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
upside down today.
We live
in a tide-swept inlet,
floating, flung.
In such a world, why cling to
collections of poems?
~Izumi Shikibu (J Hirshfield & M Aratani, The Ink Dark Moon)
Nikon D750 f/6.3 1/8s 35mm 100 ISO
Nikon D750 f/7.1 1/25 s 35 mm 100 ISO
an experimental perspective
The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. No one is [master of himself] if he have it not. An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence. But it is easier to define this ideal than to give practical instruction for bringing it about. ~ William James
The rules of this three-day quote challenge are to post a favourite quote every day for three days, and pass on the challenge to three other bloggers. You can do this at any time you like – even next year – and you can also say, “No thanks.”
While I’ve enjoyed being challenged by others, I find it difficult to invite one blogger over another, so if you would like to join in please accept this invitation to share your favorite quotes. Thank you Amy at The World is a Book for extending an invitation. It eases all those times in the playground when I was among the last to be chosen to be on a team. _()_
Nikon D50 f/10 1/50 s 24 mm 100 ISO
Memory bridges our past with the present and awakens us to an awareness that life is created by minute moments that often go unnoticed as our minds are frequently elsewhere. Photography offers us a means to awaken to these temporary moments and to create priceless keepsakes of our yesterdays.
The spring sunlight, flowers blooming, and green trees create a landscape that looks like embroidery. This is an object of perception and it’s a beautiful thing to focus on. …if we don’t consider the role of our mind, and just focus on what we see as the independent reality around us, there will be contradictions.
The Vietnamese poet Nguyen Du said, ‘When a person is sad, the scenery is never happy.’ How we are feeling determines how we see the world. Why are some people able to experience happiness when they look at the moon and see its beauty, while others see the same moon as sad or depressing? This question can’t be answered unless both the subject [person] and object [moon] are taken into account.
~Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Battles
Who speaks the sound of an echo?
Who paints the image in a mirror?
Where are the spectacles in a dream?
Nowhere at all–that’s the nature of the mind!
~Tree-leaf Woman (J. Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred)
Nikon D750 f/7.1 1/50s 170mm ISO 100
even tortoise and crane
meet their fate…
autumn evening
~Issa (www.haikuguy.com)
Nikon D750 f/7.1 1/125s 300 mm ISO 100
once green, now fading yellow
a beautiful leaf
all by itself in autumn
You didn’t come into this world.
You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean.
You are not a stranger here.
~Alan Watts
The healing way of Shinrin-yoku is through the medicine of simply being in the forest. A gentle path to wellness accessible to almost everybody. Studies have found that the benefits of forest bathing include:
I’m hoping that the Youtube video below motivates you to kick off your house slippers and rummage through closets for your long-forgotten hiking boots…
_()_
a meditative journey 
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