I listen
to the sound of leaves
rustling in the wind,
and gaze
as they
seamlessly
release
their arboreal existence—
dancing into dream,
morphing into memory,
offering
the whole of themselves
back to the receiving,
generative,
Ground.

Gratitude

Reverence

Acceptance

Compassion

Equanimity

A koan for now:
Dizang asked Fayan, “Where are you going from here?”
Fayan said, “I’m on pilgrimage.”
“What sort of thing is pilgrimage?”
“I don’t know.”
“Not knowing is most intimate.”

a super flower
blood moon eclipse,
an opening
a letting go
a coming home to presence

According to an ancient Jewish mystical legend the world will continue to exist as long as there are a minimum of thirty-six people who recognize the Divine Presence (Shekinah) in all things, and respond unconditionally with compassion to the suffering of others. They are called Lamed Vavs because the numerology for the Hebrew letters Lamed and Vav equals 36.

These Lamed Vavs are wellsprings of lovingkindness, pouring goodness and compassion upon the world. It is said that if at any time there are fewer than thirty-six such people, the world would implode under the weight of human greed, ignorance, selfishness, and anger.

The intriguing twist is that nobody knows who they are. They themselves don't even know. They are called "hidden saints"—hidden to themselves and to others. Some say they need not be the same thirty-six people at all times. You, me, any one of us, at any moment, might be one of these thirty-six upon whom the world depends. And so it calls us to act as though we are.

I bow to the ground in gratitude for the life and work of the monumental spiritual leader and paragon of peace Thich Nhat Hahn, whose bodily form passed at the age of 95.

His words, his actions, his earth-walking, gentle, fearless, poetic presence, have been extraordinary teachers to me and countless others. He transformed philosophy into poetry, complexity into profundity.

Many years ago, when first reading Being Peace, I came across this indelible sentence: "Interbeing: If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper."

He breathed with the world.