May anyone who visits here be instantly freed from suffering and abide in happiness forever

The physical kingdom is here and now already,  its a lovely place, from God's point of view in the heavens, it's a physical jewel  waiting  like the prodigals father for the son to come to his senses and discover the presence of God,  this world was created to be the kingdom. All we need is the spiritual dimension of God manifested on earth, guess who was created to manifest the spiritual dimension of God on this jewel of a planet? That's right, you were!

TheMiracle:  I looked at a picture of earth taken from a voyager space ship from Pluto, and it looked so small like a mote of dust in a sunbeam. The improbability of this mote supporting life in the vastness of the void struck me, it's just the right distance from the sun, not too hot or too cold, but just right, and so apparently insignificant in the vastness of empty space, yet this is where we live our lives, beget our children, pursue our happiness, seek our fortunes, fight our wars, live and hopefully love, all on just a mote in the void. This universe is the miracle, and that we exist is a miracle.

On a still morning,

improbable marvelous,

I am here and now.

I understand I am more than just a bit of eternity, I am eternity within a physical body.

I think there is a give and take between our mind and body, eternal and finite, internal and external, like the charged positive and negative particles blinking in and out of existence that make our universe. Eternity permeates finite.

 When trying to understand myself as nothing I find I can accept I am nothing only when I am also everything existing in yang /yin like unity between internal/ external and positive/ negative elements.

If you want to be free,
Get to know your real self.
It has no form, no appearance,
No root, no basis, no abode,
But is lively and buoyant.
It responds with versatile facility,
But its function cannot be located.
Therefore when you look for it,
You become further from it;
When you seek it,
You turn away from it all the more.
- Linji

 Buddha said something like  thinking is  a forest and we are a tree. Clear the forest.

I do it one thought at a time. I smile on the thoughts as they pass through and find myself smiling. I find myself smiling for longer and longer time periods. Often I continue smiling after having finished meditation.

 I believe there is a God and when I am a smiling  tree I can relate with God. -Dio

4-26-10

MY DOG KATY

Sun lit reeds and grass-

gravel path through a wet land-

scent sight sound surprise. 

Leaps yelps feet flying-

a thick furry thing emerges-

pursued by Katy.

Back to a Brier patch-

a panicked flight is transformed-

muskrat faces her fear.

Shows her muskrat teeth-

My barking dog turns away-

the game is over.

10-25-09

HENS

Hens, a flock of hens-

surprised, left right, where to go-

bunch up start squawking

10-4-09

THE SQUIRREL

The branch bowes to earth-

Squirrel dashes off, then suprise!

A black cat waiting.

9-25-09 THE MOLE

The mole on the road-

ran a loop de looping course-

but made it across.

THE SPARROW

Perched on a broomstick-

a rain drenched sparrow sits-

we watch each other.

1. A robin flew by.

Elegant simplicity,

 was punctuated.

2. The students get off,

 the heavens continues to weep.

 The school bus doors close.

3. In the empty blue sky 
Osprey dives claws splash caught fish
The wonder of it

Blue sky behind clouds,

My imaginary friend, 

Shows me the way home. 

4. Bird tracks in white snow.

Hop, hop, hop, hop, the sparrow.

The frigid morning.

5. Sunlight on the snow.

Flash of red in a thicket.

The cardinal moved.

[A faint yellow rose

Almost hidden in deep grass

And then it moves.

Issa]

6. The shuffle of feet   

 Only leaves blown by the wind

 In a parking lot

7. On a still morning,

Improbable marvelous,

I am here

Windblown cotton seed,

As if hovering in air,

Caught by spider thread

Do you find suprise

by the elegant beauty 

in the silken tread?

Fisherman spider

walking through air on silk thread

carries home his catch

When on the road home

snapping turtle blocks the way,

move ancient monster.

 By DIO

Thus spring begins: Old

stupidities repeated,

New errors invented.

-Issa

Like red tomatoes

may summer ripen your heart

and rain refresh you.

-Dio

From the beginning, all beings are Buddha;
Like water and ice, without water no ice,
Outside us, no Buddhas.
How near the Truth, yet how far we seek!
Like one in water crying, "I thirst",
Like the son of a rich man
Wandering poor on this earth,
We endlessly circle the Six Worlds.
From dark path to dark path
We've wandered in darkness.
How can we be free from the wheel of Samsara?

The Perfection of freedom is Zazen-Samadhi,
Beyond exaltation, beyond all our praises,
The pure Mahayana.
Observing the precepts, repentance and giving,
The countless good deeds, and the Way of Right Living,
All flow from this Zen.
Even one meditation extinguishes evil;
It purifies karma, dissolving obstruction.
Then where are the dark paths to lead us astray?
The Pure Lotus Land is not far away.
Hearing this Truth, heart humble and grateful,
To praise and embrace it, to practice its wisdom,
Brings unending blessings, brings mountains of merit.

But if we turn directly, and prove our True Nature,
That true Self is no-self,
Our own Self is no-self,
We stand beyond ego and past clever words.
Then the gate to the oneness of cause-and-effect is thrown open:
Not two, and not three,
Straight ahead runs the Way.
Now our form is no-form,
So in coming and going we never leave home.
Now our thought is no-thought,
So our dancing and songs are the voice of the Dharma.
How bright and transparent the moonlight of Wisdom!
What is there outside us, what is there we lack?
Nirvana is openly shown to our eyes.
This earth where we stand is the Pure Lotus Land,
And this very body, the body of Buddha!
(Zazen Wasan - Song of Zazen by Hakuin)

"May anyone who merely sees or hears,
remembers, touches or talks to me,
be instantly freed from all sufferings
and abide in happiness forever.

May all sentient beings have equanimity, free from attachment, aggression and prejudice.
May they be happy, and have the causes for happiness.
May they be free from suffering and causes for suffering.
May they never be separated from the happiness that is free from suffering."

-Dalai Lama

If you want to be free,
Get to know your real self.
It has no form, no appearance,
No root, no basis, no abode,
But is lively and buoyant.
It responds with versatile facility,
But its function cannot be located.
Therefore when you look for it,
You become further from it;
When you seek it,
You turn away from it all the more.
- Linji

"Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains,
            and waters as waters.
When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point
where I saw that mountains are not mountains,
            and waters are not waters.
But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest.
For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains,
            and waters once again as waters."
                                 
                               -     Ching-yuan

371d36d75e05eda735858f8e467be99c

What is life?

It is the flash of a butterfly in the night

It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime

It is the little shaddow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

         Blackfoot Chief Isapwo Muksika Crowfoot

 To think about it,
I do think about it
And shed tears
Thinking about it.
Ryokan

When all thoughts
Are exhausted I slip into the woods
And gather
A pile of shepherd's purse.

Like the little stream
Making its way
Through the mossy crevices
I, too, quietly
Turn clear and transparent. Ryokan

Studying texts and stiff meditation can make you lose your Original Mind.
A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable treasure.
Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in and out of clouds;
Elegant beyond words, he chants his song night after night.

Original mind is pure consciousness, empty of ego, our innate, natural state of original intuitive wisdom.  It is what one experiences during deep meditation and, as one becomes more and more conscious, more and more during one's everyday experience of living.  There is, to my knowledge, general agreement on what it is... definitely, at least, in the experiencing of it.

Few people believe their
Inherent mind is Buddha.
Most will not take this seriously,
and therefore are cramped.
They are wrapped up in illusions, cravings,
Resentments, and other afflictions,
All because they love the cave of ignorance