The knowing that I am
is the behaviour of the ocean of being
which is all there is to know
by the knowing that I am.

Like understanding the weather,
there are countless factors,
some large in form, or long in time,
some of micro dimension – transient sparks,
so many factors communing together
making our life and living.

Most of the factors are out of our immediate control.
Yet . . .
with compassion filled understanding and vivid ongoing alertness,
we can learn to ride the waves of our living with integrity and heartfelt respect.

I am born from this earth but I can’t control culture, ancestors, or the unfolding ecology. However, my every gesture and action of body, and thought, contributes to the community of life – this living earth. This is the root Dharma. We are all brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, fathers, and mothers of each other. The robustness of Life – adapting and changing over billions of years is due to the immeasurable diversity of our family. The delicacy and fragility of Life is also due to this diversity. What each person does sends ripples throughout the fabric of life. What each of us does, matters! As Chimé Shore once wrote in the ‘Foundation Chorus’, “Respect for nature, love of life, the blessing of the human birth, born from nature all of us, I will remember and give thanks. I am a human being, endowed with nature’s gifts, unique, alive, each one of us, I will remember this.”

“Born from nature, all of us.” Born from the earth. Indigenous to this place. My actions are ultimately inexplicable. They are the results of too many situations and circumstances to accurately predict. A Darwinian might call this random mutation. My actions trigger ripplings of response throughout the web of existence which, in turn, triggers further adjustments in me. This could be called natural selection. Wisdom is to respect the un-pin-downable nature of this unbreakable wholeness of Nature. Compassion is to cultivate skills in sensitive observation and multi-levelled responsiveness, to be able to participate with balance, reverence and wonderment. As this becomes our basic stance of meeting life, we rediscover our true home. We are indigenous peoples. We are born from this earth.

This is Dharma
This is natural law.
This is what is happening.
This is what teaches us.

Through the endless waves of birth, development, wellbeing, old-age and death,
May we reflect to each other,
our true nature.

With love to everyone.

Tarchin