FRIDAY 5TH JUNE

soil, rain, sunshine, seed,
tree, branch, flower, fruit - my plum
is the universe

[Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist, said that everything in the whole world could be seen in one tangerine]

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To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

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I wander’d lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line
Along the margin of the bay;
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee -
A Poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company!
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

For, oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.



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IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM the mantra “Om mani padme hum” is widely used. Pronounced “ohm mah nee pahd may hum“, it is difficult to find a simple, straightforward translation.

Kalu Rinpoche the Buddhist teacher wrote "Through mantra, we no longer cling to the reality of the speech and sound encountered in life, but experience it as essentially empty. Then confusion of the speech aspect of our being is transformed into enlightened awareness.”

This little video has some beautiful pictures, and, with the sound kept fairly low, I really like the music. Sorry it ends so abruptly!



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Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.

The above is a Gaelic Blessing.

The haiku “Soil, rain, sunshine, seed,” I wrote.

The verse “To see a world in a grain of sand” is from “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake (1757-1827)

The poem “Daffodils” is of course William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

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That's all. Thanks for looking in.

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