December 25, 2019

i  have  put  away  childish  things



I have put away childish things
And am become a man.
Hear me now, I have put away all the fantasies,
The make-believe, the dreams—I have let them go—
And the imagined destinations
Of adolescence.
The Lone Ranger and Superman
Are no heroes to me now,
And I am hiring no new actors
For the cops-and-robbers melodrama
That may still perchance play out
In a shadowed back alley of my mind.
But as a man walking the front street
Of my own city,
As mayor, priest and professor
Of my own nationhood,
I am responsible for its events,
For the honest business,
The wholesome enterprise and education,
The practical industry and harmonious art
And the living, changing forms of worship
That infinite in purpose
Proceed within my city and my nation.
I hold all this in fealty
To the Ruler of the city that includes my city,
In devotion to the King whose nation is my nation,
And I do all, speak all, see and hear
And am the very all of all I see and do,
In name and spirit of the King.
So is my state kingly and a fitting home,
A palace and a palace garden
For the coming in and the going out
Of Him I love by His own love
And truly serve by His own truth.
I have put by the childish toys
And left the playhouse of infancy
And am become a man.



December 23, 2019

Ram  Dass


his life gave many blessings and

it is good when such a life as this is now complete


with thanksgiving for the many gifts


and we are born from womb unto womb unto womb in an everlasting cycle of universal service

db 





from


Ancient Forests of the Far West


The Practice of the Wild by Gary Snyder


How curious it would be to die and then remain standing for another century or two. To enjoy “dead verticality.” If humans could do it we would hear news like, “Henry David Thoreau finally toppled over.” The human community when healthy, is like an ancient forest. The little ones are in the shade and shelter of the big ones, even rooted in their lost old bodies. All ages, and all together growing and dying. What some silviculturists call for—“even-age management,” plantations of trees the same size growing up together seems like rationalistic utopian totalitarianism. We wouldn't think of letting our children live in regimented institutions with no parental visits and all their thinking shaped by a corps of professionals who just follow official manuals (written by people who never raised kids). Why should we do it to our forests? “All-age-unmanaged”—that's a natural community, human or other. The industry prizes the younger and middle-aged trees that keep their symmetry, keep there branches even of length and angle.


But let there also be really old trees who can give up all sense of propriety and begin throwing their limbs out in extravagant gestures, dancelike poses, displaying their insouciance in the face of mortality, holding themselves available to whatever the world and the weather might propose. I look up to them: they are like the Chinese Immortals, they are Han-shan and Shi-de sorts of characters—to have lived that long is to have permission to be eccentric, to be the poets and painters among trees, laughing, ragged, and fearless. They make me almost look forward to old age.




December 21, 2019

Winter Solstice 2019





Anne Blaney

published this piece today on her site

anneblaney.blogspot.com

Friend to Friend

it is perfect and delightful to republish it here

to acknowledge and honour and celebrate this day

and every day under the sun

which seems to be about seven times hotter

than it was last year at this time



db


The  Sun  Stands  Still  Inside  Us  Now




Solstice is a direct reminder of our planetary reality

No control over this fading light, no hand in its return

Of this we can be sure ...
Because we can know
that we inhabit a place in space,
we also know
that we are small
and that we are very large

May the Light shine through you and me
Into this world
Into our home among the stars
A




solstice cycle

the sun stands still inside me now
wonder finds rest inside me now
all creation stands transfigured
by the radiance of an inner light
the light within the light
without
the luminous landscape opening

the mountains and the hills break forth before me into singing
and all the trees of the field now clap their hands

now drawing closer
veil thinning
through the darkness walking
reaching light
at the heart of the world
enchantment
by moonlight and by starlight
prayer and incense
by candlelight now turning
graceful turning
turn toward the sun
toward one another turning




drawing close in whispered knowings
listen
the eternal heartbeat
look

the sun stands still
inside me now
wonder finds rest

we journey long and long together
knowing the space within
the space
without
planetary beings in spiral dance
within
the living body of the sacred sun

david barnes






November 26, 2019

Fukui  Tsuyoki



Japan







Music Forest 森のひびき was invited to perform at the Sound of Samadhi Concert held on 27 Sep 2015

Performers: Tsuyoki Fukui 福井幹 and Yumi Ogawa 小川由美子

Happy to You

Sound of Samadhi is a biennial concert organised by Kwan Yin Chan Lin Zen Meditation Centre to allow city dwellers an evening experience of relaxation and peace, returning to the simplicity and purity of life. The concert showcased intricately choreographed pieces on the flute and harp by Tsuyoki Fukui and Yumiko Ogawa, and tunes depicting the scenery of the mountains performed together with guest musicians, Zen Master Ji Haeng (Thom Pastor), KMSPKS Zen Drum Ensemble and PMT The Music Tree.


November 05, 2019

Made  Without  Hands




Jack  Jenkins


I walk this path

around the lake

not every day,

but over the years

I’ve walked it a lot.


I’ve come to think of it

as a day’s cycle,

one rotation of the earth.


It seems the same,

this graveled path

with lots of stones.

I think of these stones

as all the words I’ve spoken

in my seventy years.


What I said yesterday

lies before me,

what I say today

will show tomorrow.


Whether I admit to it or not

the stones all bear my name.

I have spoken a lot of words.





I picked one up today,

a fragment that once was whole

but with sharp edges now.

Maybe this is why we need shoes.


You know God walks this path.

He has to.

It’s the only path around the lake.

He knows the situation.


So if the words I speak

create this path,

I can’t complain.


Maybe one day

we may take off our shoes.

Maybe one day

we will stop casting stones.




October 26, 2019

the  storm



The  Man  Watching


I can tell by the way the trees beat, after

so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes,

that a storm is coming,

and I feel the far-off fields say things

I can’t bear without a friend,

I can’t love without a sister.


The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on

across the woods and across time,

and the world looks as if it had no age:

the landscape, like a line in the psalm book,

is seriousness and weight and eternity.


What we choose to fight is so tiny!

What fights with us is so great!

If only we would let ourselves be dominated

as things do by some immense storm,

we would become strong too, and not need names.



When we win it’s with small things,

and the triumph itself makes us small.

What is extraordinary and eternal

does not  want  to be bent by us.

I mean the Angel, who appeared

to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:

when the wrestlers sinews

grew like long metal strings,

he felt them under his fingers

like chords of deep music.


Whoever was beaten by his Angel,

(who often simply declined the fight),

went away proud and strengthened

and great from that harsh hand,

that kneaded him as if to change his shape.

This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively

By constantly greater beings.




Rainer Maria Rilke   translated by  Robert Bly

October 15, 2019

receiving the harvest
 



we are into the harvest cycle now


 how does it feel
in your heart
in your belly?
how does it feel in your whole body


 when you look back to last winter and early spring
the time of sowing
how does it feel
what do you see
do you notice patterns of association
between the seed and the harvest
do you like what you see
what do you feel


 i have found it is best not to judge
what appears to be a weed in the garden
often turns out to be a sacred healing herb


 it is best not to judge


 receive the harvest
be thankful for what returns
sanctify your sons and your daughters
and
deliver the gift


 as it is in you and me
so it is in the world


 the world as a whole has moved into a season of harvest
together
we reap the harvest from centuries of sowing
how does it feel
do you like what you see now appearing in the earth


 it is best not to judge


 in the world cycle
the fire of harvest blends
with the water of new beginnings
this is a newly dawning day
and a fine mist rises up from the face of the land
watering the whole garden
the planting of the lord


 receive the harvest
be thankful for what returns
sanctify your sons and your daughters
deliver the gift

 deliver the gift




 david barnes


September 24, 2019

Mystic  Voice


Harmony  in  Love  of  Tao





A journey home to Truth, Love and Beauty

Fields of Healing Festival 2018 Bayron Bay, Australia

Unity Earth - Journey of Harmony
Sacred Chanting: Mystic Voice

Keyboard: Kristin Hoffman

Harp: Cecilia Caleandro

Flute: Premik Tubbs

Percussion: Hanuman

Conch: Mindahi Bastida

Film: Casey Bridges

Editing: Oriental Art Vision

Director: Ming Shan