I read today at ‘Buddha’ goes to the hospital: A convergence of science, history and art CAT scan of a a 17th century Korean statue of Buddha reveals sacred texts hidden in the stomach and head. The retrievable text was translated to be The Lotus Sutra. “Wiki: The ultimate teaching of the sutra is implied that “full Buddhahood” is only arrived at by exposure to the truths expressed implicitly in the Lotus Sutra via its many parables. Here are seven parables from the Lotus Sutra:
Author Archives: Andrea
The Way Into The Vortex
Abraham-Hicks says, “The fastest way to get somewhere other than where you are is to make peace with where you are. What are the positive aspects about where you are right now? Stop making excuses. Stop telling the old story Stop giving any conversation to anything not in the vortex. Just get in there. No more excuses, no more conversation about what you see happening that you don’t want. Tell the story that brings you the greater relief, Get hooked on alignment with Source energy. Complaining is out of the vortex, whether your complaint is valid or not. Think the better feeling thought. That’s the way into the vortex.”
Don’t tell anyone else the story of what all has been going wrong, even if it’s a good, juicy story. Telling the story would just make you vibe in a place you don’t want to vibe at and it would keep you from moving on to other good stuff. Then don’t beat yourself up for it. We all want to tell the juicy story; we all want to tell our side. We don’t think we will be held back too long by just telling the story one more time. But we can nip it in the bud if we want. Stop telling the old story and start telling the story of everything there is to appreciate in the life you have right now.
The world is not in the hands of madmen, the world is in the hands of God
Cultivate a perspective that sees beyond the worries, ambitions, and ordinary issues of your life. This is not easy to do, but give up complaining. Give up being a pessimist. Give up thinking life owes you anything. Give up being lazy and wishing things were easier all the time. In short, give up wishing your life were other than the way it is and do something with the life you have. Reaching for your sacred other requires that you love or appreciate at least part of your life, that you are striving to make the most of your life, and that you recognize that life is a gift. The sacred other is not difficult to find. But your own worthiness and appreciation of your life may be difficult for you to find—and that’s the raw truth. Prayer draws you into the energy field of the sacred and protects your soul, your sacred other. Hope is the Face of Grace, and it reminds us that ultimately the world is not in the hands of greedy politicians or terrorists or corporate moguls or fundamentalists praying for Armageddon. The world is in the hands of God.
I don’t write about luck and miracles to brag, but to let you know it’s possible for you, too
A friend responded to I Get To Practice What I Preach saying I am always bragging about my good luck. I don’t write about my experiences to brag, but to let you know it’s possible for you, too. I write down my train of thought since it is that train of thought that keeps me in the flow and keeps good things coming my way. I’m no one special, but I know how special and powerful I can be when I can stay conscious of what I’m doing and hopeful about where I’m heading. In fact, when I can do that, then luck is a no brainer.
Is it Real? Red Flags and Being Played
In transferring files from old diskettes to cd, I found a letter from 1995. A friend was concerned that I’d married someone I barely knew, who was now incarcerated. Being a 12th house Aries, I figured I was fulfilling my dharma. He was a law office client, we were dating, a DUI conviction sent him back to Texas as it violated an old lifetime parole condition not to drink alcohol. We wrote daily letters the four years he was gone and looked forward to our real life together. When I mentioned to a friend I was excited about Lee’s release, they said all they could see were red flags. Continue reading
I rerouted the squirrels’ main highway
I love Springtime and all the new buds forming on everything. I’ve been out in the west woods cutting a path through the palmettos to the newest oak, maybe 18 feet tall. I’ve trimmed the lower branches of the oak and hauled branches and fronds to the east garden to be woven into the privacy wall. Now onto the grapevine portion of the project. I just re-routed about 5 miles of grapevine and snipped the old vines; I also moved some bamboo around so the squirrels can jump from tree to tree. When a dead branch came down, it took one of their major highways out. I added a length of bamboo for them. Izzy had taken to lying beneath the route, waiting for one of them to fall into his mouth. Sorry big kitty.
There is no joy in things that do not exist
In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend an imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart. As soon as you compare that shadow with the shadows of other people, you lose all joy, because you have begun to trade in unrealities, and there is no joy in things that do not exist. Thomas Merton
Domino’s Prayer of Gratitude Upon Incarceration
Lord, I’m thankful for this time.
To search the corners of my mind.
To clear away the thoughts that rust,
And face the fears I know I must.
To see at length what I believe,
Words that form or preconceive .
Tools that taught the youth to see,
That hold us back from future dreams.
And so I sit and rearrange,
The puzzle pieces in my brain.
When I think I’ve reached the end,
You flood the room with Light again.
(Domino wrote this.)
http://www.mindfulnet.org/Doing_your_time_with_peace_of_mind.pdf
I get to practice what I preach and make a decision as if the $$ did not matter
Last week I got to practice what I preach: make a choice of action as if the money didn’t matter. I woke up wanting to work in the east garden even though I was at deadline with layout on the April Horizons Magazine. I opened email and a fave advertiser decided to skip advertising for the summer and renew in the fall. Hers was a big dollar renewal as she pays in advance to get the uber best price. I’d had another fave suspend advertising the month before, as well. But I didn’t let it bother me. Initially my thoughts were to either (1) make a bunch of calls and try to sell the pages or (2) go work out in the garden. If the right choice is to always do what feels best, what you would do if the money did not matter, then my choice would be to work in the garden. I knew that if I worked in the garden, my mind and thoughts would go to that happy place, and that is when the magic happens. When my mind is in a happy place. Continue reading
Despite inflation, you have the ability to attract what you need
Despite inflation and the economy, you can be guided and inspired to ever increasing resources so that rising prices needn’t freak you out. All you have to do is know that it’s possible and look for evidence of it. All you have to do is stop listening to what the news says is the jobless rate or the homeless rate or their theories of why anything is happening. All you have to do is know that we attract what we expect and believe, and we know what we believe by what we have appearing in front of us on a daily basis. If we begin to believe that something out there greater than us knows what they’re doing and wants us to have what we want for ourselves, then we begin to see evidence of it every day. If we’re on the phone or Facebook every day with friends talking about how everyone’s out of work and can’t pay their bills, we have to recognize that’s not true for everyone. If everyone around YOU is unemployed and has no hope for the future, and YOU hear about it every day, remember that YOU are only there because right now YOU are vibrating in harmony with them. It could be that you discuss it with them every day. It could be you listen to news reports about it. it could be you read Facebook posts about it. It’s not easy to hold a hopeful thought if everyone around you is saying it’s hopeless and getting worse. But if you are to pull yourself out of this situation, you must begin to spend less time in discussion about what’s wrong. YOU are only in that place because YOU are vibrating right there due to your choice of focus. If there was only one thought you ever changed in your life, a helpful one would be, “My life is getting better. Good things are on the way. Miracles happen all the time.” Then look for evidence of it, everywhere. A belief is just a thought you keep on thinking. Believe that it’s in YOU to change what you attract. Then spend a little more time away from technology and watch the magic unfold.