Andrew Furst's Blog, page 144
February 22, 2015
One Minute Meditation – Twenty Mile Stream
One Minute Meditations is an ongoing series of short videos, poems, and commentary intended as a meditation. Offered as an opportunity to step back from your cyber routine and settle into a more natural rhythm, if only for a minute.
(Note: This meditation was originally posted two years ago)
This video of Twenty Mile Stream was taken in Cavendish Vermont on the property of some good friends who are building a tiny house. We’ve spent a few weekends helping them with the framing and siding. The time there also afforded us the opportunity to enjoy the fall foliage in it’s peak.
Fall is the season of maturity. For those of you close to me, you know that my family has been in a period of deep introspection and healing. This time in Vermont was important for us to be together in a way that allowed us to move on from a period of crisis towards a sense of normalcy.
Twenty miles is a great metaphor for this time of my life. It recalls the duration of a marathon. This fall we’ve embarked on a long trek that will require all of us to grow up a little faster then perhaps we’d like.
Finding myself on Twenty Mile stream during the equinox may be a message from the universe. We are preparing for events no less disruptive than the planet sharply tilting on it’s axis.
ChangeBearing witness to the shifts in nature helps us to instinctively adjust. We adapt better by being out in nature. Breathing in the scent of decay, feeling the change in temperature on our skin, and the exposing ourselves to the receding daylight give us conscious and instinctive cues to adapt to the season.
Sitting at a keyboard, basking in fluorescent light divorces us from nature. If we’re immersed in the din of these unnatural urban fluctuations, we’re separated from the natural dance of the seasons. It separates us from reality and draws us deeper into our own heads where the worries, regrets and delusions live.
For me this equinox is a powerful one, requiring that I be awake and mindful. It has demanded a great deal of me , and I’ve needed to seek comfort and assistance from all quarters. The touchstone that gives me the most peace, wherewithal, and energy is being in the present moment. Those moments aren’t always beautiful, but being beside Twenty Mile Stream was instructive. Pausing by a cool stream and being available to the experience offered a gateway to a deep well of peace, it prepared me to seek that peace in more difficult moments.
Twenty Mile StreamToo cold to step in
As Heraclitus echos
in my heavy mind
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Sunday Morning Coming Down – There’s So Much Energy in Us
Sunday Morning Coming Down is an ongoing music video series. The songs fit my definition of music for a lazy couch bound Sunday morning.
This song struck me from the very first listen, as I hope it will you too. It is a story of searching for the divine and discovering it was here amongst us the whole time. This is the human story. One that we recognize immediately when we hear it. From the Homer’s Odyssey to A Prayer for Owen Meany, they are the stories of finding God in us.
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There’s So Much Energy in Us
A million years it’s been, since the search began.
Still can’t find it. Still can’t find it.
The fuel is nearly spent. Check the maps again.
Can’t let go of it. Can’t let go of it.
Now the crew is cold and drunk on chemicals.
Can’t believe in it. Can’t believe in it.
And I heard the captain say, I heard the captain say,
“We’ re so close to it, so very close to it.
We still have energy in us.”
We feel our hearts break as the engines fade.
Still need to find it. Still need to find it.
So we took the written words of our philosophers,
and built a fire from it. Let’s get those engines lit.
We took the church’s veil and built a mighty sail.
to carry forth this ship. but we’re still losing it.
And I heard the captain say, I heard the captain say,
“We’ re so close to it, so very close to it.
We still have energy in us.”
The mission’s over now, and my breath is running out.
Can’t let go of it, can’t let go of it.
I didn’t mean what I said, I didn’t mean what I said.
I love you more than this. I love you more than this.
Then lights they fill the air, or were they always there?
I finally see it. I finally see it.
And I heard the captain say, I heard the captain say,
“You’re always close to it, so very close to it.”
There’s so much energy in us.
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February 21, 2015
After/Passage – A Two Dimensional Poem
This is my second go a something I call a two dimensional poem. The first poem After, is deconstructed into the second, Passage. I played with the format and delivery a little.
You’ll have to let me know what you think.
Oh, I recommend viewing this in full screen mode. After you click play, hover over the bottom left corner of the video and click this icon 
“Divider” by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Attribution License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://chriszabriskie.com
What will carry my last breath
past the door of this life?
What intention will adapt the shade
and depth of its expiration.
This door, some passage implied.
Coming and going
is what we’ve always enjoyed.
Desire must see the other side,
must guide our adamantine trust
in permanence.
All we are left with is a choice.
Believe,
or not.
We have little to offer each other
in carrying it out.
Passage
We must guide our carrying out of desire.
In permanence, believe, or not.
Adapt.
The other side is what we’ve always left.
All we are is adamantine trust.
Coming and going, what intention will this door carry?
The shade and depth of this – my – life?
Some door, some passage implied.
What will we see, past the last breath, after its enjoyed expiration?
We offer, in each other, a choice.
It must always have little desire to it
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Relics – I’ll Show You A Miracle
The Relics series are throwback articles from previous years. They seem timeless enough to be relevant today.
Try as you will, you cannot annihilate that eternal relic of the human heart, love. - Victor Hugo
What Do You Do With A Miracle?The miracle is not walking on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
As the story is told, at birth the Buddha rose to his feet, took seven steps and uttered the words, “I alone am the World-Honored One.”
What do you do with a story like that? It’s a miracle story. My reaction to miracle stories is, shall we say, rich and complex. I teeter between a strong aversion to literalism and an acknowledgement that the language of transcendence requires metaphor.
For that reason I won’t take miracles head on. I want to tilt things a little and look at them from a different angle.
L’Chaim (To Life)In Pure Land Buddhism, Buddha Amitabha symbolizes the all-pervading light and life of the universe. Think of light and life as the magic of being alive. Have you ever wondered, what is it that animates this pile of flesh and bones? What is it that imbues us with spirit and awareness?
In the martial art aikido, there is a classic technique that teachers use to introduce the idea of ki. I encourage you to grab a friend and try this at home.
Place your wrist on their shoulder with your thumb pointed up. Ask your friend to bend your arm at the elbow. With all of your strength resist their effort. You’ll find that every time, your arm will eventually tire or you are just not strong enough to resist.
Now do it a second time. Instead of using your muscles to resist, relax your arm. Direct your awareness in such a way that you are projecting your intention through your arm, out through your fingertips far out to the horizon. You’ll find that you can easily maintain the position of your arm. Such is the power of ki, of life.
In the Western creation stories, God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). In China this life force is called qi, in India it is prana. These are all ways we talk about the miracle and mystery of life.
Life is a mystery. And yet it is as obvious as the nose on our face. Taken away, there is nothing left. It’s our foundation and a great jewel. Life is the miracle of being awake.
Om Mani Padme HumThe Mantra of Compassion is probably one of the most familiar mantras in Buddhism. Its meaning is layered and nuanced. One meaning that is particularly close to my heart is a symbolic interpretation.
In this case om can be translated as wholeness or oneness. Mani means jewel and padme means lotus. Hum is often taken as a tantric syllable representing union.
Wholeness is the union of the jewel and the lotus.
A little mysterious, but when we understand the meaning behind the symbols we get a sense of the miracle that Thich Nhat Hanh is talking about.
The present moment is a theater of ever-changing circumstances. Like the blooming lotus flower, the universe is unfolding before us in the present moment. The jewel of awareness reflects the beauty of the ever blossoming lotus flower. Life is witness to the present moment. They complement each other, fulfill each other, and are whole together.
When we return to that union by settling our presence to the present moment, we are whole. We are in balance, we are healed and we are unburdened by discontentment. The Jewel in the Lotus in Union is the miracle of this present moment.
Keeping the BalanceThe practice of meditation is an exercise in returning to balance. The wholeness that we return to brings us contentment and healing.
Life is persistent and constantly regenerating. We only need to let it to do its work. The light and life of Amitabha are always healing, always calling us back to the Pure Land. The miracle is hearing the call and returning to wholeness in the present moment.
While walking on water would be a wonder to see, being in the moment to bear witness to it is the real miracle.
Get Each Week's Relics article in your email boxThe eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds, the one factor that remains constant. Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be. Secondly, the Now is the only point that can take you beyond the limited confines of the mind. It is your only point of access into the timeless and formless realm of Being.
~ Eckhart Tolle
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February 20, 2015
Modern Koans – Metta Study On A Tokyo Tour Guide
Modern Koans is an ongoing series that recognizes that good questions are often more important then their answers.
The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. ― G.K. Chesterton
My Asian Mona Lisa
No reality, no perspective.
Foreign yet familiar.
You were a smiling face in a crowd
I was going through old photos and uncovered a few from a trip I took to Tokyo many moons ago. Among them was this image of a Tokyo Tour guide. I was struck by her smile. It’s a bit brighter than the Mona Lisa, but still remarkable in its subtlety. To be honest, I have no idea where the photo was taken. I have no clue who she is. I didn’t even take her tour. Our being in the same space and time was purely coincidental.
The search for compassion is difficult, because we have little insight into the thoughts and experiences of others. The gap closes when we have a relationship with the other person. But finding common ground with strangers doesn’t always come naturally.
The Buddhist practice of loving kindness asks us to pierce that veil. We begin with ourselves and our stories. Our stories are how we imagine and judge ourselves. We tend to focus on tiny details, leaning heavily toward the good or the bad. Our self-esteem leans with our narrative. Piercing the veil requires us allow our stories to expand fully into what is and accept it all. When we accept it all, we can have compassion for ourselves.
Piercing the veil with others is harder. Our view of their stories is sparse and we tend to fill in the blanks. There may be little in common between how you see someone and how they view themselves.
Our instincts also conflict in dealing with strangers. On one side we are prone to come together with people who have familiar stories. We are very superficial in this regard. We group by things like skin color, sexual preference, and education. We naturally settle into an us and them world view. This view is reinforced by the safety it provides.
But we are also social beings, driven to reach out. Try sitting in silence with someone you don’t know. We are torn between the fear of crossing the boundary of anonymity and the urge to reach out. For me it’s difficult not to reach out to new people.
When we do choose to reach out, we search for common ground in the form of shared stories. Loving kindness practice teaches us to imagine those stories. One of the most common practice is to imagine that the other person is your mother. Visualize them as someone who has unconditionally loved you from birth and would sacrifice themselves for your well being. It is not hard to send loving kindness to such a person. The question that is always left out there is “How different is anyone we encounter from our mothers?”
This piece is a Metta practice on this smiling Tokyo tour guide. I offer some imagined stories of my Asian Mona Lisa.
May she have happiness and its causes
May she be free from unhappiness and its causes
May she dwell in equanimity, free of attraction and aversion
May she quickly find the great happiness that lies beyond all misery
May she enjoy inner and outer peace now and forever
For stories, we are sometimes at a loss
however, I offer one or two
with bowed head
and Gassho
What had your sister meant?
Maybe she was drunk,
or the tears flooded her mind,
rendering it muddled.
You reached down hard
putting your heart out.
She took the offer.
Forgotten, tomorrow may betray
or blossom.
But your love took seed.
I hope I didn’t miss it.
I need this job, but the bus is nowhere
to be seen.
No familiar faces.
An empty bench.
Is he going to be alright?
It’s too early to tell…
It was perfect. Ah.
So much beauty, so much to take in.
I will always treasure it,
and have it to let go.
There’s not enough time.
We couldn’t possibly do it.
The pressure, so few resources,
We can’t do it justice.
Can’t we find another way.
Say no this time.
Why must we always do more,
can’t we be happy with what we have.
Wait.
How could I think so little of us.
I’m so sorry.
Listen.
If they would
only
listen.
He takes advantage.
My kindness won’t always be there.
Can’t he see, how he takes it for granted.
Asking, taking, assuming.
The practice tells me to let go,
and the practice says start with me.
Resentment, is my wisest teacher.
It was time.
We expected it.
How frail human life is.
ママ
(Mommy?)
Do you have any idea who
that is?
Isn’t it weird to have all these photos.
They are our ancestors,
yet they have no names.
We have dishonored them.
Forgive us.
This doesn’t look Japanese?
It looks like something an American
child splattered on a page.
This is not art.
It speaks to you,
doesn’t it.
How was your day?
It was good.
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The post Modern Koans – Metta Study On A Tokyo Tour Guide appeared on Andrew Furst.
February 19, 2015
An Update on Thich Nhat Hanh
To all Plum Village Practice Centers,
To all Practice Centers and Sanghas World Wide,
To our Dear Beloved Friends,
As we enter the Lunar New Year, and our practice centers conclude our annual 90-day Winter Retreat, we are very happy to report that our dear Teacher continues to steadily make extraordinary progress.
Thay has now moved to a specialist stroke rehabilitation clinic, where he is receiving the best possible professional care. The team of monastic attendants work closely with doctors, nurses and professional therapists, and accompany Thay twenty-four hours a day, offering massage, acupuncture and comfort care, and helping Thay with his physical training.
Thay is steadily recovering his strength and rebuilding his muscles day by day. We have been struck by Thay’s great determination, motivation, courage and concentration as he sets his own program to train himself to learn anew how to sit upright, stand, and move his limbs.
The medical team is also helping Thay learn to swallow again, and last week Thay was able to drink his first cup of tea since November. The attendants prepared Thay’s favorite tea in his cup, and Thay even signalled to invite everyone to drink a cup of tea with him. Contemplating the tea, Thay smiled, put his hand on his heart, and looked up. All could clearly see that Thay was reminding everyone to bring our mind back to our body and to look deeply into the tea, really enjoying the tea and the presence of those around us.
During the last full moon of the lunar year, Thay enjoyed watching the moon rise from his bed, and invited the attendants to enjoy it silently with him. In the peace and joy with which he enjoyed the moon, we can see Thay’s love for the wonders of life and his generosity in teaching us to cherish these wonders at every moment.
[Read more at the Plum Village Website…]
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One Minute Meditation – Night Time On Memorial Drive
One Minute Meditations is an ongoing series of short videos, poems, and commentary intended as a meditation. Offered as an opportunity to step back from your cyber routine and settle into a more natural rhythm, if only for a minute.
This week’s one minute meditation, Night Time On Memorial Drive, was shot by my son as we drove home via Memorial Drive on a November evening. It involves the use of some visual effects. Which is unusual for me, but I liked the effect.
Settle into your body. Relax, breath, and enjoy the one minute respite from the hectic pace of the day.
Night LightsNight lights are people
behind dark glass and stories
Cool winter breezes
Cylinder Six by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Attribution License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://chriszabriskie.com
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If You Watched The One Minute Meditation, How Do You Feel? Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
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February 18, 2015
Steven Pinker On Religious Opinion
If we set aside the possible cynical implications of Steven Pinker’s quote on religious opinion, I think it uncovers an important truth about religion. It’s implied purpose in life is provide a framework to hold our view of the world. In this respect, it is the original science. For this reason, religion should be obliged to view it’s younger sibling, science, with affection, appreciation, and wonder. For in youth is found our future.
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Tiny Drops – Stark Beauty
Tiny Drops is an ongoing iPhoneographic series. The images represent moments of noticing on my part. For you, they are an offer to pause, observe, and take that noticing into your life. All photos are mine unless noted otherwise.
These works by Andrew Furst are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Click on images to view the full size slide show.
Night Icicle crop
decrepate barn filter
bars gregGet Each Week's Tiny Drops in your email boxFirst Name:
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FIVE LIMITLESS THOUGHTS
May all living beings have happiness and its causes
May all be free from unhappiness and its causes
May all dwell in equanimity, free of attraction and aversion
May all quickly find the great happiness that lies beyond all misery
May all enjoy inner and outer peace now and forever
NAMO AMITOFOThe post Tiny Drops – Stark Beauty appeared on Andrew Furst.
February 17, 2015
Say What? – A Few Words On Self
Say What? is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.
This shirt is dry clean only. Which means... it's dirty. - Mitch Hedberg
A few words on Self
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