September 8, 2020

 EVEN IN THE STRUGGLE

Even in the struggle, you are loved.

You are being loved not in spite of the hardship, but through it.

The thing you see as wrenching, intolerable, life’s attack on you,

is an expression of love.

There is the part of us that fears and protects and defends and expects,

and has a story of the way it’s supposed to turn out.

That part clenches in fear, feels abandoned and cursed.

There is another part, resting at the floor of the well within, that

understands:

This is how I am being graced, called, refined, by fire.

The secret is, it’s all love.

It’s all doorways to truth.

It’s all opportunity to merge with what is.

Most of us don’t step through the doorframe.

We stay on the known side.

We fight the door, we fight the frame, we scream and hang on.

On the other side, you are one with the earth, like the mountain.

You hum with life, like the moss.

On the other side, you are more beautiful:

wholeness in your bones, wisdom in your gaze,

the sage-self and the surrendered heart alive.

© 2011 TARA SOPHIA MOHR

(submitted by Camille Spar)

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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) 

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Special bows for today: 

• Please offer bows for Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
• Please offer bows for Jacob Blake, shot and paralyzed in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and for the protesters shot and killed in Portland, OR last weekend
• Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
• Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
• Ofelia Mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
• Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
• Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
• Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy

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Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

• 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 brother, Bill:  Buddhism in women's prisons:   https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhism-in-womens-prisons/

• From our dharma sister, Nancy:  Spirituality and interconnectedness through time   https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/04/19/lynn-margulis-talking-on-the-water/
• 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
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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.