When Great Trees Fall
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of
dark, cold
caves.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.
- Maya Angelou
(submitted by Kat Haimson)
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Our ZHS on-line schedule
- Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
- Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
- M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
- Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
- For more information: www.zenheartsangha.org)
Special bows for today:
- Please offer bows for Charles Knnicott Leech, Nancy's father who is in the hospital
- Please offer bows for Chief Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died 9/18/2020
- Please offer bows for all those families who have lost their lives or their homes in the recent fires in Oregon, California, and Washington
- Please offer bows for Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
- Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:
- Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
- Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
- From our dharma brother Merrill regarding Christian charity: https://www.facebook.com/david.ison.35/posts/10224463110390401
- From our dharma brother Jim: I thought that Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing was an appropriate poem/song to celebrate. They played in at the beginning of each NFL football game this week. More information can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift_Every_Voice_and_Sing.
- Need something to lift your spirits? https://youtu.be/JNgCM7zp30M
- Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org
- From our dharma sister, Misha: incredible graphics and information about COVID-19 https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/covid-19-coronavirus-infographic-datapack/
- From our dharma sister, Camille: an important commentary on race, riots and society to help us understand from Trevor Noah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c
- If you would like to leave a comment on this blog: Here is a quick video on how to--it's from 2017, but should work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg
Many thanks to those of you who are sending me articles to share, links to helpful information, and for making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.
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