So much beauty and spiritual joy is breath-takingly simple

a hollyhock
shot up to meet
the summer solstice

Masaoka Shiki

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaoka_Shiki

St Francis: “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace….”

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Every breath we take every step we…

“Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.”

• Thich Nhat Hanh

Be the silent watcher of your thoughts…

“Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behaviour. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the love and joy beneath the pain.” Eckhart Tolle

Be still and know that I am God…

Be still, and know that I am God
King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)

Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don’t realize this because almost everybody is suffering from it, so it is considered normal. This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being. ECKHART TOLLE, The Power of Now

When you become aware of silence, immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present. You have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning. ECKHART TOLLE, Stillness Speaks

SEVEN FACTORS OF ENLIGHTENMENT In Buddhism the Seven…

SEVEN FACTORS OF ENLIGHTENMENT

In Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment are:

MINDFULNESS (sati) i.e. to remember the Dhamma.
INVESTIGATION (dhamma vicaya) of the Dhamma.
ENERGY (viriya)
JOY or rapture (pīti)
RELAXATION or tranquility (passaddhi) of both body and mind
CONCENTRATION (samādhi) a calm, one-pointed state of concentration of mind[1]
EQUANIMITY (upekkha), to be able to face life in all its vicissitudes with calm of mind and tranquility, without disturbance, with dispassion and detachment.

This set of seven enlightenment factors is one of the “Seven Sets” of “Enlightenment-related states” (bodhipakkhiyadhamma).

The Pali word bojjhanga is a compound of bodhi (“enlightenment”) and anga (“factor”).[2]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – see ‘Seven Factors of Enlightenment’
Part of a series on
Buddhism

Happiness Bliss Joy In brief I hope…

Happiness, Bliss, Joy

“In brief, I hope that thou mayest become inebriated with the wine of the love of God, find eternal
bliss and receive inexhaustible joy and happiness. All wine hath depression as an after effect, except
the wine of the Love of God.”

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 349)

Believers, he added, must show their belief in their daily lives, so that the world might see the light
shining in their faces. A bright and happy face cheers people on their way. If you are sad, and pass a
child who is laughing, the child, seeing your sad face, will cease to laugh, not knowing why. If the day
be dark, how much a gleam of sunshine is prized; so let believers wear smiling happy faces, gleaming
like sunshine in the darkness. Let the Light of Truth and Honesty shine from them, so that all who
behold them may  know that their word in business or pleasure will be a word to trust and depend
upon.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 124)

If the day be dark, how much a gleam of sunshine is prized; so let believers wear smiling happy faces,
gleaming like sunshine in the darkness. Let the Light of Truth and Honesty shine from them, so that
all who behold them may  know that their word in business or pleasure will be a word to trust and
depend upon.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 124)
Anybody can be happy in the state of comfort, ease, health, success, pleasure and joy; but if one will
be happy and contented in the time of trouble, hardship and prevailing disease, it is the proof of
nobility.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith – Abdu’l-Baha Section, p. 363)

Therefore we must be happy and pass our time in praises, appreciating all things.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 134)

Message to the London Bahá’ís for the Day of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Specially given to Mrs.
Enthoven.

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! Armies of Angels are descending from Heaven!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! The Sun of Truth is rising!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! Heavenly food is being sent from above!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! The Trumpet is sounding!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! The Banner of the Great Peace is floating far and wide!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! The Light of the Lamp of the Oneness of Humanity is shining
bright!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! The fire of the Love of God is blazing!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! The Holy Spirit is being outpoured!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! For Everlasting Life is here!

This is the day of the Proclamation of the Bab! It is the Festival of the Forerunner of the Blessed
Beauty (Bahá’u’lláh). It is the day of the dawning of the Morning of Guidance.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 125)

If we are not happy and joyous at this season, for what other season shall we wait and for what other
time shall we look?

(Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith – Abdu’l-Baha Section, p. 351)

Be happy and joyous because the bestowals of God are intended for you and the life of the Holy
Spirit is breathing upon you.

(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 214)

May joy be increased to you as the years go by, and may you become thriving trees bearing delicious
and fragrant fruits which are the blessings in the path of service.”

(Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 78)

Turn all your thoughts toward bringing joy to hearts.

(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 453)

Therefore we must be happy and pass our time in praises, appreciating all things.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 134)

Be filled with joy, so that thine eyes may be overflowing with tears of happiness and beatitude, and
beseech thou God to remove the veil from the face of your sons so that they may find a spiritual
understanding of the existence of God and may know how the human soul can receive bounty from
the divine Spirit.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha v3, p. 530)

I breathe in and I know I…

“I breathe in, and I know I am breathing in – that’s the practice of mindful breathing.”

Thich Nhat Hahn in ‘Peace is Every Step’

Peace is every step.
The shining red sun is my heart.
Every flower smiles with me.
Ho wgreen, how fresh all that grows.
How cool the wind blows.
Peace is every step.
It turns the endless path to joy. Thich Nhat Hanh

About Thich Nhat Hahn the Dalai Lama has written ‘(he) shows us the connection between personal, inner peace and peace on earth’.

.

O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Pu…

O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.
O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá