Category Archives: Spiritual
The Vault of the Sound
The bargain for youth is either tottering old age, or an early death. Life deals in opposites. Where is the center? That’s the real elixir, the Holy Grail, the eternal savior. But life guards it relentlessly. That vault is kept … Continue reading
Knowing
It cannot be attained by mind;It is not to be sought after through mindlessness.It cannot be created by speech;It cannot be penetrated by silence.The geese do not wish to leave their reflection behind;The water has no mind to retain their … Continue reading
Humility
If you wish to know the road up the mountain, You must ask the man who goes back and forth on it. -Zenrinkushu (R.H. Blyth)
Stop and See
If you do not get it from yourself, where will you go for it? -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Consciousness
To have the sun and the moon in one’s sleeve; To hold the universe in the palm of one’s hand. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth) To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild … Continue reading
Flexibility, Strength
Only seeing the sharpness of the awl; Not knowing the squareness of the stone-chisel. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Emptying to Fullness
The plum tree, dwindling, contains less of the spring; But the garden is wider, and holds more of the moon. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Wonder
The wind drops, but the flowers still fall; A bird sings, and the mountain holds yet more mystery. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Viewpoint
Life is like a sword that wounds, but cannot wound itself;Like an eye that sees, but cannot see itself. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
The One Who Carries the Knife
“God guard me from those thoughts men think in the mind alone.” -William Butler Yeats
Being
Being is like a so radiant sun:we shine… or we are not.
Good Advice from Rumi for Mental and Spiritual Health
Ghazal 119 I don’t needa companion who isnasty sad and sour the one who islike a gravedark depressing and bitter a sweetheart is a mirrora friend a delicious cakeit isn’t worth spendingan hour with anyone else a companion who isin … Continue reading
Flowing Down the River
When Princess Di was taken out of the world at a young age back in 1997, and around that same time Mother Teresa also, somehow it really hit me that the world was moving into a new era that would … Continue reading
Emerson on Strength
The good are befriended even by weakness and defect. As no man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him, so no man had ever a defect that was not somewhere made useful to him. The … Continue reading
Sight Without I’s
The light you see in a child’s eyes is the same light the child sees in everything. As a child, the world looks ever fresh and vital because that light permeates their experience of life. The same light exists still, … Continue reading
Jami and Grace
Beloved no fear if You break my heart a thousand times but do not abandon me in contempt because of what I have here become for in this garden every flower has its roots in dirt _____________________________________________________ -tr. Vraje Abramian, … Continue reading
The Wisdom of “The Fields”
The Fields by Witter Bynner Though wisdom underfoot Dies in the bloody fields, Slowly the endless root Gathers again and yields. In fields where hate has hurled Its force, where folly rots, Wisdom shall be unfurled Small as forget-me-nots.
Reason’s Scope and the Great Unseen
The following is a contemplation on something I’ve come to appreciate after some years on a spiritual path. I began as a philosophy student in college and studied for years, seeking to sift the nuggets of truth from the vast … Continue reading
The Source
“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” ― Jalaluddin Rumi