Budding Tree Haiku.

swollen bud erupts

crowning gnarled branches
cat circles below

-Photo and haiku by James R. Ure-

~Peace to all beings~

The Magic of Winter.

Snow descends upon Earth from the Buddha realms cascading softly to surround the bustling humanity in tranquility. Methodically it falls, bringing with it the silence of a morning meditation at a mountain temple. Winter offers the jewel of reflection, which allows us a vivid and stark yet peaceful reminder of impermanence. The snow doesn't ask why it falls or why it melts -- It is at peace being snow, water or vapor. May peace be upon you regardless of the moment.

~Peace to all beings~

The Little Shrub.

This is one of my favorite poems and sounds very much like something a Zen master would say. It reminds me of the teaching to be in the present moment and try to be the best you can be in that moment and not to worry too much about what will come:

"Yes if you can't be a pine on the hill, be a shrub in the valley, but be the best little shrub on the side of the road - be a bush if you can't be a tree.
If you can't be a highway be a trail.
If you can't be a sun be a star.
It isn't by size that you win or fail - be the best at whatever you are."

-Dr Martin Luther King.

James: It's so easy to feel insignificant and worthless in this world that constantly tells us that we aren't good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, rich enough, healthy enough, spiritual enough and on and on. Well I say, enough with the expectations because no matter how hard we try to be perfect it will never be enough because as Buddha taught us this very existence is imperfect. It's so hard to remember this sometimes but it's so true and when it does click for us it is so liberating from our suffering and self-doubts. We must remember that while we might be comparing ourselves to someone else--they are comparing themselves to someone else too.

~Peace to all beings~

PHOTO: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

Blue Jay in Winter Haiku.

powdered snow hugs trees

shrieking blue jay breaks silence
looking for peanuts

By James R. Ure

PHOTO CREDIT: Larry Hennessy on Flickr

~Peace to all beings~

Another of My Favorite Poems, "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

It's a lazy day after Christmas so I thought I'd post another of my favorite poems that I've been re-reading again lately. It is "If" by Rudyard Kipling:

[IF]

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Zen Master Franz Kafka?

You need not do anything.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
You need not even listen, just wait.
You need not even wait,
just learn to be quiet, still and solitary.
And the world will freely offer itself to you unmasked.
It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

~Franz Kafka from his poem, "Learn to Be Quiet."

James: It's somewhat hard to imagine the brooding Franz Kafka as a student of mindfulness but here he is teaching it with just as much clarity as many monks!!

Then there is this Zen-like comment from Kafka regarding his relationship with Judaism/spirituality (he was known to show interest in Judaism especially later in life), "What have I in common with Jews? I have hardly anything in common with myself and should stand very quietly in a corner, content that I can breathe."

His questioning of what he has in common with "himself" and what that "self" even means seems like an almost koan-like statement. The whole of the quote sounds as if it came from a Zen Master trying to teach a novice that the label "Buddhist" is not important but rather the essence and teachings of Buddhism. For example, being present to be content with the basic things in life such as standing (or sitting) in a corner and breathing.

PHOTO: Franz Kafka by Anthony Hare 2003.

~Peace to all beings~

A Poem to be Read Upon Scattering My Ashes.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!

Mary Frye (1932)

James: I have long ago decided to have my body cremated when I die so that my ashes can be scattered into the soil, the air, the water and into a fire as a final act of giving before being reborn anew. I have always found cemeteries to be odd places--not scary necessarily but just strange in that we section off parts of towns where we collect dead bodies dressed in sumptuous clothing lying in a fancy box.

Even in death we try to cling the body and status by demanding the most ornate coffin, headstone, mausoleum and even dressed in our finest suit or dress as if we are off to a ritzy party. It is somewhat humorous that we try and keep the body preserved in coffins to keep the elements from decomposing it when those elements already exist in those very bodies and have since our birth!!! They are apart of who we are--we can not escape that. We wouldn't exist without those elements.

~Peace to all beings~

This Body is Not me Poem by Thich Nhat Hanh

This is the poem I was looking for yesterday that I wanted to add to yesterday's post on the Virginia Tech killings. It is a great poem to meditate upon to find peace in regards to issues of violence, death, pain and suffering that come with samsara:

This body is not me.

I am not limited by 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 from 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 a game of hide- and seek.

So laugh with me,

hold my hand,

let us say good-bye,

say good-bye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.

We will meet again tomorrow.

We will meet at the source every moment.

We meet each other in all forms of life.

~By Thich Nhat Hanh, Chanting and Recitations from Plum Village. Page 188.

James: Isn't that lotus gorgeous!! I wish to extend a lotus to you all to hopefully bring a smile to your heart, face and eyes.

~Peace to all beings~