New Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation: Awakening to Yearning
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Tag Archives: Buddhist poetry
Where Are the Flowers?
If you break open the cherry tree,
Where are the flowers?
But in the spring time, see how they bloom!
– Ikkyu
The Sound
The temple bell stops.
But the sound keeps coming
out of the flowers.
– Basho
The Dharma of Writing and Meditation Workshop
Saturday, January 31, 2015
9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Nashville Friend’s House
Led by Lisa Ernst
Please join us for a day of contemplative writing and meditation practice. We will cultivate writing inspiration through meditation and exercises that help us open our hearts to the truth of what we most want to express. These practices will also help us to communicate more eloquently from our authentic voice, both in written and verbal form. In addition, we will have an opportunity to share our writing in an atmosphere of compassionate support.
This workshop is suitable to beginning and experienced writers and meditators. Cost is $75 – $100, sliding scale. Please pay at the highest level you can afford so we can accommodate those who need reduced fee, scholarship spots. For a scholarship spot, please inquire to the email below. You can pay by Paypal here using the donate button. If paying by check, please make it out to One Dharma Nashville and send to 12 South Dharma Center, c/o One Dharma Nashville, 2301 12th Avenue South, Suite 202, Nashville, TN 37204. Please include your email address.
Lisa has been meditating for 25 years in both the Zen and Vipassana traditions. She is the founder and guiding teacher of One Dharma Nashville. In addition to regularly teaching meditation classes and retreats, Lisa has written numerous articles for magazines, newspapers and newsletters. She was the technical editor for the current edition of Meditation for Dummies. Her blog include essays and poetry: www.thelotusbloomsinthemud.com. For questions, email onedharmaretreat@gmail.com
Fall Seeds
The withered flowers
drop their seeds
like tears.
– Basho
The Undying
This human form repeats itself
born again and again in numbers beyond count.
A pineapple has needles and fronds and is juicy sweet inside,
how many have graced this world since the first one dropped to the ground?
Trees, flowers, insects and animals repeat themselves
endless reproduction, yet a mystery at the core.
Science tells us how, but can’t get to the rood of why.
Its a a gift of our life
this endless repetition of what we need to live.
Without the trees, the flowers, the bees and the fruit, we die.
Yet the sun in our world doesn’t repeat itself
it doesn’t birth new suns — all we need is one.
What is always here, with us now
undying
what doesn’t repeat itself?
– Lisa Ernst
Only the Moon
The moonlight through the trees
enters the room where I sit
and casts shadows across the floor.
It beckons me to be still,
and love just what it gives
in its fleeting time before dawn.
In this moment, still and silent
only the moon
can speak to my heart,
reveal my true nature
without even a word.
– Lisa Ernst
The Silent Well
This morning I fell
into a well of silence.
Not a push, not a jump,
just a breath and an instant
and all is still
like a snow covered morning
at first light.
Before the mind stirs
Before the heart wants
something else
this silence
enters me, washes me away
into the joy of this
undying moment.
– Lisa Ernst
A Sliver of Moonlight
A sliver of moonlight
against a slate sky
wakes me up
offers no words
but pierces my heart
breaks it open,
tears, silence.
A screech owl
penetrates the stillness.
Then another,
back and forth they shriek
then silence, tears dry.
The moon fades
as dawn lights the sky.
Awareness is Your Refuge
Especially In honor of the people who will take refuge and the five precepts this Thursday, December 20, at One Dharma Nashville, here is a lovely reflection on refuge by Ajahn Sumedho:
Awareness is Your Refuge
Awareness of the changingness of feelings,
of attitudes, of moods, of material change
and emotional change:
Stay with that, because it’s a refuge that is
indestructible.
It’s not something that changes.
It’s a refuge you can trust in.
This refuge is not something that you create.
It’s not a creation. It’s not an ideal.
It’s very practical and very simple, but
easily overlooked or not noticed.
When you’re mindful,
you’re beginning to notice,
it’s like this.
The Lotus Blooms in The Mud 