Thought for the day, Friday 29th April

A story told by Faraduddin Attar, 12th Century, Persia, about the desert saint Rabia al-Adawiyya, 8th Century Iraq,

“Once when Rabia al-Adawiyya was travelling on a pilgrimage to Mecca, she found herself alone in the desert for several days.
She heard a voice saying, “Hey, holy woman, do you love the presence of the divine glory?”
“I do.”
“And so do you hate Satan?”
“Because I love the ultimate Source of compassion,” she replied, “I am unable to hate Satan. Once I saw the Prophet Muhammad in a dream. He asked me, ‘Rabia, do you love me?’ I replied, ‘O Prophet, who doesn’t love you? But love of Allah has filled my heart, so there is no place for loving or hating anyone else.'”

Thought for the day, Wednesday 27th April

“In the woods a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at whatever period of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years.

In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, — no disgrace, no calamity, which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, — my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, — all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, died on this day in 1882

Thought for the day, Sunday 24th April

From The Earth Path by Starhawk,

“May all the healers of the earth find their own healing. May they be fueled by passionate love for the earth.
May they know their fear but not be stopped by fear. May they feel their anger and yet not be ruled by rage. May they honor their grief but not be paralyzed by sorrow.
May they transform fear, rage, and grief into compassion and the inspiration to act in service of what they love.
May they find the help, the resources, the courage, the luck, the strength, the love, the health, the joy that they need to do the work.
May they be in the right place, at the right time, in the right way.
May they bring alive a great awakening, open a listening ear to hear the earth’s voice, transform imbalance to balance, hate and greed to love.
Blessed be the healers of the earth.”

Thought for the day, Friday 22nd April – Earth Day

Once, the Buddha was sitting in meditation, and someone came to him and asked: “Lord Buddha, you teach compassion, forgiveness, love and forbearance – from where did you learn all these wonderful qualities? Who is your teacher?”

Pointing towards the soil, the Buddha said: “I learned my forgiveness, compassion, friendship, kindness and all the wonderful qualities of love, beauty, unity and generosity from the Earth.”

V0018274 Bhaisajyaguru (the Medicine Buddha) and Padmasambhava (below Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org The Medicine Buddha, Bhaishajyaguru, with his right hand in the earth-touching position. His left hand, in a meditation gesture, holds a lapis lazuli bowl containing three pieces of myrobalan fruit (a species of plum considered to have medicinal properties). To his right a miniature form of the deity, Green Tara, is depicted in a roundel. Below is Padmasambhava, who formally introduced Buddhism from India to Tibet. His two female consorts, Mandarava and Yeshe Tsogyal, flank him on either side. The Medicine Buddha sutras emphasise the value of visualising the Medicine Buddha and chanting the appropriate text, to promote the healing of body, speech and mind Gouache Late 18th century Published: – Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/