Sangha of Auspicious Companions

December 4, 2017

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Suiseki: The Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation

It’s a tradition in Japan: suiseki are natural stones that suggest natural scenes or animal and human figures. The stones should not be modified and are displayed as found (a single cut is allowed). When someone finds a stone that embodies such a quality, it’s collected and a display base, usually wooden, is crafted for the stone to sit upon. The tradition arrived from China where scholar’s stones had been collected and appreciated as early as the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century. In this interview, Masahiro Nakajima and Janet Roth, president of the San Francisco Suiseki Kai, discuss the depth and meaning in this ancient art. { read more }

Be The Change

Take a minute and select a stone to ponder. Can you feel its depth and quiet simplicity?

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December 3, 2017

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Open Source Seeds

At a time when the monopolization of genetic resources by corporations is reducing diversity and limiting the variety of seeds available to farmers and gardeners, OpenSourceSeeds is licensing seeds to make them available to the commons in perpetuity. Working within German laws, they developed a licensing agreement with the express purpose of creating a new repository of genetic material for farmers worldwide to access. Dr. Johannes Kotschi, one of the leaders of this initiative explains how the licensing came about, how it protects the seeds, the farmers, and the seed’s genetics, and how others are using their process to license bees, animals and microorganisms so they remain available to the “commons” and out of the control of corporations. { read more }

Be The Change

Open Source Seeds is in the first stage of implementing their idea. YOu can learn more about them here. Consider what you might do to share the idea of open source seeds, convey the urgency of protecting seeds, bees, animals, and microorganisms and/or promote the notions of food security through diversity and the restoration of crop seeds as a common good. { more }

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December 2, 2017

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Stone by Stone

Facing a row of heavy sodden soil to be turned by hand, and looking up at the wider project of other rows; these moments come up in so many ways over and over in our lives. “How will this all get done?” we wonder. The choices to procrastinate, to look for a quicker or easier method, or to give up and walk away declaring “It can’t be done!” are all possibilities. The approach we take in each of these moments has meanings and answers that go deep into the underground of our lives. Alanda Greene turns these reflections over one forkful at a time in her essay about the annual task of turning dirt. { read more }

Be The Change

The next time you face a daunting task, pause and ask yourself one or mor
e of these questions from Alandra’s essay. Use your answers to guide how you proceed. What am I choosing to express in my life? What qualities do I want to strengthen? What values do I choose to live by?

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December 1, 2017

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Wislawa Szymborska: The Poet and the World

Poets are Fortune’s darlings according to Wislawa Szymborska. Despite the trials and tribulations, the frustration of not feeling comfortable calling oneself a poet and the real threat of claiming the title “poet” without official certification in some countries, poets are charged with answering the inner impulse of inspiration with “I don’t know.” The search for knowing leads poets inevitably to create a body of work, one that is never fully complete. They consider every word, weighing each one to reveal what most of us consider ordinary and normal as extra-ordinary and unique. Whether stone or cloud, day or night, a single existence or a person’s existence, poets give their lives to describing a world and those in it as astonishing. What follows is the translated text of Symborska’s Nobel acceptance speech. { read more }

Be The Change

Find a poet you enjoy and use her work to inspire you to write your own poem. Choose one day and look at every thing you see and each moment as astonishing, then describe it as a poet might. { more }

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Portrait of an Artist – Milan Rai

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November 30, 2017

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The Sound of the Genuine

“Cultivate the discipline of listening” for your genuine self. This is the advice that Howard Thurman gave in 1980 during his commencement address at Spelman College. How many of us ever take the time to do that? We spend our days in many pointless pursuits that distract us from our essential truth. Thurman says the world is waiting for this truth to pour out of us, it is of our own creation and can’t be dictated by anyone else or mimicked from others. Whether grand or simple, it is what we need to give to the world if we are to find ourselves or make the contribution that only we can make. Read more of Thurman’s profound address here and cultivate the discipline of hearing that still small voice within to be yourself. { read more }

Be The Change

The inner voice of wisdom within each of us is a guide to the genuine self. It takes time and discipline to discern internal noise from the inner self, but with time and testing, one begins to hear with the intuition of the heart. Today, listen for that inner call to be true to your genuine self. For more inspiration join this Saturday’s Awakin Call with animal rights activist Jasmin Singer, who listened to the sound of the genuine within herself. RSVP and more info here. { more }

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November 29, 2017

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Having it Out With Melancholy

With great care and attention, make a hot cup of tea. Take it to a room with a window. Sit down, take off your glasses and exhale slowly. Listen to this hauntingly beautiful recording of Jane Kenyon’s poem read aloud by Amanda Palmer. Listen again. Let the understanding, pain and relief wash over you. Then, after a moment, explore the rich context of Maria Popova’s introduction to this Brain Pickings article. { read more }

Be The Change

Share this recording with someone you know who needs to know they are not alone in their own struggles.

Be brave and invite someone over to listen together.

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