Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Goenkaji: Every moment one is taking birth, every
moment one is dying. Understand this process of life and
death. This will make you very happy, and you will
understand what happens after death.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Here are my aspirations worded in a better and far more advanced way than i could ever create

i aspire to head in this direction.

"The principal focus is on cultivating a mind wishing to benefit other sentient beings.  With an increase in our own sense of peace and happiness we will naturally be better able to contribute to the peace and happiness of others.  Given the habitual orientation of the mind, fixed as it is upon the supposed reality of ego and phenomena, rooted in the duality of subject and object... the fact that an impulse toward perfect altruism and self-forgetting can arise at all seems nothing short of miraculous.
The doctrine of karma has only one message: the experience of states of being follows upon the perpetration of acts.
Buddhism teaches that the object of compassion is simply suffering itself.  All beings, at all times and regardless of circumstances, are worthy objects.  The vow of the bodhisattva is to deliver beings from suffering, in other words to deliver them from the causes of their suffering.
How is it, that mere thoughts can cause so much havoc?  It is simply because we allow them to do so.  Thoughts after all are merely thoughts.
The simple but difficult task is to become aware of how thoughts emerge and develop.  Just as the mind is the source of every suffering, likewise it is the wellspring of every joy."

Monday, December 2, 2013

Our hometown's hero!

I read this in the book On the Beaten Path: Westborough, Massachusetts.  by Kristina Nilson Allen

Tom Cook, Westborough’s Robin Hood, saw himself as the “Leveler” since he balanced the local economy by giving to the poor what he stole from the rich.  Noted for his cunning and personal charm, Tom Cook was born on October 6, 1738 in the “plaster house” at 114 East Main Street on the west corner of Lyman Street.  He was the son of the blacksmith Cornelius Cook and his wife Eunice Forbush Cook.
Legend has it that as a child Tom became deathly ill, and his mother- at her wit’s end- cried out, “Only spare his life, only spare his life, and I care not what he becomes!” Miraculously the child was spared and grew into a handsome scoundrel who made his livelihood by his sharp wit and agile fingers.  The Cook family left Westborough to settle in Wrentham in 1750, but Tom Cook chose to wander the New England countryside, stealing from carefully chosen, affluent victims.  Supposedly Cook also managed to collect protection money from those who did not relish a visit from the thief.
Tom Cook kept none of this booty for himself; he doled it out generously to those less fortunate than their neighbors.  He would slip into one prosperous farmer’s kitchen and steal a pudding cooking on the fire, only to drop it into the pot of a hungry family down the road.
One story has Tom climbing into a bedroom and selecting the very best featherbed.  Wrapping the comforter in a sheet, he climbed out the window, went around the hosue, and knocked at the door.  When the mistress of the house answered the door, Tom Cook asked politely if he might leave his bundle with her for safekeeping.  The woman refused to have either Tom Cook or his bundle in her house, so off he went with a clear conscience to present a sick comrade with the featherbed.
Although he was often arrested, Tom seemed little interested in mending his ways.  Reverend Parkman recorded in his journal for August 27, 1779, “The notorious Thomas Cook came in (he says) on Purpose to see me.  I gave him what Admonition, Instruction, and Caution I could.  I beseech God to give it Force!  He leaves me With fair Words – thankful and Promising.”
In his old age, Cook no longer could rely on his wits to live.  His last years were spent on the Upton Road farm of Levi Bowman who boarded the town’s poor.  Tom Cook died near the age of ninety and is thought to be buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in town.

More of his exploits are described in The Leveller by Jackie Greene (1984) and The Hundredth Town by Harriet M. Forbes.

do you find his behavior acceptable?

Saturday, November 30, 2013

like ze quotes i like zem

To be aware of a single shortcoming within oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in someone else.

~ Dalai Lama ~

NOW IS TIME FOR SIMPLE ACTS OF KINDNESS

So what can "we" do when tragedy strikes in another place? We see photos but it really does not touch our personal lives. We feel hopeless so maybe just turn off the tv, or whisper to a loved one that it is so sad, I am glad you are safe. And then we go about our business.

But is that enough? Can we do more? 

Perhaps one way to contribute to the relief of suffering is to look at our own lives and offer a healing to someone. The healing can come with a long-awaited phone call or letter, holding back a criticism, offering an encouragement, a visit to a lonely person... we know what it is in our lives that we have been holding back on - perhaps too busy or too involved in "self" - just a simple offering of generosity, of kindness, of love will help not only the recipient, but all of us.

~ Dalai Lama ~

Dear monks..
be mindful of what consists of our body…
Those are.. hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, liver, blood vessels, bones, cartilages, gall bladder, kidneys, heart, lungs, intestines, stomach, stools, urine, blood, sweat, saliva, brain, mucus, tears, and fat.. 
Being mindful of these, help u to understand the true nature of our body, and that helps to dissolve the myth of ego…

"The results of karma cannot be known by thought, and so should not be speculated about. Thus, thinking, one would come to distraction and distress. "Therefore, Ananda, do not be the judge of people; do not make assumptions about others. A person is destroyed by holding judgments about others." 

If a man's mind becomes pure, his surroundings will also become pure.


Love is characterized as promoting the welfare of others. Its function is to desire welfare. It is manifested as the removal of annoyance. Its proximate cause is seeing the loveable-ness in beings. It succeeds when it makes ill-will subside, and it fails when it gives rise to selfish affection.

Compassion is characterized as promoting the removal of others' suffering. Its function is not bearing others' suffering. It is manifested as kindness. Its proximate cause is seeing helplessness in those overwhelmed by suffering. It succeeds when it makes cruelty subside, and it fails when it gives rise to sorrow.

Sympathetic joy is characterized as joy in the success of others. Its function is being free from envy. It is manifested as the elimination of aversion. Its proximate cause is seeing other beings' success. It succeeds when it makes aversion subside, and it fails when it gives rise to merriment.

Equanimity is characterized as promoting equipoise towards beings. Its function is to see the equality in beings. It is manifested as quieting like and dislike. Its proximate cause is seeing the ownership of deeds thus:

"Beings are heirs to their deeds. Whose, if not theirs, is the choice by which they will become happy, or will be free from suffering, or will not fall away from the success they have reached?" It succeeds when it makes like and dislike subside, and it fails when it gives rise to the indifference of ignorance based on the household life.

~ Visuddhimagga 318

Monday, October 28, 2013

Introduction to The Encyclopedia of Saints by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

"My long-standing interest in saints came to a turning point in 1997 after an unexpected, spontaneous and deeply moving experience.
In the spring of that year, I traveled to Montreal to speak at a conference.  Montreal is home to St. Joseph's Oratory, a magnificent structure built on Mount Royal, a small mountain within the city environs.  It is a healing shrine, the world's largest pilgrimage center dedicated to St. Joseph.  Some 2 million people of all faiths from all over the world come here every eyar to pray for the intercession of a remarkable saint, Blessed Brother Andre, whose tomb lies within the oratory. One Sunday, I visited the oratory and joined  a large throng of people lined up to pay their respects at the tomb.  I came with no particular purpose other than to see the oratory and witness others.  I didn't even know much about the life of Brother Andre.  What happened to me there caused me to learn about his life and miraculous healing work.

Brother Andre was born Alfred Bessette in a village east of Montreal in 1845 to a poor and humble family.  He was small and of delicate constitution, and suffered poor health all of his life.  In 1870, he sought to enter the Congregation of the Holy Cross, a religious order dedicated to the teaching profession.  The order accepted him despite his lack of education, and gave him the lowly job of doorkeeper at Notre Dame College in Mount Royal.  He took the name Andre in honor of his sponsor, Pastor Andre Provencal.

Brother Andre spent much of his time in prayer.  When he was off-duty, he visited the sick.  Miraculous cures were attributed to him and he soon became renowned as the "Wonder Man of Mount Royal." People came from afar to see him.  He always credited the cures to the intercession of his patron saint, Joseph.

Brother Andre's ability was not greeted with warmth within his own religious community.  Some were skeptical and even opposed him.  The quiet little man persevered, always within the requirements of authority, and fianlly realized his great dream to build na oratory in honor of St. Joseph.  It began with a tiny chapel on Mount Royal in 1904.  Over the years, donations in honor of Brother Andre have enabled expansions.  The present basilica is the tallest point in Montreal, and holds 3,000 people.

Brother Andre died in 1937 and was beatified in 1987 by Pope John Paul II.  His death did not end his healing work.  As millions of pilgrims attest, his intercession from beyond the grave enables continuing miracles of divine healing.

Brother Andre's heart is on view as a relic, encased in a clear glass container in the oratory.  But the real attraction, the real power center, is his small black granite tomb, called the Black Coffin.  Pilgrims come to touch the tomb and pray for healing.

So there I was this one Sunday morning, filing into the small alcove that contains the tomb.  Outside the alcove, candlelight flickered over the high walls filled with the canes and crutches people had thrown away after miraculous healings there.

The tomb itself was small, plain and unadorned.  The simplicity of its surroundings certainly gave no hint that therein lay the remains of a miracle healer revered around the world.  Someone had placed a single red rose atop the tomb.  People waited for a turn to touch the black granite while others crowded around them.  At last I maneuvered to the front and placed both palms on top of the tomb.

When I touched the tomb, I felt a burning begin in the center of my chest.  It astonished me.  The feelings intensified, as though my heart center were on fire.  This feeling of fiery heat radiated out to the rest of my body, growing stronger, until I felt as though I were enveloped in invisible flames.  I felt strangely unable to move.  As I stood riveted to the tomb, it came to me that I was touching the heart of god, experiencing the burning fire of true unconditional love.  it was flowing into me as a heat and fire that literally were burning away imperfections in me.  layer upon layer peeled away.  the intensity and brilliance of this radiance were overwhelming.

Suddenly I understood that there is a difference between love and unconditional love.  Love heals, nurtures, nourishes and sustains.  Unconditional love purifies.  This difference is at once subtle and profound; at once infinitesimal and vast.  I was being purified in some way by unconditional love.

The burning sensation lasted as long as I held my hands on the tomb.  I remained swept up in a rapture equal to that of any saint.  I have never felt so much in the presence of God.

On my last day in Montreal I returned to the oratory.  I was anxious to touch the Black Coffin again.  I desired that incredible fire that had taken me into the presence of God.  It was a weekday, with few people about, and so this time I had the entire alcove to myself.  But when I touched the tomb again there was no burning.  Instead I felt a deep and soft inner radiance.  It was another extraordinary experience, but of a different sort.

In retrospect, I realized that of course I would not experience the same fire.  A mystical experience is unique and not repeated.  The expansion of consciousness that comes from it is needed only once.

What was the source of the power that facilitated such an experience?  How can a holy person continue, from the other side of death, as a channel for divine grace?  I do not know the answers, but only continue to explore the mystery.  Was I changed?  Yes.  Like the experience itself, I was changed in both subtle and profound ways.  I did not feel that I had become "holy" or anything of the sort.  And though I felt "stuff" burned off of me, I still possessed the same flaws and shortcomings.  But I have a much different awareness of love now, and of the importance of bringing love to its highest and purest expression, that of unconditional love.

This experience joins the records of countless other transformative experiences had by people the world over when they come into the presence of saints.  As I mentioned at the beginning, I had already long been interested in saints as part of my study of mysticism.  This experience with Brother Andre propelled me into a deeper study of both.

Friday, October 25, 2013


With understanding of impermanence, REAL understanding of everything arising to pass away, we will no longer be trol seeubled by anything that presents itself in our experience.
"This too shall pass."  Whether it is something that brings pleasure, pain, both, or neither, this too shall pass.
Then we will see the world through a whole new lens.  Everyone who is weighed down by the past, present, and/or future... they
are weighed down by mental constructs alone, so much of the time!  By BELIEVING that life is hard because a loved one passed away 10 years ago and you have been grieving since,
you are ensuring that that is your reality.  But if you believed that you were grateful to have had that person in your life while they were here and now you embody their qualities in honor of their life,
then you are not weighed down but instead "raised up".  It is the same thing happening at the physical level, but an entirely different life at the mental level.
Ohhhhhhhhh Juancito and then there is ONLY COMPASSION left.  Compassion for everyone who thinks that there is a real, permanent hardship occurring in the life.  Because they think it it is so.  They do not have to think it.
But because they think they have to think it, it is so.  Ohhhhhhhhhh if only we could look directly into their eyes and replace this belief system with one that lightens the load!
It is everywhere.  It is all around us.  And if we grow deeper and more penetrating eyes to view it with, then we grow deeper and more penetrating wisdom to help.
Leave behind your own problems and you see the problems of all around you.
See the problems of all around you and feel how much potential you have to help.
Feel how much potential you have to help and see where that takes you in your life.
Live your life for others and you will always be happy and free.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

understand that virtuous deeds lead to happiness.
therefore at all times gather your energy and generously dedicate it to all sentient beings,
praying that your happiness and virtuous deeds may nurture all beings.

all discernible appearances, both outer and inner phenomena,
are like dreams and illusions-
in the past they did not exist, in the end they will not exist,
and in between they appear through a chain of interdependent factors.

although they appear,
from the very beginning phenomena are empty of true existence;
intrinsically, they are without essence,
nor do they remain.

with consummate skill,
rest in simplicity, letting everything be
in a state free of taking things as real.

this is the fundamental nature beyond speech and intellect,
the definitive meaning, the transcendent perfection of wisdom
that can only be realized through one's own awareness.
be determined to master this understanding!

relax into unbroken pristine simplicity.

do not fail to destroy the mental fixations
of a materialistic point of view

foster freedom from clinging and all mental constructs.
Bodhicitta is a compassion for all beings, accompanied by a falling away of the attachment to the illusion of an inherently-existing self.
This spark of compassion motivates one to achieve omniscient Buddhahood as quickly as possible, so that one may benefit infinite sentient beings. Bodhicitta is a felt need to replace others' suffering with bliss. Since the ultimate end of suffering is moksha, bodhicitta necessarily involves a motivation to help others to awaken (to find bodhi).
One for whom bodhicitta is the prime motivation for all actions is called a bodhisattva.

How is one to practice?
Not allowing free rein to ordinary thoughts.
Master them with mindfulness.
Then to completely purify the entire field of your action.
Emptiness with compassion as its very essence.

Develop gentle love and the rest of the four boundless qualities,
especially the miraculous great compassion.

Monday, October 7, 2013

He actually didn’t put much importance on spiritual experiences. His emphasis was reducing egoistic selfishness through love, and the power of his influence was that he exemplified it sincerely. His motto was “Mastery in Servitude,” which was put on his tomb.


"in this active sense, the function of mapping is less to mirror reality than to engender the re-shaping of the worlds in which people live"
"so when you map kids' energies are you reshaping your world?"
"I'm hoping to reshape the world we share.  to be peaceful  harmonious."

http://sanskritdocuments.org/articles/Notes_on_PATTHANA_DHAMMA.pdf

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

One who sees perception and formations as not-self fully understands nutriment consisting of mental volition.  He abandons the perversion of perceiving self in the not-self.  He crosses the flood of views.  He is loose from the bond of views.  He breaks the bodily tie of interpretations (insistence) that 'This is the truth'.  He does not cling with self-theory clinging.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Metta Sutta - Universal Loving-Kindness
For those developing goodness and who walk the path of peace,
This is what should be done:
Let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle of speech,
Humble and not conceited, easily satisfied and contented,
With the bustle of life unburdened, and frugal in their ways.
Discreet and courteous, with senses calmed,
Not proud or demanding in nature,
Let them not do the slightest thing of which the wise would disapprove.
Let them not deceive another, nor despise any being anywhere.
Let them not through anger or enmity wish harm unto another.
Even as a mother with her life protects her only child,
So with boundless hearts, free from hatred and ill will,
Let them cherish all beings,
Radiating lovingkindness throughout the world,
Above and below, and outward without limit:
May all beings be tranquil and secure. May all beings be happy.
Whatever beings there may be, omitting not a single one,
Whether weak or strong, short or long,
The mighty, middling and minute, the seen and the unseen,
Dwelling near or far, those born or to-be-born,
May they all be happy! May they all be happy!
Whether sitting or standing, whether walking or lying down,
Ever alert, let one develop such mindfulness.
This, one can say, is the Noblest Path.
Not clinging to fixed views, being free from sense desires,
The pure of heart, with clarity of insight,
Are not born again into the world.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Introductory Commentary by the XIVth Dalai Lama to the Tibetan Book of the Dead

The question of whether or not there exists a continuity of consciousness after death has been an important aspect of philosophical reflection and debate from ancient Indian times to the present.  When considering these matters from a Buddhist point of view, however, we have to bear in mind that the understanding of the nature of continuity of consciousness and the understanding of the nature of the 'I' or 'self' are closely interlinked.  Therefore, let us first look at what it is that can be said to constitute a person.
According to Buddhist classical literature, a person can be seen as possessing five interrelated aggregates, technically known as the five psycho-physical aggregates.  These are the aggregate of consciousness, the aggregate of form (which includes our physical body and senses), the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of discrimination, and the aggregate of motivational tendencies.  That is to say, there is our body, the physical world and our five senses, and there are the various processes of mental activity, our motivational tendencies, our labelling of and discrimination between objects, our feelings, and the underlying awareness or consciousness.
Among the ancient schools of thought, which accepted the notion of continuity of consciousness, there were several non-Buddhist philosophical schools which regarded the entity, the 'I' or 'self', which migrated from existence to existence as being unitary and permanent.  They also suggested that this 'self' was autonomous in its relationship to the psycho-physical components that constitute a person.  In other words they believed or posited that there is an essence or 'soul' of the person, which exists independently from the body and the mind of the person.
However, Buddhist philosophy does not accept the existence of such an independent, autonomous entity.  In the Buddhist view, the self or the person is understood in terms of a dynamic interdependent relationship of both mental and physical attributes, that is to say the psycho-physical components which constitute a person.  In other words our sense of self can, upon examination, be seen as a complex flow of mental and physical events, clustered in clearly identifiable patterns, including our physical features, instincts, emotions, and attitudes, etc., continuing through time.  Further, according to Prasangika-Madhyamaka philosophy, which has become the prevailing philosophical view of Tibetan Buddhism today, this sense of self is simply a mental construct, a mere label given to this cluster of dependently arising mental and physical events in dependence on their continuity.
Now, when we look at this interdependence of mental and physical constituents from the perspective of Highest Yoga Tantram there are two concepts of a person.  One is the temporary person or self, that is as we exist at the moment, and this is labelled on the basis of our coarse or gross physical body and conditioned mind, and, at the same time, there is a subtle person or self which is designated in dependence on the subtle body and subtle mind.  This subtle body and subtle mind are seen as a single entity that has two facets.  The aspect which has the quality of awareness, which can reflect and has the power of cognition, is the subtle mind.  Simultaneously, there is its energy, the force that activates the mind towards its object- this is the subtle body or subtle mind.  These two inextricably conjoined qualities are regarded, in Highest Tantra Yoga, as the ultimate nature of a person and are identified as buddha nature, the essential or actual nature of mind.
Now, before we look more closely at the nature of the subtle body and mind, let us look at how the gross body and mind are thought to originate.  The notion of dependent origination lies at the very heart of Buddhist philosophy.  The principle of dependent origination asserts that nothing exists in its own right independent of other factors.  Things and events come into being only in dependence on the aggregation of multiple causes and conditions.  The process through which the external world and the sentient beings within it revolve in a cycle of existence propelled by karmic propensities and their interaction with misapprehension, attraction and aversion and conditions is described in terms of twelve interdependent links.  Each cycle of the process begins with a misapprehension of the nature of actual reality.  This fundamental ignorance acts as a condition for the arising of the propensities created by our past actions, mental, verbal and physical, which condition our dualising consciousness.  Our dualising consciousness, in turn, conditions the qualities and the mode of interaction of our psycho-physical aggregates, which condition our sensory fields, which generate contact, which generates sensations, and then in turn attachment, grasping, and maturation towards rebirth.  At this point there is an interaction with the genetic constituents of the parents and subsequent interaction with the environment, and then finally we have birth, ageing and death.  This cycle can be viewed as both illustration the underlying processes of life, death and rebirth and as an illustration of the processes to be transformed on the path to liberation from suffering in cyclic existence.
The notion that ther eis a connection between this life and the events of both our previous existence and our future existence, follows from the Buddhist understanding of the natural law of cause and effect.  For example, although we can speak of yesterday's weather and today's weather as distinct, today's weather is inextricably linked with the weather patterns of yesterday. Even at the bodily level, in the case of our physical health for example, we know that events in the past affect the present and those of the present the future.  Similarly, in the realm of consciousness the Buddhist view is that there is also this same causal continuum between the events of the past, present, and future.
The Buddhist understanding of the continuity of personal experience, including our memories, can also be considered here.  The Buddhist view is that the continuity of personal experience is primarily founded on the capacity for retention, which can be further developed during one's meditative practice in this life.  However, generally speaking, it is thought that if a person dies after a prolonged period of illness that has led to a prolonged degeneration of both physical and mental capacities, there will be a greater chance of many of the personal characteristics, including memories etc, being lost.  On the other hand in the case of someone who dies a sudden death, when the mind-body relationship at the gross level is still very firm, it is thought that there is a greater chance of carrying forward the acquired characteristics and memories, etc.  Nonetheless, in both cases, the characteristics carried forward from a previous life are thought to be most strongly felt at an early stage of one's rebirth.  This is because the personal characteristics of the previous life are thought, generally speaking, to be quickly overwhelmed by the developing characteristics inherited from the parents of the present life.  Nonetheless, as I have mentioned, much depends in this respect on the individual's capacity for recall and this capacity for recall is dependent on a deepened retentive training acquired in this lifetime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMnSzOEe1E

Monday, June 24, 2013

notes from serving Vipassana courses

"When the instructed noble disciple experiences a painful feeling, he feels one feeling- a bodily one, and not a mental one."

"He does not regard feeling, perception, volitional formations, or consciousness as self... that consciousness of his changes and alters"

"Thinking arises from elaborated perceptions and notions"

"Ability to maintain clarity and comprehension in the midst of feelings, perceptions and thoughts"

Look not for recognition, but follow the awakened, and set yourself free.

Never neglect your work.  Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

To explore the truth about ourselves, we must examine what we are: body and mind.  We must learn to observe these directly within ourselves.  Accordingly, we must keep these points in mind:
1) The reality of the body may be imagined by contemplation, but to experience it directly one must work with sensations arising within it.
2) Similarly, the actual experience of the mind is attained by working with the contents of the mind.  In the same way that body and sensations cannot be observed separately, the midn cannot be observed apart from the contents of the midn.
3) Mind and matter are so closely interrelated that the contents of the mind always manifest themselves as sensations in the body.
For this reason the Buddha said:
Vedana samosarana sabbe dhamma
Everything that arises in the mind flows together with sensations.
Observation of sensation offers the only means to examine the totality of our being, physical as well as mental.

The six kinds of feeling are always being experienced at their respective sense bases.  However, those lacking in right view take it as "I see it, I hear it", etc.  This is the tenacious, mistaken view called "personality-belief" or "ego-belief".  The ego is always assumed to exist with respect to all feelings that arise and vanish at the six sense bases.  Just as the microbes infesting a sore can only be observed through a microscope, so only through insight knowledge can one observe the six kinds of feeling rapidly arising and vanashing at their respective sense bases.


Mae Chee Kaew:
Don't doubt the value of meditation or underestimate your abilities.  Be content with whatever progress you make because it reflects a part of the truth you are seeking.  As such, it is something you can rely on.
Cultivate your mind, as a farmer cultivates his fields.  Gradually clear the land; prepare the soil, plough the rows; sow the seeds; spread the manure; water the plants and pull the weeds.  Eventually, you'll reap a golden harvest.

Forest Desanas
The Buddha said that Nibbana is permanent.  When the heart has attained absolute contentment, and has let go of all sammati, it won't be upset by any problems, because it is totally devoid of them.  What problems can there be?  Living or dying poses no problem because they are part of nature.  This heart has transcended all the problems of the world.

Lovingkindness can be characterized as promoting the aspect of welfare.  Its function is to prefer welfare.  It is manifested as the removal of annoyance.  Its proxmiate cause is seeing loveableness in beings.  It succeeds when it makes ill will subside, and it fails when it produces (selfish) affection.

"For the Great Beings' minds retain their balance by giving preference to beings' welfare, by dislike of beings' suffering, by desire for the various successes achieved by beings to last, and by impartiality towards all beings.  They are unshakably resolute upon beings' welfare and happiness.  Through unshakable lovingkindness they place them first (before themselves).  Through equanimity they expect no reward.

Excertps from A Walkabout with Principesa Woman

6-3-13

Here we lay in the Robin Hill Cemetery.  The air is infused with the scent of beets.  And everyone knows that a story that starts with beets ends with another garden vegetable.
EXCEPT THIS ONE.
This one will end with ACADIA.
Not 27 yards away lie the physical remains of a clairvoyant physician.
Not 100 yards away lies a highway.
But all is quiet and peaceful in a cemetery.  Trees surround soft grass, people who may have gone any other number of places beyond their burial ground are still thought of and visited by loved ones.

6-4

Trip morals

1) Tell the truth (x3)
2) If you're confused, lack of #1 gets a free pass
3) Forgetting < Being Confused but still okay
4) Lying is the worst (see #1)

Rules

1) Speak in a whipser week 1, lip reading week 2, mind reading week 3
2) keep your gaze at a 20 degree angle maximum from the ground
3) if you feel tired when trying to biphase, you can monophase
4) yellowish red streamwater is not for consumption.

Events

~Angelica bestowed her grace upon us
~we were offered a tiny suitcase for both of our backpacks to fit in
~we cooked carrot bean soup secret with homemade stove
~mailed Gramps a nonfiction book about a traveling cat, for Father's Day, return address an arbitrary intersection where we happened to be at the current moment
~we spent $6, bringing the 2-day total to $7
~got danced at by the most enthusiastic UPS driver in the state of Massachusetts, maybe in the US

6-5

Today we picked up Christina, our baby stroller, at a thrift store.  We ate strawberry and bubblegum peep sandwiches.  Christina, our faithful friend through thick and thin, whether we spoke of her with reverence or disdain.

6-6

Woke up at 4am due to Holly's excellent coaching.  Off by 4:30... the sky was already turning pink!
When we stopped for a breakfest of lentils and Very Condensed Sweet Potatoes, a school bus driver exploded in glee in response to our curb wave.
The fam walked on.  The fam being Hepzibah, Balaina, Merle, Christina, Holly and Laura.
Near lunchtime an old man and his wife pulled up next to us.  The old man gruffly and loudly declared "Here!" and gave us $4.  His wife assisted him from there.  "So you can get yourselves a cold drink."  Wow!
Right after that a truck drove past with the word "Karma" on the grill hehehehehehe.
We took a dip in the pond, gave Holly her first haircut of mannnnny, and then we got to meet Gus.

As we were walking on 110, we saw a sign for the birthplace of John Greenleaf Whittier.  It was hard to simply walk past this sign, since the Whittiers have inadvertently become a part of my life via research for Stephen Sakellarios.

A field trip was leaving the home so we just looked at the sign outside.  And then Gus came out.  A 78 year old man of about 62 vertical inches.  Gus is a bona fide historian.  He accidentally gave us a free tour of the entire Whittier home, but he didn't even stop there.  He offered us books, answered our questions, asked us to sign the guestbook, and found out about our walk.  Uh oh.  InSISting on giving us a ride to Salisbury in his 1969 Chevy Impala with boat-sized trunk for gear-stashing, we could not hold out very long.
Gus is a very dramatic fellow.  He loves to go "Oooooo," clap his hand to his forehead, slow down mid sentence to build suspense and/or allow his audience to chime in.  And he loves to tell a story.  Plus, he's very good at it.
Mid-Whittier-tour, a man came in and asked permission for a few minutes' stay in the supposedly-closed-house-museum, because he'd wanted to come here for 25 years and finally made it at a time when it was "open"!  Gus always says yes when someone wants to see the home.  He works 7 days a week partially because of this fact.  So, the man came in.  When he talked or laughed, his whole belly would lift up and down with his diaphragm.  And it was quite a belly.  He was so happy to be there and on his way out he kept saying "God bless you, God bless you all." What a man.
Gus liked that I knew a bit of Whittier history.  And he loved Holly, for how could you not?  Soon enough we were all officially life-long friends, Oooooo!  He gave us a ride to Salisbury, told us the farmers he'd talked to before we elft had told him to drive us home instead of closer to our goal, and said he was sad he hadn't at least taken us to the beach.  Despite being 62" and 78 years old, it was he who removed my backpack from his boat trunk.  He made us promise to call him if we ever needed ANYTHING, offered numerous rides, got excited for us to get something to eat in Salisbury about half a dozen times, offered us money ("I have a LOT of money"), gave us hugs, told us he loved us and that we were friends for life, and asked us to send a postcard letting him know we're okay.  He waved goodbye multiple times as we walked away.  And when we met him for lunch a week and a half later he told us he almost cried while he was waving.  If all of this sounds a bit much, it wasn't.  You had to be there =0)
Holly and I probably said "Thank you" four dozen times to Gus in the 2 hours we spent with him.  I was giddy with happiness and glowing from ahgning out with Gus.  Holly said he remineded her of Grandma Claire.  And we spoke with him a few times on the phone and visited him again on this very same trip =0)

Day 5

Today we realized Holly's future career as a Travel Agent.  And we sang Funky Butt.  And couchsurfed with Cam and Sabba and Garrett.

Day 6

Pancakes.  10K.  Loud cheering.  Woke up Cam and Sab.  Market Day.  Free shuttle to Kittery.  Man in the market very phased by our trip, walked up to the floor-to-ceiling glass window to look at our stuff and smile and wave at we who were only 2 feet away, on the other side of the glass.  Dave of the fruits and veggies routing us along the ocean.  Dennis of the simple, birdsong filled, water and chips filled life.  Beach party, tuna subs, salt and vinegar chips, pizza crust.  Unidentified previously living blobs of various colors perched throughout the seaweed on the shore.  Met Joe and Baby, who took us to a potential camp site which we did not utilize.

Day 7

29 miles to Portland!  Country jams, road's gettin quieter, granny smith apples.  Stephen and Barbara's kindness playing into our ears.

Day 11 (days 8-10 shall remain forever a mystery to this particular journal)

Napped on a dock at a state park.  Ohhh glorious nap!  Helped a 90 year old man out of his boat.  Walked back toward Christina, where Holly observed Christina's newfound nudity.  "Are our backpacks gone?"   "oh... yeah."  Holly ate an apple, Laura giggled, and we decided to continue walking to Belfast.  On the left a mile up the road ias a barn sale.  Including a $20 once-used four-person tent with waterproof bag, two $4 jackets with hoods (aka sleeping bags), and a $1 "blanket" aka carpet.  And a 16 mile ride to Belfast with aNOTHer David, and John.  They offered to take us to Bar Harbor, but we were already riding too high off of their kindness. 
We have shed our extra layers!
We have gone our extra distance!
We have gained full body chemical suits!
Life is good!
To Acadia!
PS Subway bread by the soggy dozen


Day 14
Some people sit, some people squat, some switch it up, some have their minds blown by the various possibilities.  I still believe that today, which is the equivalent of Day 21, one week later, Holly and I have not tried each other's methods.  Sometimes you stick with what you like.


On the way home we met Gus for lunch at Dunkin Donuts.  There isn't really a way to adequately describe this lunch date, other than that it made me feel like I could live forever.  Gus.  IS.  the man.  And we are very lucky to know him.  Thank you, Gus.  Thank you, Acadia.  Goodnight, Holly.  Goodnight, Laura.  Goodnight, Holly.  Goodnight, Holly.