Four Questions...

I approach this day with an open heart.

Some mornings as eyes open to morning light, a sweet little invocation slips in. This particular morning, I shared the above snippet with a friend of mine, Hillary, who remarked that the words were "timely and timeless." Indeed, it seems that with rest and stillness, comes clarity that transcends time and space and befits situations we may find ourselves in.

Recently while care-giving and doing Metta for a beloved one, four questions came to mind:

1) What is your suffering?
2) What can I do to help?
3) What are your joys?
4) What can I do to lengthen them?

When our hearts stay open and we listen deeply, the answers to the above questions materialize. As life unfolds and we care for our beloveds, interact with our "not-so-beloveds," have fun and manage difficult situations, it's possible to look deeply and discover--What's your suffering and how can I help? What are your joys and how can I lengthen them? We can ask these four questions to ourselves as well, taking care of our pain and remembering to also water seeds of peace and joy as we move through this glorious life. In every moment of the day, we have opportunities to practice keeping our hearts open and free....

Emptiness Is Not Nothingness

Avalokita 

This week in community the topic of "emptiness" was explored with much sharing about the realization that when we hold onto a specific form, we suffer. Instances were mentioned regarding our felt sufferings when a loved one passes away. A dear one in attendance had experienced the loss of an immediate family member just a few days ago and related.

It's interesting that in Native American tradition, when a loved one dies, it's believed that we gain fuller access to their wisdom ~ for there is no longer a form keeping us separate. What a lovely idea to practice with.

Discourse on Absolute Truth comes to mind with the following directives:

When seeing, hearing, or sensing something and considering it as the only thing that can bring comfort...one is always inclined to get caught in it and rule out everything else as inferior.

Why is spiritual form less than physical form? Perhaps we fear the nothingness of ourselves or our beloved one, but is that ever possible? Or perhaps we've become attached to the idea of our loved one being a form we can see, hear, and experience physically. Zen enjoys immensely the questioning process for it promotes concentration and ultimately insight.

Come stretch, feel, pull, experience with LTMC, the great wonders that are outside our perceptions of solid space and time this week. It's our commitment to practice with emptiness as a space full of possibilities. We are interwoven, connected beyond the boundaries of a separate self, free of identity or form. Is your head spinning yet? We'll see you next week :)

MP3 of Avalokita Heart Sutra
Sutra lyrics

Sowing Seeds (And Digging Up Roots)

I just returned from a Deer Park retreat in Escondido, CA, a mindfulness practice center in the tradition of Plum Village/Thich Nhat Hanh. The retreat theme was, "Turning Outward with Inward Stability," with the encouragement to increase our engagement with our world. Mindfulness practice is twofold:

1) taking care of suffering 
2) cultivating happiness and freedom

Another way to look at this might be to know the mud, but to also know the lotuses. How do we cultivate delight everyday? How do we encourage the lotus to grow and push up through the muck? 

These questions corresponds nicely with the April mindfulness theme of sowing seeds. How do we plant seeds of peace, love and understanding in our daily lives? When we engage someone with our smile, hold the door open for an elder, shovel snow for our neighbor (spring in Tahoe:), we sow seeds that can't help but grow beautiful flowers. These simple acts could be called right conditions. Using our spring gardens as metaphors--with fertile ground, sunlight and rain, the cherry tree blooms effortlessly. Consciously cultivating the right conditions in ourselves and in our loved ones is our mindfulness practice. When we do so, suffering is lessened right away.    

I feel a poem coming on...."In the garden of a clear mind, a flower blooms..."

Spring Mindfulness Retreat: April 30, 2017

Come soak up a day of sitting and walking meditation in community to celebrate spring as it comes to the mountains of Tahoe! We will practice with the theme of "Sowing Seeds," during a day interspersed with song and practice poetry. Yummy, light fare will be provided to warm our bellies as we take our practice outside. Please bring a mug for soup and tea as well as a spoon and napkin to support our eating meditation. Feel free to bring a light vegan dish to share, or if you're not of the nature to cook, there will be plenty of opportunities to serve in other ways to ensure that everyone has a comfortable and enjoyable day.

Jesus In A Flower Pot

 

Happy Spring, everyone! Although Tahoe is still locked in snow tunnels--the Robins have arrived, chipmunks are out of hibernation and the doves are cooing! Below is a Spring Tribute, please enjoy and may it benefit your practice of looking deeply....

Jesus In A Flower Pot

©2017 Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

Jogging alongside Tahoe snow banks 7 feet high, 

baking in March sunshine,
I run on black warmed asphalt.

Spring run-off gurgles through gutters like a river
as Gore-Tex runners
skim through the wet,
splashing snow-melt
in sprays of liquid light.

Neighbor's house is passed for the hundredth time,
but in this moment, snow has melted and crumbled away,
exposing a beraggled flower pot--
a tiny plastic Jesus stands askew among the carnage of winter,
water jug tipped,
cradling a loaf of bread—
compassion's cup extended.

Feet stop running,
hands come together in one full breath…
bow
and receive
spring's blessing.

How Does One Experience Nirvana?

LTMC, dang, you guys, we're going deep! This week we just began our new book, "No Death, No Fear" which led to the discussion of Nirvana. One definition of Nirvana is the extinction of all notions, all ideas. We tried wrapping our heads around that possibility and how exactly to succeed in extinguishing our notions. An example of a tangerine was presented and how by pure experience we taste the yummy fruit yet are not shaken when the tangerine is no longer a yummy fruit but rather fuel digesting in our stomach! Can we have similar appreciation for beautiful moments, painful moments, knowing that the only truth is impermanence and the fact that form will undoubtedly change. How can we let go of our notions and experience Nirvana? Unanimously, we decided--it's a practice! Our community discussion settled and a little ditty was born. Please enjoy and may it benefit your practice....

How Does One Experience Nirvana?
©Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

“Nirvana is the extinction of all notions…all ideas.”
~The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings, Thich Nhat Hanh

Woke at 4:00am wide awake…
checked on sweet P, elderly cancer cat,
who sat, head up,
as she pushed affectionately into hands reaching
through moonlight for tangible reassurance.
Buried my nose behind her ear,
filled up with warm, sleepy scent—ambrosia.

Back to bed,
followed my breath,
noticed the catch between inhalation and exhalation.

At 7:00am, woke to administer medication, food preparation
and identified the clouds brewing—restlessness.
Nephews court date is tomorrow morning,
the separation of our 2,000 miles deepened the heart-chasm….

Burst of energy had me answering emails, cleaning kitchen
before I finally pulled myself from the whirlwind I had become,
sat by Sweet P and opened my journal,
“I’ve got to write this out,” I convinced myself.
First sentence, “I’m a busy bee, unable to get to the cushion...”

I pause, smile and realize—writing it out isn’t what it used to be.
A landmark sentence hits the page, “I just need to sit.”
Close journal, shut eyes, follow breathing:
body,
feelings,
mind,
objects of mind.
In doing so, calm arises,
concentration,
happiness, even joy
as perspective naturally widens.

Space. Stillness. Insight—
writing it out, talking it out, fuels the telling of a story:
Sweet P is not only cancer.
She is 2# of deceptive tough fluff found by the roadside,
rolling-on-head-in-sunshine honey girl.
Nephew is bright eyed, ripping off baby clothes to run wild through the petting zoo,
squealer-of-delight.
We are so much more than narrative,
a running commentary!

When a story is no longer told,
the characters break free.
In one breath of awareness,
all suffering ceases.
I suddenly remember our Eternity. 

Day of Jedi Training (ie Day of Mindfulness:)

Lake Tahoe Mindfulness Community is offering our first online Day of Mindfulness (DOM) this coming Saturday, March 11 from 7:00a-7:00pm and this blog article can hopefully serve as an introduction to DOM as a way of deepening our personal and community practices.

Before the days of an iwatch, lay persons and monastics who practiced mindfulness used to look to the night skies and come together according to cycles of the moon. They would sit, do walking meditation, listen to dharma talks, practice eating meditation and nourish themselves, their loved ones and their communities. In the Plum Village tradition practitioners are encouraged to take collective as well as personal days of mindfulness to set time aside for personal reflection and awakening. Thich Nhat Hanh has famously said, "One Buddha is not enough," stressing that the next Buddha will not be one person but the communities that practices the way of understanding, peace and compassion. Days of Mindfulness are opportunities to water our Buddha nature and the Buddha nature in our loved ones and communities.

So, all this being considered, March 11 is a full moon day set aside for online community to come together with two supportive anchor points--the 7:00am uberconference call and the 7:00pm uberconference call. All the juicy hours in between are for your enjoyment and reflection. Suggestions will be offered via the DOM Facebook events page for access during the day. If you are not on Facebook, please email the following contact and you will be added to an email send list with all DOM links.

Lastly, some folks may question, why online? LTMC does four seasonal retreats every year for our community to come together in person to practice. We've also met since July 2014, every Wednesday morning with between 10-15 people in attendance. Even though we're a small mountain community, our retreats have attracted as many as 25+ people--we're a destination sangha along the shores of Lake Tahoe. It's not uncommon for folks to visit for short lengths of time and then go back to wherever home base may be. We've brought our mothers, sisters, brothers, kids who have visited LTMC from all around the US. An online forum is a way for us to reconnect and practice with our long distance beloved members again and with our larger sangha community. Living in an isolated and often weather-beaten area, local LTMC folks can't always drive 4+ hours round trip to join in our closest Days of Mindfulness. Another thing we've considered in offering an online forum is our presently encased snow town wherein some populations cannot physically get out and about. We've met families in our local community with loved ones who are bound to place due to illness or circumstance. Perhaps an online Day of Mindfulness may serve to benefit these populations and encourage practice no matter where one may find themselves.

LTMC looks forward to strengthening our practice together and offering support in whatever ways serve our communities best. Please consider joining us and bringing along a few loved ones too. In the words of Master Yoda:

Luminous beings are we...not this crude matter.

Stretch and pull, shine across the ether...see you on Saturday :)