Michael Forbus's Blog (39)

A Few Lessons in LIfe

Awakening Now

Why wait for your awakening?

The moment your eyes are open,

seize the day. Would you hold

back when the Beloved beckons?

Would you deliver your litany

of sins like a child's collection

of sea shells, prized and labeled?

"No, I can't step across the

threshold," you say, eyes

downcast. "I'm not worthy"

I'm afraid, and my motives

aren't pure. I'm not perfect,

and surely I haven't practiced

nearly… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 29, 2009 at 11:23pm — No Comments

Dedicated to a brother who is making his passage, may it be gentle. Love to Karen and family, Namaste, Miguel

Our willingness to share ourselves honestly with others opens the opportunity to create lasting relationships that enhance our lives. We often feel the need to mask our true selves and portray a perfected version of ourselves in social settings, believing that others will like us more than if we reveal our true selves. If we instead allow others to see the genuine person under the mask, we automatically begin attracting those who would resonate most deeply with us on a spiritual and emotional… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 29, 2009 at 11:15pm — No Comments

Dedicated to His Holiness, Buddha and The Love of My Life, Tashi Delek, Miguel

To study the Buddhist way is to be intimate with all things.

-Master Dogen

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Being the Stream

Meditation is not just a rest or retreat from the turmoil of the stream or the impurity of the world. It is a way of being the stream, so that one can be at home in both the white water and the eddies. Meditation may take one out of the world, but it also puts one totally into it.

- Gary Snyder, from “Just One… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 20, 2009 at 8:27pm — No Comments

Dharma for the hearts of you ascended Angels. My love is flowing to you all. Paz y Amor

Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free. True peace with oneself and with the world around us can only be achieved through the development of mental peace.

~The Dalai Lama

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Good Guys and Bad Guys

We all love the struggle between good (us) and evil (them). It is, in its own way, deeply satisfying. Think of the plots of the… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 19, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Dedicated to His Holiness, Buddha and The Love of My Life, Tashi Delek, Miguel

Loving the Enemy

If your own best friend went mad and came at you with a knife to kill you, what would you do? You would seek to disarm your friend, but then you would not proceed to beat the person, would you? You would disarm the attacker in whatever way you could—you might even have to hit the person in order to disarm him, but once you have managed to disarm him, you would not go on to hurt him. Why? Because he is close to you.

If you felt that everyone in the whole… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 19, 2009 at 2:05am — 3 Comments

Dedicated to His Holiness, Buddha and The Love of My Life, Tashi Delek, Miguel

This is a path of being, not doing. There's nothing to do. We're just discovering who we already are - by relaxing, by connecting with the waves of this moment, and by bringing the boundless love of our nature to touch just what's here.

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The eye of clarity is so called because it brings sight to everyone. It enables every single one to enter the uncreated and unconditioned reality, each in his own… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 19, 2009 at 12:02am — 2 Comments

A taste of Dharma for all you lovely ones. I hope your hearts are full. Namaste, Miguel

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.

~ Buddhist Saying

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Make Peace with Your Mind

For the spiritual power of peace to touch every person on this earth, it must radiate out from a profound peace within our own mind: across political and religious barriers, and across the barriers of ego and self-righteousness. To this end, we should seek… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 17, 2009 at 2:45am — No Comments

My Last Run with the Bulls in Spain

Ultima Tiempo en Pamplona Para Mi Mariposa

The last run in Pamplona with the bulls

T

his blue black beast you see has the wine of my heart on his mighty horns. He has made a bouquet of red roses on my white blouse that matches my red cinched belt. I am bleeding now and my death is near. I see my angel in the mist, distant as always.

Today after much Don Pedro, I drank the liquid courage to take the run. My friends and family tried to stop me saying, "Miguel, she… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 15, 2009 at 11:09pm — 1 Comment

A Little Dharma for the Weekend, bless you all dear Friends. Namaste, Miguel

A Handful of Knowledge

There aren’t that many fundamental, or root, principles of dharma. The Buddha said that his teaching is “a single handful.” A passage in the Samyutta-nikaya makes that clear. While walking through the forest, the Buddha picked up a handful of fallen leaves and asked the monks who were present to decide which was the greater amount, the leaves in his hand or all the leaves in the forest. Of course, they all said that there were more leaves in the forest, that… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 6, 2009 at 9:04pm — No Comments

The Soul Sings Truth, The Words Teach The Songs. Namaste,

"Me," "Myself," and "I"

Holding to an ordinary notion of self, or ego, is the source of all our pain and confusion. The irony is that when we look for this "self" that we're cherishing and protecting, we can't even find it.

- Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche, from "Searching for Self,”

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This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 5, 2009 at 5:42am — No Comments

My Spirit is Dancing with Your Sprit

"When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist."

-- Archbishop Helder Camara

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An Easy Connection with Life

We all know what it's like to get trapped in dark, constricting states of mind—and how useless it is, in terms of awakening, to dwell there. That is exactly what the Buddha taught: we don't need to stay stuck in greed, hatred, and… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on November 4, 2009 at 6:46am — No Comments

Heart to heart to all my dear friends here and everywhere. Namaste, Miguel

Changing Perspectives

As the Buddhist view has consistently demonstrated, it is the perspective of the sufferer that determines whether a given experience perpetuates suffering or is a vehicle for awakening. To work something through means to change one’s view; if we try instead to change the emotion, we may achieve some short-term success, but we remain bound by forces of attachment and an aversion to the very feelings from which we are struggling to be free.

- Mark… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on October 26, 2009 at 9:36pm — No Comments

Heart to heart to all my dear friends here and everywhere. Namaste, Miguel

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.

~The Buddha

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Just This Much

Full attention is both an activity of learning and the actualization of unconditional love. It is this selfless, choiceless love that heals the illusion… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on October 22, 2009 at 10:54pm — No Comments

Dharma and thoughts to you and have a merry and blessed weekend. Love heart to heart, Miguel

Our practice should be without effort, without strain,

without attempts to control or force and without trying to become 'peaceful'. If

we find that we are disturbing ourselves in any of these ways, we stop

meditating and simply rest or relax for a while. Then we resume our

meditation.

-Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche

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Looking at Suffering

In Buddhist practice, we investigate the nature of suffering.… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on October 16, 2009 at 8:28pm — 2 Comments

Morning thought

Many of us are not capable of releasing the past, of releasing the suffering of the past. We want to cling to our own suffering. But the Buddha said very clearly, do not cling to the past, the past is already gone. Do not wait for future, the future is not yet there. The wise people establish themselves in the present moment and they practice living deeply in the present moment. That is our practice. By living deeply in the present moment we can understand the past better and we can prepare for… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on August 21, 2009 at 7:46pm — No Comments

Michel and Caroline

Michel and Caroline

E

very autumn Michel would leave the farm near the Champagne region of France in order to care for the other business of his family--a family that personified the word "Enchanted."

Michel would take the liner across to India, first stopping in Ceylon to purchase precious stones to give to his various liaisons. These gifts were but chattel to him as his family, the Pinot Noir growers for the Chandon clan, world-renown for Dom Perignon, had… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on July 22, 2009 at 9:18pm — No Comments

A quote on world peace by the H.H. Dalai Lama

H. H. the Dalai Lama:

I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one's own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace.

Added by Michael Forbus on July 20, 2009 at 3:52pm — No Comments

MIGUEL AND PALOMA copyright by Michael (Miguel) Forbus

Miguel and Paloma

M

y beautiful Paloma, there was a time in my life when I was not calm. I was a vessel with a tattered sail tossed about in an ominous sea.

As a young man, I had become quite restless and when I finally was of age I went to sea. It was no place for a young boy, but the closeness to death every week helped me grow the body of a man and the mind followed. We were a rough bunch and I always tried to remain a… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on July 19, 2009 at 2:47pm — No Comments

TAPPING THE SUGAR MAPLE

Today we go tap the sugar maple

There is a chill in the air

We, bundled up and distracted

Are impervious to the cold

As we traipse through the woods

I notice that the giant rhod0dendrums

are going the way of the compost to sleep,

Another year gone

But the sap from the sugar maple

And you are making the syrup in the old kitchen

You stir and stir and… Continue

Added by Michael Forbus on July 18, 2009 at 5:57pm — 1 Comment