Where Do I Dwell?

 Where do I dwell?

In anger,

in forgiveness,

in peace,

in privilege,

in emptiness,

in self,

in stories,

in my house,

in love,

in confusion,

in Austin.

How can I be dwelling in so many places?

Where do I not dwell? In all the places where I’ve not been…

and not heard about. And in all those places I’ve rejected.

I wish to dwell in those places as well for they keep me alive

even as I reject them.

Or could I just dwell in mindfulness… and in no place else.

What would that look like?

How would that feel?

Who would be there to greet me? Me?

Being Lazy

We could be lazy, throwing to the wind any aspiration or ambition. We could lie on the beach, close our eyes, and listen to the surf. We could smile at the cactus sprouting new growth and a single blossom. We could watch our disabled squirrel land on the ground so awkwardly. We could watch the sun play hide and go seek with the clouds. We could hold our loved ones, steadily, lazily, without moving, where our breathing becomes one with theirs. We could just sit on a cushion like Buddha and do nothing. We could be lazy and who would notice? Others might be so busy that they wouldn't even see one doing nothing-one simply enjoying the fruits of their simple presence on the Earth.

Radiation Rodin at Chinese Tea House

Henry Moore's Mother

I was told the story he represented her with a small head because it was hard for him as a little kid to see her head looking up at her.

Not knowing...

Not knowing is most intimate (Zen koan). I am always making up stories. What is the story here? Is this a thing that others have seen?

My shadow meets Buddha

I screamed, “Please don't clean the baking powder spilled on the counter. It's the galaxy!”

 

Homage to Hokusai at the car wash

Hokusai

I said I didn't like art...

Two Dogs, Mollie and Joba, Waffling

Not Knowing is Most Intimate

The Red Thread

Why can’t clear-eyed bodhisattvas sever the red thread?

Not even an ocean of silence
and stillness can quench it;
Not even vast emptiness
can exhaust it—
it splashes out over
the whole cosmos, vibrant,
passionate, alive!
——Peg Syverson

Rest in the Openness of Mind

Mercedes Benz

Handicapped

Hard Boiled Eggs

I don't like to photograph anything beautiful because then people say, oh what beautiful flowers. Or, oh what a beautiful cat. Or....

You are you....

Procrastination

What brings you here?

Two Shy Ellipses

Edward Weston's Peace of Pepper

Hose Graffiti

A green leaf, an old man, and an infant

Transparent Mirror

For the whole story: https://pages.uoregon.edu/munno/OregonCourses/REL444S05/HuinengVerse.htm

Everything is sacred—even trash!

Aeration

Trash

Dharma Doors

Sound of Silence (Simon now lives near Austin)