When will the children break into song?

grandchild

the conductor on this train takes our pulse
not our tickets
he passengers look deeply into each other's eyes
all except for me of course
I keep my face pressed against the window
to look into my eyes
would turn the other passengers to stone
it’s a problem
there are things in this life
that are not meant to be seen

james lee jobe

The world doesn't happen to you, you happen to it.

Brian Thompson



birth
from blood comes blood
from life comes life

death
shadow emptiness
silence without end

love
joy and a sweetness
like honey

hate
the evil that stains the heart
the fire that burns the mind

time
a lie an illusion
there is only now

james lee jobe

Don't fear mistakes. There are none. 

Miles Davis



america has a password for easy entry
WEALTH
one also needs an entry visa stamped with dollar signs
and a passport with a photo of a white person
america when will the bells ring and the doors open
when will the children break into song

james lee jobe

If there is no regarding of phenomena as “mine,” then the self who suffers is not constructed.

Andrew Olendzki, “A Universal Formula” 

Be kind to the people around you, to the people you meet; you never know who is really hurting.

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Walk towards that minuscule dot of light.

massoud arabshahi

Blinding ignorance does mislead us. 

O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes! 

-Leonardo da Vinci

The first crow has arrived.

It’s clear that the saucers aren't coming
To take us away after all. Let’s all let go
Of the old humiliations and move on.
Yes, the father was a raging alcoholic
And he never really loved the mother.
And yes, the child was wounded and scarred
At birth; this was intentional. We are all
Perched on poles waiting for the crows
To come and peck at our flesh. It’s a tough job,
And it doesn't pay well, but there is one perk;
Pity and denial don't work anymore, so
Now we all get to feel again. For many
Of us, it is for the very first time.

-james lee jobe

No thought, 

no reflection, 

no analysis, 

no cultivation, 

no intention; 

let it settle itself. 

-Tilopa

The needle and the thread. The left and the right. Something that is and something else that is not. Up and down. Within and without. Which light is for you? How much weight can you bear? Don't speak now, save your answer for when the fog covers the river and the valley. Tell your tale; the balance of your life aligns with this watershed of place, this home that you have claimed. Look, on the low horizon, below the clouds; that is Venus. Walk towards that minuscule dot of light. Thread your needle, and do not look left or right. Take with you that which is, and leave behind you that which is not. The only weight you have to bear is your own life.

-james lee jobe

Things are not what they appear to be: 

nor are they otherwise. 

-Surangama Sutra

What day is today? The summer heat

Binds me down like heavy rope.

Above this, the sky is a cooler blue,

And below, the earth is baked hard.

Through this, our love moves,

Traveling back and forth as always.

My lips on your neck taste the sweat.

-james lee jobe

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238,900 miles away, the moon shines down

COLIN JENNINGS

Collateral damage.

A drone bomb targets a small house in Afghanistan.
No one cares, because it isn't here.

Perfectly, the house explodes, killing all inside.
No one cares because it isn't here.

Three terrorists, killers all, are shredded.

Also dead are two wives, four children,
and a baker who was just walking down the street.

No one cares because it isn't here.

Another drone targets a house in Syria,
full of terrorists. And some of their families.

Again, no one cares because it isn't here.
It isn't America.

Oh, but it is.

james lee jobe

I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost. 

Jack Kerouac

I'll call it a present.

And there was a present -- Well, I'll call it a present.
A present for me from my mind. It was a memory, long buried.
My late son, when he was quite small, running to the table
for the dinner and seeing that it was pizza, his favorite.
Smiling. Happy. He made a sound
that was halfway between a cheer and a squeal of delight.
One week now until Thanksgiving Day on the year of his death.

james lee jobe

If we spend 57% on war and 6% on education, what do you think we value more?

Lee Camp

Sober under a full moon.

The raccoon eats the cat food I set out on the patio,
And the cat just watches.
She doesn't seem all that interested;
It’s more like she doesn't have anything else to do right now,
Or anywhere else that she needs to be.
So she watches.
The raccoon crunches away,
And 238,900 miles away, the moon shines down
On this scene like a golden balloon.
Sober under a full moon.
Years and years have passed since I have been drunk.

james lee jobe

We do not have to improve ourselves; we only have to let go of what blocks the heart. 

Jack Kornfield

Months now without rain, even this lizard looks dry. The redwood trees out front are green, but I don't know how they do it. I suspect magick is involved. This is California’s great northern valley, and it seldom rains between Easter and Halloween. By late summer the heat and the dryness are like giants pounding on huge drums, calling out for rain. The rain is in the beat and standing out in the heat, watching the empty sky, I can feel it building, building, building, waiting for the moment when the dam in the sky gives way to life and love. And to rain, simple rain. The lizard has had enough of waiting, and scurries off without even saying goodbye. Too bad. I could use a friend. 

james lee jobe 

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I am not the one to save the day.

MARTIN OSNER

RICH WITH VOWELS AND CONSONANTS, rich with punctuation. A truckload of verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Adverbs to the left, prepositions to the right. Sentences on a wagon, pulled by mules. The warehouse is rich with language, there is plenty for all. Paragraphs cut into planks; the houses are built from them. Anything you wish to say can be built. This is a city of language, and you are welcome here. Why not stay? 

james lee jobe

When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight. 

Thich Nhat Hanh

it’s far too late to think about perfection
it’s perfectly clear that I am not the one to save the day
climb mount everest, or discover the cure for baldness
but there's this I’m still me
I can live with being the man that I am
and that's enough
when that door finally opens
I’m walking through
whatever comes next is alright by me

james lee jobe

In giving, mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms the mind. 

Dōgen Zenji



snow fell and I stayed home from school for no reason
I didn't go outside to play I just read my books all day with the radio on loud
the beatles the yardbirds like that
the day felt sad although nothing sad had happened
it was as though my life had not yet begun
and I was waiting for that in a sort of limbo
I was wrong of course that was my life right then as this is now and every moment counts as much as every other moment
but I was a boy and white snow was falling
from a gray sky onto a gray world
white upon gray and I watched this through the bedroom window as the yard filled
what did I know nothing I just felt

james lee jobe

I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. 

Edward Everett Hale

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a garden for herons and waterbirds

mariusz szmerdt

The real work of planet-saving will be small, humble, and humbling, and (insofar as it involves love) pleasing and rewarding. 

Wendell Berry



Yolo County, Sacramento Valley

Light in the winter morning,
a gray glow through the tule fog,
a fog that sits low across the bottom lands,
hugging the creeks and blanketing the reeds and oleander,
a gray sunrise that is just barely kissing the dawn,
and the silver sky is low, all is still,
an easy light, gentle and gray,
a love, a thought, a hope.

And the creeks themselves,
Cache Creek and Putah Creek,
dark and cold and fast,
rinsing the earth,
washing away the dust of summer with winter's bath,
like dancers to a wild Spanish mambo,
sisters of the rock and bone of living,
the blood veins to the body of the valley,
as strong as gods, full of life,
and full of death.

The valley is a marsh,
a garden for herons and waterbirds,
a green grocer for any who would tend it, love it,
treat it like a mother or a daughter,
the soil made rich and sweet from the centuries spent underwater,
when this valley was a great sea,
from water to soil to table to stomach,
worked with love.

It is winter,
it is morning,
another fine day in our valley.

james lee jobe

If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace.

Thích Nhất Hạnh

Hand takes hand takes hand.

At the end of the service our congregation joins hands to bring a prayer into the world. Hand takes hand takes hand until we are like a lovely snake winding through the sanctuary. No one is left out, no one is omitted. The reaching out continues until all are joined by flesh, and then we all are joined in spirit by our prayer.

james lee jobe

Zen mind is not Zen mind. Throwing away Zen mind is correct Zen mind. 

Seung Sahn

2nd birthday

If I am to allow the wind to spread my legs
Then I must surrender a certain amount of my will to the wind.
I am not willing to do that.

If I am to trust my life to fate or to the will of a god
Then I must believe in fate or in a god that rules.
I am not willing to do that.

Lonely for the hearts of other living beings
I often go out into the world and announce myself alive.
I am through with making announcements.

To be alive is to live on the sharpest edge
Of being totally invisible.

To be alive means being awake
And not needing any illusion for guidance.

Good morning, James, it is time to wake up.
Today is my new birthday.

Happy birthday to me.

james lee jobe

I'm not a slave of darkness, I am the slave of light. 

Rumi

Hello. If you enjoy this blog, and I hope that you do, please consider making a donation through the BUY ME A COFFEE button below. It's done safely online, and just takes a moment. I could use the supplement since my mobility issues no longer allow me to work. 

Thanks! -jlj