. In "Gorgias", one of his Socratic Dialogues, Plato defines rhetoric as the persuasion of ignorant masses within the courts and assemblies.[11] Rhetoric, in Plato's opinion, is merely a form of flattery and functions similarly to cookery, which masks the undesirability of unhealthy food by making it taste good. Thus, Plato considered any speech of lengthy prose aimed at flattery as within the scope of rhetoric.
Aristotle both redeemed rhetoric from his teacher and narrowed its focus by defining three genres of rhetoric—deliberative, forensic or judicial, and epideictic.[12] Yet, even as he provided order to existing rhetorical theories, Aristotle extended the definition of rhetoric, calling it the ability to identify the appropriate means of persuasion in a given situation, thereby making rhetoric applicable to all fields, not just politics. When one considers that rhetoric included torture (in the sense that the practice of torture is a form of persuasion or coercion), it is clear that rhetoric cannot be viewed only in academic terms. However, the enthymeme based upon logic (especially, based upon the syllogism) was viewed as the basis of rhetoric
(Wikipedia, Rhetoric)
The crisis hanging over America is real.
A detachment looms.
A separation of words and reality.
(Pause. A breath. Then this:)
Haiku
(by Natsume Soseki)
The crow has flown away:
swaying in the evening sun,
a leafless tree.
Wednesday, February 03, 2021
when the obvious becomes visible
Walking up stairs — mere
Fact I can, walking back field
Half foot snow, my prints
Tuesday, February 02, 2021
Monday, February 01, 2021
the root of all the secrets
A long reading for Sunday Evening Practice.
Kathleen Deignan's article, The Forest Is My Bride: Thomas Merton’s Writings on Nature, from 16June2002, early on contains Merton's words:
…Like everyone else I live under the bomb. But unlike most people I live in the woods. Do not ask me to explain this. I am embarrassed to describe it. …
…I live in the woods out of necessity. I get out of bed in the middle of the night because it is imperative that I hear the silence of the night, alone, and, with my face on the floor, say psalms, alone, in the silence of the night.
It is necessary for me to live here alone without a woman, for the silence of the forest is my bride and the sweet dark warmth of the whole world is my love and out of the heart of that dark warmth comes the secret that is heard only in silence, but it is the root of all the secrets that are whispered by all the lovers in their beds all over the world.
(--Dancing in the Water of Life: The Journals of Thomas Merton Vol.V p 239 – 240, WC 195)
Walking mountain out our barn door we get glimpse of such nuptial invitation, a more profound celibacy, an intimacy of interconnection, respectful and responsible, reciprocal.
Deignan was a welcome presence, her lovely writing mingling appreciatively and became a valuable member of this irregular sangha bowing with gasshos to each other saying goodnight, godspeed, whisper well.
Sunday, January 31, 2021
blessed and grateful birthday to thomas merton
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
(—from Thoughts in Solitude, by Thomas Merton)
Saturday, January 30, 2021
how can I help
What does it mean to be a nonaffiliated zen buddhist catholic christian idiorhythmic secular monastic practitioner in the world today?
Nothing!
To nobody.
No way.
I’m not taking any further questions this evening.
May you be happy, safe, free, and come to dwell in your true home!
Aspettare.
Friday, January 29, 2021
toward the holy mind of reconciliation
Bless me, mother, for I have sinned.
A man of old has said: “Do not talk about the conduct of others if you don’t resemble them.” This means that, without knowing or studying a person’s virtues, one should not, upon seeing his weaknesses, conclude that he is a good person but suffers certain defects and does bad things. Look at just his virtues, not his shortcomings. This is the meaning of the saying: “The gentleman sees the virtues but not the shortcomings of others.” (SZ 3.8)
(—from, Dogen’s Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki)
Help me, father, to see that what I see is me seeing, not what is there to be seen.
must be the season of the hate
1.
Thinking about hate
Congress thinks it’s ok — let
Members carry guns
2,
Republicans love
Former president. Crude hate
Looks for worthy host.
3.
No good will come from
No good. Nothing hopeful comes
When hate loves the false
Thursday, January 28, 2021
truncated understandings
Thomas Aquinas (Born: Tommaso d'Aquino, 1225, Roccasecca, Kingdom of Sicily. Died: 7 March 1274 (aged 48–49), Fossanova, Papal States).
It is his feast day today.
Everything imperfect must proceed from something perfect: therefore the First Being must be most perfect. Everything is perfect inasmuch as it is in actuality; imperfect, inasmuch as it is in potentiality, with privation of actuality. That then which is nowise in potentiality, but is pure actuality, must be most perfect; and such is God.”
(—St. Thomas Aquinas, “That God is Universal Perfection,” in Of God and His Creatures, 64, www.ccel.org)
The sheer volume of his writings in theology, his dedication, is impressive. And with medieval philosophy and theology, intellectually demanding. Understanding is a labor both of attentiveness and capacity for it. (I seldom have either,)
Not infrequently, in different texts, Aquinas refers to a principle which he uses as a principle of explanation–a principle which avers that “whatever is received into something is received according to the condition of the receiver.” Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur. Cf. Summa Theologiae, 1a, q. 75, a. 5; 3a, q. 5. In the Summa Theologiae, 1a, q. 12, a. 4, a more specific application of this principle is proposed in terms which say that “a thing known exists in a knower according to the mode of a knower.” Cogitum…est in cognoscente secundum modum cognoscentis. For further references, see Summa Theologiae, q. 14, a. 1, ad 3; q. 16, a. 1; q. 19, a. 6, ad 2; Summa Contra Gentiles, 2, 79, 7; De Veritate, q. 2, a. 3. In knowing anything, or in thinking that one knows anything, something is known by a prospective knower according to the mode of a knower’s being where what is understood and known is regulated or determined according to how a thing is known by a knower. In the context of his systematic theology of the Trinity, Lonergan takes this Thomist principle and uses it to explain why ongoing development sometimes fails to occur in theology. See Lonergan, The Triune God: Systematics, p. 25. Seminal insights are not always well understood (as these insights come from major thinkers in the theological tradition as in St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, or Cardinal Newman) and the result can be a tradition of misunderstanding (constituted by truncated understandings) which introduces a distortion into the development of later theology
(—from, Applying a Thomist Principle: Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur, October 16, 2009 by Br. Dunstan Robidoux OSB)
”Truncated” is such a workable word.
Take, for example, the definition of a truncated mean:
A truncated mean or trimmed mean is a statistical measure of central tendency, much like the mean and median. It involves the calculation of the mean after discarding given parts of a probability distribution or sample at the high and low end, and typically discarding an equal amount of both. This number of points to be discarded is usually given as a percentage of the total number of points, but may also be given as a fixed number of points.
The phrasing I am familiar with goes, “Whatever is received is received according to the personality of the one receiving it.”
And if our personal development is stunted or truncated, what is received is partial or distorted.
Such an understanding suggests why we seem to have such difficulty comprehending and thus acting upon justice, compassion, or integrity in the realm of either politics or human discourse.
Beyond that, intentional truncation for personal advantage dealing with the public, complicates further the transmission of necessary truths and implementation of same.
Thomas told us. He let us in on our difficulty. It is a problem of reception.
It is the task of receiving and passing on that often evades or makes onerous our facility or capability.
Add to that a reluctance to faithfully retransmit even what we do receive with clarity or dedication to its truth — and we have what we have today.
And so, we take to practice.
A practice of receiving, of being open to receiving, a practice of taking in and letting go without actively obfuscating what is passing through, a practice of allowing value to be amplified through integrative participation in wholesome transmission of actual fact and facticity.
Receive this,
All
Of you —
For
This
Is
My
Body
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
this is no longer politics
Fact is, republicans seem to have made a calculated choice that the majority of Americans want the government to implode and be destroyed to be replaced with some kind of authoritarian autocratic regime under republican banner.
Hard to believe they think, ultimately, this is a desirable choice.
There is a sharp turn ahead in the road.
I’m uncertain the careening car of tr**pism will make the curve without crashing over the edge and smashing the country into steep fall.
Take away their license.
Put them in the drunk tank.
For God’s sake, stop the cruel and deluded lemming run.
what we are to be doing
Feed people.
Treat and heal people.
Be merciful and forgive people.
Be hospitable and welcome people.
Liston to what people are saying.
Act in such a way that the well-being of each is primary.
When dissension arises pay attention to the sound of what is being said.
Forget the religious denominations and the saccharine preaching about heavenly salvation and favorable status in a believing club.
It is a crucial time.
The crux of our moral essence is on trial.
There is a line we cannot cross without losing what is on either side of the line.
It is an excruciating time.
Hate and obfuscation threaten to annihilate any remnant of kind or compassionate life in the world.
What is to be done?
What is
Is to be
What we are
To be doing.
Jesus is dead.
Christ is risen.
Are we willing?
To face?
Who we are?
And what we are?
Doing?
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
tea and hot chocolate
Cold January morning.
St. Bernard/Border Collie pup consults with frozen stream up Hosmer Brook Trail.
Mountain holds its counsel until lower falls outside meetingbrook path.
Now, inside wohnkuche, as Gregorian chant drifts quietly --
an interval
What do you say we are?
"What are human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals, that you care for them?" (Psalm 8:4 Good News Translation)
Though suppressed, Pico’s speech was printed, again and again. It begins with an interlocking set of statements about human nature, as mysterious as they are sonorous:
In Arab memorials, Most Reverend Fathers, I have read about Abdala, a Saracen: when asked what was the most astonishing sight to be seen on this stage of the world—so to speak—he answered that there was nothing to see more astonishing than man. Supporting his opinion is that saying of Mercury: Man is a great miracle, Asclepius.
Pico goes on to describe man as “an interval between fixed eternity and flowing time and (as the Persians say) the bond—no, the wedding-knot—of the world, a little lower than the angels, according to David,” and to evoke man’s power—unique among the creatures of the universe—to admire and love the orderly splendor of God’s creation and to rise above that to union with God.
(--from, Thinking Outside the ‘Pico Box’ by Anthony Grafton, NYRB, 5nov2020 issue)
There are times I think human beings are natural antagonists. Or maybe self-serving opportunists. Then I put down the politics section of the New York Times or Washington Post, pour a cup of coffee, and wonder how it is we haven't yet destroyed ourselves.
An interval.
A brief instant.
A passing thought.
And we think so highly of ourselves. Who makes more money? Who looks better? Who has a nicer home?
Such false metrics.
If God is What Is True, I long for God.
And for you to be there too.
Monday, January 25, 2021
lowering eyes
I notice people my age are dying.
First, I say a prayer for them
Then, I look to see if my reflection looks back from mirror.
portrait of seed fallen on winter ground
Beware of ambition
Success isn’t everything —
There are bad cards
Dealing lousy hand
Some gamble. Some cheat. Some fold.
Some walk away, down stairs, out door —
If you look up, a sky
the formless becomes unapparent presence
Conversio, the transformation.
Conversatio, the manner of life.
Conjunctio, the union.
Paul, they say, is celebrated today. The memory of his conversion.
When the formless becomes unapparent presence.
When we don’t know what is happening with us.
When the way of life becomes our life.
When nothing else is, only God is.
Go ahead — put some sticks into the firebox —listen to organ pipes from France.
This is life.
This is only life — this is the only life — needing to be — lived.
Sunday, January 24, 2021
the practice of disappearing into...ça va
It is rare to comprehend God. Or God’s attributes. I am not among the rare.
“Where you are, I am.”
God is beside, within, and beyond each thing each being in existence.
“Still, I don’t exist.”
Presence is the name of God. God is nothing if not present.
“We are, in this, together.”
Don’t bother looking for God. Give up searching.
“Here I am.”
There is no seeing God. God is what is seen through.
“Close your eyes, there I am. Open your eyes, there I am.”
Man’s stupidity is God’s laughter. Man’s arrogance is God’s theater of the absurd.
“If you trip, I am the falling. If you delight, I am the smile.”
There’s nothing else to say about God. There’s nothing else.
“Can we make coffee now? Is it time to pray yet?”
Prayer is the practice of disappearing into God.
“There you are, my little cauliflower, mon petit chou-fleur!”
About face! Forward march! Sound off! One, two, three, four!
“Quel tel! Comme c'est ca! Tout alors! Mais certainement! Ça va!”
The sleeping cat has never asked, not once, about God. What a saint!
Saturday, January 23, 2021
analogy of being left or right
In last night’s conversation a contrast between two ways of being in the world.
The one: receiving and passing on.
The other: initiating and dominating.
Friday, January 22, 2021
Thursday, January 21, 2021
body-mind; no-mind nobody
My small pinky practices mu-shin.
Dogen emphasises that we cannot separate our minds, even in their highest functioning, from our bodies. In Shobogenzo Shinjin Inga (A07/89 Deep Faith in Cause and Effect), Dogen writes: The self is identified with the mind. The mind is explained as something remaining apart from the body. This is the way in which non-Buddhists think about the body.
In contrast with this, Buddhists should not regard the mind as remaining apart from the body: the two are inseparable.
My nose wu-xin.
What am I?
Nobody!
welcome to new day, land of hope and dreams
יְהוָה--אָהַבְתִּי, מְעוֹן בֵּיתֶךָ; וּמְקוֹם, מִשְׁכַּן כְּבוֹדֶךָ.
LORD, I love the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth.
(from Psalms Chapter 26 תְּהִלִּים)
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
(from, Psalm 27, Authorized (King James) Version)
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
a healthy dusk
(for some in America, after Eph.4:26)
In your anger do
not sin. Don’t let sun go down
while you’re still angry
for the joy of ear and eye
(after matins hymn)
Beauty of each hour —
This our hymn of grateful praise —
Gentle thoughts and mild
into my rest
(after psalm 95)
Four years I endured
That aberration. I said,
“They shall not enter . . .”
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
happy no-birth, dear dōgen zenji
This:
Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), also called Dogen Kigen or Dogen Zenji, was a Japanese Buddhist monk who established Soto Zen in Japan. He is also known for the collection of his writing called Shobogenzo, a masterpiece of the world's religious literature. https://www.learnreligions.com/eihei-dogen-450198
And this:
Leads to this:Dōgen Zenji was a Japanese Buddhist priest, poet, philosopher, writer, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.
He is known for his extensive writing including his most famous work – Shōbōgenzō, but also Eihei Shingi, the first Zen monastic code written in Japan https://www.insightstate.com/quotes/dogen-zenji-quotes/
#1 ”In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.”
#2 ”Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.”
#3 ”Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.”
#4 ”But do not ask me where I am going, As I travel in this limitless world, Where every step I take is my home.”
#5 “Forgetting oneself is opening oneself”
#6 ”Cause is not before and effect is not after”
https://www.insightstate.com/quotes/dogen-zenji-quotes/
Dōgen Kigen, along with Francis of Assisi, these two, are the guiding inspiration of meetingbrook dōgen & francis hermitage.
We are grateful novices sitting and walking in the long shadow of their vision, poetry, wisdom, and direct connective simplicity.
The ten thousand things sing through our mere attending presence moving through this moment, as it is.
Monday, January 18, 2021
meaningless mimicry of mindless minions
I listen to hate.
The sound of lies recruiting lies.
Men and women who’ve lost their souls.
One more day of empty bodies.
Then they fly off.
To mausoleums.
a good man
Martin Luther King Jr.
A good man.
Even today.
Someone who cared, helped meaningfully, then had his life taken by racists for whom ugly acts are a menu laid out before their eyes as they sit with smug certainty at family dinner gatherings. Their sacrificial snacks eaten with purity on white table covering.
We remember you today.
We honor you, Martin.
We break bread, and, in desolation, pray for your continuing spirit, on this day, in this time, a birthday repast.
Αγάπη, an αγάπη of inclusive imagination.
a martyr for mendacity
And still, amid fears of a reprise of January 6, the outgoing president of the United States, who led chants of twelve more years, does not say to his followers “I have lost. America goes on. Biden defeated me. Honor our traditions and constitution. He is your president. Be good citizens.”
But this is 2021.
Schoolyard politics are all the rage.
I am not sure. I suspect one of the MAGA crowd, disillusioned with sorrow, will attempt to put the failed king of the mountain out of his inglorious indignity by making him a martyr for mendacity and once glorious untouchability, a Mar-a-Lago sacrifice for the wealthy class of privileged superiority, a mounted head for adulation and worshipful obeisance, stuffed, a taxidermy of righteous mis-memory, a recumbent pseudo-savior come to fest and rest without a tear being shed.
I’d prefer an old fashioned prison cell.
Where yarns could be spun. Appeals filed. Commissary chits exchanged. And weekly bible study reading about the failed Jesus who was not as great as this fellow with no one to pardon him, no one who really cares, complaining about the grub, waiting for his odd and photogenic family to one day visit him when their busy schedules allow.
Last night, at practice, we read about metta, loving kindness, good will.
I wish him well.
Would that we all might be, with him safely tucked away, well!
Sunday, January 17, 2021
I am . . . this place
One of four wonderful photos from friend in Vankleek Hill Canada.
A response:
Haiku
(for pic 289)
No need to climb, sits
Each snow flake on ladder rung,
Sees . . . I am . . . this place
(wfh, 17jan21)
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