Tao Yuanming: Returning to Fields and Gardens

 https://poets.org/poem/returning-fields-and-gardens-i

Returning to Fields and Gardens (I)

Tao Yuanming

Translated from the Mandarin by Arthur Sze

When I was young, I did not fit in
with others, and simply loved the hills and mountains.
By mistake, I fell into the dusty net,
and before I knew it, it was thirty years!
The caged bird longs for the old forest.
The fish in the pond misses the old depths.
I cultivate land along the southern wilds,
and, keeping to simplicity, return to fields and garden.
Ten acres now surround my house;
it is thatched, and has eight, nine rooms.
Elms and willows shade the back eaves.
Peach and plum trees are lined out the front hall.
The distant village is hazy, hazy: and
slender, slender, the smoke hanging over houses.
Dogs bark in the deep lane, and a rooster
crows on top of a mulberry tree.
My house untouched by the dust of the world—
ample leisure in these bare rooms.
I was held so long inside a narrow bird-
cage, but now, at last, can return to nature.

From The Silk Dragon II: Translations of Chinese Poetry by Arthur Sze. Copyright © 2024 by Arthur Sze. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Copper Canyon Press.

Pain and the Second Arrow

 

Pain and the Second Arrow

From a Q&A session with Thich Nhat Hanh, 2011, in response to the question, "I wonder what advice you might have or what practices you might recommend for those of us who are living with physical pain or living with despair in our caring for the world?"

Here is Thay's response:

"And the Buddha said that we should not try to amplify our pain, exaggerate the situation. He used the image of someone who is hit by an arrow, and a few minutes later a second arrow comes and strikes exactly at the same spot. So after the second arrow comes, not only the pain is double, but it can be triple or ten times more painful, intense. So when we have some pain, whether it is physical or mental, we have to recognize it as it is, and we should not exaggerate. Breathing in, I know this is only a minor physical pain. I can very well make friends and peace with it. I can still smile to it. And if you recognize it as it is and do not exaggerate, and then you can make peace with it and you don't suffer much. But if you get angry, revolting against that, if you worry too much, if you imagine that you are going to die very quickly, and then the pain will be multiplied by 100 times, and that is the second arrow, we should not allow it to come. That's recommended by the Buddha. This is very important. Don't exaggerate, don't amplify the pain."

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Linda J - Practices to embody reverence for life - Still Water Sangha

 Linda J offering ideas of holding Mindfulness Training on Reverence for life: 

"Here are some of my aspirations and practices to embody reverence for life." - 

(CSL: in boldface) 

• Maintain awareness of those who are suffering around the world. Seek ways to protect life and reduce suffering for all. Support efforts to bring aid and end wars. 
• consider the mission of United Nations
• 
  
• Engage with clerks, strangers, and neighbors in ways that communicate respect and connection.
• Elderly in transition, phone calls, catching up
• 
  
• Practice metta meditation for all people, all creation.
• 
  
• Make space in my life and my mind for awe. Pause through the day to really see and really feel the amazing creations of Mother Earth. Bow, with my whole heart, in reverence. 
• murmurations
• 
  
• Start anew each morning, noticing when I am taking people or creation for granted. Wake up (again and again) to the wonder of being alive.
• the 'wow' factor every morning
• 
  
• Have reverence for my own body and consciousness.
• yoga, somatics, breathwork
• 
  

from email sent by Still Water Sangha, July 7, 2026

Affect the quality of the day: the highest art

https://insig.ht/yQ6ZhJAgz4b

Basho ~ 'Gazing at Morning Glories'

 

I am one

who eats breakfast 

gazing at morning glories

—Basho

Happiness in a hairy coconut

 

https://www.katemitcheom.com/coconut/

Mindfulness blog by Kate mitcheom

 

https://www.katemitcheom.com/allow-by-danna-faulds/

'Allow' by Donna Faulds

ALLOW

There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt, containing a tornado.
Dam a stream and it will create a new channel.
Resist, and the tide will sweep you off your feet.

Allow, and grace will carry you to higher ground.
The only safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild and the weak –
fear, fantasies, failures, and success.

When loss rips off the doors of the heart
or sadness veils your vision with despair,
practice becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your known way of being,
the whole world is revealed to your new eyes.

Wise words from Danna Faulds, ones that I don’t find easy to remember in the moments I need it most. The attempt to control in difficult moments seems to be a core coping strategy of mine, a habitual pattern which always appears to offer that much hoped for outcome… and yet there is a deep recognition that it just won’t work – the thunderbolt and tornado, or even the stream finding new channels are good external examples of that.

So what is there to do when in a tight spot, wanting to control, but to breathe and allow, as the poem suggests…

There’s a practice that was developed by Chris Germer and Kristin Neff (as far as I know!) which places two steps before the allowing, which I find very helpful. Before I get to the allowing stage, there usually is the need for softening, dropping some of my resistance to let the guest that’s knocking on Rumi’s guesthouse door in. Softening to own up to my own feelings, and the reality of anyone else involved in the situation (which actually requires an allowing of itself: the allowing of the reaction to the guest). And then comes the need for soothing, for caring for what’s there with all the kindness I can possibly muster  (you could say, the step of allowing the soothing and warmth to flow to where it hurts). Only after this thorough ‘attending to’ does allowing in its fullness become possible, and often there seems to be layers of allowing that reveal themselves over time… which reveals a new perspective, ‘new eyes’ to look with.

And repeat!

Photo by Michael D on Unsplash

August 25, 2019

Tags: acceptanceallowingfearletting go

Author: Kristine Mackenzie-Janson

Kristine has been practising Tibetan Buddhism since 2000, and spent four years working and practising meditation on Holy Isle, Scotland. She has trained extensively with Rob Nairn and has been teaching mindfulness and compassion as a lead tutor for the Mindfulness Association since its early days. She offers eight week courses and drop-in sessions near her home in Edinburgh and mindfulness supervision both in person and by phone. Kristine is also a qualified art therapist, having earned her BA (Hons) degree in 2004 at the Hogeschool Leiden in Holland.