Monday, November 10, we will meet online.
Dear friends,
This week, we will meet Monday evening, November 10, from 7-8:30PM ET online; Wednesday morning, November 12, from 7-8AM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, November 14, 12-1PM ET online.
On Monday, Annie will facilitate. Annie shares:
Sometimes it is helpful to sidestep our rational minds in order to connect to the non-rational world and see things in a new way. Poetry, and many other arts, can help us see freshly, feel in new ways, and ground us in the present moment. Sometimes, a brush stroke or a few words can even help us awaken to the truth of interbeing.
So, this week, we will read together and then reflect on some Buddhist practice poems from 6th Century BC through the present. How might these poems speak to us today? How might they guide us?
Tissa - The Third (from The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns, circa 6th Century BCE)
Why stay here
in your little
dungeon?
If you really want
to be free,
make
every
thought
a thought of freedom.
Break your chains.
Tear down the walls.
Then walk the world a free woman.
Isumi Shikibu (from The Ink Dark Moon, circa 10th Century CE)
Even when a river of tears
courses through
this body,
the flame of love
cannot be quenched.
Born I, excerpt from Sunyata (from Lyrical Dharma, published 2025)
I am the sword and the sheath
I am the wolf and the sheep
I am the fire and snow
I am the cold in the heat
I am the soldier who weeps
I am the stone when it speaks
I am the heart of the beggar
who enters the soul of the thief
I am the king and the queen
I am the prince and his team
I am the princess who doesn’t have interest
in all of the schemes
I am the eagle and fish
I am the dream and the wish
I am asleep and adrift
I am as free as the wind
I am awakening mind
I am forsaken in time
I am upgraded in rhyme
I am just taking my time
sometimes I speak out of turn
sometimes I bleed and I burn
sometimes I totally die
sometimes you see me return
I am the blade and the wrist
I am the space and the ship
I am both heaven and hell
I just decided to sit…
Larry Ward, Trees (from Morning Night: Poems on Spirit, Race and Nature, published 2025)
I’ve been listening to trees
Redwoods, Pine, Oak.
Too many to name.
They worry and pray
over us
offering gratitude.
A message:
We do not love deeply enough
or wide enough.
This is the cause of
our madness.
We can share about whatever comes up for us or what we are working with in our lives.
If you want to bring a poem to share that has helped you awaken, please do!
I look forward to reflecting and sharing together.
With love,
Annie