love letters

Every day, priests minutely examine the Law

and endlessly chant complicated sutras.

Before doing that, though, they should learn

how to read the love letters sent by the wind

and rain, the snow and moon. 

Ikkyu 

photo:  Peter Bowers

big question

There will be marriage, there will be children,

there will be earning money to maintain a family;

all this will happen in the natural course of events, 

for destiny must fulfill itself; you will go through it without resistance,

facing tasks as they come, attentive and thorough,

both in small things and big. 

But the general attitude will be of affectionate detachment,

enormous goodwill, without expectation of return,

constant giving without asking.

In marriage you are neither the husband nor the wife; 

you are the love between the two.

You are the clarity and kindness that makes everything orderly and happy.

It may seem vague to you, but if you think a little,

you will find that the mystical is most practical,

for it makes your life creatively happy.

Your consciousness is raised to a higher dimension,

from which you see everything much clearer and with greater intensity.

You realize that the person you became at birth

and will cease to be at death is temporary and false.

You are not the sensual, emotional and intellectual person,

gripped by desires and fears.  Find out your real being.

What am I?

is the fundamental question of all philosophy and psychology.

Go into it deeply.

Nisargadatta

Their Secret Was

A married couple used to come see me once in

a while.  Among the many I knew who were wed,

they appeared the most happy.

One day I said to them, "What marital advice

could you offer to others that might help them

achieve the grace you found?"

And the young woman blushed and so did her

husband; so I did not press them to answer.

But I knew.

Their secret was this:  That once every day, for 

an hour, they treated each other as if they were 

gods and would, with all their heart, do anything, 

anything, their beloved desired.

Sometimes that just meant holding hands and

walking in a forest that renewed their souls.

Rumi

translation:  Daniel Landinsky

the same as everything

We are the same as plants, as trees, as other people, 

as the rain that falls. 

We consist of that which is around us.

We are the same as everything. 

Buddha

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Beside the Waterfall

At dawn

the big dog - 

Winston by name - 

reached down

into the leaves - tulips and willows mostly - 

beside the white 

waterfall, 

and dragged out, 

into plain sight, 

a fawn, 

it was scarcely larger

than a rabbit, 

and thankfully,

it was dead.

Winston

looked over the

delicate, spotted body and then

deftly

tackled

the beautiful flower-like head,

breaking it and

breaking it off and

swallowing it.

All the while this was happening

it was growing lighter.

When I called to him

Winston merely looked up.

Grizzled around the chin

and with kind eyes,

he, too, if you're willing

had a face like a flower; and then the red sun

which had been raising all the while anyway,

broke

clear of the trees and dropped its wild, clawed light

over everything. 

Mary Oliver

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Do you think I know what I'm doing?

Do  you think I know what I'm doing? 

That for one breath or half-breath that I belong to myself? 

As much as a pen knows what it's writing, 

or the ball can guess where it's going next? 

Rumi

photo:  Peter Bowers

Wildflowers

You have travelled up ten thousand steps in search of the dharma.

So many long days in the archives, copying, copying, copying. 

The gravity of the Tang and the profundity of the Sung

make heavy baggage.  

Here ! I've picked you a bunch of wildflowers.

Their meaning is the same

but they're much easier to carry.

Xu Yun 

mysteries, yes

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous 

to be understood. 

How grass can be nourishing in the 

mouths of lambs.

How rivers and stones are forever

in allegiance with gravity.

while we ourselves dream of rising. 

How two hands touch and the bonds

will never be broken.

How people come, from delight or the 

scars of damage, 

to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those

who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say

"Look!" and laugh in astonishment, 

and bow their heads.

Mary Oliver

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Long Life

For example, what the trees do

not only in lightening storms

or the watery dark of a summer's night

or under the white nets of winter

but now, and now, and now - whenever

we're not looking.  Surely you can't imagine

they don't dance, from the root up, wishing

to travel a little, not cramped so much as wanting

a better view, or more sun, or just as avidly

more shade - surely you can't imagine they just 

stand there, loving every 

minute of it, the birds or the emptiness, the dark rings

of the years slowly and without a sound

thickening, and nothing different unless the wind, 

and then only in its own mood, comes

to visit, surely you can't imagine

patience, and happiness like that. 

Mary Oliver

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Giving

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?

And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?

And what is fear of need but need itself?

Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

There are those who give little of the much which they have - 

and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome. 

And there are those who have little and give it all. 

These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; 

They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; 

And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.

And is there aught you would withhold?

All you have shall some day be given;

Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."

The trees in the orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.

They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.

Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.

And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. 

And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?  

And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?  

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.  

For in truth it is life that gives unto life -

while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

And you receivers - and you are all receivers - 

assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives. 

Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings; 

For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father.  

Kahlil Gibran

Photo:  Peter Bowers

  

hiding in this cage

hiding in this cage

of visible matter

is the invisible

 lifebird

pay attention

to her

she is singing 

your song

Kabir

image via:  sweetlysurreal

we are...

We are

People who need to love, 

because

Love is the soul's life. 

Love is simply creation's 

greatest joy.  

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers