A smile should arise

from the depths of your core.

Not to be forced.

effortlessly arising with joyful effort.

Like the smile of a Buddha,

awakened being shall insprie you too

to open your eyes so wide that you see inside

and there you see the mind

so clear so pure

consciousness.

no beginning

no end

ever flowing stream of being.

so look with in, smile at this great potential and free yourself from yourself.

clean up your mind.

detoxify dillusion.

and feel a smile arise from the depths of your being.

Awaken to reality, as it is.

smile.

do not waist this breath, this opportunity, this chance at life.
The teachings of the Buddha ask one to really understand the preciousness of human life.
Quite often human life can feel more like a curse than a blessing.
BUT alas---it is so precious. And it is your choice, and has always been your choice how you want to live. If you are blessed to have basic freedoms, are able to sustain yourself, and are healthy take a deep breathe and set an intention to live a life of positivity. This may seem idealistic, but no lets think about the law of nature, the dharma, quantam physics...all are in line...all speak about how like attracts like. Karma. The seeds you sow, so you may reep. So watch yourself, develope your own inner witness, and learn how to catch yourself before you plant a negative thought, speech, action, reaction. Catch yourself, and liberate yourself. Slow down the mind, navigate life.
Meditate, become familiar with yourself...
Do you react? Or do you respond?
When others are doing positive things do you think negatively about yourself, or feel jelousy towards them...
AH! We must start at home, with our minds.
We must learn to rejoice in our own good efforts, but most importantly in the positivity of others.
You do not have to be Buddhist to practice such.
You do not have to be anything...but honest with yourself. YOU do have a choice.
YOUR thoughts DO not control you...
AWAKEN!
ARISE....
all those emotions are lies.

stop. take refuge in silence even for 10 minutes a day.
gather the self with the breathe. And begin from this source. This peace will begin to direct your flow.

Don't waiste this precious opportunity. Each breath an opportunity to think positively, and maybe even to feel love and compassion for all sentient beings. For when we are stripped of everything all we want is love, nourishment, and genuine happiness. So recognize the you in I and the I in you. Invert your me, and you will feel the we. All connected.
empty of inherent existence.
interdepedent.
co-dependent.
when you recall to mind this oneness...
a smile from the depths of your being will begin to rise.
And you will begin to embody all those teachings, not just for you...but for all.

just a bit of a buddhist inspired rant from the Tibetan Library in Dharamsala India...to you sitting there...maybe now smiling.

Create space for Grace

The other day I returned to my home to be.
A small room overlooking the valley below.
On this day I return home in search of quietude, peace, and integration.
To digest the lessons of the day, and to come home to what is called me.
I prepare the space by cleaning, sweeping...
Feet cleansed, face washed, feeling refreshed, the mind is at ease.
This moment is now ready for spiritual connection.

Always searching for a teacher...
today i return home.
the voice inside says with poise, "we must learn to cultivate our own practice according to where we are, what we know, and what we need. "
Know thyself, the great master speaks.
Determine what you are made of, and what you must cultivate.
Eliminate the negative thoughts and the negative actions will also disappear.
Find balance in your body, and you will encounter balance outside.

The clouds building, filling the sky.
Precipitation accumulates.
The birds sing songs of praises, calling my attention to thismoment.
The sky rumbles as the storm builds. Like the precipitation, my enthusiasm builds to take advantage of this time, this body, this life to dedicate myself to truth.

The rain gracefully falls from the sky, as these words stream out of mind, hand, pen, paper.
The silence engaged with writing, now i put the pen and paper aside and dedicate this moment to grace.

The breathe now will engage this silence as it softens the mind and lengthens the body.

Create space for grace.

Experience one

Sit queitly.

Refresh the mind through meditative concentration.

Walk.

Feel the essence of the body.

experience the essence of all life.

changing. changing changing.

Refresh the mind with this truth of impermanence.

Diffuse the self.

this life is not just for the I.

"I want peace," you say.

well take away the "I" and the "want" and what are you left with...

peace. Swami says.

Diffuse I.

Reinfuse this me with the greater we. All life is codependent.

All reality is codependent.

Let go. diffuse the I.

reinfuse with the we.

and you will see that all is ONE.

its elemental

Now a days I walk down the mountain to train my mind on the language of the Tibetans and my spirit on the way of the dharma. As I walk back up the mountain, I meditate on what I learned.
Languages of the heart.
Letters as characters, vowels as sound vibrations, the tounge generated from the roof of the world.
A language unlike any other. Excersize for the mouth, the body, the mind. REconfiguration. body heart mind spirit.

Languages from the heart.
The dharma, buddhist philosophy is simple. Of course the most simple things in life are often the ones most overlooked. We absorbed thoughts on the nature of the mind.
The nature of the mind is that of a crystal. Life shall be a discipline of maintaining its purity. It is always like this crystal, but its quality changes according to how you lead this life, and most important your control of the thoughts that come through the mind. It is a choice. Yet it is more so a practice, that takes patience, determination, and great compassion. Like clothes, the mind gets dirty, but can be cleansed with effort and good intention. After washing, the stains are gone, but the cloth remains. The wisdom of the mind is always there, but it gets burried by thoughts, extreme emotions, and lack of discipline.

AS we go throught this life, we seek happiness. Yet often all we find is suffering. As we change our mind to recognize suffering as the profound ebbs in this flow of life, we can find the light of the crystal reflecting even though the darkest moments.

And as we see this more clearly, we cease chasing and biting our own tail, and rather flow forward with the momentum of positivity.

As like attracts like, life begins to grow rather than recede with time.

It may seem a strange thought to some, but the dharma explains that this life is one of thousands of lives we will live. For as we are all made of energy, our energy will continue on when our bodies dies. And it is my understanding that this crystal mind we hear of is in fact the energy of consciousness, and it is this conciousness that we are to honor, cultivate, and pass on with grace. It is our duty as beings. It is the real work.

Life is short, but cyclical existence in the chains of suffering is forever. Until you begin to cultivate the GOOD. Even in the BAD.

So this dharma ramble comes as the clouds move in, the rain tempts us, and I yearn to share these words.
May this find you at peace, and if not may you find peace through the suffering.

When I ask...

The moon is on the rise.
Change is our constant, but I wonder is there a greater change, a force, a momentum at work for truth? For justice? For peace? As I sit here, Mcleod Ganj is bustling with people from all over the world. People, pilgrims of truth come to have a glance at a living reincarnation of the buddha of compassion---His holiness the Dalai Lama. They also come to support the tibetan people as we approach the historic day---March 10th, 2009.
From 1959 to 2009--50years in exhile, 50 years of resistance to the chinese government which seeks to devour the land of these people as our ancestors once devoured the land of the red man--the navaho, the sioux, the arrapaho, the shoshonee, the hopi...the list goes on.
And why I ask, does history repeat itself?
Why are the indigenous people of this planet treated so brutally?
The brutality is embedded in this greed, the paranoid fear for the power of the world.
Manifest your destiny, across the land.
Head west my boy, they said back then.
Head north they say without any knowledge that as they move north they simaltaneously are participating in cultural genocide.
Ignorance? Culturally blinded?
The roof of the world.
The heart of the west.
What is the difference...and why must it repeat itself?
March 10th, 1959 the tibetans rose up, revolted for truth...couragious disedance against the monster. David and Goliath.
A failed revolt.
But a successful escape of His Holiness.
Oh, yes and some 80,000 tibetans to follow.
exodus.
fleeing this genocide.
saving lives, culture, the way.
a way so unique.
minds so full of heart, so connected to the earth.

And so I ask, what can be done?
where does justice prevail?
When will this dark period end, and illumination begin?
When, good lord, will truth prevail?
2012? Polar shift?
From ME to WE, from greed to green?

Until then, I will continue to believe.
and to prepare by standing on my head, breathing from my head to my toes.
recirculating, as to prepare phyisically for this shift.
so my head can feel my heart beat constantly as I bow in the face of truth, and stand strong in the face of injustice.

may this all find you and instill you with courage.
as I mentioned earlier---look to the root.
This word courage finds its latin roots in the cor, the heart.
When I ask will we all have the courage to stand for truth, and not just for "I" and "ME".

among the tibetans

Here among the tibetans I find myself perched once again.
Losar, the new year of the moon, brings us here...
celebrating for the hope of the coming cycle, but mourning all those martyrs whom have
sacrificed their own lives for the struggle and ultimate freedom of tibet.

black flags line the streets, white letters enscribed---po or tibet.

simple.
black and white: innocent people are dying everyday, cultural genocide is happening at the top of the world.

the monks of this society are the ultimate activists.
liberation theology at its best.
they embody and stand up for TRUTH.
not hiding behind a script, but with open palms and open hearts couragiously walking in light of freedom for tibet.

I found myself haning out with many tibetan youth, mostly males for women do not really hang out like we are used to.

we drank we talked broken english and tibetan we shared ideas, thoughts, visions.

and now the energy of the new moon is on the rise. Losar comes with the new moon, and as this moon cylce comes to be, we will see what energy the full moon will bring. OH yes, as it is the full moon falls on March 10th---the tibetan day of uprising. Maybe wisdom, compassion, truth will strike down on the minds of the reigning Chinese and call for real peace, real justice, and real autonomy for these beautiful people.

until then, we all must cultivate this wisdom with in.
Educate yourself.
stand for truth.
embrace this life, and have gratitude for what you have.