ON TODAY'S SITE:

Rumi, Jacob Boehme, Wayne Teasdale, Masahide,
Book of Isaiah, Book of Psalms, Master Daibi, John Newton

__________________________________________

Photo by Lisa Bowman                 All rights reserved

         

Lost in the Wilderness


Oh lovers!
Where are you going?
Who are you looking for?
Your Beloved is right here.

She lives in your neighborhood.
Her face is veiled
She hides behind screens
calling for you
while you search and lose yourself
in the wilderness and the desert.

Cease looking for flowers!
There blooms a garden in your own home.
While you look for trinkets
the treasure house awaits you in your own being.

There is no need for suffering.
God is here.


Rumi (13th century)
Persian poet and Sufi mystic
From "The Love Poems of Rumi,"
Harmony Books, 1998


__________



The true heaven is everywhere, even in that very place
where you stand and walk...If man's eyes were opened,
he would see God everywhere in this heaven, for heaven
stands in the innermost moving everywhere.
- Jacob Boehme (1575-1624)
German Christian mystic and theologian

...In order to be aware of and sensitive to the presence
of Heaven, we have to, as (Boehme) says, open our eyes.
The primary experience of Heaven, however, is within us,
in that "innermost" center of ourselves that then moves in
all directions, everywhere. But to see Heaven in this life,
we have to be made aware through an unfolding sensitivity
that develops through prayer, meditation, and contemplation.
This is how our eyes are opened.


Excerpted from "The Mystic Hours,"
by Wayne Teasdale (1945-2004)
Teacher, author, lay monk
New World Library, 2004

_________



Barn's burnt down --
now
I can see the moon.


Mizuta Masahide (1657-1723)
Japanese poet and samurai





Photo by Lisa Bowman        All rights reserved


The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
The excellency of our God.


Isaiah 54:11-12
New American Bible


_________

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!


Psalm 34:8
The Holy Bible
New King James Version

________


Without asking about past or future,
here and now, just look! What is this?
What truly is this 'I' who asks? Who
sees, hears, feels and knows? Who walks,
stands, sits and lies down? Or moves about
restlessly? At all times in all places, look
with all your heart and do not give up look-
ing for one moment. For this kind of looking,
neither reasons nor explanations are needed.
Just wholeheartedly look...


Master Daibi (1882-1964)
Japanese Zen Buddhist monk