Archive for category Thich Nhat Hanh
Padma
Posted by J. Quigley in China, Hedda Morrison, Hedda Morrison, Life, Lotus Flower, Peace, Photography, poems, Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen on May 30, 2013
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
PADMAPANIFlowers 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 treereaches across the late-night sky.My mind, traveling in utmost emptiness,catches suchness on its way home.1976by Thich Nhat Hanh (1929 –
…from Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh by Thich Nhat Hanh
tea is an act complete …
Posted by J. Quigley in living, quotes, Tea Ceremonies, Thich Nhat Hanh on December 17, 2011
tea is an act complete in its simplicity.
when i drink tea, there is only me, and the tea.
the rest of the world dissolves.
there are no worries about the future.
no dwelling on past mistakes.
tea is simple: loose-leaf tea, hot pure water, a cup.
i inhale the scent, tiny delicate pieces of the tea floating above the cup.
i drink the tea, the essence of the leaves becoming a part of me.
i am informed by the tea, changed.
this is the act of life, in one pure moment, and in this act the truth of the world suddenly becomes revealed: all the complexity, pain, drama of life is a pretense, invented in our minds for no good purpose.
there is only the tea, and me, converging.
-thich nhat hanh: tea ceremony