Reflections on a Burnt Match

~ Trudy Johnston

What if your life

was as brief as a match struck,

fierce and bright, maybe helping others

to shine,

then gone.

What if your life was as brief as the

spume rising from a crashing wave,

as it makes

its final

flourish.

What if your life

was as momentary

as the shifting shadows

on the painting

behind the sofa.

Would it matter?

Would it matter?

Did the match, the wave, the shadow

matter?

They did, in their thereness.

The way the air or the light

around them shifted.

Whole worlds tilting because of this moment

because of each moment.

The world is made of myriad seen and

unseen moments.

The one second the cymbal

strikes in the orchestra,

everything turning

around everything else.

Bringing the Light (for Judy Parfett)

~ Jo Clarke

Slowly the courage grew until,

Like the universe, without holding back,

The `no’ melted to a ‘yes’, and you shone.

No shying away from this pain filled life,

With its tsunami of catastrophe.

Difficult births and traumatic deaths,

Relationships sting and wars take us to our knees.

Choosing to embrace all of it, always, without flinching

And with a truthfulness, that says it how it is.

Your bravery makes our eyes smart.

Your honesty an antidote to betrayal and `deep fake`.

In offering to restore joy you invited us back to zazen,

To sit with all of it, all of life.

With your wholehearted embrace of life

And your courageous truth telling

You light the spaces for us, sparkling and vibrant.

We have been gifted your openness and clarity

And we come back, sit with you,

Upright with possibility.

Sitting alongside your unrelenting steadfastness,

Your joyful practice radiates warmth,

As the spotlight spreads to illuminate all.

Thank you for reminding us, we sit for

All beings everywhere, and for life as it is.

And YOU never shrink from life as it is.

View From a Zendo - Post Retreat

~ Ryan Van Wyk

The final bell has been rung

The final words have been chanted

The final bows have been exchanged

The retreat supplies returned to their places

The assembly has departed

I am all that remains

A great empty space

Only moments ago bursting with life

Activity infused with wakeful energy

Steady abiding through days of stillness

The silence settling in the emptiness feels different

Perhaps the silence of presence

Is of a different quality than the silence of absence

A cry begins to rise within

Traveling from the heart to mouth

Please return to this place

Find your way back to these seats

Persist in this practice

Continue awakening together

00:18:14 - Laurie Winnette - Offers a Dharma Activity -

1 - What is your current level of commitment at Appamada? -

2 - Do you have difficulty balancing your home life and spiritual life - work/life/other activities? If the answer is yes, what does it look like and how does it feel? 3- Think about the activities at Appamada that you are involved with, and ask yourself the question, are they nourishing to you? If so, How? And if it isn’t, consider why it isn’t? -

4 - Are there activities or groups that you are interested in? -

5 - And if so, Do you need information about what they are.

00:24:27 - Reflections

Jukai Reflections

Ryan Van Wyk

What is this vow that invites us to somehow be both more and less at the same time?

Not exactly restrictive or prohibitive and yet something is relinquished.

There is a paradox here; in committing to embody these qualities that have been passed on and

lived out by generations of ancestors, we are also committing to be more truly ourselves.

Perhaps this vow is as simple as wholeheartedly embodying the unique expression of love that

we are, and to again and again and again releasing all the habits, conditions, lessons, beliefs,

reactions, and patterned behaviors that obscure that expression.

This vow is fulfilled in the moment by moment shining of the natural loving light that is actually who we are. When we are ourselves, Zen is Zen.

So my friends, let us support each other in taking up the vow to again and again return to

meeting the world, each other, and ourselves from a place of uprightness, to waking up to what

we do, and to letting the flower of our life force bloom.

2024-10-14 | Depth In Practice | Book of Serenity-Case 29 Fengxue's Iron Ox | Thomas Cleary by Appamada

00:00:26 - Practicing with the Brahmavihara's

00:40:59 - Reflections

2024-10-8 I Inquiry I To the Lighthouse I Josh Gifford by Appamada

2024-10-07 | Depth In Practice | Book of Serenity-Case 28 The Three Embarassments | Thomas Cleary by Appamada

00:00:26 - Dharma Talk

00:11:19 - Exert from 'Shift into Freedom' - (10 minutes)

00:22:12 - 'Shift' Exercise Guided by Loch Kelly - ( 7 minutes)

00:29:14 - Reflections

Book Reference

Sailing Home

~ Norman Fischer

https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Home-Odyssey-Navigate-Pitfalls/dp/1556439962

00:00:20 - Dharma Talk 'The End of Suffering'

00:26:33 - Reflections