My dear friends,
Please take time out to watch this wonderful Ted Talk by Frans Lanting, his wonderful pictures and story will take you through the creation of earth and the importance of us all coming together as one for its protection and future life for our families.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this wonderful video.
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
Yesterday I posted a Question, ‘Describe Your Life In One Word’,
Here are some of the replies I received so far.
Pain
Surf, as in the waves, ripples and Tsunamis of the Ocean
Happy
Blessed
Growth
Truth
Understanding
Joyous
Be
Love
Anticipation
Creative
Thankful
Wonderful
Sad
Complicated
And one friends saying ‘He’s looking for the word’ 🙂
Our lives are filled with daily encounters which provide us with different emotional and physological experiences and feelings they can include, trials, tribulation, times of great joy, sadness, pain. We experience happiness, times filled with great feelings of love, tearful times both happy and sad, times in which we experience great physical and mental pain, each experience is given to us for a reason so that we can learn from the good and the bad things that come into our lives, it is our challenge to take these experiences and feelings on board and learn from them becasue each day will bring us something new and hopefully rewarding.
Remember the following:-
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
What would your word be?
Please drop me a comment with your one word that describes your life
My word is Joyous
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
The Fragrance Of Life
Walk outside on a summer’s day
Sit yourself down and relax
Feel the warmth of the sun on your face
The gentle breeze in the air
Close your eyes and breathe deep breaths
In through your nose, out through your nose
Concentrate you attention and awareness of your breath
In, Out…In, Out
Notice the fragrances of life in your breath
The sweetness of nectar in the air
Freshly mown grass, bringing new life
The sap on the trees from the lungs of our world
The musky, fruity scent of roses in bloom
Mint, Rosemary, Thyme and Lavender too
Evoke your senses and develop your skills
Concentrate your awareness
Breathe deeply, In, Out….In, Out
The scent evokes and awakens your taste
Maybe the taste of tea from a tea rose
The sweetness of pear, apples or fig
The citrus of oranges or lemon
Life and your senses are a wonderful thing and in your control
Invoke your senses
Enjoy nature, enjoy life
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
“Connection with gardens, even small ones, even potted plants, can become windows to the inner life. The simple act of stopping and looking at the beauty around us can be prayer.”
– Patricia R. Barrett, The Sacred Garden
“The first act of awe, when man was struck with the beauty or wonder of Nature, was the first spiritual experience.”
– Henryk Skolimowski
“Even before I could speak, I remember crawling through blueberry patches in the wild meadows on our hillsides. I quickly discovered Nature was filled with Spirit; I never saw any separation between Spirit and Nature. Much later I discovered our culture taught there was supposed to be some kind of separation – that God, Spirit and Nature were supposed to be divided and different. However, at my early age it seemed absolutely obvious that the church of the Earth was the greatest church of all; that the temple of the forest was the supreme temple. When I went to the sanctuary of the mountain, I found Earth’s natural altar – Great Spirit’s real shrine. Years later I discovered that this path of going into Nature, bonding deeply with it, and seeing Spirit within Nature – God, Goddess, and Great Spirit – was humanity’s most ancient, most primordial path of spiritual cultivation and realization.”
– John P. Milton, Sky Above, Earth Below
“In all things of nature there is something marvellous.”
– Aristotle
“In the assemblies of the enlightened ones there have been many cases of mastering the Way bringing forth the heart of plants and trees; this is what awakening the mind for enlightenment is like. The fifth patriarch of Zen was once a pine-planting wayfarer; Rinzai worked on planting cedars and pines on Mount Obaku. … Working with plants, trees, fences and walls, if they practice sincerely they will attain enlightenment.”
– Dogen Zenji, Japanese Zen Buddhist Grand Master , Awakening the Unsurpassed Mind, #31
Scent is the most potent and bewitching substance in the
gardener’s repertory and yet it is the most neglected and
least understood. The faintest waft is sometimes enough
to induce feelings of hunger or anticipation, or to transport
you back through time and space to a long-forgotten moment
in your childhood. It can overwhelm you in an instant or simply
tease you, creeping into your consciousness slowly and
evaporating almost the moment it is detected. Each fragrance,
whether sweet or spicy, light or heavy, comes upon you
in its own way and evokes its own emotional response.
– Stephen Lacey, Scent in Your Garden, 1991
To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers
is a delectable form of defeat.
– Beverly Nichols
I go to nature to be soothed and healed,
and to have my senses put in order.
– John Burroughs
My lilac trees are old and tall;
I cannot reach their bloom at all.
They send their perfume over trees
And roof and streets, to find the bees.
– Lousie Driscoll, 1875 – 1957, My Garden Is a Pleasant Place
Perfumes are the feelings of flowers.
– Heinrich Heine
Oneness, When you look into another’s eyes and all you see is yourself!
The realisation that we are all one in the same, we are all created from source, we are all part of the 5 master elements Pancha Mahabhuta (Sanskrit)meaning Pancha (5) Maha (Master) and Bhuta (Element) = Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth, these 5 principle elements of intelligence underlie all of creation, they make up everything within our bodies and everything outside our bodies.
Once we understand these 5 elements we can start to feel the presence of others and notice the connections between all beings, the feeling of ‘Oneness’ is a wonderful thing, it opens our eyes to the world and allows our hearts to connect with others.
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
Wise words indeed from H.H The Dalai Lama
Today is the only day for you to be concerned with, because today is the only day you can act, stop thinking and worrying about yesterday and tomorrow, concentrate all your effort on today, live your life to the full, love everyone and everything that comes into your life today, give from your heart and do all you can for yourself, for humanity, for mother earth.
Today is your day 🙂
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
Take a moment to watch and listen to this short video…The reality of your life is now!
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
When you love what you already have in your life, you realise you actually have all that you need!
Most of us go out and buy for the sake of buying, for that tiny rush of excitement and happiness when we see something nice and just have to have it whatever the cost! We often forge on with our lives looking for more, more clothes, more jewelry, a new hairdo or makeover, more success, more happiness, a bigger and better job, a bigger house, new car, another holiday, a slimmer self etc.
Sometimes when I just sit here and meditate I look at the all the things I have around me and realise that I do have enough, I don’t need anything else in my life, I’m happy, I have a loving wife, beautiful children, good health, a good job, a roof over my head, enough clothes to last me forever, food on my table, my spiritual awareness and happiness! So what more could I want?
I guess I could say world peace, the end of poverty and starvation, a clean environment, the end of disease, education for all, equal rights for all, happiness amongst all races and religions etc, but One day at a time, One day at a time 🙂
I went to my local Buddhist temple today and sat in quite contemplation and meditated for an hour on my own gratitude and I feel so happy now 🙂
May you all be blessed with a day like mine 🙂 Happiness, peace and love to you all.
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
We can all Help!
How About You?
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
War for what?
What purpose does it serve?
War spurns hatred between neighbors, brothers and friends
War takes away our sons and our daughters
Never to be returned to see another day
War for what?
What purpose does it serve?
War stimulates greed in the few and stupidity in the many
The need to control, to steal, to conquer to hate
Boarders crossed, cities crushed and rape and pillage abound
War for what?
What purpose does it serve?
War crushes all in its path, no sacred towers or history remains
War blinds the innocent and leaves children alone, no family no future, who cares?
Graves are fed by its lust for death and tombstones lie abandoned and alone
War for what?
Why do we need you?
War has no place in our world it’s archaic in its nature, outdated and pointless
We follow the drums of power, blinded and brainwashed by their messages of hatred and fear
To follow like sheep, to fight their so-called fight, for freedom, for country, for what?
To win or to loose, for what?
No end is in sight, war after war fuels another and on we go like lemmings to the cliff
As our friends fall and our loved ones are lost, for what?
For the power and the greed of the few who take what they want and leave us in tears
Alone, to grieve, to pick up the pieces, to wait for their call to do their dirty work again
War…. It must End…Today!
As I sit here writing I take a moment in quiet contemplation to pray for all the valiant men and women who gave their lives in wars around the world since the dawn of time and in this year the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I in 1914 I pray for the souls of the lost,
‘Lest We Forget’
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
I lit an incense stick this morning
In memory of loved ones lost
To my higher self
To God, The Buddha and the Angels
Kuan Yin, Lao Tzu and Confucius
Ascended Masters and Family members
Were all present in my prayers
As I sat in quiet contemplation, at peace with myself
Giving silent thanks for all I have in my life
To my family, my friends and my colleagues
My love, my compassion and my gratefulness
Unconditional thanks and love for all
The sweet heady smell of incense wafts through my room
As I sit and give praise to all
To Mother Earth, The Environment and Humanity
And May the God’s give us Peace on Earth.
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
Ram Dass
How can we use our emotions positively on our spiritual path? We can look at the practice of what is called devotional yoga, or Bhakti Yoga as it’s called in Hinduism. For example, if your relationship is to say Christ- you could take a picture of Jesus and then think about the qualities of his life; and the qualities of his compassion; and the qualities of his beauty of being; and the qualities of his reminding people about God. And you could look at that being and it would generate in you, if you allow it, emotional responses.
These emotional responses are relational. They are warm, human responses of Love, of caring, of tenderness. Then if you stay with that picture of Jesus and keep being with Jesus, you will go beyond those into a deeper way of being with him. Of just being with him in the presence sense. And that presence includes more and more of the essence of love. But you go through the emotional doorway. You use your emotional heart as a vehicle to getting into that deeper way of being with God. That’s one way.
Then there are other kinds of emotions that are generated — emotions like anger, sadness, joy, that whole range of emotions. What one cultivates is spaciousness or an awareness that allows you to acknowledge the feelings, and it comes back to the word appreciating again. Acknowledge the feelings and allow them and see them as part of the human condition. They are like subtle thought forms. Emotions are really subtle thought forms. And they all arise in response to something. They are reactions that come. If somebody goes like that, you have a certain emotional response. If they go like that, you have a different response. And you can feel how reactive your emotions are to situations. So you cultivate a quietness in yourself that just watches these things coming and going and arising and passing away. And you learn not to act out your emotions, but just to appreciate and allow them. That’s part of the way in which you use them spiritually. Spiritually, you don’t act out your emotions. You just acknowledge them. You don’t deny them though. You don’t push them down. You acknowledge that I’m angry, but you don’t have to say “Hey, I’m angry.” That’s different. But you acknowledge it; you don’t deny it. That’s the key thing.
So the way you would use emotions like love and caring is in devotional practices, you aim them towards God. And for the other kinds of emotional realms, you witness them and you sit with them and you watch them change and come and go but you don’t deny them- you allow them to be burnt in the light of awareness. Because that’s part of your human condition. I mean when we talk about service, you will see how we deal with suffering. And you will see that it awakens intense emotions. And your heart is breaking. And you have to let your heart break. But you’ve cultivated another plane of reality which is the one that notices and allows it and behind it all is the quality of equanimity. So, emotions work best when you also have another plane that is not emotional, going simultaneously with it actually. Because getting lost in your emotional reactivity just digs a deeper karmic hole. But allowing your humanity, that’s really part of it. Allowing your humanity.
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
“If it were not laughed at, it would not be sufficient to be Tao.” – Lao Tzu,Tao Te Ching
Did you ever have a bad day? Everything seems to go wrong and you are completely lost in anger, frustration and self-pity. It gets worse and worse, until the final moment when, say, you have just missed the last bus. There is some critical point where it gets so bad the absurdity of it all overwhelms you and you can do nothing but laugh. At that moment you uplevel your predicament, you see the cosmic joke in your own suffering.
Meditation, because of the space it allows around events, gives you the chance to see the humor of your predicament. Awareness of the passing show of one’s own life allows a lightness to enter it where only a moment before there was heaviness.
Humor puts things in perspective. There are many levels of humor – there is a humor of survival, a humor of sex and gratification, a humor connected with power. Beyond all these there is a humor that is filled with compassion. It is reflected in the tiny upturn in the mouth of the Buddha, for he sees the humor in the universal predicament: all beings are lost in illusion, yet he knows that they will awaken from that illusion for they are, at heart, already enlightened. He knows that what seems so hard to them is from another perspective their own path to liberation.
Often the perspectives about yourself and the universe that you arrive at through meditation make you want to giggle or laugh. This giggle is without malice. It’s a cosmic giggle, one that I identify with my guru, Maharaj-ji. For his giggle was not of this world. It was not a social or personality giggle, but rather a cosmic chuckle, the delight in the fun of it all. His giggle was from the plane that gives us the term “lila,” the divine dance of life.
– Ram Dass
A DAY WITHOUT LAUGHTER IS A WASTED DAY!
Namaste with Love My Friends
Always
Mark
Together we can make a change to our world
Love Is The Answer My Friends
Namaste With Love
Always
Mark
Lao Tzu was a philosopher and poet of ancient China. He is best known as the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching and the founder of philosophical Taoism, but he is also revered as a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions. Although a legendary figure, he is usually dated to around the 6th century BC and reckoned a contemporary of Confucius, but some historians contend that he actually lived during the Warring States period of the 5th or 4th century BC. A central figure in Chinese culture, Lao Tzu is claimed by both the emperors of the Tang dynasty and modern common folk of the Li family as a founder of their lineage. Throughout history, Lao Tzu’s work has been embraced by various anti-authoritarian movements.
Lao Tsu taught that all straining, all striving are not only vain but counterproductive. One should endeavor to do nothing (wu-wei). But what does this mean? It means not to literally do nothing, but to discern and follow the natural forces — to follow and shape the flow of events and not to pit oneself against the natural order of things. First and foremost to be spontaneous in ones actions.
In this sense the Taoist doctrine of wu-wei can be understood as a way of mastering circumstances by understanding their nature or principal, and then shaping ones actions in accordance with these. This understanding has also infused the approach to movement as it is developed in Tai Chi Chuan.
Understanding this, Taoist philosophy followed a very interesting circle. On the one hand the Taoists, rejected the Confucian attempts to regulate life and society and counseled instead to turn away from it to a solitary contemplation of nature. On the other hand they believed that by doing so one could ultimately harness the powers of the universe. By ‘doing nothing’ one could ‘accomplish everything.’
Lao Tzu writes:
The Tao abides in non-action,
Yet nothing is left undone.
If kings and lords observed this,
The ten thousand things would develop naturally.
If they still desired to act,
They would return to the simplicity of formless substance.
Without form there is no desire.
Without desire there is tranquillity.
In this way all things would be at peace.
In this way Taoist philosophy reached out to council rulers and advise them of how to govern their domains. Thus Taoism, in a peculiar and roundabout way, became a political philosophy. The formulation follows these lines:
The Taoist sage has no ambitions, therefore he can never fail. He who never fails always succeeds. And he who always succeeds is all- powerful.
From a solitary contemplation of nature, far removed from the affairs of men, can emerge a philosophy that has, both in a critical as well a constructive sense — a direct and practical political message. Lao Tzu writes:
Why are people starving?
Because the rulers eat up the money in taxes.
Therefore the people are starving.
Why are the people rebellious?
Because the rulers interfere too much.
Therefore they are rebellious.
Why do people think so little of death?
Because the rulers demand too much of life.
Therefore the people take life lightly.
Having to live on, one knows better than to value life too much.
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
My Dear Friends,
Compassion, something that is always on my mind, am I compassionate enough, do I help people who are in need of my help and support, do I listen with Empathy (with the intent to really understand), do I go out of my way to do my best for the environment, for mother nature, for the people around me and for the long term good of our planet?
All good questions and ones in which I ask myself each and every day.
I came across this really interesting Nat Geo video re Compassion, it has some really cool observations, tests of compassion and pointers to watch out for in yourself and in others.
Please give it a few minutes of your busy day and think on the content…Are you compassionate?
Have a wonderful weekend full of love, happiness and compassion.
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
Wise words indeed from H.H the 14th Dalai Lama. If we could take these words into our hearts and realize that there are always many people in our world who are worse off than we, and come to the realization that there are many people out there in our families, communities, countries and other regions of the world who really need our help and that we certainly do have the the power and abilities to overcome our own struggles in life, then we could and will be able to change our own circumstances for the better and also at the same time enable us to help others overcome theirs.
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
Some days, I’m not so sure!
I wake up and start my day, I amble out of bed
Feeling tired, lethargic and grumpy
More sleep needed maybe, more time to rest, to lie dormant and be; just me!
A pick me up coffee to raise my spirits, its heady smell and strong taste slapping me awake like a hand to my face
Or does it help suppress my mind, control my senses and take away my creativity
Breakfast…Oh no, that’s for wimps, no time for that in my busy life
Off to the bathroom for me instead, the slow walk to that place of awakening
The mirror lies before me, standing proud and tall the size of my wall, no place to hide
I’m naked for my eyes to see, Ohh a sight for sore eyes and not for the faint at heart
Too much fat hiding my chin, my eyes are red and sleepy, lids wanting to close and sleep once again
Plenty of excess around my middle, my arms my hips, my rear, it appeared overnight, I think!
Is my hair receding even further, is that a spot on my face
I’m no teenager, where have they come from, maybe a memory of day’s gone bye
What’s that hair doing coming from my ears and nose, should it not be on my head
It wasn’t there yesterday, my body it would seem to be out of control
A clean shave is what I need and into the shower I go
The fresh warm water cascading down upon my head
Awakening my body and my soul
Water cleansing, washing away my negativity, bringing life back to my body like rain to a seed
The towel meets my skin, rough and soft all at the same time
The water disappearing into the fabric, leaving my skin soft and dry
A splash of aftershave hits my jaw, awakens my senses to the sweet smell of summer
Stepping into my trousers, and a fresh shirt completes my attire
Looking into the mirror a new man, a new day, a new opportunity
I love my self again, I’m happy in my skin, I’m proud of what I have achieved
I’m off to start a fresh day, out into our wonderful world, more people to help, more spirits to lift
Opening the door, the sun greets my face it awakens me to mother nature, warm and gentle welcoming me once again
Stepping down my steps I feel my breath, catching the fresh morning air
Feet touching the ground with a steady momentum, taking me on to more challenges in life
I hear the sounds of our world, the noise of the city, millions moving towards their day, but if I listen carefully there is so much more to hear
The quietness of nature, birds in song, the soft rustling of leaves as the gentle breeze passes through the trees
Mothers walking their children to school, grandparents exercising in the gardens their slow Tai Chi movements, bringing life to their aging bones
Ladies dancing under the trees, awakening their limbs and bringing smiles of joy to their faces
I am indeed grateful for all I have in my life
I have a gift, the gift of sight, the gift of sound, the gift of smell, and the gift of touch
The ability to realize all that is around me, the gift is LIFE itself
So easy to forget in our crazy non stop world, so easy to loose sight of what we have, So easy to fall into the hands of the media and follow their never ending tales of doom and gloom
I do love my life; I do love my world
I’m thankful and grateful for another day to share this gift with you
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
Hi Everyone I’m back fro my trip to France, its been a long time for me to be away from my family, my friends and my two beautiful puppies but the trip was great, I was blessed with wonderful weather, I met some beautiful people and I had the opportunity to be in the presence of His Holiness the Eighth Mipham Kunzig Choekyi Nangwa Gyalwang Drukpa the supreme head of the Drukpa Lineage if your interested in Buddhism please take a look at http://drukpa.com
As I slot back into the realities of life back in Shanghai China I thought I would share with you a few photographs I took whilst on my trip to France, I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed seeing and experiencing them?
I will probably need to do a few posts to bring you some of the beauty i experienced in the French countryside
Take care
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
Computers, mobile phones, social media, computer games, on-line studying…. Technology brings us everything these days, which is great because without technology the internet and social media I would not be writing this blog post right now, and without these wonders of our modern world, you my friends in many different countries around the world would not be able to communicate with me with seconds of me pressing the publish button!
So I do have a great admiration for technology and what great benefits it brings to our lives, however I also feel that our children and grandchildren are somewhat missing out on what mother nature and our environment can bring to us, the beauty, the colours, the smells and the sheer enjoyment of spending time outdoors away from technology once i a while should be enjoyed by every child and without your help as a parent or grandparent, our children are likely to stay inside, fixed to a computer screen, chatting with their friends by IM and maybe even reading about or watching videos containing nature.
Give them the opportunity to experience nature and they will, I’m sure, have a wonderful time.
Allow your children and grandchildren to become aware of our environment and how they themselves can help save our planet and its endangered species so they in-turn can pass on this love to their children and grandchildren.
Namaste with Love
Always
Mark
Endless Light and Love 