From Parabola:
Prayers for Japan
A Musical Bodhisatva: Photo by a Japanese photographer, from a 1966 portfolio of photos of “The Byodo-in.” Courtesy of Ohio State University.
Dear friends in Japan,
"As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in this tragedy, we may feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some part or manner, also have died.
The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body.
An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what's most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. This is the best that we can do for those who have died: we can live in such a way that they continue, beautifully, in us.
Here in France and at our practice centers all over the world, our brothers and sisters will continue to chant for you, sending you the energy of peace, healing and protection. Our prayers are with you."
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Krause - Untitled (Man on Stairs) , 1960s
“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
—Albert Camus
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Odilon Redon "Melancholy," 1876
"Of all that God has shown me
I can speak just the smallest word,
Not more than a honey bee
Takes on his foot
From an overspilling jar."
—Mechtild of Magdeburg from Women in Praise of the Sacred. Thank you to The Beauty We Love.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
El Greco, "The Agony in the Garden," c. 1608. Oil on canvas, 170 x 112,5 cm, Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest.
“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can.”
—Thomas Merton: Letter to Dorothy Day, quoted in Catholic Voices in a World on Fire (2005) by Stephen Hand, p. 180. Thank you, Dhamma Novice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photograph: Jack Kerouac giving a reading
“Here’s a guy and everybody’s there, right? Up to him to put down what’s on everybody else’s mind. He starts the first chorus, then lines up his ideas, people, yeah, yeah, but get it, and then rises to his fate and has to blow equal to it. All of a sudden somewhere in the middle of the chorus he gets IT- everybody looks up and knows; they listen; he picks it up and carries. Time stops. He’s filling empty space with the substance of our lives, confessions of his bellybottom strain, remembrance of ideas, rehashes of old blowing. He has to blow across bridges and come back and do it with such infinite feeling soul-exploratory for the tune of the moment that everybody knows its not the tune that counts but IT”
—Jack Kerouac
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Katsushika, Hokusai, 1760-1849: Grasses
Homeward
Into the emptiness we went
The day with no name
And stood there naked as the sky
Looking everywhere but homeward
For a marker that would tell us
Where we were
For there were mountains, yes, and rivers
Hillsides covered with the green of spring
But none we recognized
The voiced of strangers filled the air
In tongues we did not know
Their eyes did not see us
As a mist from the marsh
Rises up, to pass across the land
Silently, with no mark left behind
(Even the rushes do not stir)
We had no hands, no fingers
To touch the trees
Even thought
Could find no legs
To stand on
This was the journey, and this the marker
The time of passing
Leaves no traces.
—Lee von Laer, March 15, 2011
Prayers for Japan
A Musical Bodhisatva: Photo by a Japanese photographer, from a 1966 portfolio of photos of “The Byodo-in.” Courtesy of Ohio State University.
Dear friends in Japan,
"As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in this tragedy, we may feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some part or manner, also have died.
The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body.
An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what's most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. This is the best that we can do for those who have died: we can live in such a way that they continue, beautifully, in us.
Here in France and at our practice centers all over the world, our brothers and sisters will continue to chant for you, sending you the energy of peace, healing and protection. Our prayers are with you."
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Krause - Untitled (Man on Stairs) , 1960s
“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
—Albert Camus
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Odilon Redon "Melancholy," 1876
"Of all that God has shown me
I can speak just the smallest word,
Not more than a honey bee
Takes on his foot
From an overspilling jar."
—Mechtild of Magdeburg from Women in Praise of the Sacred. Thank you to The Beauty We Love.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
El Greco, "The Agony in the Garden," c. 1608. Oil on canvas, 170 x 112,5 cm, Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest.
“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can.”
—Thomas Merton: Letter to Dorothy Day, quoted in Catholic Voices in a World on Fire (2005) by Stephen Hand, p. 180. Thank you, Dhamma Novice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photograph: Jack Kerouac giving a reading
“Here’s a guy and everybody’s there, right? Up to him to put down what’s on everybody else’s mind. He starts the first chorus, then lines up his ideas, people, yeah, yeah, but get it, and then rises to his fate and has to blow equal to it. All of a sudden somewhere in the middle of the chorus he gets IT- everybody looks up and knows; they listen; he picks it up and carries. Time stops. He’s filling empty space with the substance of our lives, confessions of his bellybottom strain, remembrance of ideas, rehashes of old blowing. He has to blow across bridges and come back and do it with such infinite feeling soul-exploratory for the tune of the moment that everybody knows its not the tune that counts but IT”
—Jack Kerouac
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Katsushika, Hokusai, 1760-1849: Grasses
Homeward
Into the emptiness we went
The day with no name
And stood there naked as the sky
Looking everywhere but homeward
For a marker that would tell us
Where we were
For there were mountains, yes, and rivers
Hillsides covered with the green of spring
But none we recognized
The voiced of strangers filled the air
In tongues we did not know
Their eyes did not see us
As a mist from the marsh
Rises up, to pass across the land
Silently, with no mark left behind
(Even the rushes do not stir)
We had no hands, no fingers
To touch the trees
Even thought
Could find no legs
To stand on
This was the journey, and this the marker
The time of passing
Leaves no traces.
—Lee von Laer, March 15, 2011
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