Reading the love letters of nature
And endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn
How to read the love letters sent by
The wind and rain, the snow, and the moon.
– Ikkyu
from the book “Ikkyu and the Crazy Cloud Anthology: A Zen Poet of Medieval Japan”
With thanks to Gems of Wisdom – Zen Tradition
Nature does not hurry
yet everything is accomplished.Lao Tzu
Artist: Tomas Sanchez
Nature may be compared to a vast ocean
Nature may be compared to a vast ocean. Thousands and millions of changes are taking place in it. Crocodiles and fish are essentially of the same substance as the water in which they live…
Knowing that I am of the same nature as all other natural things, I know that there is really no separate self, no separate personality, no absolute death and no absolute life.
~Tsen Tang-Hsu ~
(8th century A.D.)
Tao & Zen
It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up
“The beauty of today is in all the things: feeling the gentle breeze on your skin, the sunlight filtering through the clouds, the sound of the birds, the silence of no wind. You notice the in-and-out flow of your breath, the feeling of aliveness inside your body. And then there is the beautiful stillness behind it all, which is deep within you. It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.“
~ Eckhart Tolle ~
Buddha Nature Pic of the Day
A sandstone Buddha statue nestled in the tree roots beside the minor chapels of Wat Maha That, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, Thailand
Wiki
Carlos Nakai: Earth Spirit
This collection of solo flute pieces from Navajo-Ute musician R. Carlos Nakai is an evocative delight. The album consists of mostly original material, from the composition “Canyon Reverie,” to the improvisational “In Media Res,” to “Athabascan Song,” an arrangement of a traditional song. The latter in particular stands out, with a faster rhythm and more lilting melody than most of the other pieces. There’s also “Ancient Dreams,” performed on a bone whistle; the instrument almost exceeds the upper range of human hearing, and Nakai occasionally sounds like he’s imitating birdcalls. A classically trained musician, Nakai blends musical traditions to create a whole that reminds one, on occasion, of Japanese shakuhachi music.
This album best captures the timeless serenity of the solo Native American flute. R. Carlos Nakai’s music speaks to the spirit with a simplicity that transcends place and time. Includes original compositions, traditional Athabascan and Omaha melodies.
Trees as teachers
“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone.
They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche.
In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree…
Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”
~Hermann Hesse
Source: Tao & Zen
How nature works and the way people think
“The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think”
― Gregory Bateson
Trees do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.
I must admit that Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha was one of the key books that introduced me to Buddhism.
For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone.
They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche.
In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree…
Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”
~Hermann Hesse
Source: Tao & Zen
Love the earth and sun and the animals. Despise riches, give alms to every one that asks
Thinking Outside the Boxes in Our Heads | Creative by Nature.
With permission
creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com
Christopher Chase
Aug. 23, 2015
“Love the earth and sun and the animals.
Despise riches, give alms to every one that asks.
Stand up for the stupid and crazy.
Devote your income and labor to others.
Hate tyrants, argue not concerning God.
Have patience and indulgence toward the people.
Go freely with powerful uneducated persons
and with the young and with the mothers of families.
Read these leaves in the open air
every season of every year of your life.
Re-examine all you have been told
at school or church or in any book,
dismiss whatever insults your own soul,
and your very flesh shall be a great poem
and have the richest fluency
not only in its words but in
the silent lines of its lips and face
and between the lashes of your eyes and
in every motion and joint of your body.”
― Walt Whitman~
Zen Flash 
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