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Moments
Sleeping Butterfly

2-4 minutes read
A sumi-e painting of an open window from which music notes emerge, suggesting someone is playing inside. There's a 'Music Academy' sign below the window.

screeching trumpet
fills the spring air
beginnings

As long as I don’t aim,
I won’t miss.
With the catalpa bow,
I shoot an arrow
toward the open sky.

良寛大愚 Ryōkan Taigu
Kazuaki Tanahashi
Sky Above, Great Wind

In Sino-Japanese there is a beautiful expression for buddha’s mind: ji-hi-ki-sha-mu-ryo-shin.

Ji means “to love beings just as they are, beyond any desire for them to be any other way.”
Hi means “to be concerned for their suffering.”
Ki is “to rejoice and feel delight about all beings.”
Sha means “wanting to give everything to them.”
Mu-ryo means “all of these things beyond all measure.”
Shin means “heart” or “mind.”

It is the mind of love, concern, joy, and generosity without measure.

Tenshin Reb Anderson
Being Upright: Zen Meditation and Bodhisattva Precepts
A black and white pocket printer style photo of sick tree leaves and branches.

flowering
in its illness
an apple tree

What is the relationship between non-attachment and intimacy?

A black and white pocket printer style photo of the Buddha statue leaning against a tree. The statue is blanketed by leaves.

resting still
a rose-apple tree
and a Buddha

Pressing a button to send a message to a colleague or a friend is a wonderful opportunity to wish them well.

Wakey wakey
let’s be friends
sleeping butterfly

—Basho
David Young, Moon Woke Me Up Nine Times

Leaving? Arriving?

A sumi-e painting of a flower and a butterfly. The butterfly's legs are very close to the flower's stem, but not touching it, suggesting that the butterfly may be just landing or departing.