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Category Archives: compassion
poem: bodhicitta, bodhidharma, bodhisattva
poem: bodhicitta, bodhidharma, bodhisattva
clarity of mind and reality
Self realizing
in solidarity with all diversity
ally of peace and justice for all beings
companion on the journey
Cosmic beings walking the Earth always
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
June 3, 2021
image unattributed
The Monk Bodhidharma
Author’s note: Bodhicitta is enlightened mind,
bodhidharma is embodiment of awakening, and
bodhisattva is a being on the path of enlightenment.
Bodhidharma is a 5th. or 6th. century Buddhist monk
who traveled to China and introduced Buddhism there.
bodhidharma is embodiment of awakening, and
bodhisattva is a being on the path of enlightenment.
Bodhidharma is a 5th. or 6th. century Buddhist monk
who traveled to China and introduced Buddhism there.
poem: grace can only be received with an open hand and held humbly with a light touch
poem: grace can only be received with an open hand
and held humbly with a light touch
old man chuckling lightly to himself;
the notion of ‘aging gracefully’
a boondoggle to his mind
all empty busyness and waste of time
this holding on for dear life,
with a stranglehold on ‘grace,’
to our youthful foolishness
with a denial of our falling up
now, as I begin to see more clearly
the thread of life running ahead
yet never disappearing
to an end I do not know where or when
sensing this falling upward
in a cloud of unknowing
as one’s status, health, energy,
influence, and appearance wanes
falling upward with an authentic grace
freely given towards our Truth of Self
and the Authenticity of Belonging together
and eldering in community of liberation
more spirit than body and mind
lamenting, visioning, lifting up,
radically accepting and loving,
laughing eyes on the thread running ahead
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
May 25, 2021
photo: the author at Draper Coastal Dune Lake
in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, U.S.A.
poem: a story of our saving grace
poem: a story of our saving grace
fleeing the city and civilization,
traumatized, seeking solace,
she who lost her husband and young son
in the gun violence of a mass shooting,
takes up residence in a remote wilderness cabin,
cut off from the world, off the beaten path,
depending solely upon her self-reliance
her first winter here, the nature of the wild slowly
wearing her down, she cries out in the dark void
“it’s not working,” weakened and dying, she lays,
until the stranger stumbles upon her helpless,
near death, nursing her back to health, standing by her,
no questions asked, accepting her self isolation,
teaching her how to live alone in the wild
after the stranger does not return for a long while,
she hikes into the small town nearby for the first time,
finding him dying of cancer at home on his death bed,
he confesses his own trauma of killing his wife and
young daughter while driving drunk many years ago,
she now understanding she is not alone in her grief,
that wounds and healing shared, grace upon grace we are saved
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
May 18, 2021
Author’s note: This poem is inspired by my seeing
the movie ‘Land,’ a film by Robin Wright about
severe trauma, survival, human kindness, grace,
and healing
image ‘Cabin in the Wilderness’ unattributed
poem: the hermit of bird heaven thinks of Siddhartha Gautama
poem: the hermit of bird heaven
thinks of Siddhartha Gautamawhen the hermit
of bird heaven
leaves his modest abode
on the high hill
thinks of Siddhartha Gautamawhen the hermit
of bird heaven
leaves his modest abode
on the high hill
he thinks of
Siddhartha Gautama
leaving his father’s palace
for the first time
witnessing the human
suffering and injustice
just outside the king’s
huge estate gate
Prince Siddhartha upon seeing
an old person, an ill person,
a corpse, and an ascetic,
is shocked by the suffering
as is the hermit upon seeing
the homeless couple
seated in folding lawn chairs
at the interstate off ramp
it is obviously their home
in the bare dirt on the road side
littered with plastic for protection
and their few belongings
Siddhartha never returns home,
continuing on the archetypal
journey we must all take someday,
he becomes a spiritual devote, then teacher
we, propelled by our own human curiosity,
wanting to know the full story and full truth,
for ourSelf, must also leave the privilege
and comfort of our protective ego and home
thus journeying into the shadows
in a pathless land finding our own way,
solitary pilgrims doing the hard work
finding our story and truth for ourSelves
awakening
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
April 24, 2021
image ‘Buddha Under the Bodhi Tree’
from Self Help Robot
Author’s note: Siddhartha Gautmama
is the name of the human who became the
Buddha. In Sanskrit, the name means
“one who has found the meaning of existence.”
poem: prepare to be interrupted by God today
poem: prepare to be interrupted
by God today take a break
from the 10,000,000 things
that distract us see the Universal Cosmic Christ
by whatever name
in the stranger, other, oppressed especially those
making us the most uncomfortable
in our privilege allow the truth, beauty, and goodness
that surround us to act in
mercy, radical grace, and radical love turn so that hearts are opened
minds transformed
and spirits lifted up and so this shall be the new way
that God is always with us all
in the mutuality of giving and receiving Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
April 20, 2021
by God today take a break
from the 10,000,000 things
that distract us see the Universal Cosmic Christ
by whatever name
in the stranger, other, oppressed especially those
making us the most uncomfortable
in our privilege allow the truth, beauty, and goodness
that surround us to act in
mercy, radical grace, and radical love turn so that hearts are opened
minds transformed
and spirits lifted up and so this shall be the new way
that God is always with us all
in the mutuality of giving and receiving Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
April 20, 2021
art image unattirbuted
quote: being whole
poem: without human suffering, left to its’ own, the ego’s false self destroys life
Reflection: The foundation of my Spiritual being
Reflection: The foundation of my Spiritual being
The two quotes below are foundational to my understanding of God and Christ consciousness, by whatever names, and to the spiritual practice of my daily life. While the quotes are from the Judeo-Christian tradition perspective, my study of other traditions supports that these perspectives are represented in them as well thus they are universal in their applicability.
The first quote is from Marcus Borg, a New Testament theologian and author. And the second quote is from Walter Brueggemann, an Old Testament theologian and author. Both are highly respected scholars and teachers in their fields and have written prodigiously.
Both quotes below address the non-partisan aspect of the political nature of Jesus’ Way and ancient Israel’s resistance to the dominant imperial Empires. They are political because they affect the way in which we live together in community. Their practice in our personal and collective lives includes resistance to the imperial accounts of reality grounded in power, control, and violence and the advocacy of alternative realities grounded in radical grace and radical love of authentic communities of belonging.
“The way of Jesus was both personal and political. It was about personal transformation. And it was political, a path of [nonviolent] resistance to the domination system and advocacy of an alternative vision of life together under God.”
—Marcus Borg
“….the tradition of emancipatory covenant making….affirms human agents who have the capacity and responsibility to act transformatively for the well-being of the human community and the ecology of creation. All of that pertains to the ancient context wherein the subversive narrative of Israel lived in ongoing tension with imperial accounts of reality, and amid that tension resisted imperial accounts while proposing alternatives.”
-Walter Brueggemann- “God, Neighbor, Empire”
And so we see that our struggles today against the imperialistic Empire’s accounts of reality (i.e., our resistance to insurrectionists attacking our democracy) in their dominant power, control, and violence are age old in their tensions between violent domination vis-a-vis liberation and freedom to live together in alternative communities of the Truth of Self and the authenticity of belonging. Until all are free none are free. The suffering of the other is also my suffering. So we resist and dream our dreams and see our visions of a better way together for which we must never stop working.
Tat tvam asi. That I am.
Shanti, shalom, peace dear Beloveds.
poem: ode to our nation on inauguration day 2021
poem: ode to our nation on inauguration day 2021
today our nation
inaugurates our 46th.
president and vice president
Joe and Kamala
who feel like family
Papa and Auntie
after the past four years
of a president and his administration
bullying its’ citizens
undermining our rights
eroding our democracy
empowering domestic terrorist
cutting off world allies
causing death and confusion in a pandemic
and leading an insurrection
we citizens of good conscience
find some relief and optimism again
fellow Americans
let us come together
in confession, repentance, and reconciliation
healing one another and our nation
that we will finally do the hard work
of forming a more perfect union together
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
January 20, 2021
Inauguration Day
Photo credits: Vox, AP, AFP
