Sunday Dinner: Meditation

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“I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope,

for hope would be hope for the wrong thing;

wait without love,

for love would be love of the wrong thing;

there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting.

Wait without thought,

for you are not ready for thought:

So the darkness shall be the light,

and the stillness the dancing.”

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T.S. Eliot

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“Looking at beauty in the world

is the first step of purifying the mind.”

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Amit Ray

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“So many leaves have fallen on my life.

Some settled nicely to rest,

but most fell, withered to bitter cold and drifted on.

But, after all that, I would brave all the coldness of humanity again

for the sight of a few more beautiful yellow leaves

falling on Aspen, and the birds….”

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E.S. Lehman

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“It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth,

how much money you have gathered

or how much attention you have received.

It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters,”

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Amit Ray

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“Through my love for you,

I want to express my love for the whole cosmos,

the whole of humanity, and all beings.

By living with you, I want to learn to love everyone and all species.

If I succeed in loving you,

I will be able to love everyone and all species on Earth…

This is the real message of love.”

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Thích Nhất Hạnh

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“An awake heart is like a sky that pours light.”

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Hāfez

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“The mind can go in a thousand directions,

but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.

With each step, the wind blows.

With each step, a flower blooms.”

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Thích Nhất Hạnh

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2015

All photos taken at Brent and Becky Heath’s display gardens in Gloucester, Virginia December 2015

A Forest Garden 2016 calendar is available now.

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Visitors

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Our Salvia leucantha draws many beautiful visitors to its sweet nectar.  Standing near it and just quietly watching the comings and goings of these beautiful insect visitors is both delight and meditation.  The great yogis, like Pantanjali and Naropa, lived high in the Himalayas; far from such delights as this.  How would their teachings have been different , had they lived in a garden instead?

I appreciate this meditation on life in all of its forms, its fragility and strength, and its conscious efforts to survive.

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And I wonder at the invitation inherent in a single plant we consciously include in our garden.  What a great communion of species coming together, to partake of the life-giving powers of  this Salvia.

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2015

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What Is It, Anyway?

How did a scallop shell find its way to the ravine?

As you’re out walking, do you ever stop to look at something more closely, and ask yourself, “What is it?“

Did the pearl already fall out of the oyster?

Whether you’ve spotted a bird or a leaf, a flower or a pebble, perhaps you’re engaged, for a moment, in simply looking.

Our chameleon world loves to masquerade.

You may have noticed that one things often resembles the other.

How can coral grow in a forest?

Sometimes it’s our minds and our eyes playing tricks on us.  We catch sight of a color, a flash of movement.

In the moment between seeing and naming, the world is wide open to new possibilities.

What do you see here?

When silence is allowed, the tap of thought turned off tightly,

Eyes engage the world in novel and unexpected ways.

Perhaps instead of explaining the world away, our mind allows questions to burble to the top of consciousness:

“Where did it come from?”  “What does it do?”  “Why is it here?” “What does it mean?”

“What is it, Anyway?”

These are some of the best questions, the important questions, but …

 

Simply observe, without naming, and allow the world to open up in beautiful, and unexpected ways.

 

All Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014

“Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there,

not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something,

not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone,

will you be on the right road to the Gate.”

―Huang Po

Woody Flowers? (Forest Garden)

First Signs of Spring (Forest Garden)