Speaking…or Not

Blanka Mateno

In a normal day we hear many sounds…radio, smart phones dinging, news of unnecessary shootings, international unrest, life’s hustle bustle….

It is important to find solace amidst the chaos.

DO NOT SPEAK —– UNLESS IT IMPROVES ON SILENCE.

                                                                                                             – BUDDHIST SAYING

Padma

Lotus pond, China
Author: Hedda Morrison (German, 1908-1991)
Date: ca. 1933-46

Hedda Morrison studied photography in her native Germany, and from 1933 to 1938 managed Hartung’s Photo Shop in Beijing. From 1938 until she and her husband left China in 1946, Morrison worked as a freelance photographer, selling individual prints or thematic albums of her work and creating photographs for other people’s books on China.

Above is a photo of a man sitting idly with two children in the winter sun. It reveals more information than it seems:

“The empty wicker basket suggests that this old man and children are probably from a village outside Peking and have come into the city to trade. On the wall behind the children is a graffiti scrawl written in chalk which represents a play upon the opening words of the Thousand Character Classic (Qianziwen), which refers to the creation of the universe.”

The children in the baskets resemble the growth of the lotus flower,  it’s roots in the earth rising through the water and nourished by the air…beautiful  PADMA! – j. quigley

PADMAPANI

Flowers in the sky.

Flowers on Earth.

Lotuses bloom as Buddha’s eyelids.

Lotuses bloom in man’s heart.

Holding gracefully a lotus in his hand,

the bodhisattva brings forth a universe of art.

In the meadows of the sky, stars have sprung up.

The smiling, fresh moon is already up.

The jade-colored trunk of a coconut tree

reaches across the late-night sky.

My mind, traveling in utmost emptiness,

catches suchness on its way home.

1976

by Thich Nhat Hanh (1929 –

…from Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh by Thich Nhat Hanh

Never give up…

Ichigo Ichie

Nana korobi ya oki (七転び八起き) is a Japanese proverb that means, “seven times down, eight times up.”

nana (七) = 7
korobi (転び) = fall down
ya (八) = 8
oki (起き) = get up

It is a saying about perseverance and not giving up no matter how many times you are knocked down.  I’ve seen this proverb associated with the Japanese Daruma doll, which is a hollow, round Japanese traditional doll modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen sect of Buddhism.  These dolls are weighted at the bottom in a way that will always return to an upright position when tilted over.

Never Give Up.  May you always get up after a fall.

View original post

Waters of Life

Utagawa Kuniyoshi スクナビコナ

“We can reject everything else: religion, ideology, all received wisdom. But we cannot escape the necessity of love and compassion…This, then, is my true religion, my simple faith. In this sense, there is no need for temple or church, for mosque or synagogue, no need for complicated philosophy, doctrine or dogma. Our own heart, our own mind, is the temple. The doctrine is compassion. Love for others and respect for their rights and dignity, no matter who or what they are: ultimately these are all we need. So long as we practice these in our daily lives, then no matter if we are learned or unlearned, whether we believe in Buddha or God, or follow some other religion or none at all, as long as we have compassion for others and conduct ourselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility, there is no doubt we will be happy.”

His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama (via samsaranmusing)

Happy New Year 2013!…

Jan

Rythym From Within (photos by Michael Philip Manheim)

Michael Philip Manheim has been a professional photographer since 1969. A chance encounter with photography, at the age of 13, locked him onto a life-long pursuit. Intrigued with the themes of change and transformation, Manheim developed a signature style of layering whole phases of movement onto a single frame of film. This approach transcends a literal interpretation. He calls this series the “Rhythm from Within”.

Michael Philip Manheim’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States and in Germany, Greece and Italy. His work has been featured in magazines such as Zoom (U.S. and Italy), Photographers International (Taiwan), La Fotografia (Spain), Black and White magazine, and numerous other publications. He has been Artist in Residence at Bates College in Lewiston, ME and Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH.

Manheim’s photographs are held in public and private collections, including the Library of Congress, the International Photography Hall of Fame & Museum, the Danforth Museum of Art and the Bates College Museum of Art. He has had over 15 solo exhibitions. Julian Cox, curator of photography at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, noted that Manheim’s photographs “have passion and beauty, and clearly considerable skill has gone into their execution.”

Music by Budd/Foxx, ‘Here and Now’
Thank you shivabel!

In T’ai Chi, every movement we make should be like a string of pearls…the beauty of the human form. – JQ

Time

“…we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind
While there is still time.”

Philip Larkin from “The Mower”