Breathing and sitting meditations, the name of God sings an old song, walking meditation, some teachings from the Haggadah and a parable.
Easter/Passover 2008
Waves breaking along the shore of the island of Oahu, Hawaii
Picture taken July 2006 after a short climb to reach atop the U.S. Army Diamond-head defensive fort which overlooks and protects the city of Honolulu from there.
Some Sutras for OurPrayerGroup
Hail Mary! Hail Jesus! Hail Soul of Christ!
Blessed art thou among women Mary.
Blessed art thou among men Jesus.
Pure art thou my soul of Christ as that of He who created, formed, and makes you... He who creates, forms, makes you from himself, the World, and us...He who breathes life into me, will take it from me, and return it to me in the hereafter.
And, blessed is the fruit of God’s womb that bore you three inside of us.
No birth, no death is there in our here and now.
Good Jesus hear us, if ever we loved thee tis now.
From the wicked foe defend us.*
At the hour of our death call us unto thee,
that thy wounds hide our souls of Christ in thy eternal kingdom, power, and glory...
until God reigns and rules its time for them to rise and shine forth in all of us and thee.
*portions of this prayer are inspired from a prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola which has been published in his spiritual exercises. A good translation of St. Loyola's wondelful and useful directions for meditation of the spiritual exercises (by Louis J. Puhl, S.J.) may be purchased, while they last, from St. Andrew's Cathedral's bookstore (Episcopal) in downtown Jackson, MS.
Breathing in, we go back, we go forward
To God’s island of Christ inside ourself .*
There is an eternal tree of life
There is water, there are birds,
There is sunshine and fresh air.
Breathing out, we feel safe .**
Breathing in, breathing out,
God’s loving seed of faith and hope is blooming in us as a flower.***
We are fresh as the resurrection dew.
We are solid as the mountain
Here there is freedom and truth.
We are firm as God’s own earth in us.
We are the water of Christ’s baptism reflecting what is true.
Here there is goodness and beauty.
We are the space of God’s universe. We are free.
*Dear prayer friends, the Pure Land, the Kingdom of Heaven… is within us and among us. Breathe we are alive…please wake up to who we are! God has a plan for us! We have places to go together and things to do together!
**For all of us as Individuals and collectively together. For Christians try a ha-tha ra-ja 4:8:16 left right ratio alternate nostril breathing here (also called Sun Moon mental breathing). For Buddhists or Jews you will want to use a 4:4:8 in/hold/out ratio wisdom physical body wisdom breath to get here/there.
*** The starting form for these sutras are take from the Rev. Thich Nhat Hanh’s books and teachings . Please see previous blogs for more details.
We’ll Never Say Good-bye
Christian Hymn, Lyrics by J.H. Tenney, music by Dr. Adoniram Judson Gordon 1895
“There is a land far out of sight, A calm untroubled shore,
Where they who said on earth good-night, Now meet to part no more.
We’ll never say good-bye in heav’n, We’ll never say good-bye,(good-bye,)
In that fair land of joy and song, We’ll ne-ver say good bye.
Each day as pilgrims reach that strand, All hearts with rapture swell;
Wel-comes are heard on ev-‘ry hand, But nev-er one fare-well.
We’ll never say good-bye in heav’n, We’ll never say good-bye,(good-bye,)
In that fair land of joy and song, We’ll ne-ver say good bye.
For-ev-er with the Lord they reign, His face for-ev-er view;
For them no sin, no grief, no pain, No tear-ful last a-dieu!
We’ll never say good-bye in heav’n, We’ll never say good-bye,(good-bye,)
In that fair land of joy and song, We’ll ne-ver say good bye.
Je-ru-sa-lem my glo-rious home, Thou ci-ty built on high,
When shall I to the man-sions come, No more to say good-bye!
We’ll never say good-bye in heav’n, We’ll never say good-bye,(good-bye,)
In that fair land of joy and song, We’ll ne-ver say good bye.
Lyrics and music Copyrighted 1883 (at that time, by John J. Hood)
From “The Coronation Hymnal” By A. J. Gordon 1895
A sitting meditation from the books, “Present Moment, Wondelful Moment” and "Be Free Where You Are",by the Rev. Thich Nhat Hanh
Breathing in,I know I am breathing in,Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.
Breathing in, I notice that my in-breath has become deeper, Breathing out, I notice that my out-breath has become slower.
Breathing in I calm myself, breathing out, I feel at ease.
Breathing in I Smile,Breathing out I release.
Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment, Breathing in I feel it is a wondelful moment. ****
****These lines of the Sutras are designed to be used to concentrate and contemplate in a stable yogic sitting pose. Try an easy heart breath with ratio 5:5:5.
Central to the Jewish teaching for Passover in the Haggadah there is the discussion of the four different types of sons:
1) The wise son or daughter, who asks to be taught, whom we should tell everything (so he or she can be independent of us) when we are teaching him,
Chocham, mah hu omayr? Mah haodot v’ hachukim v’hamsh’phatim aser tzoach Adonai Elohaynu etachehm V’af atah ehmor lo k’heel’chot haphehsah. Ayn maph’tirin echar haphasach aphikoman.
The wise son, what does he say? “What is the meaning of these laws and ordinances which the Lord Our God has commanded us?” What then do we say to him to teach him about Pesach? Nothing is left out, including the rule that nothing is eaten after the Afikoman
2) The evil son who thinks he is different( better) than others. For, he thinks that we don’t need to interact and work together with others. Him, or her we should confront. But, not because he or she is different from us. Indeed they are our sons and daughters too.
Rash amah hu omayr? Mah haobodah hazoach lachehm? L’chehm v’lo lo.
The wicked son, what does he say? “What is the meaning of this that is commanded to you?” (that is he says this to you and not himself).
Vol’phi shehhotzi et atz’mu mean hach’lehl v’chehpahr baakehr. V’af atah hak’hayh et sheenavm emar lo:
Because he says it this way he has removed himself from us (the community)… even he has denied the laws said to him.
Bobor zehh ashah Adonay Eloheynu B’tzati meemeetz’rim. Li v’lo lu. Elu hayah sham lo hayah neeg’al.
Answer him by saying it is because of that which has been done by the Lord God for me when I came out of Egypt. “For me” and not “for him”. Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed.
3) the simple son or daughter, whom we should assist by teaching him or her to expect miracles and giving them a simple and easy to understand answer.
Tam mah hu omayr? Mah zoat? V’amar’ta elav. B’chazehq yad hotzianu Adonai meemeetz’rim, meebayt abhadaym.
The simple son, what does he say? What is this? And, the answer to him:”With a mighty hand Adonay brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.
4) What about the naïve but potentially good son or daughter who hardly knows what to ask as a question or how to ask it? Them we should assist by treating them special and using all our advanced techniques of breathing, assisted contemplative prayer. But, we leave out the part above about the miracles and the mighty hand,
V’shehaynu yoda lee’shol et patach lu? Shehnehmar: Vhagad’ata bhayom hahu limor:
Bhovor zeh ashah Adonai Eloheynu bh’tzati meemeetz’raym.
And, what about him who does not know how to ask the question? (We quote from the Torah) “And, on that day you shall teach him.” “We do all of this because the Lord Our God brought us out of Egypt.”
Walking Meditation by the Rev. Thich Nhat Hanh
We have arrived We are home
In the here, in the now.
Dwelling with God and in her
We are solid, we are free.
Dwelling together in a Kingdom of Heaven of God and Christ on earth. *****
*****These lines are for walking meditation, try a breathing ratio of three steps on the in and three steps on the out, centering in the lower dan tien (3rd chakra).
Breathing in his breath a lotus of his happiness blooms in us,
Breathing out of us her breath we help God guide the World.
It is a gentle touch… soft like a gentle breeze swaying bamboo along a river’s shore
Or an angel whispering a message of the hope of salvation to our heart and mind,
Who already knows that at its final confirmation there will be in the World and us a greater joy and louder silent shout of universal delight.
Parable which tells about God’s
four sons and his daughter
(the Shekinah)
(written in 1983)
Once, now, and in the future God is a King. He has/had four Sons and a daughter who lived here on earth. Each of his sons and the daughter were unhappy and wanted to leave and find fame and fortune for themselves. So God decided to divide up the portions of his Kingdom as an inheritance unto his sons. But, he was concerned that even though they said they told him they wanted to work together to find wealth, they would fight among themselves after he had left. So he gave each son and the daughter only enough so that they would still need the portions of the other four in order to prosper. But, each son became too proud to ask for help from his brothers and his sister. Instead each convinced himself that his portion was sufficient unto itself. Worse yet the daughter didn’t do anything to help or say anything (while God was trying to speak through her to everyone) while this was happening. She was the One God normally used to help others and heal with his Words (if people took time to listen to this still small voice of God which she spoke for him inside of them). Sure as the lack of love that grew inside of them for each other the Kingdom fell apart. Each of the sons blamed the others for the disaster. The daughter was left without anyone to protect and defend her.
Some time later God returned from heaven in order to find out what had gone wrong. Even though the Kingdom had been left in ruins, three of his sons had become authorities teaching others how to live better and be happy. So, God, the King disguised himself as a beggar. He went to each of the different authorities representing them in order to find out how to be Holy and prosper.
1) And, the authority set up by the first son had a special day, the Sabbath, and a large collection of rules set aside as Holy. They said he should obey the rules and worship the King who had left and rest on this special day. Then he would see how foolish all the rest of the men and women were to go around not paying attention to these rules and conducting business while the King's people were worshipping him.
2) And then the King went to the authority set up by the second son. This authority said that they had special people called priests set aside as Holy. And these priests had special powers or charisms that were hidden to most of the men and women. They told him that if he would confess his sins to these priests he would see how foolish all the rest of the Kingdom was to try and solve their problems themselves. Why should he tell his sins to ordinary people who didn't understand when these special Holy people better at forgiving mistakes and keeping secrets.
3) Then he went to the authority set up by the third son. This authority said they had a special book set aside as Holy. If he would study and memorize the passages in this book he would see how foolish all the rest of us (other than them) were. The King smiled as he recognized a few of the words in the book as his own. But, they had taken the four or five pages of clear instructions that he had given them and made it into a very long book of over 1000 pages.
4) Finally he went to the fourth son who was not a recognized authority at all. He was a prophet, but he didn’t know it. He and the sister had been left by the others to fend for themselves. So, then, God asked him what he had set aside as Holy. But, the fourth son said, "Old beggar man you must be mistaken. Why do you ask me that question for I am just an ordinary person not much different from you. I have tried all my life to find out what is Holy. But each time that I think I have found it I am told that I must take away the heavenly inheritance of some of my brothers and sisters. These people are very dear to me, some of them have even been my benefactors. Wherever I go, I take them with me. I would never be happy if I went off to heaven and left them behind. So I have given up what is Holy. The other sons and daughters think I am foolish and have taken what my father left me and my sister away from us... so we will not use it unwisely. What hope is there left for me or her to find my Father again. To tell you the truth I do not know whether he is alive or dead."
And then the old man said: “Young man if you do not know what is Holy, then what do you know.” And, the young man said, “Not so much.” “I do not even know that I don’t know anything.”
Then the old man said, "Young man, why do you tell me this? Perhaps you need someone to know these things for you and be God for you?"
And the young man thought about this and he said: "Yes, I do." Then all of a sudden, before his eyes the old beggar man turned into a King. It was as if the words he spoke were his Father’s words.
And this is what the King, an old beggar man, said: "You are like the other three sons and my daugher. You neither know who you are or who I am. For, if you knew who you were, you would know who I am. And, if you knew who I am you would know who you were. I am the name of God and whosoever knows me, in him or her shall the name of God be known.”
I am your Father the King. Everything you are I am. And, everything I am you someday shall be. Remain in me and you will someday be the name of God. Then whosoever knows you and glorifies you, in him or her shall the name of God be known and be glorified.” Now the other sons have possession of the Kingdom. In time they shall be known just as they have chosen to know others.
And then the Old man became sad and said: "All I have to give you and your sister, the Shekinah, now is the love that has been given to me. I am afraid that it is only a tiny spark, a seed, a glimmer of my hopes and dreams that some day we will all be united again and prosper together. But, this seed if it is nurtured can grow into a large tree full of the happiness of eternal life.
“How shall I know this love in order to nurture it”, said the Son.
And, then He said, “This love is who it is and this love tries to keep its
promises and it does what it says it is going to do.”
“And, why is this love who it is and why does it do that?”, said the young man. (his sister wanted to know also for she was listening to all of this)
“That is because this love knows where it has been and where it is now and
where it is going later all in One present moment”, God said.
“How can I and my sister know this love when it seems that the other four sons
are more powerful than we. For they are admired by most in the World. We have no choice about whether we can change this, for what we do is controlled by something outside of ourself”, he
said.
And, the Old man thought a while and then he said,
“ You already have this love and it is who it is inside of your heart and mind.
“Unfortunately, just now you don’t know it enough. But, if you and your sister trust my spirit inside of all of us (which is inside of your heart) and remain in me you will
know it more and more. And it will know you more and more. For the Self
knows itself when it is in itself(in you) and when it knows itself, then it is in
itself (in me). I have made the World out of nothing. But, I have made you out of something, myself.”
Now, it was the fourth son's and his sister’s turn to smile. They thought carefully for a while. Then they said: "Your love and your hopes and dreams are what is most important. We have no other inheritance left so you yourself shall be our inheritance. And, it became so!
