create from joy

hamid sardar-afkhami

 

The most

beautiful paintings and

sculptures, the greatest poetry,

have not always been born from torment

or bitterness. Often they have sprung from

contemplation, from joy, from an instinct or wonder

toward all things. To create from joy, to create from wonder,

demands a continual discipline, a great compassion…With time

and sincerity, you will discover a way to work and write that does

not harm you spiritually, that does not tempt you to vanity,

that is the deepest expression of your spirituality. You

will find a voice that is not your voice only, but the

voice of Reality itself. . . If you can be empty

enough, that voice can speak through you.

If you can be humble enough, that

voice can inhabit you

and use you.

 

Thuksey Rinpoche

 

the path to the buddha’s table

ansel adams

 

Life is a dream,

the years pass by like flowing waters.

Glamour and glory are  transient as autumn smoke;

what tragedy — for with the sun set deeply in the

west, still there are those lost among

paths of disillusionment.

 

Our heart

should be clear as ice.

Forget all the worldly nonsense.

Sit calmly, breathe quietly, heart bright

and spotless as an empty mirror.

This is the path to

the buddha’s

table.

 

Loy Ching-Yuen

the book of the heart

 

there will come a time

buddhabrot

 

A horse strays

into a cave of lions. You move

deeper into your desire for sex, for art

and wealth. There will come a time when your

life is a blank, but has there ever really been a time

when human beings were not cared for? For thousands

of years we had no identity, yet we managed to arrive

in this amazing moment, this brightly conscious

lifespan. Who gave us such restlessness

to know and be?

 

Bahauddin, father of Rumi

The Drowned Book