Seven Treasures of the Heart

Over this past weekend, I finished watching a talk by Brother Phap Hai, which he gave at Deer Park Monastery on June 21st, 2018. I watch a fair amount of Dharma talks online and I found this one in particular to be very powerful. If you’d like to check it out, click here. Side note: if you’re like me and it’s helpful to watch talks in segments, there are good stopping/pausing points in this talk at 17.40 and 31.05 (the total run time is 54.55).

From Brother Phap Hai’s talk:

“The fundamental insight of Buddhism is that if we look deeply into our lives, into our situation, with appropriate attention, then the path reveals itself naturally.”

 

Seven Treasures of the Heart

as offered by the Buddha in the Dhana Sutta

1. Confidence

2. Mindfulness trainings

3. Self-reflection

4. Concern

5. Listening

6.Generosity

7. Discernment

____________

On Motorcycling

My husband Mike leading the way through Glacier National Park, July 2018

On Motorcycling

To experience what it means to fall in love with motorcycling – to have an enthusiasm alight and burn within – one needs to embody certain qualities:

1. An ability to sit still.
2. Adaptability to weather varying road conditions.
3. Fortitude (cuz it can sure get gusty out there)
4. Enough openness of heart to allow the wind of a ride to clear out the mental static, replacing the day’s un-pleasantries with spaciousness and ease.
5. Strength of character to both hold your own and be a good pack member.
6. Steadiness of disposition.
7. A go-with-the-flow approach to life enough to make it possible for the rumble of an engine beneath you to stir up a power that recharges you.
8. An appreciation of what the open road has to teach and offer.
9. An admiration for the capacity of a ride’s ability to alter your perspective of time and space and sense of connection.

I sit for the benefit of all beings

When I sit in meditation – when I close my eyes and practice to come back to the sensations of my in-breath and out-breath, over and over and over again – I do so not only for my own benefit, but for yours too, my friend.

I sit for the strangers I’ll pass by today; for those I’ll have brief interactions with; for those I work beside; for the members of my household: 2-legged and 4-legged alike; for the neighbors I might wave hello to; for my family members who live states away; for my friends near and far.

Sitting in meditation every day is one of the most potent and powerful acts I can engage in, to help support me in my aspiration to be of service and benefit to as many beings as I can muster reaching.

50 Things That Make Me Happy

This pic combines three of the things from my list: #2, #5, and #29 :)

 

Inspired by a blog post from: https://mywellbeingandlearningjourney.wordpress.com/, I thought I’d try my hand at following her lead:

50 Things That Make Me Happy

1. Trees
2. Writing
3. Spending time with friends
4. Taking photos
5. The hours of early morning
6. Community building
7. Hosting potlucks at my house
8. Animal friends
9. Paddleboarding
10. Motorcycling
11. My husband
12. My stepson
13. Taking road trips
14. Camping
15. Pumping up my old Coleman camp stove
16. Going on solo ventures
17. Meditation
18. Going on mindfulness retreats
19. Deer Park Monastery
20. Montana
21. Missoula
22. Hearing about a loved one’s good news
23. Music
24. Dancing
25. Singing
26. Flowers
27. Children
28. Being silly
29. The soft glow of Christmas lights
30. Buying little presents or cards for friends
31. Engaging in random acts of kindness
32. My dayplanner
33. Organizing stuff
34. Being efficient
35. Volunteering with hospice and meeting with patients
36. Planning events that help bring people together in an atmosphere of heartfulness
37. Crows & ravens
38. Recalling memories of spending time at the Jersey Shore when I was growing up
39. Sitting with my sangha Be Here Now every Monday night
40. Camp fires
41. Napping
42. Good tea
43. Swimming
44. Soaking in primitive hot springs
45. Hiking to the ‘M’ and overlooking the city of Missoula
46. Spending time in hammocks
47. Listening to the sound of meditation bells & wind chimes
48. Seeing someone smile
49. The experience of flight travel
50. Properly cooked tofu :)

I could keep going…but I think I’ll keep to the prompt and stick to 50.

May this list inspire you in similar accord to how I was inspired. Let us get our happiness on together!

 

The Zen of Motorcycling

My new bike: Crow Rider (2009 Kawasaki Vulcan, 500)

 

We can read social media posts, online accounts, manuals, books, and anthologies all about motorcycles.

We can buy all the proper and fancy gear and gadgetry.

We can hang out with bikers; learn the culture; adopt the lingo; rally the biker spirit within.

We can become a MC enthusiast, going so far as to adorn our daily 4-tire vehicle with a bumper sticker that reads: “My other car is a motorcycle,” so everyone is sure to know.

We can even have a bike and trick it out with bells and whistles and state-of-the-art this and eye-catching that.

But none of this can teach us how to ride.

To learn, we have to get on the bike and cruise around.

We have to get comfortable wielding it to and fro; experience the subtleties; navigate turns and winding roads; practice how to stop at red lights without lurching around like a bucking bronco.

We can only know what it is to breathe in the fragrant tangle of pine trees or a freshly cultivated field of hay while going 70-mph on a bike by doing it. There is no other proper substitute aside from bearing direct witness.

And then to gain skill, we have to keep riding.

We have to keep lacing up our boots, firing up the engine, ratcheting on our helmet, and taking to the road.

 

 

We Are What We Read (to our kids)

Titles published from the Little Golden Book are a common staple to find among the shelves of most households sportin’ young children. Having started in the early 1940’s – and an instant hit on the market – people of all ages (in the U.S anyway) likely recall having read at least a few books in the Little Golden Book series, in their day. The one I’m holding in the pic above, was loaned to me by the 5-year-old I nanny for. He wanted me to borrow it for a few days, which I immediately saw as a great act of generosity, as not only is this book new to him but he LOVES Star Wars. So wanting me to borrow this book was on par with a kid – any kid – offering to share their candy. Wanting to support his kindness, I gratefully agreed to take it home.

I made sure to read it, of course. I mean, I have to be prepared should he ask me what my favorite part was. It’s also simply not kosher to borrow a book a 5-year-old insists on you taking and then not read the darn thing. That’s just not cool.

So…the thing is, this so-called “kids” book, is chockablock with violence and drama. There is a weapon, bad guy, and/or an explosion on every single page. Here are the trigger words peppered in:

Page 1/2: war, evil, captured, gangster
Page 3/4: capturing, captures, dungeon, attacks, crushes
Page 5/6: punish, sand monster, fight, henchmen, KA-BOOM!, explodes
Page 7/8: evil, battle, destroy, Dark Side, X-wing fighter
Page 9/10: destroy, Death Star, attack, strike team
Page 11/12: (has bad guys, weapons, and explosive action picture but no trigger words)
Page 13/14: strike team, captured, fight
Page 15/16: attack, Death Star, destroy, enemies, traps, destroy, Death Star
Page 17/18: Death Star, rage, dark side, fight, duel
Page 19/20: battle, destroyed, evil, Zzzaap!, Death Star, destroyed
Page 21/22: battle, TIE fighters, Death Star, BOOM!, collapse, Death Star, explodes
Page 23: evil, roars

And here are the sentences that especially stood out to me:

“To punish Luke and his friends, Jabba will feed them to the Sarlacc, a sand monster. It will digest them for a thousand years!”
“He shocks Luke with evil Force lightning from his fingers. Zzzaap!”
“With the last of his strength, he rises up and heaves the Emperor into a deep reactor shaft!”

What the heck Little Golden Book?! Did you guys actually write: heaves the Emperor into a deep reactor shaft?

Is it just me that finds the above trigger words and associating violence and drama on every page alarming? Did I mention Little Golden Books aim to target kids ages 5 and under?

Balance

Practice to let your feelings be as they are,

verses fighting or suppressing them –

but practice also not to let them run the show.

Balance.

 

Practice to stay in touch with the woes and ills on the global front,

verses averting your eyes and ears and heart –

but practice also to stay in touch with the joys, beauty, and goodness that abound.

Balance.

 

Practice to care well for yourself,

verses losing yourself in dispersion –

but practice also to extend outwards to others.

To loved ones and the underprivileged alike.

Balance.

 

 

Journal Entries from Lake Como (Montana style)

I got back yesterday from an overnight excursion to Lake Como – the Montana version, not the one in Italy. Here are some of the (unedited) journal musings I penned while out on the water and camping in the woods.

Friday July 13th

Not yet 8pm. Shadows grow in the forest, as the sun wanes and the sky fades to pale blue, like an after-thought. Cowboy Junkies on the portable speaker prove the perfect accompaniment to my cup of tea and the creek beside me, small but surging mightily, just like me.

A bluebird day on the lake coats my skin and sits tangled in my long hair. And I’m the sort of tired that I remember from my youth, after a day spent sunbathing, running from ocean waves, and flirting with bronze-glazed boys thick with intrigue. A delicious tired, sugared with a communion with something bigger.

There’s a certain aliveness, in this flavor of winding down, following a day that leaves your face awash in the reds of summer. And I reckon I’ll sleep good tonight, rocked in lullaby arms by the song of the water making its way over rocks downstream.

_______

I breathe just a little bit deeper in the woods, befriended by my rooted brethren.

I breathe deeper when gazing at mountain peaks, as a witness to stellar beauty.

And I breathe deeper whenever I look up – at trees or buildings or sky – as it helps me to remind me that I am part of a whole big and wide open world.

_______

9:18pm

I feel asleep with my friend Ashly’s book manuscript on my stomach and just awoke. The forest is darkening to muted greens and flat tones of ash. I smell of insect repellent and sunscreen and solitude, a mixture I take solace in more than words can properly convey. Still finding my way venturing on solo overnights in the woods, an inner stirring of uneasiness arises, when I think of how the babbling creek would drown out the approach of ne’er-do-wells I try not to imagine are thrumming through the night on back roads, looking for a fresh target to mess with. (Added side note: For the record, ne’er-do-well is a word that I like the sound of far more than the dictionary definition of, as it means a worthless person, which I don’t at all subscribe to as being a possibility. I think of this word as referring to a person who is up to no good.)

In my evening cat nap, I think I may have dreamed in color, rich in the dalliances of friendships past and those I hope soon will come. Though, it’s hard to say for sure. Dreams are tricky that way. Sometimes they scoop me up and swallow me whole, rendering me awash in memory’s twilight. Other times, I become a false impression in their wake, stumbling around within myself for hope of grounding in a truth I can bite into and chew.

______

My mind kicks up storm clouds, like the haze left behind on a dirt road in the heat of summer. And sometimes, despite my best efforts to redirect my focus, it is undeterred from its obsessions of thought.

Five Remembrances

This morning, during my sitting meditation session, I devoted my practice to connecting with the Five Remembrances. The original Five Remembrances come from a Buddhist sutra, for which the English translation is entitled: Subjects for Contemplation. The above translation, of which I’m most familiar with, is from my root teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh.

According to Wikipedia, which I think is well said: According to this discourse, contemplation of these facts leads to the abandonment of destructive attachments and actions and to the cultivation of factors necessary for awakening.

If feelings of sorrow, overwhelm, upset, or aversion arise upon reading the Five Remembrances, it indicates that only a surface level view is being encountered. If we think these are a downer, we have not yet penetrated them deeply enough to benefit from the levels of insight from which they manifest.

As a collective assembly of people, we are societally groomed to avoid these inherent realities as being part of our human experience. In doing so, we are limiting our ability to be – and stay – in conscious contact and communication with the preciousness of life. We take things, people, places, experiences, and life itself, for granted.

Watch Your Tongue

I make it a practice to watch my tongue.

And this is not an act of censorship, in the sense that I’m squelching an authentic arising of opinion.

It’s a matter of honing in the powers of discernment,

knowing full well that my mental landscape is faulty,

riddled with illusions,

and caught up in its own poor judgement –

ya know, human.

Just because I think something,

doesn’t mean it’s worth saying.