Thursday, December 10, 2009

Relearning loveliness

I have a book here at home called Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, which is something of a primer to Buddhist practice.  Unlike most of the books I've seen that try to explain Buddhism, this one focuses on the practice first, with Buddhist thought explained second.  After all, once you really grasp what Buddhism looks like in the day-to-day, the philosophy becomes much easier to understand.

The second chapter is titled "Relearning Loveliness", and begins with a poem that moves me to tears every time I read it.  I am passing it along today as my gift to you.

The bud

stands for all things,

even those things that don't flower,

for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;

though sometimes it is necessary

to reteach a thing its loveliness,

to put a hand on the brow

of the flower,

and retell it in words and in touch,

it is lovely

until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.

--Galway Kinnell

No, this isn't my typical blog post, but it seemed like the right time of year, or the right thing to do, or something.

Peace.

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful poem - I needed it this week. Thank you.

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  2. You are most welcome, and I am so glad it helped. It turns out that I needed the thanks this week.

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