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#2497 - Monday, June 12, 2006 - Editor: Gloria Lee
It would be so great to hear from anyone who
may have watched the
film on Farmer John. It is on most PBS stations, here it is on at
1:00 am.
Check local listings for Independent Lens. Also you can
put it on your
Netflix queue for when it will be released. Support your
local
Farmers Market, it is good for you and the environment. Or
grow
your own!
It's
very difficult for me to dislike an artist. No matter what
he's
creating, the fact that he's experiencing the joy of creation
makes
me feel like we're in a brotherhood of some kind... we're in
it
together. – Chick Corea
In this state there is no Shiva,
nor any holy union.
Only a somewhat something moving
dreamlike on a fading road.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks posted to Along the Way
2 photos by Alan Larus http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/islands/once.htm
I read a story
on a Hallmark card, and how fitting to be
called "Hallmark," for it is so. This is what it says:
Once,
a group of Siamese monks
covered their precious golden Buddha
with an outer covering of clay
to keep their treasure
from being looted.
The golden figure lay hidden for centuries.
We are all like the clay Buddha
covered with a shell of hardness
created out of fear,
and yet underneath is a "golden essence,"
our real self.
Sometime along the way
we began to cover up our natural self.
Our task now is to discover
our true essence once again.
Jack Canfield (adapted)
"You've always had a Heart of Gold."
Mazie Lane on HarshaSatsangh
If you’re
observant any square mile on the face of the Earth will tell you
all you need to know about life and people.
- Dean Koontz, LA Times from Alpha World
3 photos by Alan Larus http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/islands/star.htm 3 more by Alan Larus http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/islands/dust.htm
The next time you're
tempted to compare your life to another's,
pause for a moment. Remind yourself, over and over, that there is
no
competition on the spiritual plane. The blessings your nemesis
has
received also can be yours as soon as you are really ready to
receive
with an open heart all the good fortune created just for
you.
- Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance - A Daybook of Comfort and Joy
He who treads the
Path in earnest
Sees not the mistakes of the world;
If we find fault with others
We ourselves are also in the wrong.
-The Sutra of Hui Neng
Dharma, a
Sanskrit word for which there is no adequate English
equivalent, refers to the understanding and behavior that lead to
the
elimination of suffering and its source and to the experience of
a
lasting state of happiness and fulfillment....
Shantideva, a seventh-century Indian Buddhist sage, writes:
Although we wish to cast
off grief,
We hasten after misery;
And though we long for happiness,
Out of ignorance we crush our joy
as if it were our enemy.
We wish for happiness, yet
frequently we fail to identify its source.
We wish to be free of suffering, frustration, and grief, but we
do
not correctly identitfy the sources of our unhappiness. So,
although
we wish to be free of misery we hasten after it, all the while
destroying the causes of the happiness we could have.
--B. Alan Wallace, in Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up
Few people are
capable of wholehearted commitment, and that is
why so few people experience a real transformation through
their
spiritual practice. It is a matter of giving up our own
viewpoints, of
letting go of opinions and preconceived ideas, and instead
following
the Buddha's guidelines. Although this sounds simple, in
practice
most people find it extremely difficult. Their ingrained
viewpoints,
based on deductions derived from cultural and social norms, are
in
the way. We
must also remember that heart and mind need to work
together.
If we understand something rationally but don't love it, there is
no
completeness for us, no fulfillment. If we love something but
don't
understand it, the same applies.
If we have a relationship
with another person, and we love the
person but don't understand him or her, the relationship is
incomplete; if we understand the person but don't love him or
her,
it is equally unfulfilling. How much more so on our spiritual
path. We
have to understand the meaning of the teaching and also love it.
In
the beginning our understanding will only be partial, so our love
has
to be even greater.
- Ayya Khema, from When the Iron Eagle Flies