______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________.
*
BTW...
The two very powerful RILKE pieces on 'Love & Friendship'
we usually explore during our Metta-based Relationship Retreats ~
just scroll about 3/4 way down this page....
.
___^________________________________________
q(~?~)p ....THE .LAUGHING .BUDDHA .SANGHA
..................nourishing an iconoclast intelligence
• Join our Ongoing Weekly Classes at Any Time !.
.
....Weekly MONDAYS 7:30 pm ~ 9:30 pm
.....Ongoing thru Spring ~ Summer 2011
Join us for a One-Time Visit - Questions ? - Phone us !
There are NO real starting-dates for a class, it's simply ongoing.
So just join our ongoing classes at any time – just call ahead.
.
The “BUDDHISM” Class for Insight Meditation
Training in the Great Wisdom "PATH OF NO EXPECTATIONS”
'Life' truly offers a Daily-Path of Abundant ‘Practice Opportunities’. .
.
ALL Levels: First-timers, Newcomers & Beginners -
Experienced Returners, Regulars or Irregulars come sit...
Santa Monica • 310-450-2268 • Come see if you like it !
"An intuitive, yet savvy, intellectual kind of conversation I love - and usually can't find "
__________________________________________________ _______________________________________________
___________________________________________
.
.
• Retreat Announcements •
Day-longs & Dharma workshops
What Retreats Always Offer. . . . . . are the very necessary deeper "immersion-time experiences"
so often missing in shorter meditation sittings. Retreats help you
gradually build-in a consistent "working-relationship" with the
meditation practice - so you can cultivate and stabilize an aware,
wise, Dharma-informed intellect, a peaceful body-stillness, and
a compassionate, calm equilibrium and emotional renewal - in a
supportive space to continually re-awaken yourself to being
"present in this very moment" during silent-living for a
sanctuary-day of sustained mindfulness and inner-inquiry.
These Daylongs are suitable for all levels of meditation experience.
Beginners are very welcome ! Guided sitting instruction, workable
Practice-techniques, Dharma-talks that help us explore life-related
themes, new awakening-approaches, and lively Q & A discussion -
and there's lots of welcome noble-silence too.
Practice-techniques, Dharma-talks that help us explore life-related
themes, new awakening-approaches, and lively Q & A discussion -
and there's lots of welcome noble-silence too.
" A day of heart/mind training will really begin
to set you in the right direction - or allow you
to deepen the work you have already begun.
In the s t i l l n e s s – space for a rebellious spirit." ~ Noah Levine
In the s t i l l n e s s – space for a rebellious spirit." ~ Noah Levine
__________________________________________
( UpComing RETREAT:Save the Date ! Saturday
February 12 ~ ATS Melrose Center
The LINK to complete current Retreat description/details
scroll right here below )
___________________________________
________________________________
_____________________________
Buddhist Perspectives on 'Relationship' - Saturday FEBRUARY 12 -
One-Day Retreat - SAVE the Date - Valentine's Daylong
guided by Akasa Levi at 'Against The Stream'
Please MAX your screen for a better view ~ click LINK to see full flyer
Buddhist Perspectives on 'Relationship'
"LOVE
& Other Difficulties"
A Valentine's Daylong guided by Akasa Levi with both Inspiring Rosebuds & Insightful Thorns
A Valentine's Daylong guided by Akasa Levi with both Inspiring Rosebuds & Insightful Thorns
___________________________
Saturday FEBRUARY 12 ~ SAVE the Date ! 9am-4:30pm
~ AGAINST THE STREAM BUDDHIST MEDITATION SOCIETY ~
Love / Relationship / Friendship / Family / Companionship / Partnership
We all seem to have em' ! ... satisfying or not ... and often we've got difficulties.
'LOVE' - our most e l u s i v e emotion - and the 'Relationships' it engages in...
'Relationships' can be our leading Resilient Resident "Grand Delusions of Fusion".
We will explore through Mindful-Observing HOW we Actually 'Do' Relationships
Clarity of Mind on How we Actually Do Intimacy ~ How we Actually Do Love.
How we 'Relate' to our Experiencing of the 'Relationship-Experience' Changing !
Saturday FEBRUARY 12 ~ SAVE the Date ! 9am-4:30pm
~ AGAINST THE STREAM BUDDHIST MEDITATION SOCIETY ~
Love / Relationship / Friendship / Family / Companionship / Partnership
We all seem to have em' ! ... satisfying or not ... and often we've got difficulties.
'LOVE' - our most e l u s i v e emotion - and the 'Relationships' it engages in...
'Relationships' can be our leading Resilient Resident "Grand Delusions of Fusion".
We will explore through Mindful-Observing HOW we Actually 'Do' Relationships
Clarity of Mind on How we Actually Do Intimacy ~ How we Actually Do Love.
How we 'Relate' to our Experiencing of the 'Relationship-Experience' Changing !
" The Buddhist-ideal: the absence of 'Attachment' -
is not necessarily, in any way whatsoever,
the absence of profound Loving ! "
~ Bhante Ananda Maitreya, Maha-Sangha Raj ~
"A change of Heart changes Everything ! "
A Maverick Spirited Inner-Quest with Buddhist Insight Meditation
Nourishing an Iconoclast Intelligence and A Good-Hearted Mind
______________________________________
. . . Also please scroll down - and read some more
flavorful bits of description from other Past Retreats...
Below are some
PAST Post-Retreat Posthumous Poetry & Prose
... yummy leftovers for good eatin' the next day
.... and the next ....
Scroll down and graze
Scroll down and graze
_______________________
___________________
___________________
Why are you so unhappy ?
Because 99.9 per cent
of everything you think,
and of everything you do,
is for yourSelf –
and there isn't one.
~ Wei Wu Wei ~
FROM 2010 R E T R E A T S
_____________________________
__________________________
_______________________
How to Actually Use
a Buddhist Understanding of
" The SELF "
and also of
the no-self,
and the not-self,
and the non-self, and in Pali
what's called anatta: all without self.
we'll practice how to Lose Yourself !
"But I've been trying so hard to find mySelf !"
... and yes,
" You need to be Somebody before you can be Nobody " ~ Jack Engler ~
– and so what about the Hindu-based Big-Self / Little-Self ?
What's Atman ? The Infinite 'Oneness' they call The Supreme-Self,
The Divine-Self, The Higher-Self, The Inner-Self or The Soul-Self –
or the beneficial Actualized-Self, the True-Self or Self-Realization.
What's the ingredients of a healthy as well as an unhealthy ego-self ?
Who is 'it' / what is 'it' / what 'self' is having all these 'experiences' ?
'Upaya' is the practice of 'learning-in' dharma-skills
to reduce and stop the tedious, endless work of
"our self-styled attempts" at 'self-definition' -
the obsessive, fruitless nagging at ourselves,
always asking the unanswerable "Who Am I ?"
and paradoxically...
"our self-styled attempts" at 'self-definition' -
the obsessive, fruitless nagging at ourselves,
always asking the unanswerable "Who Am I ?"
and paradoxically...
" Buddhist practice literally has 'Nothing' to offer you –
other than what is in THIS very moment. That’s all.
God(s), Goddesses, religion, entities and the ego-self
can certainly attract you with so, so, so much more! "
~ Henri Van Zeyst ~
___________________________________________________________
Daylong will be held at 1001a Colorado Ave at 10th St., Santa Monica, CA 90401_____________________________________________
Remember ~ Whatever 'IT' is – It's just a “Thought”
__________________________________________________" Metta: The Relationship Your Heart Longs For ~
Already Exists In You ! "
Remember ~ Whatever 'IT' is – It's just a “Thought”
__________________________________________________" Metta: The Relationship Your Heart Longs For ~
Already Exists In You ! "
Quotes from PAST RELATIONSHIP RETREATS
.
Love exists only in the True Friendship.
Love is True Friendship set on Fire !
~ Jeremy Taylor - 1657 ~
..
A Buddhist Approach to
" Relationship "
.A One Day Retreat with Akasa Levi
Sunday May 23 ~ 2010 ~ 9:00am-5:00pm
Against The Stream ~ ATS Santa Monica Center.
..
Yet our own 'relationship-survival'
is based on each of us
becoming skillfully "Relate-Able".
..
We're all in this together !
We're totally in a 'relationship-based',
'call & response-based' world -
a totally connected, non-separate,
totally 'relational existence'
with everyone and everything else !
.
All the Great Sages saw 'Relationship' and it's possibilities
as having a love-affair with the world ! The quality of our
own 'survival' now seems to depend on how well each one
of us works at living in a transparent, wisely-informed,
loving-kindness way.
The feelings of every-being that's alive counts !
Buddha talked a whole lot about our being in 'relationship' -
while traveling this spiritual journey with good supportive
companionship or intentionally by choice - alone.
Alone is quite OK ! And too often we are involved
in a 'relating' with sometimes difficult family, friends,
work-mates, or especially with another significant-other,
sadly can set up prickly misconceived notions of a 'special'
romanticized salvation, solution or connection with
another being - the surprise is that these 'defeating-views'
can actually be used now to resolve themselves within
the meditation practice itself. Dharma guides us in
the practical necessity of creating our own clear General adversity coupled with our own personal lack
of relating-skills or emotional confusion or deep wounds -
romanticized salvation, solution or connection with
another being - the surprise is that these 'defeating-views'
can actually be used now to resolve themselves within
the meditation practice itself. Dharma guides us in
the practical necessity of creating our own clear General adversity coupled with our own personal lack
of relating-skills or emotional confusion or deep wounds -
relationship 'language of kindness' and skillful actions
arising from a compassionate and yet correct-view of 'What Is'.
How to do this in a warm, natural, flexible yet uncontrived,
uncompromised way?
How do we "Do" Relationship in our lives with full feeling and
integrity, while at the same time do a Buddhist-practice of
cultivating an awakened Non-Attachment ?
" Be of 'Love' a little more careful than of anything else." ~ poet e.e.cummings
arising from a compassionate and yet correct-view of 'What Is'.
How to do this in a warm, natural, flexible yet uncontrived,
uncompromised way?
How do we "Do" Relationship in our lives with full feeling and
integrity, while at the same time do a Buddhist-practice of
cultivating an awakened Non-Attachment ?
" Be of 'Love' a little more careful than of anything else." ~ poet e.e.cummings
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
BTW...
The two powerful RILKE pieces on 'Love & Friendship'
BTW...
The two powerful RILKE pieces on 'Love & Friendship'
we usually read during Metta-based Relationship Retreats ~
just scroll about 3/4 way down this page....___________________________________________
just scroll about 3/4 way down this page....___________________________________________
________________________________________
.
.
Below:
Below:
More Past Post-Retreat Posthumous Poetry & Prose:
A "Big Death" could really happen at any time. Just like an authentic
'Awakening' can ! Death is a fact of life. You know that. Yet many "Little Deaths" are happening all the time in the form of personal loss: big or small endings, careers, disappointments, violence, abandonment, big & little break-ups and breakdowns of people, places and things. Sadly yet often, our daily 'Living' is dead: "Death is simply refusing the Gift of Life".
So we need to intelligently explore the mind's subtle misconceptions and phobias that have created such a fear of Death in our anxiety stressed culture - and yet we're so over-saturated with it, we go numb. We emotionally die. "Minds that just refuse to understand." Un-aware, fear-based notions are now gradually, cognitively replaced with Dharma: kinder, more empowering, less frightening 'working-concepts' of Death, Dying and Rebirth..This can successfully calm and cut through the multitude of sufferings and stings of all our daily 'smaller deaths' - begin accepting the unacceptable - our minds fully willing or not. Properly understood, 'realization' of Death and Rebirth can effectively stimulate much better life choices, generous responsibility, and be a real impetus for meaningful personal growth - gaining profound peace from this work."Death-knowledge" can open us up, not close us down !
Buddha said: "Just as the elephant's footprint is the biggest footprint on
the whole jungle floor, 'Impermanence' in the form of Death is our biggest teacher". Conscious or not, our relationship to death colors absolutely all
other relationships. Young or old - when well-practiced - you can be at peace and 'present' during your big, small, or whatever your 'final' moments of any experience can be. "Let the truth of death overcome your fear of death. Include your death in your own life."
.
Gettin' Off n' On n' Off The Wheel of Life: we'll explore key-ideas like Rebirth versus Reincarnation, Bardo Limbo-states, Karma, Multiple Heavens and Hells, Divine Deva Realms, Hungry Ghosts, Kali, The Pure Land Western Paradise, The Six Realms of Possible Existence as Form or Formless-states, Samsara and Nirvana. Are these possibly only just Metaphors, or possibly not ?________________________________________________________. ______________________________________________________. .
More Past Post-Retreat Posthumous Poetry & Prose:
___________________________________________________
.
...."Only Good Enough" ! ? !
An ONLY JUST "GOOD ENOUGH MEDITATION" is OK !
A One Day Retreat with Akasa Levi"The Path of NO Expectations" !
Learn and practice Path-techniques to mindfully and wisely balance
Ideas about Perfection or Imperfection ?
Let go of your imaginary 'meditation goals'.
You will not achieve them by 'striving' for them.
"Don't let the Perfect become the enemy of the Good."
~ Voltaire
Clinging to old fashioned mind-states of anxious 'Striving' to achieve
'something' through 'Meditation' undermines the cultivation of Mindfulness,
which involves a clear, undistorted, no- agenda, present-moment fluid
attentiveness to whatever is happening. Having the Dharma-Realization
of allowing everyone & everything that we experience from moment to
moment to be Here – because it Already is. Our ongoing 'growth-practice'
training is to non-reactively, simply sit & observe it all.With too much Non-Dharma-thinking about ‘thinking’ - you've decided that
you need to 'improve' - or you need to spiritually 'get someplace' – which
means that 'who you are' and 'where you are right now' is Not Good Enough.
That'll spin you back into self-criticism – a bumpy slide into being lost in
the un-reality of some old story-content, again – and now you've introduced
'judgment' back into your meditation again.
Just Keep Sitting. Gradually thru the 'practice' there is much more 'receiving'
ALL of Yourself with authentic kindness. Meditation gently trains a 'mind-in-
process' - now continually being clarified, strengthened & sweetened by
a Dharma-informed-practice:
a softer, sane, stable, more easy-going-mind - a mind without urgency - a
mind without demands - a mind without expectation & disappointment.
A Big-mind. A 'mind' you actually like !
Let's move from the tedious, endless work
of your "Who Am I ?" attempts at 'self-definition' –
to the endless awareness-adventure of an
ever-unfolding "I Am" discovery in each moment !
"The Moment itself, is always Good Enough.Perfectly imperfect. Imperfectly perfect.
Being OK with 'The What Is'. As it is." _________________________________________________________________.
..
Meditation is definitely an 'acquired' taste - a short retreat is a quick way
to begin to get it - a deeper, more committed working 'relationship' with
the meditation practice. Retreats are a temporary monastery urban sanctuary
to safely lay aside all daily-demands – with a good balance of both movement
& stillness in silent living for a day.
.
.
"Only GOOD ENOUGH" ! ? ? !.
An ONLY
JUST "GOOD ENOUGH MEDITATION" is OK !
.
It's 'The Holy-Imperfection' parts of
The Practice-Path of NO Expectations
.
Just “Good Enough Meditation” ? But what about my 'Spiritual Attainment' ? There is a big difference here in our teaching of this 'form' of sitting Vipassana.
Cultivating a truly no-striving 'appreciative-mind' that simply says it's 'Good Enough'.
Actually living a practice through a mature philosophy of "It's All Good" - that is not a cliche – a life now continually being clarified, strengthened & sweetened by a Dharma-informed meditation practice: receptive, softer, a more easy-going-mind,
an undemanding-mind. A 'mind' I actually like.
.
"It's Good Enough to be present in the moment
when I am present in the moment.
And that’s enough." What a mantra !
.
The moment itself, is always good enough. Imperfectly perfect.
Of course it is - it simply is what it is - right there to be realized.
I'm OK with 'The What Is'. As it is. The Heart Sutra's 'no preferences'.
I simply practice a “Good Enough meditation”. But I do have to practice
And all this ‘thinking’ is Thinking that thinks it’s not ‘thinking’ !It could be come obsessive vigilance. Too complicating. 'Oiy !Too much red-alert all the time. Too much thinking about ‘thinking’.That'll spin you back into self-judgment – becoming too self-conscious –for that is a set up to slide into being lost in content, judgment and fear again.A Meditation Practice that is simply 'Good Enough' –
rather than a striven/driven for ‘perfected’ one.
..
" I'm a NOT GOOD ENOUGH Meditator ! "...and I so hated meditation - and yet monks meditate.But I wanted to become a monk in Asia so bad -that I trained myself into it - begrudgingly trained,awkwardly trained and at times simply loving myselfinto it - the simple magic of it - with my teacher'squiet, gentle patience. I'm so glad I did !" ~ Akasa Levi.
on Sufficiency" – mindfully moderating Not Enough with What's Enough
in our everyday lives. A very reasonable practice-path of realizing
that all this leads to true freedom. What a relief !!! ....'Nuf said....
.
________________________________________________________________.
.
"So I don't get to be The Buddha this life-time,
but I can sure get some kindness, peace and quiet into my life ..
and get a little bit of applied Buddhist wisdom going .. and that
sure feels good !"
~ jennifer
.
.Day-long retreat 'practice' will focus on mindfulness meditation.
We will train our minds in present-time-awareness by bringing
attention to the breath and body and our inner-relationship to
the pleasant and unpleasant physical, emotional and mental
states that arise. This allows one to gradually understand
the Truth of the constantly changing nature of all things
and how to respond with compassion and friendliness
to the inevitably difficult experience of being human.
~ Noah Levine .
.
Retreats Always Offer the necessary deeper
"immersion-time experiences" often lacking
in somewhat more 'casual' meditation sitting.
..
Just beginning to offer yourself periodic 'gentle intensives' ~
could make a big 'experiential-difference' in really establishing
yourself in a deeper, authentic working 'relationship' with the
meditation 'practice'. When your meditation retreat-sitting
is over ~ even just for only this one-day ~
you're in a whole new place with yourself....
.
Short retreats ~ .
To be able to reasonably & responsibly allow 'a trial letting-go'
of obsolete 'worldly' limits & 'beliefs' - that only 'appear' in the Buzz
to be needed day-to-day. And yet your 'reactions' to Life just may be
too embedded and enmeshed to normally set aside. Maybe an attempt
to be a 'monk' or a 'nun' for a whole full-day as a meditative 'Time-Out'
for a gentle, simple retreat could really be eminently possible !
.'Awakening' takes 'Everyday-Bravery' and a dose of 'Will-power' –
combined with the awkward 'grace'-filled beginnings of a saintly 'Patience'.
Remember, we are swimming somewhat strong n' steady upstream now -
yet each of us with our very own habituated, addicted, over-conditioned, fully loaded consciousness still in tow. It's always all about letting-go ! Always !.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
.
Past Post-Retreat Posthumous Poetry & Prose:
goodie leftovers for eatin' the next day....
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
.
.
Post'humously: The Spring Equinox Event in Malibu
March The Wright Land EQUINOX Ritual Ceremony& Grand Potluck Dinner & Homemade Music ~ Plan to Come ?
.
.. Out of The Cave
of Winter at Last ! ________________________________________
___________________________________________
for future contact info . . .
on The Wright Land / Malibu - Details: http://www.elwright.net/wrightway/calendar.html
.
For more technical Equinox times & Details ~ thanks to SouledOuthttp://www.souledout.org/nightsky/springequinox/springequinox.html
_________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________.
.
and here's some Spring Poems ~ springing . . .. .
.
"The Flower is a Leaf
gone Mad with Love!" ~ Goethe.
_____________________________________________
.
.
" Ahh, the springtime air smells so good today,
straight from the mysteries within the inner courts of God.
The trees in their prayer, the birds in praise,
the first flowers open wide in surprise !
Whatever came from Being is caught up in being,
drunkenly forgetting the way back to winter! " .......~ Rumi
.
_________________________________________________
. .
"SPRINGING AHEAD" ~with thanks to Native American author Cory Wilson
.
I cannot escape the feeling that I am being forced out of The 'Cave' of Winter.
Spring is here, but do I really want to leave? Do I really want to 'Spring Forward' ?
As I write, I think of the décor I've surrounded myself with all this winter, my spiritual
adornments, if you will. I think about how difficult it was going into the 'Winter Cave'
in the first place, how much I fought it, and now - how I can't help but feel the same
way upon leaving. How was your journey into the Winter Cave? How do you feel
about coming out, or "Springing Forward"? What did you learn this time 'within' ..
this time through? It is with great fascination that I ask these questions of you too,
my sisters, my brothers, in hopes we can 'gleam off' each other ways of moving
through the Sacred Seasons with greater bravery, ease & depth - and greater
acceptance. To be fluid, like the tides. To be a part of, not apart from .. to be With!
And with the 'rest' of it all? Well, the rest will be what it will be... and You?
- just Loving What Is! ......Ah-ho To All Our Directions !
.
" The onset of a new seasonal cycle teaches gradualness and deliberation,
and how one gives birth to oneself slowly, very slowly " ..... ~ Rumi.
___________________________________________________
.
In these dark waters drawn up
from my frozen winter's well ...
Now so, so glittering of Spring! .....~ Ringai
________________________
.
"It's such a wond'rous
inner-trickery of Mother Nature
to get us to love the Spring so much !
I just love being an April Fool !"
~ Sr. Anne Higgins, DC
Emmitsburg Rural Convent, Maryland
new beginnings
.
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything
that will assist and assert your integrity of purpose
and imaginative vision beyond the play-it-safers,
the creatures of the conditioned commonplace,
the sleeping slaves of the ordinary.
~ Sir Cecil Beaton (renown British photographer 1927)
.
.Stuck in the world of the small 'we' ~
so trying to push through the small 'we'.
Just go directly to the 'Greater We' ~
that's where the Resources are !
~ Frankie Lee Slater .
..
.
BE the changes
you want to see in the world !
~ Gandhi
.
.
spring poem: early march
.
It's been so wet and rainy this late Winter,
but now the coastal sky is big & blue again.
And ah yes! .. there it is .. at last ! .. at last !
At Last ! I can clearly hear it now....
far, far away in the warming distance,
heading it's unswerving course towards me
down the vast vernal expanse
of the grassy lawn out front -
the steady engine burrrrr of
the gardener's vintage lawnmower
tossing up grassy tips of green glitter,
coming closer and closer
to the Spring Equinox.
~ Akasa Levi..
.
The Day of the Spring (or Vernal) Equinox
......has equal times of Daylight and Darkness
We are almost now at that very 'present-moment point' in the yearly cycle
when an exquisite Balance exists between Light and Dark. As the Sun
slowly moves from Pisces to Aries, it crosses the Earth's equator,
and a momentary balance of day and night is achieved.
Thereafter, the hours of light will predominate -
the hours of dark will let go, fade
and settle into the background..
.
The Equinox, then, is a time for us to examine our own Balance.
Does a Balance exist between your poles of yin and yang,
or are you prisoners of images of how you "should" be ?
As we move toward more mindfully balanced parts
of our outer-nature ( the light ), do we respect
and honor parts of our inner-nature ( the dark ) ?.
It was Carl Jung that reminded us -
"that without the Darkness,
we could not see the Light
given by a candle flame.".
* Spring's Here,
Wake Up Hibernation-Head !.
__________________________________________________
________________________________________________.
.
~ post'humously ~ march 14/15 - 2009
.a Haiku reading — a Haiku teaching.
.
.one breath long ~ Haiku is the world's briefest literary form
— and the most well-known 'Asian' poetry of the 21st century.
.
If you love poetry or ever thought about learning Haiku -
this is going to be the best Buddhist poetry / literary / writing
workshop-teaching event ever ! ...and at almost no cost.
This is one weekend just not to miss. Come for all or part.
.
Bring pen, paper & just listen & learn & fall back in love again
with words that express ! Gary is a great influence & mentor.
.
Buddhist Haiku poet & translator Gary Gachwill be reading with award winning poet Amy Uyematsu
on Saturday March 14 at 7:30 PM at the
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center - 681 Venice Blvd
Venice - CA 90291 - (310) 822-3006 - web link: beyond baroque.
..
Gary Gach's Buddhist lineage is in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.
Gary, a prolific writer, is editor of the immensely popular "What Book!?
Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop" ( American Book Award )
and has published the translations of Ko Un, Korea's unofficial
poet laureate, Songs for Tomorrow (Green Integer), Flowers
of a Moment (BOA), and Ten Thousand Lives (Green Integer).
He's co-editor of World Haiku Review and has contributed to
Brick, Drunken Boat, Fish Drum, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Jacket,
The Nation, The New Yorker, Poems for the Millennium, and
Words Without Borders.
He is also author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buddhism.
Gary himself is an approachable, sweet & gentle soul, quietly
in touch with the moment - yet can be powerfully dramatic.. .
A HaikuWorkshop at Beyond Baroque on Sunday March 15
SUNDAY Afternoon - 2:00-5:30 PM
The LOS ANGELES URBAN HAIKU WORKSHOP.
.
"GARY GACH leads a workshop on learning, noticing,
exploring, experiencing, writing, and sharing Haiku" — LA haiku. . .
The Way of Haiku encourages and supports a genuine life,
intimate with the heart of creation, training us in clear seeing
and deep listening, intuitive wisdom and a warm heart.
We'll map the basics, take a relaxed haiku-walk ( ginko )
right in Beyond Baroque's own splendid backyard, and
develop your written 'work' from this - and share what
we encounter, written and unwritten. With Haiku, we
can learn how to make each word and moment count,
sense our senses, harmonize perception & expression,
train our attention and cultivate our awareness.
.
Gary has led haiku workshops across California
and around the country - at the Asian Art Museum,
Book Passage University, O'Hanlon Center for the Arts,
Otis College of the Arts, Stanford Writer's Studio,
Villa Montalvo, and San Francisco Zen Center.He hopes to write two or three
immortal haiku in his lifetime.
..
no prior background - writers & nonwriters,
meditation practitioners & the merely curious.
It'll be an inspiring afternoon.
. . .
.ants floating downriver on a twig
.................still singing
— issa-Issa, 1795.
.
Gary's blog pages:
http://www.redroom.com/author/gary-g-gach
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/where-buddha-meets-freud
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/riches-a-different-market
.
________________________________________________ ______________________________________________. .
..
~ post'humously ~
Good reading from 'Love' Retreat 2/14/09
including two Rilke pieces, scroll down to 3/4 point
.
POST-RETREAT Student Comment:
"Everybody was in Love, unconditionally for moments !".
* Winter Daylong Saturday Retreat
on VALENTINE's DAY ~ February 14
about "LOVE & Other Difficulties". . .
.
from the title of an essay by poet Rainer Rilke
in the bohemian Paris of Picasso in 1910..
.
Compassionate Mindfulness Meditation
inspired by a deeper exploration into
'Relationship-dharma' using some
of the radical poetry & teachings
of Rilke, Rumi & The Buddha .
.
All Practice Levels & for slightly brave Beginners
A Daylong is really the very BEST way to Begin!
Hey, it's a piece of cake ! Please trust that.
.
.A Daylong Retreat into Silent Sitting
in Stillness & Satsang with Akasa Levi
9 am – 4:30 pm ~ Santa Monica
.
*
"Valentine's Day" has too often become,
in our bizarre modern mega-media marketplace, sadly,
The Halloween of Love. And so has how we actually DO 'relationships'.
And that can certainly be 'course-corrected' by beginning to allow an
authentic wise, open heart's expression - strengthened by immersed
retreat-time practice - as we continue to re-learn 'Love' for ourselves.
We'll take a loving, sober look at some of the 'conditioned difficulties'
and 'attachments' around how we DO 'Love' - using an un-hooking,
un-deluding Dharma-approach. Maybe that can lead us up to
the right Questions we must ask ourselves
about what is a 'true relationship' ?
......some savory and profound
Valentine's insight-awareness sweets just may arise!
... and you'll experience the clouds dissolve into clarity.
.
."... a Change of Heart changes Everything".
.
Compassionate Roses & Insightful Thorns:a Relationship-themed Vipassana meditation daylong -
enhanced by poetic 'contemplations' of true Love - and the
Dharma's good ole' tough-love teachings based in ancient
Buddhist Attachment-theory. We'll consider the words of Rumi,
Rilke & Buddha on our # 1 Leading Delusion: 'Relationship' & 'Romance'.
This retreat could certainly assist 'partnerings' of all kinds, couples, those
dating, as well as troubled friendships - and yes, those of us who are single -
actually, all our 'relationships' with the world ! Buddha's sustainable formula for
Love & Happiness that is not based on any inner or outer 'situations', 'conditions',
'circumstances' or 'outcomes' whatsoever.
AND we are all getting part-way there already !
_____________________________________
.
.
Retreat Quotes on Relationship
.
Rilke excerpts ~
.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke, (1875-1926)
the world-renown German existential philosopher, poet and author
of "On Love & Other Difficulties" and "Letters to a Young Poet"
Highly mature, sobering letters and poems on love - show Rilke's
profound understanding of men and women and his ardent spirituality.
His radical books, were written over a hundred years ago in the avant-garde'
bohemian Paris of Picasso. Rilke introduces the contradictory concept
of solitude as a blessing. He seems to have this way of reaching into
your inner- soul and grabbing ahold of 'your reality' and making you face it,
in a tone of controlled urgency, in an exhorting, passionate sort of way.
Experimental openness to experience, on comprehending what is most
difficult - and turning what is most alien into that which we can most trust. .
~ John J. L. Mood________________________________________________________________
from "ON LOVE & OTHER DIFFICULTIES" (1908) by Rainer Rilkesome deep comprehension-reading ~ certainly not for lovers of the naive ...
" The point of marital or any relationship is not to create a quick commonality
by tearing down all boundaries - on the contrary, a good relationship is one
in which each partner anoints the other to be the guardian of their solitude,
and in this they show each other the greatest possible trust. This I hold to be
the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard
over the solitude of the other.
For, since it lies in the nature of indifference or insecurity of the common crowd
to recognize no solitude - then love and friendship are specifically there
for the purpose of continually providing the 'opportunity' for solitude.
And only love and friendship are the "true sharings" which do rhythmically
interrupt our individual periods of deep solitary emotion.
A merging, a true and absolute togetherness between two people
is an impossibility - and where it does seem to exist nevertheless -
it IS still a narrowing, a hemming-in, a mutually-compromised-consent -
that really does limit one party or both of their fullest freedom & development.
But once the realization is accepted - that even between the closest people,infinite distance continues to exist - a wonderful living side-by-side can then
grow up for them -
IF they succeed in loving the expanse, loving the distance between them -which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other
as a whole being before an immense wide sky ! "
.
"On Love & Other Difficulties" ~ the above was adapted, added to, and edited by Akasa Levi
from Translations and Considerations of Rainier Maria Rilke by John Mood; W.W. Norton, 1975
and The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke by Stephen Mitchell & Robert Hass; Vintage, 1989
- both as translated from Rilke's original German editions.
.
.
~ and most famously -
.Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" (1903-1908)
.
." Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your own heart.
Try to love the 'Questions' themselves - like locked rooms
and like books that are written in a foreign language.
Do not right now seek for the Answers. The 'Answers'
which cannot now be given to you - because you would
not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything -
Experiencing everything !
At present, you need to live the Questions. Perhaps you willgradually, without even noticing it, live along some
distant day into the true Answer. Your answer." ~ Rilke
.
_______________________________________
.
.
"The Buddhist absence of 'Attachment' -.
is not necessarily at all, in any way,
.the absence of profound loving." ~ Ananda Maitreya.
.
This retreat is suitable for both beginning and experienced meditators.Everyone is welcome to our retreats, absolutely regardless of your present level
of meditation experience or practice. One short day is simply a piece of cake !.
This Day-Long Retreat is hosted by
"Against The Stream"
Buddhist Meditation Society
at the new Santa Monica Meditation Center
1001(a) Colorado Avenue - Santa Monica - 90401
( enter through alley on north side of Colorado,
between 10th and 11th Streets )
Akasa Levi at 310.450.2268
leave messages"Love' exists only in the True Friendship.
Love is Friendship set on Fire !"
~ Jeremy Taylor, 1657.
.
"Your task is not to 'seek' for Love -
but merely to seek and find all the 'barriers'
within yourself, that you have built against Love." ~ Rumi
.
.LOVE is . . .
" Love doesn't make the world go 'round.
Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."
~ Adida
" Love is the difficult realization that
something other than oneself is real."
~ Iris Murdoch
" Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others,
and the pure delight in the recognition."
~ Alexander Smith
" Love doesn't just sit there like a stone - it has to be made,
like bread, remade all the time, made new."
~ Ursula LeGuin
" You come to Love not by finding the 'perfect' person,
but by seeing an 'imperfect' person perfectly."
~ Sam Keen
" The best relationship is the one in which your love
for each other exceeds your need for each other."
" A spiritual-awakening
which does not awaken the sleeper to Love,
has roused them in vain."
~ both by Rilke 1910
" What most people need to learn in life
is how to love people and use things ~
instead of using people and loving things."
"On reflection,
one of the things I needed to learnwas to allow myself to be loved
...by oneself as well as others..."
~ Isha McKenzie-Mavinga .
Please join us for a day of sitting and walking meditation
in the Theravada Buddhist tradition of cultivating Wisdom
and Compassion through Mindfulness of the Present.
.
___________________________________________________
"Courage:
The choice that something else is more important than Fear."
~ Ambrose Redmond
___________________________________________________ .
.
" The Journey Itself
....IS the Destination ! "
.
.____________________________________________.
........~ post'humously ~
.
POST-RETREAT Comment:
The ATS Retreat on Saturday NOVEMBER 22, 2008
( Everybody totally survived & came Thru alive !!! ... joyously ! )..
____________________________________________
. .
Got Fear of The Dark ?
.
THE CREATIVE POWER OF 'THE DARK UNKNOWN'
.A PRE-THANKSGIVING RETREAT with Akasa Levi
_______________________________________________________________
9 am – 4:30 pm ~ Hollywood4300 Melrose at Heliotrope
Los Angeles CA 90029 .
Practicing Mindfulness through The Dark Season
and feeding 'Wisdom-Faith' instead of
the Demons of Delusion, Despair or Anger.
.The Great Yogis advise keeping our hands free,
traveling light n' agile in the dark - or else
we'll blindly trip over our own old, self-limiting baggage -
and lose all mindfulness - banging into stuff like fear,
delusions and outdated 'stories'. All sorts of Hinderences. Things that go bump in the night...
Can we have an authentically wise, non-attached mind -
yet a passionately empathic, tender, loving Heart ?
It definitely takes 'practice'. Yet, it's a 'can-do' .
."Be Mindful so you don't stumble in the dark, the path is slippery".
.
"Fear is like sitting in a rocking chair –
it keeps you moving but doesn't get you anywhere." ~ Peter Connelly
__________________________________________________________________________..
.
Quotes on Fear ....
.
.... Got FEAR of The DARK ?
A Daylong Retreat into Silent Sitting
in Stillness & Satsang with Akasa Levi
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Practicing Mindfulness through the Dark Season, or any season....
.
"Courage isn't the absence of Fear –
But the presence of Fear - and the will to go on.
Courage is the choice that something elseis more important than Fear."
~ Ambrose Redmond
"Fear is the cheapest room in the house.
I would like to see you living in better conditions."
~ Sufi poet Hafiz"Fear and Faith cannot keep house together –
When one enters, the other has to depart.
Where there is Faith, Fear cannot abide."
~ James I" Nothing in life is to be feared –
It is only to be understood "
~ Marie Curie"Our deepest fears are like dragons
guarding our deepest treasure."
~ Rainier Rilke"Fear Imprisons, Faith Liberates -
.Fear Paralyzes, Faith Empowers -
.Fear Disheartens, Faith Encourages -
.Fear Sickens, Faith Heals -
.Fear makes Useless, Faith makes Serviceable –
.Feed your Faith, and your Fears will starve to death.
....and, most of all,.Fear puts Hopelessness at the Heart of Life,
.while Faith rejoices in the Heart's Freedom."
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
"Fear knocked at the door.
Faith answered.
And lo, no one was there."
~ unknown.____________________________
__________________________.
.
.
.
...and we will discuss & explore the main Buddhist "Teaching
~ " DEATH is Not The End ! " ~
.A One Day Retreat with Akasa Levi
A Pre-Halloween Daylong of The Dead
a non-attachment practice in impermanence
This Daylong Retreat is at Noah Levine's Dharma-Punx
a non-attachment practice in impermanence
This Daylong Retreat is at Noah Levine's Dharma-Punx
Against The Stream Buddhist Meditation Society
.
" Can we really understand Life -
with all it's changes, transitions & loss -
if we don't thoroughly understand Death?
Buddhist methods and theories do."~ Bhante Ananda Maitreya ~
.A "Big Death" could really happen at any time. Just like an authentic
'Awakening' can ! Death is a fact of life. You know that. Yet many "Little Deaths" are happening all the time in the form of personal loss: big or small endings, careers, disappointments, violence, abandonment, big & little break-ups and breakdowns of people, places and things. Sadly yet often, our daily 'Living' is dead: "Death is simply refusing the Gift of Life".
So we need to intelligently explore the mind's subtle misconceptions and phobias that have created such a fear of Death in our anxiety stressed culture - and yet we're so over-saturated with it, we go numb. We emotionally die. "Minds that just refuse to understand." Un-aware, fear-based notions are now gradually, cognitively replaced with Dharma: kinder, more empowering, less frightening 'working-concepts' of Death, Dying and Rebirth..This can successfully calm and cut through the multitude of sufferings and stings of all our daily 'smaller deaths' - begin accepting the unacceptable - our minds fully willing or not. Properly understood, 'realization' of Death and Rebirth can effectively stimulate much better life choices, generous responsibility, and be a real impetus for meaningful personal growth - gaining profound peace from this work."Death-knowledge" can open us up, not close us down !
Buddha said: "Just as the elephant's footprint is the biggest footprint on
the whole jungle floor, 'Impermanence' in the form of Death is our biggest teacher". Conscious or not, our relationship to death colors absolutely all
other relationships. Young or old - when well-practiced - you can be at peace and 'present' during your big, small, or whatever your 'final' moments of any experience can be. "Let the truth of death overcome your fear of death. Include your death in your own life."
.
Gettin' Off n' On n' Off The Wheel of Life: we'll explore key-ideas like Rebirth versus Reincarnation, Bardo Limbo-states, Karma, Multiple Heavens and Hells, Divine Deva Realms, Hungry Ghosts, Kali, The Pure Land Western Paradise, The Six Realms of Possible Existence as Form or Formless-states, Samsara and Nirvana. Are these possibly only just Metaphors, or possibly not ?________________________________________________________. ______________________________________________________. .
More Past Post-Retreat Posthumous Poetry & Prose:
___________________________________________________
.
...."Only Good Enough" ! ? !
An ONLY JUST "GOOD ENOUGH MEDITATION" is OK !
A One Day Retreat with Akasa Levi"The Path of NO Expectations" !
Learn and practice Path-techniques to mindfully and wisely balance
What's Not Enough -with- What's Enough in our everyday-lives
of what really is a 24-7 life-practice – building-in and compassionately
applying the Wisdom of Instability teachings - and rediscovering
your own middle-path to No Expectations - No Disappointments.
Becoming User-Friendly with Flaws, Failure, Upset & Betrayal.Skillfully dealing with the Transitory, Illusory and Painful.
... all the while knowing that ...
an only just a "Good Enough Meditation” is very OK !.
applying the Wisdom of Instability teachings - and rediscovering
your own middle-path to No Expectations - No Disappointments.
Becoming User-Friendly with Flaws, Failure, Upset & Betrayal.Skillfully dealing with the Transitory, Illusory and Painful.
... all the while knowing that ...
an only just a "Good Enough Meditation” is very OK !.
Ideas about Perfection or Imperfection ?
Let go of your imaginary 'meditation goals'.
You will not achieve them by 'striving' for them.
"Don't let the Perfect become the enemy of the Good."
~ Voltaire
Clinging to old fashioned mind-states of anxious 'Striving' to achieve
'something' through 'Meditation' undermines the cultivation of Mindfulness,
which involves a clear, undistorted, no- agenda, present-moment fluid
attentiveness to whatever is happening. Having the Dharma-Realization
of allowing everyone & everything that we experience from moment to
moment to be Here – because it Already is. Our ongoing 'growth-practice'
training is to non-reactively, simply sit & observe it all.With too much Non-Dharma-thinking about ‘thinking’ - you've decided that
you need to 'improve' - or you need to spiritually 'get someplace' – which
means that 'who you are' and 'where you are right now' is Not Good Enough.
That'll spin you back into self-criticism – a bumpy slide into being lost in
the un-reality of some old story-content, again – and now you've introduced
'judgment' back into your meditation again.
Just Keep Sitting. Gradually thru the 'practice' there is much more 'receiving'
ALL of Yourself with authentic kindness. Meditation gently trains a 'mind-in-
process' - now continually being clarified, strengthened & sweetened by
a Dharma-informed-practice:
a softer, sane, stable, more easy-going-mind - a mind without urgency - a
mind without demands - a mind without expectation & disappointment.
A Big-mind. A 'mind' you actually like !
Let's move from the tedious, endless work
of your "Who Am I ?" attempts at 'self-definition' –
to the endless awareness-adventure of an
ever-unfolding "I Am" discovery in each moment !
"The Moment itself, is always Good Enough.Perfectly imperfect. Imperfectly perfect.
Being OK with 'The What Is'. As it is." _________________________________________________________________.
..
Meditation is definitely an 'acquired' taste - a short retreat is a quick way
to begin to get it - a deeper, more committed working 'relationship' with
the meditation practice. Retreats are a temporary monastery urban sanctuary
to safely lay aside all daily-demands – with a good balance of both movement
& stillness in silent living for a day.
.
.
"Only GOOD ENOUGH" ! ? ? !.
An ONLY
JUST "GOOD ENOUGH MEDITATION" is OK !
.
It's 'The Holy-Imperfection' parts of
The Practice-Path of NO Expectations
.
Just “Good Enough Meditation” ? But what about my 'Spiritual Attainment' ? There is a big difference here in our teaching of this 'form' of sitting Vipassana.
Cultivating a truly no-striving 'appreciative-mind' that simply says it's 'Good Enough'.
Actually living a practice through a mature philosophy of "It's All Good" - that is not a cliche – a life now continually being clarified, strengthened & sweetened by a Dharma-informed meditation practice: receptive, softer, a more easy-going-mind,
an undemanding-mind. A 'mind' I actually like.
.
"It's Good Enough to be present in the moment
when I am present in the moment.
And that’s enough." What a mantra !
.
The moment itself, is always good enough. Imperfectly perfect.
Of course it is - it simply is what it is - right there to be realized.
I'm OK with 'The What Is'. As it is. The Heart Sutra's 'no preferences'.
I simply practice a “Good Enough meditation”. But I do have to practice
And all this ‘thinking’ is Thinking that thinks it’s not ‘thinking’ !It could be come obsessive vigilance. Too complicating. 'Oiy !Too much red-alert all the time. Too much thinking about ‘thinking’.That'll spin you back into self-judgment – becoming too self-conscious –for that is a set up to slide into being lost in content, judgment and fear again.A Meditation Practice that is simply 'Good Enough' –
rather than a striven/driven for ‘perfected’ one.
..
" I'm a NOT GOOD ENOUGH Meditator ! "...and I so hated meditation - and yet monks meditate.But I wanted to become a monk in Asia so bad -that I trained myself into it - begrudgingly trained,awkwardly trained and at times simply loving myselfinto it - the simple magic of it - with my teacher'squiet, gentle patience. I'm so glad I did !" ~ Akasa Levi.
on Sufficiency" – mindfully moderating Not Enough with What's Enough
in our everyday lives. A very reasonable practice-path of realizing
that all this leads to true freedom. What a relief !!! ....'Nuf said....
.
________________________________________________________________.
.
"So I don't get to be The Buddha this life-time,
but I can sure get some kindness, peace and quiet into my life ..
and get a little bit of applied Buddhist wisdom going .. and that
sure feels good !"
~ jennifer
.
.Day-long retreat 'practice' will focus on mindfulness meditation.
We will train our minds in present-time-awareness by bringing
attention to the breath and body and our inner-relationship to
the pleasant and unpleasant physical, emotional and mental
states that arise. This allows one to gradually understand
the Truth of the constantly changing nature of all things
and how to respond with compassion and friendliness
to the inevitably difficult experience of being human.
~ Noah Levine .
.
Retreats Always Offer the necessary deeper
"immersion-time experiences" often lacking
in somewhat more 'casual' meditation sitting.
..
Just beginning to offer yourself periodic 'gentle intensives' ~
could make a big 'experiential-difference' in really establishing
yourself in a deeper, authentic working 'relationship' with the
meditation 'practice'. When your meditation retreat-sitting
is over ~ even just for only this one-day ~
you're in a whole new place with yourself....
.
Short retreats ~ .
To be able to reasonably & responsibly allow 'a trial letting-go'
of obsolete 'worldly' limits & 'beliefs' - that only 'appear' in the Buzz
to be needed day-to-day. And yet your 'reactions' to Life just may be
too embedded and enmeshed to normally set aside. Maybe an attempt
to be a 'monk' or a 'nun' for a whole full-day as a meditative 'Time-Out'
for a gentle, simple retreat could really be eminently possible !
.'Awakening' takes 'Everyday-Bravery' and a dose of 'Will-power' –
combined with the awkward 'grace'-filled beginnings of a saintly 'Patience'.
Remember, we are swimming somewhat strong n' steady upstream now -
yet each of us with our very own habituated, addicted, over-conditioned, fully loaded consciousness still in tow. It's always all about letting-go ! Always !.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
.
Past Post-Retreat Posthumous Poetry & Prose:
goodie leftovers for eatin' the next day....
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
.
.
Post'humously: The Spring Equinox Event in Malibu
March The Wright Land EQUINOX Ritual Ceremony& Grand Potluck Dinner & Homemade Music ~ Plan to Come ?
.
.. Out of The Cave
of Winter at Last ! ________________________________________
___________________________________________
for future contact info . . .
on The Wright Land / Malibu - Details: http://www.elwright.net/wrightway/calendar.html
.
For more technical Equinox times & Details ~ thanks to SouledOuthttp://www.souledout.org/nightsky/springequinox/springequinox.html
_________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________.
.
and here's some Spring Poems ~ springing . . .. .
.
"The Flower is a Leaf
gone Mad with Love!" ~ Goethe.
_____________________________________________
.
.
" Ahh, the springtime air smells so good today,
straight from the mysteries within the inner courts of God.
The trees in their prayer, the birds in praise,
the first flowers open wide in surprise !
Whatever came from Being is caught up in being,
drunkenly forgetting the way back to winter! " .......~ Rumi
.
_________________________________________________
. .
"SPRINGING AHEAD" ~with thanks to Native American author Cory Wilson
.
I cannot escape the feeling that I am being forced out of The 'Cave' of Winter.
Spring is here, but do I really want to leave? Do I really want to 'Spring Forward' ?
As I write, I think of the décor I've surrounded myself with all this winter, my spiritual
adornments, if you will. I think about how difficult it was going into the 'Winter Cave'
in the first place, how much I fought it, and now - how I can't help but feel the same
way upon leaving. How was your journey into the Winter Cave? How do you feel
about coming out, or "Springing Forward"? What did you learn this time 'within' ..
this time through? It is with great fascination that I ask these questions of you too,
my sisters, my brothers, in hopes we can 'gleam off' each other ways of moving
through the Sacred Seasons with greater bravery, ease & depth - and greater
acceptance. To be fluid, like the tides. To be a part of, not apart from .. to be With!
And with the 'rest' of it all? Well, the rest will be what it will be... and You?
- just Loving What Is! ......Ah-ho To All Our Directions !
.
" The onset of a new seasonal cycle teaches gradualness and deliberation,
and how one gives birth to oneself slowly, very slowly " ..... ~ Rumi.
___________________________________________________
.
In these dark waters drawn up
from my frozen winter's well ...
Now so, so glittering of Spring! .....~ Ringai
________________________
.
"It's such a wond'rous
inner-trickery of Mother Nature
to get us to love the Spring so much !
I just love being an April Fool !"
~ Sr. Anne Higgins, DC
Emmitsburg Rural Convent, Maryland
new beginnings
.
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything
that will assist and assert your integrity of purpose
and imaginative vision beyond the play-it-safers,
the creatures of the conditioned commonplace,
the sleeping slaves of the ordinary.
~ Sir Cecil Beaton (renown British photographer 1927)
.
.Stuck in the world of the small 'we' ~
so trying to push through the small 'we'.
Just go directly to the 'Greater We' ~
that's where the Resources are !
~ Frankie Lee Slater .
..
.
BE the changes
you want to see in the world !
~ Gandhi
.
.
spring poem: early march
.
It's been so wet and rainy this late Winter,
but now the coastal sky is big & blue again.
And ah yes! .. there it is .. at last ! .. at last !
At Last ! I can clearly hear it now....
far, far away in the warming distance,
heading it's unswerving course towards me
down the vast vernal expanse
of the grassy lawn out front -
the steady engine burrrrr of
the gardener's vintage lawnmower
tossing up grassy tips of green glitter,
coming closer and closer
to the Spring Equinox.
~ Akasa Levi..
.
The Day of the Spring (or Vernal) Equinox
......has equal times of Daylight and Darkness
We are almost now at that very 'present-moment point' in the yearly cycle
when an exquisite Balance exists between Light and Dark. As the Sun
slowly moves from Pisces to Aries, it crosses the Earth's equator,
and a momentary balance of day and night is achieved.
Thereafter, the hours of light will predominate -
the hours of dark will let go, fade
and settle into the background..
.
The Equinox, then, is a time for us to examine our own Balance.
Does a Balance exist between your poles of yin and yang,
or are you prisoners of images of how you "should" be ?
As we move toward more mindfully balanced parts
of our outer-nature ( the light ), do we respect
and honor parts of our inner-nature ( the dark ) ?.
It was Carl Jung that reminded us -
"that without the Darkness,
we could not see the Light
given by a candle flame.".
* Spring's Here,
Wake Up Hibernation-Head !.
__________________________________________________
________________________________________________.
.
~ post'humously ~ march 14/15 - 2009
.a Haiku reading — a Haiku teaching.
.
.one breath long ~ Haiku is the world's briefest literary form
— and the most well-known 'Asian' poetry of the 21st century.
.
If you love poetry or ever thought about learning Haiku -
this is going to be the best Buddhist poetry / literary / writing
workshop-teaching event ever ! ...and at almost no cost.
This is one weekend just not to miss. Come for all or part.
.
Bring pen, paper & just listen & learn & fall back in love again
with words that express ! Gary is a great influence & mentor.
.
Buddhist Haiku poet & translator Gary Gachwill be reading with award winning poet Amy Uyematsu
on Saturday March 14 at 7:30 PM at the
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center - 681 Venice Blvd
Venice - CA 90291 - (310) 822-3006 - web link: beyond baroque.
..
Gary Gach's Buddhist lineage is in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.
Gary, a prolific writer, is editor of the immensely popular "What Book!?
Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop" ( American Book Award )
and has published the translations of Ko Un, Korea's unofficial
poet laureate, Songs for Tomorrow (Green Integer), Flowers
of a Moment (BOA), and Ten Thousand Lives (Green Integer).
He's co-editor of World Haiku Review and has contributed to
Brick, Drunken Boat, Fish Drum, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Jacket,
The Nation, The New Yorker, Poems for the Millennium, and
Words Without Borders.
He is also author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buddhism.
Gary himself is an approachable, sweet & gentle soul, quietly
in touch with the moment - yet can be powerfully dramatic.. .
A HaikuWorkshop at Beyond Baroque on Sunday March 15
SUNDAY Afternoon - 2:00-5:30 PM
The LOS ANGELES URBAN HAIKU WORKSHOP.
.
"GARY GACH leads a workshop on learning, noticing,
exploring, experiencing, writing, and sharing Haiku" — LA haiku. . .
The Way of Haiku encourages and supports a genuine life,
intimate with the heart of creation, training us in clear seeing
and deep listening, intuitive wisdom and a warm heart.
We'll map the basics, take a relaxed haiku-walk ( ginko )
right in Beyond Baroque's own splendid backyard, and
develop your written 'work' from this - and share what
we encounter, written and unwritten. With Haiku, we
can learn how to make each word and moment count,
sense our senses, harmonize perception & expression,
train our attention and cultivate our awareness.
.
Gary has led haiku workshops across California
and around the country - at the Asian Art Museum,
Book Passage University, O'Hanlon Center for the Arts,
Otis College of the Arts, Stanford Writer's Studio,
Villa Montalvo, and San Francisco Zen Center.He hopes to write two or three
immortal haiku in his lifetime.
..
no prior background - writers & nonwriters,
meditation practitioners & the merely curious.
It'll be an inspiring afternoon.
. . .
.ants floating downriver on a twig
.................still singing
— issa-Issa, 1795.
.
Gary's blog pages:
http://www.redroom.com/author/gary-g-gach
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/where-buddha-meets-freud
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/riches-a-different-market
.
________________________________________________ ______________________________________________. .
..
~ post'humously ~
Good reading from 'Love' Retreat 2/14/09
including two Rilke pieces, scroll down to 3/4 point
.
POST-RETREAT Student Comment:
"Everybody was in Love, unconditionally for moments !".
* Winter Daylong Saturday Retreat
on VALENTINE's DAY ~ February 14
about "LOVE & Other Difficulties". . .
.
from the title of an essay by poet Rainer Rilke
in the bohemian Paris of Picasso in 1910..
.
Compassionate Mindfulness Meditation
inspired by a deeper exploration into
'Relationship-dharma' using some
of the radical poetry & teachings
of Rilke, Rumi & The Buddha .
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All Practice Levels & for slightly brave Beginners
A Daylong is really the very BEST way to Begin!
Hey, it's a piece of cake ! Please trust that.
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.A Daylong Retreat into Silent Sitting
in Stillness & Satsang with Akasa Levi
9 am – 4:30 pm ~ Santa Monica
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*
"Valentine's Day" has too often become,
in our bizarre modern mega-media marketplace, sadly,
The Halloween of Love. And so has how we actually DO 'relationships'.
And that can certainly be 'course-corrected' by beginning to allow an
authentic wise, open heart's expression - strengthened by immersed
retreat-time practice - as we continue to re-learn 'Love' for ourselves.
We'll take a loving, sober look at some of the 'conditioned difficulties'
and 'attachments' around how we DO 'Love' - using an un-hooking,
un-deluding Dharma-approach. Maybe that can lead us up to
the right Questions we must ask ourselves
about what is a 'true relationship' ?
......some savory and profound
Valentine's insight-awareness sweets just may arise!
... and you'll experience the clouds dissolve into clarity.
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."... a Change of Heart changes Everything".
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Compassionate Roses & Insightful Thorns:a Relationship-themed Vipassana meditation daylong -
enhanced by poetic 'contemplations' of true Love - and the
Dharma's good ole' tough-love teachings based in ancient
Buddhist Attachment-theory. We'll consider the words of Rumi,
Rilke & Buddha on our # 1 Leading Delusion: 'Relationship' & 'Romance'.
This retreat could certainly assist 'partnerings' of all kinds, couples, those
dating, as well as troubled friendships - and yes, those of us who are single -
actually, all our 'relationships' with the world ! Buddha's sustainable formula for
Love & Happiness that is not based on any inner or outer 'situations', 'conditions',
'circumstances' or 'outcomes' whatsoever.
AND we are all getting part-way there already !
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Retreat Quotes on Relationship
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Rilke excerpts ~
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~ Rainer Maria Rilke, (1875-1926)
the world-renown German existential philosopher, poet and author
of "On Love & Other Difficulties" and "Letters to a Young Poet"
Highly mature, sobering letters and poems on love - show Rilke's
profound understanding of men and women and his ardent spirituality.
His radical books, were written over a hundred years ago in the avant-garde'
bohemian Paris of Picasso. Rilke introduces the contradictory concept
of solitude as a blessing. He seems to have this way of reaching into
your inner- soul and grabbing ahold of 'your reality' and making you face it,
in a tone of controlled urgency, in an exhorting, passionate sort of way.
Experimental openness to experience, on comprehending what is most
difficult - and turning what is most alien into that which we can most trust. .
~ John J. L. Mood________________________________________________________________
from "ON LOVE & OTHER DIFFICULTIES" (1908) by Rainer Rilkesome deep comprehension-reading ~ certainly not for lovers of the naive ...
" The point of marital or any relationship is not to create a quick commonality
by tearing down all boundaries - on the contrary, a good relationship is one
in which each partner anoints the other to be the guardian of their solitude,
and in this they show each other the greatest possible trust. This I hold to be
the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard
over the solitude of the other.
For, since it lies in the nature of indifference or insecurity of the common crowd
to recognize no solitude - then love and friendship are specifically there
for the purpose of continually providing the 'opportunity' for solitude.
And only love and friendship are the "true sharings" which do rhythmically
interrupt our individual periods of deep solitary emotion.
A merging, a true and absolute togetherness between two people
is an impossibility - and where it does seem to exist nevertheless -
it IS still a narrowing, a hemming-in, a mutually-compromised-consent -
that really does limit one party or both of their fullest freedom & development.
But once the realization is accepted - that even between the closest people,infinite distance continues to exist - a wonderful living side-by-side can then
grow up for them -
IF they succeed in loving the expanse, loving the distance between them -which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other
as a whole being before an immense wide sky ! "
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"On Love & Other Difficulties" ~ the above was adapted, added to, and edited by Akasa Levi
from Translations and Considerations of Rainier Maria Rilke by John Mood; W.W. Norton, 1975
and The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke by Stephen Mitchell & Robert Hass; Vintage, 1989
- both as translated from Rilke's original German editions.
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~ and most famously -
.Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" (1903-1908)
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." Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your own heart.
Try to love the 'Questions' themselves - like locked rooms
and like books that are written in a foreign language.
Do not right now seek for the Answers. The 'Answers'
which cannot now be given to you - because you would
not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything -
Experiencing everything !
At present, you need to live the Questions. Perhaps you willgradually, without even noticing it, live along some
distant day into the true Answer. Your answer." ~ Rilke
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"The Buddhist absence of 'Attachment' -.
is not necessarily at all, in any way,
.the absence of profound loving." ~ Ananda Maitreya.
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This retreat is suitable for both beginning and experienced meditators.Everyone is welcome to our retreats, absolutely regardless of your present level
of meditation experience or practice. One short day is simply a piece of cake !.
This Day-Long Retreat is hosted by
"Against The Stream"
Buddhist Meditation Society
at the new Santa Monica Meditation Center
1001(a) Colorado Avenue - Santa Monica - 90401
( enter through alley on north side of Colorado,
between 10th and 11th Streets )
Akasa Levi at 310.450.2268
leave messages"Love' exists only in the True Friendship.
Love is Friendship set on Fire !"
~ Jeremy Taylor, 1657.
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"Your task is not to 'seek' for Love -
but merely to seek and find all the 'barriers'
within yourself, that you have built against Love." ~ Rumi
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.LOVE is . . .
" Love doesn't make the world go 'round.
Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."
~ Adida
" Love is the difficult realization that
something other than oneself is real."
~ Iris Murdoch
" Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others,
and the pure delight in the recognition."
~ Alexander Smith
" Love doesn't just sit there like a stone - it has to be made,
like bread, remade all the time, made new."
~ Ursula LeGuin
" You come to Love not by finding the 'perfect' person,
but by seeing an 'imperfect' person perfectly."
~ Sam Keen
" The best relationship is the one in which your love
for each other exceeds your need for each other."
" A spiritual-awakening
which does not awaken the sleeper to Love,
has roused them in vain."
~ both by Rilke 1910
" What most people need to learn in life
is how to love people and use things ~
instead of using people and loving things."
"On reflection,
one of the things I needed to learnwas to allow myself to be loved
...by oneself as well as others..."
~ Isha McKenzie-Mavinga .
Please join us for a day of sitting and walking meditation
in the Theravada Buddhist tradition of cultivating Wisdom
and Compassion through Mindfulness of the Present.
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"Courage:
The choice that something else is more important than Fear."
~ Ambrose Redmond
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" The Journey Itself
....IS the Destination ! "
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.____________________________________________.
........~ post'humously ~
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POST-RETREAT Comment:
The ATS Retreat on Saturday NOVEMBER 22, 2008
( Everybody totally survived & came Thru alive !!! ... joyously ! )..
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Got Fear of The Dark ?
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THE CREATIVE POWER OF 'THE DARK UNKNOWN'
.A PRE-THANKSGIVING RETREAT with Akasa Levi
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9 am – 4:30 pm ~ Hollywood4300 Melrose at Heliotrope
Los Angeles CA 90029 .
Practicing Mindfulness through The Dark Season
and feeding 'Wisdom-Faith' instead of
the Demons of Delusion, Despair or Anger.
.The Great Yogis advise keeping our hands free,
traveling light n' agile in the dark - or else
we'll blindly trip over our own old, self-limiting baggage -
and lose all mindfulness - banging into stuff like fear,
delusions and outdated 'stories'. All sorts of Hinderences. Things that go bump in the night...
Can we have an authentically wise, non-attached mind -
yet a passionately empathic, tender, loving Heart ?
It definitely takes 'practice'. Yet, it's a 'can-do' .
."Be Mindful so you don't stumble in the dark, the path is slippery".
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"Fear is like sitting in a rocking chair –
it keeps you moving but doesn't get you anywhere." ~ Peter Connelly
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Quotes on Fear ....
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.... Got FEAR of The DARK ?
A Daylong Retreat into Silent Sitting
in Stillness & Satsang with Akasa Levi
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Practicing Mindfulness through the Dark Season, or any season....
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"Courage isn't the absence of Fear –
But the presence of Fear - and the will to go on.
Courage is the choice that something elseis more important than Fear."
~ Ambrose Redmond
"Fear is the cheapest room in the house.
I would like to see you living in better conditions."
~ Sufi poet Hafiz"Fear and Faith cannot keep house together –
When one enters, the other has to depart.
Where there is Faith, Fear cannot abide."
~ James I" Nothing in life is to be feared –
It is only to be understood "
~ Marie Curie"Our deepest fears are like dragons
guarding our deepest treasure."
~ Rainier Rilke"Fear Imprisons, Faith Liberates -
.Fear Paralyzes, Faith Empowers -
.Fear Disheartens, Faith Encourages -
.Fear Sickens, Faith Heals -
.Fear makes Useless, Faith makes Serviceable –
.Feed your Faith, and your Fears will starve to death.
....and, most of all,.Fear puts Hopelessness at the Heart of Life,
.while Faith rejoices in the Heart's Freedom."
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
"Fear knocked at the door.
Faith answered.
And lo, no one was there."
~ unknown.____________________________
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...and we will discuss & explore the main Buddhist "Teaching
