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The Three Refuges

To all Buddhas everywhere throughout all realms of time,
I take refuge and offer up my life.
May all beings discover this supreme source of blessings,
and deeply enter the Buddha’s way.

In the still brightness of the Dharma’s pure nature;
I take refuge and realize sublime prajna,
May all beings discover the treasury of sutras,

Live each day until you kick the bucket
Miami Buddhist Examiner
Francine Adams

“Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find “‘tomorrow” on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday’s defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, ”If I had my life to live over again. ”Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe,loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.”

Og Mandino
“Birth, aging, sickness and death are the inescapable realities of life, and the eternal questions humankind has attempted to resolve. How can we create the greatest value amidst a reality that is impermanent and in constant flux? It was the search for answers to these questions that led to the birth of Buddhism.”

Daisaku Ikeda
These quotes are more meaningful this year than last, as I have lost a total of 10 family members and friends over the course of the year. Needless to say the experience has impacted my awareness of my eternal surroundings. Half of those individuals were either very young or not yet in their prime and the close of the curtain on their last act was quite unexpected. Perhaps like myself, you may think of living each day as if it were your last in the spirit of Og Mandino. What can be more devastating than losing a friend or family member after your last interchange with them was harsh words that did not reflect what was in your heart. What could be worse than postponing that visit to the relative in a nursing home, day after day, week after week believing you will have time next month after this big project is completed, only to lose them tomorrow.
Time can be both a blessing and a curse. Every morning we wake up is an opportunity. As encouragement to live a fulfilled and happy life from today onward some Buddhists members have been encouraged to create a list inspired by the movie “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Initially, it seemed like a fun activity or akin to a corporate team spirit project; something to kickstart those forgotten dreams. Having lost so many friends and family this year, however, causes one to reflect on the seriousness of the matters of life and death. In the world of Buddhism it is not the dying that is the serious matter but the living; as is quoted in my favorite movie line of all time from “Shawshank Redemption” by my favorite actor Morgan Freeman, “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

Taken from: http://www.examiner.com/x-2029-Miami-Buddhist-Examiner~y2009m4d13-Live-each-day-until-you-kick-the-bucket

Dharma Talks by Myotai Sensei

Bonnie Myotai Treace, Sensei received Dharma transmission from John Daido Loori, Roshi in 1996, becoming his first dharma heir and a second generation Zen teacher in the Mountains and Rivers Order. She was the spiritual director of the Zen Center of New York City from 1993 to 2004. She is presently teaching independently in New York City. For more information, go to Hermitage Heart.

Threshold
What is the gate of Zen? Is there a way to live in the threshold of every moment? Pablo Neruda writes in the opening stanzas of his verse, “Poetry”:
And it was at that age… Poetry arrived