lotusinthemud

#smallstone 5

beneath me
soft rug, mottled
cream, beige, brown, grey,
like beck-bed pebbles

upon it nestles curved white feather -
angelic visit?

#smallstone 5

the riches of european union - and further afield

'first chop an onion' -
our traditional prologue
while wondering what the vegetables
would like to be.

discarding ginger skins
and chopping fine
with dangerous dimple-handled steel -
spanish onions
'firm, juicy, versatile'
the label promises
as they soften and release their scent
in green italian oil

italian almonds
and my new discoveries -
sharp henna-red israeli sumac,
sour iranian lime,
za'atar from palestinian hillsides
and the more prosaic -
water and rich brown marmite
from london

next, scrubbing off claggy yorkshire mud
from yellow potatoes, then diced,
orange carrots, sliced,
sand-coloured parsnips, in slender match sticks -
all added, bubbling
with fine leaf-green strips of cabbage
to be added last

nothing of our meal has leapt and bounded
save tiny sesame as it toasted
but all looked upward to the sun
or tuberous, fattened in secret
unseen, enclosed in dark rich earth

 

#smallstone 4

day 3 - what are small stones?

It's day 3 of this month of writing 'small stones' - short pieces of observational writing in prose or poetic form. Last night a private FB page was set up with membership snowballing by the second and lovely comments being added to others'... writing - very encouraging for the new and lacking in confidence - for a small fee (£10) you can receive an email encouragement and inspiration every day this month - :: look here for more details

how to practise

A gift from Dharmavidya:

 

Open publication - Free publishing - More amida

small stone 1 for 1st january

tiny seeds toasting, they dance and jump, then ground, mmm, such beguiling scent that senses beg 'please, supper time soon?'

#smallstone

:: link to Writing Our Way Home

buddhism is not about being a buddhist

Have confidence in your own spiritual potentiality, your ability to find your own unique way. Learn from others certainly and use what you find useful, but also learn to trust your own inner wisdom. Have courage. Be awake and aware. Remember too that Buddhism is not about being a Buddhist; that is, obtaining a new identity tag. Nor is it about collecting head-knowledge, practices and techniques. It is ultimately about letting go of all forms and concepts and becoming free.

~ John Snelling, Elements of Buddhism

this is life

"The sun shines, snow falls, mountains rise and valleys sink, night deepens and pales into day, but it is only very seldom that we attend to such things. When we are grasping the inexpressible meaning of these things, this is life, this is living."

~ R. H. Blyth

with thanks to Satya of Writing Our Way Home

writing 'small stones' - a new month of 'noticing'

From 'Writing Our Way Home':

Start 2013 by clearing space for beauty. Will you be joining our Mindful Writing Challenge this year?

The Everso Quick Version: 

1. Notice something properly every day during January.
2. Write it down.

That's it. You can stop reading now. Go out and buy yourself a gorgeous notebook, start writing your small stones, and you'll be in the river. If you join half-way through January you can either write 31 daily small stones or stop at the end of the month.

:: link to read more and to join. I'm joining!

the true teaching

The true teaching is the kind of teaching that conforms to two things: First, it is consistent with the Buddhist insight. And secondly, it is appropriate for the person who is receiving it. It's like medicine. It has to be true medicine, and it must fit the person who is receiving it.

Sometimes you can give someone a very expensive treatment, but they still die. That is why when the Buddha meets someone and offers the teaching he has to know that person in order to be able to offer the appropriate teaching. Even if the teaching is very valuable, if you don't make it appropriate to the person, it is not Buddhist teaching.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh, in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Vol.IV, #4

let grace in ~ dharmavidya

Grace provides the framework within which a meaningful life is lived. Love is the substance of it day to day. To live a spiritual life, then, is essentially to do things “for the love of it”—to do things without attachment to a result or reward. It is a matter of living in a simple way and having a practice that enables you to return again and again to the consciousness of life’s all-enfolding blessing.

Grace is the key to happiness. When bad things happen, if we have confidence in grace, then we can remain grounded in that and not be overwhelmed by the soap opera of life. And grace is a circular blessing. The more grace enters your life, the more grateful you are. The more grateful you are, the more easily grace seems to enter. You can do the following things in order to let grace enter your life:

• Remember grace as the epitome of love.
• Don’t claim the credit.
• Appreciate whatever comes and make the absolute most of it.
• If you meet with troublesome or adverse circumstances, remember to establish yourself in the realm of grace and unhook from the world of transient things — disappointments are part and parcel of life.
• Live fully with no “no-go” areas: sometimes we are joyful, sometimes sad, sometimes we rejoice, and sometimes we grieve.
• Have a regular practice of remembering and celebrating grace.
• Love.
• Count yourself as of no importance and return to childlike simplicity.
• Allow feelings to come and go, yet know a deep contentment that fills your days.

Adapted from the blog of Dharmavidya David Brazier (amidatrust.typepad.com).

:: link to article in Tricycle