If you do not get it from yourself
Where will you go for it? 

~  'Zenrin Kushu'

I looked in temples, churches and mosques.

But I found the Divine within my heart.

~ Rumi

Don’t seek fame or fortune,

Glory or prosperity.

Just pass this life as is,

According to circumstances.

When the breath is gone,

 Who is in charge?

After the death of the body,

There is only an empty name.

 When your clothes are worn,

Repair them over and over;

When you have no food,

Work to provide.

How long can a phantom-like Body last? 

Would you increase your ignorance 

For the sake of its idle concerns?

~ Tung-shan

Cherry blossoms

fall at the peak of their beauty

in this world to

teach our hearts

to be free of attachment.

~ Rengetsu

You stand inside me
naked infinite love,
the dawn bell rips
my dreaming heart.

~ Ikkyu

I've burnt all the holy pages 
I used to carry

but poems flare in my heart.

~ Ikkyu

flowering plum and moon | ohara koson

How simple and frugal a thing is happiness:

 a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, 

a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea.... 

All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple, frugal heart.

~ Nikos Kazantsakis

The wind is still, but blossoms fall, 

Birds sing in the quiet of the mountain. 

This is Kannon’s wondrous wisdom: 

Ah!

~ Ryokan

I want so much that is not here and 

do not know where to go. 

~ Charles Bukowski

Writing something
to leave behind
is yet another kind of dream.
When I awake I know that,
there will be no one to read it.

~ Ikkyu

Tenhi

fi: Sarastuskävijä

Aamuinen pystyvä viha
Aamuinen päivä ei loista
Kun sä meet petiin
Ylhäältä ohut sade
Syvempi kuin leveä
Alastonta tuo
Sarastus aamu ja koitto
Yltäpäältä sateessa
Sä meet petiin

****

en: Frail

Fury at dawn

Ride the early light

She slithers undress

Frail rain above

Deeper than wide

Stripped bare

Cathedral-sunrise

Soaked in rain

She slips undress

Suzanne Tylander © 2012

A diver has a very personal moment of dejection at the bottom of the pool during the 2012 CCCA Swimming and Diving State Championships on April 26, 2012 in Monterey Park, CA.

This particular photo represents an emotional moment rarely caught underwater. This particular diver was expected to win the entire event. The diver knew as soon as he hit the water his form was flawed and that he might have just lost it all. I was fortunate enough to witness this moment as it was unfolding underwater. I captured the sequence of emotion just a split second after he hit the water and began to sink to the bottom with a sense of defeat written in his body language. This was the image I chose from the series. I have felt this emotion and disappointment before as many athletes do. My chance to capture it underwater was rare but beautiful. It is a moment no competitive athlete wants to relive but something important that many of us can relate to. It is raw and human and real.

 (Photo and story by Suzanne Tylander).  

swimming in the rain | camila massu

Respond to every call that excites your spirit. 

~ Rumi

My hut lies in the middle of a dense forest.

Every year the green ivy grows longer.

No news of the affairs of men,

Only the occasional song of a woodcutter.

The sun shines and I mend my robe.

When the moon comes out I read Buddhist poems.

I have nothing to report my friends <on fb>...

If you want to find the meaning, 
stop chasing after so many things!

~ Ryokan

Bringing joy to one heart with love 

is better than 

one thousand repetitive prayer reciting's. 

 ~ Sufi proverb

Lovely days don't come to you,
you should walk to them! ~ Rumi

All that we are is the result of 
what we have thought. 

If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought,
pain follows him. 

If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, 
happiness follows him, 

like a shadow that never leaves him.

~ Buddha

Travel brings power and love back into your life.

~ Rumi

delusion | evgenij soloviev

All things share the same breath:
the beast, the tree, the human, the air.

~ Chief Seattle

You have learnt so much

And read a thousand books.

Have you ever read your Self?

You have gone to mosque and temple.

Have you ever visited your soul?

You are busy fighting Satan.

Have you ever fought your ill intentions?

You have reached into the skies,

But you have yet to reach

what's in your heart.

~ Bulleh Shah

- “She’s compassionate.” 

- “Tell me about a time she was compassionate.”

He took a couple minutes, then said, haltingly: 

- “It’s not about a time. She’s compassionate toward who I am. 

Every time.”

When they attack you

and you notice that you love them with all your heart,

your work is done.

~ Byron Katie

Don't grieve.

Anything you lose comes round in another form. 

~ Rumi

Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. 

Help someone’s soul heal. 

Walk out of your house 
like a shepherd.

~ Rumi

Whatever people do, whether they remain in the world as artisans, merchants, 

or officers of the government, 

let them put their whole heart into the task; 

let them be diligent and energetic.

And if, like the lotus flower, 

which grows out of muddy water but remains untouched by the mud, 

they engage in life without cherishing envy or hatred; 

if they live in the world not a life of self but a life of truth, 

then surely joy, peace, and bliss will dwell in their minds.

~ Buddhacarita

greatest thing is love