Bamboo Enso by Deiryu

Leaf after leaf in the pure wind,

As I see you off at the gate, there are tall bamboo.

Just for you, their leaves are raising a pure wind.

Deiryu (1895-1954)

This Deiryu enso was made with a dry brush in pale gray ink. The ink has pooled beyond the lines of the enso, giving it a soft quality. The bamboo in the center may illustrate the strength and flexibility of emptiness (often the enso's center); Zen people believe this is the ground of all life.

Daruma Enso by Nakagawa Soen

Not one moment of hurry,

Not one wasted breath,

This, this is

The natural Zen state of being!

~Mitta

Daruma/Enso
by Nakagawa Soen (1907-1984)
Mitta was Soen's Zen master name.

This wonderful Zenga is combination moon-mind enso, wall-gazing Daruma,  self-portrait, and Dharma talk. The inscription sums up Soen's Zen teaching--so simple to say, so hard to do. It is an inspiring and instructive work of Zen art.

About the Artist

Zany Nakagawa Soen was one of the pioneers of Zen in the United States. He was abbot of Ryutaku-ji in Japan where a number of prominent Western Zen elders trained, and Soen also visited the United States on a number of occasions. Soen was extremely unconventional leading students out of the meditation hall to dance together beneath the moon, installing a pumpkin in the abbot's seat, conducting "tea ceremonies" with instant coffee and Styrofoam cups, cracking jokes during his Zen talks and thus somewhat controversial. Nevertheless, Soen was an excellent poet and accomplished Zen artist.

Enso by Miura Joten

Within not one thing are inexhaustible treasures--

there are flowers, there is the moon, there are pleasure pavillions.

~The old fellow Hekiun

of Matsushima.*

Enso by Miura Joten (1872-1958)

Hekiun was Joten's Zen master name; Matsushima is the location of Zuigan-ji, the temple where Joten served as abbot.

This is a "not one thing" enso with  the often used inscription that tells us :"Yes, all things are empty, but that does not mean nothing exists--the world is full of delights that we should enjoy but not cling to." Joten was quite skilled with a brush, and did many interesting and unusual Zenga during  his long life. This is a fine example of his work.

About the Artist

Miura Joten was long-time abbot of Zuigan-ji in Matsushima, and also served as Primate of the Myoshin-ji branch of Rinzai Zen. Joten was a prolific and creative Zen artist

Like The Morning Breeze

Art by Sam Brown

Like the morning breeze, if you bring to the morning good deeds,

The rose of our desire will open and bloom.

Go forward, and make advances down this road of love;

In forward motion, the pain is great.

To beg at the door of the Winehouse is a wonderful alchemy.

If you practice this, soon you will be converting dust into gold.

O heart, if only once you experience the light of purity,

Like a laughing candle, you can abandon the life you live in your head.

But if you are still yearning for cheap wine and a beautiful face,

Don't go out looking for an enlightened job.

Hafiz, if you are listening to this good advice,

The road of Love and its enrichment are right around the curve.

From: Drunk on the Wind of the Beloved

Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

You Belong To The Land

 

The small plot of ground

on which you were born

cannot be expected

to stay forever

the same.

Earth changes

and home becomes different

places.

You took flesh

from clay

but the clay

did not come

from just one

place.

To feel alive

important, and safe,

know your own waters

and hills, but know

more.

You have stars in your bones

and oceans

in blood.

You have opposing

terrain in each eye.

You belong to the land

and sky of your first cry,

you belong to infinity.

~Alla Renee Bozarth

I Am Infinite

I Am Infinite
I Contain Multitudes

I am the trees and flowers that grow upon my Earth.

I am the winds of change that moves across the land.

I am the waves that crash the shores of time.

I am the sky that holds the stars, the moon and the sun.

I am storms that flash within the changing seasons.

I am the sounds of life being born anew within the world.

I am the beauty of spring and the harsh cold of winter.

I am the Great Mother, Wheel of Life and call of death.

I am and have always been, for I live inside your heart.

Blessed be thy children.

Art by Candida Maurer

Poetry by Lady Abigal found at Ravensgrove Coven 

Copyright © 04292010

Miracle

Ten thousand dreams and wishes,
imprinted on golden bits of cellulose
One by one, in tens and hundreds,
falling to the ground to plant themselves
Fingerlings and arms and tendons,
bare to the blue sky–reach and reach again
Diamond ice bracelets and earrings
and droplets of pure pale silver sparkle
Winged things can’t help but stop
here before sailing on the ocean winds

A man walks below
and sits down on a cold bench there
His feet crush the little gold bits on the ground;
they fracture into more gold
He takes out a journal, heavy with content -
his back sags over the pages
His head is full of things, it sinks down on his shoulders.
He writes and writes.

He writes two words in Latin and a note…
an unremarkable varietal specimen...
The tree goes back to dreaming.

~Grace Gibson

~Art from Heaven On Earth Silks at Etsy

Tired of Speaking Sweetly

Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup talk of God.

If you had the courage and
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room
By your hair,
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
That bring you no joy.

Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
And wants to rip to shreds
All your erroneous notions of truth
That make you fight within yourself, dear one,
And with others,
Causing the world to weep
On too many fine days.

God wants to manhandle us,
Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself
And practice His dropkick.

The Beloved sometimes wants
To do us a great favor:
Hold us upside down
And shake all the nonsense out.

But when we hear
He is in such a "playful drunken mood"
Most everyone I know
Quickly packs their bags and hightails it
Out of town.

Rumi from 'The Gift'
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

The Guardians of his Beauty

We are the guardians of His Beauty

We are the protector

Of the Sun.

There is only one reason

We have followed God into this world:

To encourage laughter, freedom, dance

And love.

Let a noble cry inside of you speak to me

Saying,

"Hafiz,

Don't just sit there on the moon tonight

Doing nothing -

Help unfurl my heart into the Friend's Mind,

Help, Old Man, to heal my wounded wings!"

We are the companions of His Beauty.

We are the guardians

Of Truth.

Every man, plant and creature in Existence,

Every woman, child, vein and note

Is a servant of our Beloved -

A harbinger of Joy,

The harbinger of Light.

- 60 Wild And Sweet Poems of Hafiz

Earth Cannot Escape Heaven

Earth cannot escape heaven,

Flee it by going up,

Or flee it by going down,

Heaven still invades the earth,

Energizes it,

Makes it sacred.

~Meister Eckhart

My Beloved

My Beloved, please ask everyone to notice how
the One Being sends rain from the sky
and immediately the fields green.
The One's sight and sense cannot be fathomed,
so subtle, nurturing, mysterious
bringing the seed-self of all beings to fruition.

~Sura 22.63, Quarain

The Seed of God

The seed of God is in us.

Now

The seed of a pear tree
Grows into a pear tree;
And a hazel seed
Grows into a hazel tree;

A seed of God
Grows into

God.

~Meister Eckhart

More great mandala art and poetry can be found at my new website, Mandala Madness, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com

I looked for myself

I looked for my self,
but my self, but my self was gone.
The boundaries of my being
had disappeared in the sea.
Waves broke. Awareness rose again,
And a voice returned me to myself
It always happens like this.
Sea turns on itself and foams,
and with every foaming bit
another body, another being takes form.
And when the sea sends word,
each foaming body
melts back to ocean-breath.

~Jelaluddin Rumi

God

God created all things in such a way
That they are not outside himself,
As ignorant people falsely imagine.

Rather,
All creatures flow outward, but nonetheless remain with God.

God created all things in this way:

Not that they might stand outside of
God, nor alongside God,
Nor beyond God.
But that they might

Come into God
And receive God
And dwell in God.

For this reason everything that is

Is bathed in God,
Is enveloped by God,
Who is round-about us all, enveloping us.

~Meister Eckhart

Prayer of the Chalice

Father, to Thee I raise my whole being,
a vessel emptied of self. Accept Lord,
this my emptiness, and so fill me
with Thyself-- Thy Light, Thy Love,
Thy Life-- that these precious gifts
may radiate through me and over-
flow the chalice of my heart
into the hearts of all with
whom I come in contact this
day, revealing unto them
the beauty of
Thy Joy
and
Wholeness
and
the
Serenity
of Thy Peace
which nothing can destroy

A labyrinth Poem

Rows of ragged rocks outline a path for healing?

Brown, decaying leaves hug the winter ground – a blanket to transform?

The labyrinth awaits the sojourner--
almost calls her name--
Will you enter my simple boundaries
and journey my paths
One Step at a Time?

... I am so sorry, but this post has been moved to my new website, Mandala Madness, and can be found in its entirety here: A Labyrinth Poem

Allow Yourself

There are
worlds
beyond universes
to which you
rarely allow yourself
to travel.

Know there
go there
there there.

~Bernard Gunther

School of Truth

O fool, do something, so you won't just stand there looking dumb.
If you are not traveling and on the road, how can you call yourself a guide?

In the School of Truth, one sits at the feet of the Master of Love.
So listen, son, so that one day you may be an old father, too!

All this eating and sleeping has made you ignorant and fat;
By denying yourself food and sleep, you may still have a chance.

Know this: If God should shine His lovelight on your heart,
I promise you'll shine brighter than a dozen suns.

And I say: wash the tarnished copper of your life from your hands;
To be Love's alchemist, you should be working with gold.

Don't sit there thinking; go out and immerse yourself in God's sea.
Having only one hair wet with water will not put knowledge in that head.

For those who see only God, their vision
Is pure, and not a doubt remains.

Even if our world is turned upside down and blown over by the wind,
If you are doubtless, you won't lose a thing.

O Hafiz, if it is union with the Beloved that you seek,
Be the dust at the Wise One's door, and speak!

~Hafiz

Pollyanna

Do you recall the time and place
You traded wonder for wit and wisdom?
When surprise went out of fashion
And your point of view turned sharp and trendy?

You called it self preservation
But you have been the injured party ever since…

Come back here and be the smallest one in the room
The one who gasps at the ordinary
The one who cries when it's sad and laughs at the littlest thing
Walk into this place where you don't know what to think

What grievance could possibly follow you
Into this house of joy?

~Grace Gibson

Within light there is darkness

Within light there is darkness,
but do not try to understand that darkness.
Within darkness there is light,
but do not look for that light.
Light and darkness are a pair,
like the foot before and the foot behind in walking.
Each thing has its own intrinsic value
and is related to everything else in function and position.
Ordinary life fits the absolute as a box and its lid.
The absolute works together with the relative,
like two arrows meeting in mid-air.

~Shih-tou