Poems of Unalome

From Thich Naht Hanh, "Touching Peace" When we see someone who is very fresh, we like to sit close to him. He knows how to preserve himself as a flower. With mindful breathing, we can also be fresh. Young people who have not suffered much are still beautiful flowers, the kind of flowers that can be a source of joy for anyone at any time. Just by breathing in and out and smiling, we too have a flower to offer, and the more we practice breathing and smiling, the more beautiful our flower will become. A flower does not have to do anything to be of service, it only has to be a flower. That is enough. A human being, if she is a true human being, is enough to make the whole world rejoice. So please practice breathing in and out and recover your flowerness. You do it for all of us. Your freshness and your joy bring us peace.

Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living By Thich Nhat Hanh Location 11 of 1065: Our true home is in the present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now. Peace is all around us-in the world and in nature-and within us-in our bodies and our spirits. Once we learn to touch this peace, we will be healed and transformed. It is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice. We need only to find ways to bring our body and mind back to the present moment so we can touch what is refreshing, healing, and wondrous. ...  When we practice breathing in and becoming aware of our heart, breathing out and smiling to our heart, we become enlightened. We see our heart so clearly. When we smile to our heart, we are massaging it with our compassion. When we know what to eat and what not to eat, what to drink and what...

The Moon Cannot Be Stolen Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal. Ryokan returned and caught him. “You may have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you shoud not return emptyhanded. Please take my clothes as a gift.” The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away. Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.”

from Wisdom Beyond Words by Sangarakshita Chapter One, location 1110 of 5233 "ordinary life is Enlightenment; Enlightenment is ordinary life. Reality is to be experienced in the midst of ordinary life, because there is nowhere else to experience it. If you are to experience reality anywhere it can only be here; if you are to experience reality at any time it can only be now.  Don't let your attention be diverted to higher heavenly realms—yes, the symbolism is very beautiful, it is very meaningful, but don't misunderstand it. It is here that we have to realize; it is now that we have to see. The ordinary is wonderful as it is; to add wonders and supernormal happenings would just be gilding the lily.  It would be as if, to draw attention to the fact that you have a nose and that it is a wonderful organ, you were to paint it bright red. To someone who really understands what a wonderful organ the nose is, this sort of decoration is in no way necessary."

For Calling The Spirit Back  From Wandering The Earth  In Its Human Feet Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop. Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control. Open the door, then close it behind you. Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean. Give back with gratitude. If you sing it will give your spirit lift to fly to the stars’ ears and back. Acknowledge this earth who has cared for you since you were a dream planting itself precisely within your parents’ desire. Let your moccasin feet take you to the encampment of the guardians who have known you before time, who will be there after time. They sit before the fire that has been there without time. Let the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitters. Be respectful of the small insects, birds and animal people who accompany you. Ask their forgiveness for the harm we humans have brought down upon them. Don’t worry. The he...

 Ancient Language Hannah Stephenson If you stand at the edge of the forest and stare into it every tree at the edge will blow a little extra oxygen toward you It has been proven Leaves have admitted it The pines I have known have been especially candid One said that all breath in this world is roped together that breathing is the most ancient language

  Winter Grace by  Patricia Fargnoli If you have seen the snow under the lamppost piled up like a white beaver hat on the picnic table or somewhere slowly falling into the brook to be swallowed by water, then you have seen beauty and know it for its transience. And if you have gone out in the snow for only the pleasure of walking barely protected from the galaxies, the flakes settling on your parka like the dust from just-born stars, the cold waking you as if from long sleeping, then you can understand how, more often than not, truth is found in silence, how the natural world comes to you if you go out to meet it, its icy ditches filled with dead weeds, its vacant birdhouses, and dens full of the sleeping. But this is the slowed down season held fast by darkness and if no one comes to keep you company then keep watch over your own solitude. In that stillness, you will learn with your whole body the significance of cold and the night, which is otherwise always eluding you.

  Lines for Winter ~ by Mark Strand Tell yourself as it gets cold and gray falls from the air that you will go on walking, hearing the same tune no matter where you find yourself ~ inside the dome of dark or under the cracking white of the moon's gaze in a valley of snow. Tonight as it gets cold tell yourself what you know which is nothing but the tune your bones play as you keep going. And you will be able for once to lie down under the small fire of winter stars. And if it happens that you cannot go on or turn back and you find yourself where you will be at the end, tell yourself in that final flowing of cold through your limbs that you love what you are.

Puja-de-la-Gratitude-version-française-French.pdf (thebuddhistcentre.com)

  Beannacht / Blessing by John O’Donohue For Josie, my mother On the day when the weight deadens on your shoulders and you stumble, may the clay dance to balance you. And when your eyes freeze behind the grey window and the ghost of loss gets into you, may a flock of colours, indigo, red, green and azure blue, come to awaken in you a meadow of delight. When the canvas frays in the currach of thought and a stain of ocean blackens beneath you, may there come across the waters a path of yellow moonlight to bring you safely home. May the nourishment of the earth be yours, may the clarity of light be yours, may the fluency of the ocean be yours, may the protection of the ancestors be yours. And so may a slow wind work these words of love around you, an invisible cloak to mind your life.

  Forget about enlightenment Sit down wherever you are And listen to the wind singing in your veins. Feel the love, the longing, the fear in your bones. Open your heart to who you are, right now, Not who you would like to be, Not the saint you are striving to become, But the being right here before you, inside you, around you. All of you is holy. You are already more and less Than whatever you can know. Breathe out, Touch in, Let go. By: John Welwood

  The Journey, by Mary Oliver The Journey One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice– though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do– determined to save the only life you could save.

Dedication of Merit By  One Earth Sangha   The Extended Version May all places be held sacred. May all beings be cherished. May all injustices of oppression and devaluation be fully righted, remedied and healed. May all who are captured by hatred be freed to the love that is our birth right. May all who are bound by fear discover the safety of understanding. May all who are weighed down by grief be given over to the joy of being. May all who are lost in delusion find a home on the path of wisdom. May all wounds to forests, rivers, deserts, oceans, all wounds to Mother Earth be lovingly restored to bountiful health. May all beings everywhere delight in whale song, birdsong and blue sky. May all beings abide in peace and well-being, awaken and be free.

  Mind Wanting More BY  HOLLY J. HUGHES Only a beige slat of sun above the horizon, like a shade pulled not quite down. Otherwise, clouds. Sea rippled here and there. Birds reluctant to fly. The mind wants a shaft of sun to stir the grey porridge of clouds, an osprey to stitch sea to sky with its barred wings, some dramatic music: a symphony, perhaps a Chinese gong.   But the mind always wants more than it has— one more bright day of sun, one more clear night in bed with the moon; one more hour to get the words right; one more chance for the heart in hiding to emerge from its thicket in dried grasses—as if this quiet day with its tentative light weren't enough, as if joy weren't strewn all around.

“Fire” by Judy Brown What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail of water would. So building fires requires attention to the spaces in between, as much as to the wood. When we are able to build open spaces in the same way we have learned to pile on the logs, then we can come to see how it is fuel, and absence of the fuel together, that make fire possible. We only need to lay a log lightly from time to time. A fire grows simply because the space is there, with openings in which the flame that knows just how it wants to burn can find its way. Judy Brown , from  The Sea Accepts All Rivers

  We Remember Them’ by Sylvan Kamens & Rabbi Jack Riemer At the rising sun and at its going down; We remember them. At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter; We remember them. At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring; We remember them. At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer; We remember them. At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of the autumn; We remember them. At the beginning of the year and when it ends; We remember them. As long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us as We remember them. When we are weary and in need of strength; We remember them. When we are lost and sick at heart; We remember them. When we have decisions that are difficult to make; We remember them. When we have joy we crave to share; We remember them. When we have achievements that are based on theirs; We remember them. For as long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us as, We remember them.

  Right Here DANE ANTHONY Stop moving. Stand in one place – this place. Breathe slowly; in, then out. Repeat. Repeat again. Let your shoulders sink and relax. Unclench your jaw; slowly close your eyes. Listen for your heartbeat; really listen. Feel it pulse in your fingertips. Lessen expectations. Under-do all your efforts. Requisition the time for your soul to catch up. Lean into the wind; feel it like a tree and test the ground. Learn to trust the resilience. It would be treason to move quickly – left or right – from this place. It is alright to be exactly what you are, who you are, where you are. Right here, right now.