nature

wpc: 2017 favorites

Standing quietly by the fence,

you smile your wondrous smile.

I am speechless, and my senses are filled

by the sounds of your beautiful song,

beginningless and endless.

I bow deeply to you.

~Quach Thoai (describing the appearance of a dahlia: Thich Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves)

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2017 Favorites

truth & strength…together

geesetwo-3web

…we were determined to speak the truth. Now I understand that truth and virtue must be joined by strength. When I first read the French author La Fontaine many years ago, I was disturbed by this statement: ‘The argument of the strongest party is always the best.’ …life has taught me more than once that his statement is at least partly true. Truth without strength cannot stand firm. Strength does not have to mean tyranny or violence, but one must be strong. Without strength, how could those with no more than a pen challenge powerful authorities? 

~Thich Nhat Hanh (Fragrant Palm Leaves)

 

 

Concern…for others

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Nikon D750   f/1.8   1/1000 s   35 mm   100 ISO

In the first legend of the Grail, it is said the Grail . . . belongs to the first comer who asks the guardian of the vessel, a king three quarters paralyzed by the most painful wound, ‘What are you going through?’ It is in our concern for others that we find the Grail.

cited: Robert Aitken, A Zen Wave