January 05, 2014

We need to master our own anger before we can help others do the same.  When the flames of anger flare up, we tend to lash out at those who have watered our seeds of anger.  It is like finding our house on fire, and instead of putting out the flames, chasing those we think started it.  Arguing with others only waters the seeds of anger in us.  When anger arises, return to yourself and use the energy of mindfulness to embrace, soothe, and illuminate it.  Do not think you will feel better if you can make the other person suffer, too. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh (from "Teachings on Love")

April 11, 2012

In the ultimate stillness
Light penetrates the whole realm;
In the still illumination,
There pervades pure emptiness.
When I look back on the
Phenomenal world,
Everything is just
Like a dream.
~Han-Shan Te-Ch'ing

September 11, 2010

And the message is: Like the father and the prodigal son, you have to love your way out of this one. You can't hate your way out of it. ~ Donald Jackson, calligrapher and artistic illuminator, speaking of his St. John's Illuminated Bible and brief reference to 9/11 in an illumination, using the twin towers for the metaphor