lotusinthemud

Epitaph - By Merrit Malloy

A poem with a profoundly beautiful message about death and grief and love. It’s a meditation that’s often read before Kaddish, part of Jewish mourning rituals:

When I die

Give what’s left of me away

To children

And old men that wait to die.

 

And if you need to cry,

Cry for your brother

Walking the street beside you.

And when you need me,

Put your arms

Around anyone

And give them

What you need to give to me.

 

I want to leave you something,

Something better

Than words

Or sounds.

 

Look for me

In the people I’ve known

Or loved,

And if you cannot give me away,

At least let me live on in your eyes

And not your mind.

 

You can love me most

By letting

Hands touch hands,

By letting bodies touch bodies,

And by letting go

Of children

That need to be free.

 

Love doesn’t die,

People do.

So, when all that’s left of me

Is love,

Give me away.

 

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The 'Contemplation on No-Coming, No-Going' ~ Thich Nhat Hahn:

This body is not me,
I am not caught in this body.
I am life without boundaries.
I have never been born,
and I have never died.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,
manifestations of my wondrous True Mind.

Since before time, I have been free.
Birth and death are only doors through which we
pass, sacred thresholds on our journey.
birth and death are just a game of hide and seek.

So laugh with me,
hold my hand,
let us say goodbye,
say goodbye, to meet again soon.
We meet today.
We will meet again tomorrow.
We will meet at the source at every moment.
We meet each other in all forms of life.

parents - fully present

We can look deeply to see that our mother is not only out there, but in here. Our mothers and fathers are fully present in every cell of our bodies. We carry them into the future. We can learn to talk to the father and the mother inside. I often talk to my mother, my father, and all of the ancestors inside me. I know that I am only a continuation of them. With that kind of insight, you know that even with the disintegration of the body of your mother, your mother still continues inside you, especially in the energies she has created in terms of thought, speech, and action. In Buddhism we call that energy karma. Karma means action, the triple action of thinking, speaking, and doing.

If you look deeply, you’ll see already the continuation of your mother inside you and outside of you. Every thought, every speech, every action of hers now continues with or without the presence of her body. We have to see her more deeply. She’s not confined to her body, and you aren’t confined to your body. It’s very important to see that. This is the wonder of Buddhist meditation - with the practice of looking deeply you can touch your own nature of no birth and no death. You touch the no-birth and no-death nature of your father, your mother, your child, of everything in you and around you. Only that insight can reduce and remove the fear.

 

~  Thich Nhat Hanh, in ”Answers from the Heart”.

Finding the courage

“When looking at the big picture — the yin, the yang, of things — grief and loss are, more precisely, about finding the courage and the determination to come to a more complete understanding of life in its glorious yet, utterly baffling, entirety.”

~  Daisy A Hickman 

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the negative effects of spoiling children

When children are spoiled we do them a great disservice because they are not being allowed to earn and learn.

Parents are moved by instinct to love, nurture, and provide for their offspring. Because our children are so much a part of us, we want to see them blissfully happy. Also, our own desire to be liked, materialist pressures, and a fervent wish that our children have everything we lacked as youngsters can prompt us to spoil them.

been and gone

When Peter Green formed the original Fleetwood Mac in 1967 he was initially unable to persuade John McVie to sign up and instead recruited Bob Brunning as the band's first-ever bass player. Brunning was studying at a teacher's training college when he saw Green's advert in Melody Maker. In the event he played on just one track with the band, Long Grey Mare, before McVie changed his mind and Brunning quit. He spent a brief period with Savoy Brown but decided that teaching would provide a more certain income. His interest in music did not diminish and he recorded four albums with his own outfit although none sold that well. He was also a prolific author and published several histories of Fleetwood Mac as well as books about the British blues scene.

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amida france, summer of 2011

There's a very full and varied programme throughout July, August and into September at our beautiful retreat centre in the middle of France:

Website: Amida France

July 4-8: Anjin Sesshin Retreat

July 11-15: Becoming More Alive through Words & Movement

July 18-22: Teachings: Mindfulness & Pureland Buddhism

July 25-29: Women Together/Familie Week (English/Dutch)

Aug 1-5: Arts & Family Week (English/Dutch/Francais)

Aug 8-12: Buddhist Psychology Summer School

Aug 15-19: Earth to Earth: Facing Grief & Finding Healing in Nature

Aug 22-26: Volunteer Week

Aug 29-Sept 2: Rivers & Forests: Walking retreat (English/Francais)

Sept 5-9: Women, Food & Bodies Week

Why not just stay for the whole summer :-)

lemon and pink grapefruit marmalade recipe

Lemon and Pink Grapefruit Marmalade
from 'Book of Preserves', by the Women's Institute

2 large pink or red grapefruit
2 large lemons
2 kg (4lb 8 oz) granulated sugar

1: Measure 2.25 litres (4 pints) water into a large stainless steel pan or preserving pan.

2: To prepare the grapefruit and lemons, cut the fruit into 1/4s. Squeeze the juice into the pan along with the water. Reserve the membranes and any pips and set aside on a large square of muslin.

3: Cut the peel from the grapefruit and lemons into thin shreds. Add them to the pan as you go. Tie up the membranes and pips in the muslin - tie this bag to the handle of the pan (which makes it easier to remove later) so that the bag is suspended in the water.

4: Bring the liquid up to boiling point and simmer, gently, uncovered, for 2 hours or until the peel is completely soft - it should squash easily between your fingers.

guardian blogs launch: behind the scenes

Here's the lowdown and the team, including my smashing son, Simon (centre, standing)

simon is notable

From my son's blog:

My PyCon UK talk has been accepted. It's even considered notable!. ;-)

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