Aloka And The Buddhist Monks' Walk For Peace

“Let us walk with open hearts, with respect for every life, every path, every faith. May every footprint we leave behind bloom into flowers of peace, so that wherever these steps have touched the earth, there remains a quiet fragrance of loving kindness.” - Tue Nhan Bhikkhu known as the Rev. Nguyen, the vice president of the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center 

In a Buddhist tradition of peace activism, on October 26, 2025, a group of Buddhist monks in Fort Worth, Texas embarked on a 2,300 mile (3,700 kilometers) long journey for peace. The pilgrimage leads through ten states and Washington, DC is set to be the final destination. The monks are accompanied by a dog named Aloka. On route to the US Capitol the monks will be stopping at state capitols, historic landmarks and community centers to share their message of peace and invite people to join them for prayer and reflection.  

Aloka - an Indian stray Pariah dog that marches with the monks became a social media sensation in his own right. In India the dog followed a group of Vietnamese-American wandering Buddhist monks for one hundred days. He was with them despite the hardships he experienced. He was injured when a car hit him and was very sick, but rejoined the monks over and over again. Eventually, the monks adopted him and brought him with them to the United States. Now he bravely and cheerfully follows them on their journey through the United States. The puppy has a distinctive heart shaped mark on his forehead, wise eyes and very cheerful disposition. His name Aloka is quite fitting. In Sanskrit it means light, brightness or radiance and symbolizes knowledge and enlightenment. This name is often associated with hope and guidance suggesting a bringer of clarity and joy to all around them. 

Accompanied by Aloka, the monks will be following the practice of self-discipline that involves humility, endurance and spiritual focus. They will be eating one meal a day and sleeping outdoors in tents pitched on public or private grounds provided by churches, temples, private persons or local communities. Some of the monks walk barefoot. Some are over sixty years old. No community and no individual that comes in contact with the monks will remain unaffected by their motivation, wisdom, humility and serenity. Their pilgrimage will end on February 13, 2026, with a message of healing, compassion, mindfulness, renewal, and peace. 

"The Walk for Peace is a simple yet meaningful reminder that unity and kindness begin within each of us and can radiate outward to families, communities, and society as a whole.” - Venerable Bhikkhu Paññākāra

The Walk for Peace is a journey that is meant to bring blessings to individuals and communities in a world that is filled with restlessness and uncertainty. 

Our world was never a perfect place but there were at least some short periods of peace in some regions. The new millenium began with a beautiful vision for the planet but the New York attack on September 11, 2001, destroyed our hopes for a better, more enlightened world. Belligerent ideologies seemed to be spreading around the world and by 2025 there were more regional conflicts than ever. Many people feared the possibility of another world war. The never ending conflict in the Middle East and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine gave us little hope for peace on Earth in 2026.

In the United States and in many European countries citizens experience extreme violence on daily bases, often perpetrated by people of different cultural backgrounds that were once invited to live in their communities. Cultural incompatibility and different moral values make harmonious coexistence impossible. Rape, murder, robberies, arson, vandalism, and violent attacks seem to dominate the daily news cycle in mamy urban centers. Many people live in fear. 

At the same time, the social fabric, the respect for life or property, the respect for individual rights and the right to one's own opinion, are completely disappearing in so many places. This process began with totalitarian measures imposed on many societies during the 2020 pandemic. The decline of civility is appalling. Social media allows the spread of verbal aggression never seen before and allows that aggression to spill out to our streets. The belligerence and intolerance seem to be spreading through our societies like cancer and that "cancer" is often exploited for political reasons. Many tormented souls live their aggression out in the real world. Mental disease and drug abuse are prevalent and often remain untreated. Financial instability and lack of perspective aggravate the situation. 

Can this downward spiral be stopped? Is there hope for our societies? Is there any hope for the world?

A practicing Buddhist would understand the current conditions as a reflection of inner chaos and suffering. Buddha himself believed that true peace comes from within when the mind is free from greed, anger and delusion. It can only be achieved by profound introspection and the practice of mindfulness. This however is difficult if not impossible in a world where people are slaves to their electronic devices; in the world where people have time to insult and abuse others but have no time for introspection and self-reflection; in the world where people demand respect for their opinions without acknowledging that others have the same right. People no longer agree that it is all right to disagree and demonize others for having their own mind. 

Peace is not a mere idea. It is a practice. The path to peace begins with a single step within. 

Mindful walking and a quality time spent in nature might be the first step to inner healing. There is a beautiful practice in Japan called Shinrin-yoku or forest bathing where a practitioner consciously relaxes and engages with nature focusing all the senses on the experience. The practice is known to improve mood and reduce stress. Quality time spent away from electronic devices and the noise of discord and argument may help calm the troubled souls, induce inner peace and a completely new outlook on things that matter. 

Our societies, our world will not change overnight and suddenly become peaceful but each of us has the potential to bring peace to our immediate surroundings, to our homes and the workspace. We can refuse to get triggered, we can refuse to get angry and judgmental and instead, lead by example. Mindful detachment, mutual respect, loving-kindness (mettā), and the understanding that we all are on a journey, is a good place to start. 

"What we think, we become" - Buddha 

By Dominique Allmon

Post scriptum

On November 19, 2025 a car slammed into the escort vehicle that accompanied the monks. One of the monks, the Venerable Maha Dam Phommasan, abbot of the Wat Lao Buddha Khanti in Snellville, Georgia, was seriously injured and taken to hospital. The damage was very serious and the bhikkhu's left leg had to be amputated. He is no longer able to continue the Walk For Peace in person but follows the monks in spirit. 

Today, on January 12, Aloka underwent surgery at the Charleston Veterinary Referral Center (CVRC) in South Carolina for a flare up of an old injury he sustained to one of his legs back in India. In order to heal the veterinarians, who performed their services free of charge, advised the monks that Aloka should stay in the clinic until he has healed completely. This sweet puppy needs some rest in order to heal. He will be taken care of for at least one week and as soon as it is safe for him, he will join the monks and walk with them again. 

On January 17, 2026, after 84 days on the road, the Venerable Samma Maggo, 68 years old Vietnamese monk from France terminated his pilgrimage and will be returning to his temple in France. 

"The Venerable never spoke of endurance, yet that solitary figure along the long road became a teaching in itself - quiet, unheroic, without drama - simply walking on, and enabling those who followed to stand more upright within their own lives." - Venerable Baro Beso

I wish I could be there to meet these monks on the road. Since this is not possible I follow their progress online. It is very touching to watch these men walking with such determination, dispensing blessings to all and sharing the message of peace. We can only hope that all the people who meet the monks will have the strength to hold on to the wisdom imparted on them. 

"May you and all beings be well, happy and at peace." 

Dominique Allmon©2026 

To learn more about the Walk For Peace and to support the monks in their endeavor please click here 

Follow Aloka the Peace Dog on Instagram 

A "gofundme" page was set up for the Venerable Maha Dam Phommasan.  

Images source X 

The Joy of Gardening or How to Mend a Broken Heart

"Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes." – Unknown

Unless you lost a loved one you will never understand the avalanche of emotions that overwhelms the minds, the hearts and the souls of those bereaved.

I lost my husband in December 2023, short before Christmas. I lost the love of my life, my best friend, my companion, my twin soul, my alter ego. I lost my home, my garden, my dogs and my cats. My husband's spiteful daughter told me that "now, that my husband was dead, I could finally go back to my life". I wish I could "go back" to my life. I wish I could return to the time long before Jim's cancer diagnosis, when life was good and dreams were still possible.

One of the most important things in life is to never define yourself or your happiness by your possessions or the people in your life. You should be able to be happy even if you lost everything. I always understood that happiness was an inside job but I never imagined how I would cope with the loss if it actually happened in my life.

When you and your spouse are so completely connected that you become one mind, one soul, a sudden loss of your "other half" leaves an incredible emptiness. Nothing in your life prepares you for such a tragedy. Your world is completely shattered in an instant. You cannot "return to your life" and you don't simply move on. You survive and if you are lucky, you will slowly learn how to live again.

My husband's 2021 stage IV renal cell carcinoma diagnosis came as a shock to both of us. We hoped that he would be able to beat the disease, but we also knew that our days together were somewhat numbered. Still, his passing in December 2023 came unexpectedly. Five months later, one of our puppies died in the custody of my husband's daughter. An unimaginable void opened after these two deaths and unbearable pain became my companion ever since.

Interaction with my late husband's daughter in the weeks that followed his passing put me into an acute PTSD setting and left me heartbroken and traumatized. Although my husband left me everything he had, in a moment of distress and confusion, I renounced my inheritance believing that his daughter and her big family would have a better use for it. Despite my generosity I was even threatened with physical violence if I were to say something bad about my husband. Suddenly, I had to face evil I was not prepared for. Moreover, because of a nasty trick I lost my husband twice. Lies, deception, fraud, more lies.  

Till today I cannot understand how my sweet husband could have even been related to a person without honor, conscience or decency. If he had witnessed what transpired after his death, he would have been angry and disappointed. He would have never allowed this to happen, but that's a material for a book that probably will never be written.

Dealing with the loss of your loved one takes up all your energy, but to deal with pure, premeditated evil at the same time when you didn't even know it existed, adds another dimension to you suffering. 

I do understand that she lost her beloved father and took out her anger and frustration on me without even considering that I myself was grieving and in pain. I had nobody to turn to, just myself all alone. 

 

We all have our big and small tragedies and I am aware that nobody cares about my story. However, if you are broke, broken and depressed like me or feel stuck in your current emotional state for any reason, you may want to try something different for a change if you do not want to see a therapist. 

Healing takes time and requires a lot of strength if one doesn't want to lose one's mind or drown in anger, resentment and self pity. Some things cannot ever be repaired. You will never be the same. You do not move on. You cannot really recover from your loss. The grief will never go away. All you can do is to learn to cope, accept the things the way they are and try to somehow mend the broken heart, if this is even possible.

Grief is not a linear process. It is not a problem to be solved. Everyone experiences it differently. The grief will turn your life upside down and if you truly loved someone you lost, the grief will never leave you. 

The extreme emotional pain you feel after the loss of a loved one can profoundly affect your emotional and physical health. Finding something that will give you sense of purpose and accomplishment could help during the time of grief.

Gardening seems like one such thing that could help a grieving person to deal with the avalanche of emotions. It is an active exercise in mindfulness. It requires willingness to learn, concentration and many hours of work every day. Getting your fingers dirty is actually healthy and quite relaxing. Spending a lot of time outside and watching the plants you planted grow and move through their cycles of life can help you take your mind off your pain and connect with nature in a most healing way. You not only observe the cycles of life but also learn to accept the impermanence of things. 

There is an amazing sense of grace to be found in gardening...  

Many stressed or distressed people believe that there is no better way to calm the nerves and stimulate one's creativity than digging in the dirt and planting seeds. In fact, serious scientific studies were conducted on the relationship between mental and physical health and gardening. 

 

Scientists found out that gardening 

• helps you stay physically and mentally active 
• improves physical agility and helps strengthen the muscles
• exposure to sunlight while gardening helps you boost your Vitamin D levels
• possibly boosts immunity since the soil contains microorganisms beneficial to the immune system 
• decreases risk of such chronic diseases as heart disease and old age diabetes
• improves cognitive health and keeps your mind sharp
• gives you sense of purpose and accomplishment
• brings joy and happiness to your life 
• reduces stress and anxiety 
• helps you relax and sleep better

 

And, of course, if you are growing vegetables in your garden, gardening improves the way you eat since there is nothing more delicious than freshly plucked tomato or cucumber that you planted and have seen growing. 

 

Gardening can be very rewarding. Naturally, no amount of gardening will ever take your pain away, but it may help you manage stress and depression, if only just a bit. It helps you cope with difficult emotions. Daily work in the garden prevents you form losing your mind or turning bitter and vengeful. Your own joy and happiness is the best vengeance towards those who hurt you.

 

I no longer have a large garden so I started a small, bio-dynamic one on my balcony. I no longer have cats or dogs so I make friends with bumble bees and wasps. I thank the bees for pollinating my plants. I thank the wasps for keeping my plants free from aphids and other vermin. Watching things grow in my garden gives me some joy and comfort while I am trying to sort through memories from a much happier time.

Growing, harvesting and cooking your own food is probably one of the most satisfying experiences any gardener can have.

Although I completely lost my appetite I know that being able to prepare a meal from the fruits of one's diligent labor is a vital element of self care and cannot be underestimated during the time of mourning. 

Most days are very difficult for me. I hardly sleep anymore and I could probably water my small garden with all the tears I am shedding. I know that my beloved husband would not want me to let myself go so I try to pull myself together. Watching things grow fills my heart with gratitude. I take my morning coffee and read books in my garden just like we both used to do on so many mornings. I harvest my vegetables and prepare my meals the way I did for both of us. I don't even need to close my eyes to see my husband's smile as he is waiting for the salad dressing I am making.

We promised each other to be together forever. He never left. He just moved to another plane of existence and is waiting there for me...

By Dominique Allmon

In loving memory of my husband James W. Allmon (1953-2023)

Post scriptum

Cancer seems to be a nightmare my husband's family has to deal with. On May 7, 2025 my husband's son James William Jr. passed away only two moths before his 50th birthday. May he too rest in peace. 

Dominique Allmon©2025

Medicine Buddha

Ancient teachings tell us that merely seeing the Medicine Buddha, or even seeing an image of the Medicine Buddha, or hearing the name of the Medicine Buddha, can confer inconceivable benefits. - Spiritual Bliss

Bhaisajyaguru, commonly known as the Medicine Buddha, is the Buddha of healing and medicine in Mahayana Buddhism. He is a fully enlightened being capable of healing both, the outer and the inner, suffering or dukkha by applying his teachings as medicine. He has unbiased compassion for all sentient beings. He offers protection from physical harm and mental afflictions, as well as other dangers and obstacles. He helps the faithful to eradicate the three unwholesome roots (poisons) or kleshas of attachment, hatred and ignorance that are considered to be the source of all suffering.

In a Sanskrit manuscript called Medicine Buddha Sutra (Bhaisajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja Sūtra) he was described as a bodhisattva who upon enlightenment made twelve great vows:

1. To illuminate countless realms with his radiance and enable anyone to become a Buddha.
2. To awaken the minds of sentient beings through the light of lapis lazuli.
3. To provide all sentient beings with all necessary material needs.
4. To correct heretical views and inspire all sentient beings toward the enlightened path of the Bodhisattva.
5. To help all sentient beings follow the Moral Precepts of Buddhism even if they have failed before.
6. To heal sentient beings born with deformities, illness or other physical sufferings.
7. To help relieve the destitute and the sick from their suffering.
8. To help women who wish to be reborn as men achieve their desired form of rebirth.
9. To heal sentient beings from their mental afflictions and delusions.
10. To help the oppressed be free from their suffering.
11. To relieve those who suffer from terrible hunger and thirst.
12. To help clothe those who are destitute and suffering from cold weather or mosquitoes.

The idea of Buddha as a metaphorical healer is as old as Buddhism itself and goes back to the historical Buddha who found the cure for suffering and presented his formula as the Four Noble Truths.

Medicine Buddha is one of the emanations of the Gautama Buddha as understood in Mahayana Buddhism. He is venerated in China, Japan and Tibet. He is often depicted as a seated Buddha with a stem of the Aruna fruit (Terminalia chebula) wearing the three robes of a Buddhist monk, sometimes blue-faced or having a blue body and holding a lapis lazuli medicine bottle.

Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha) Mantra

namo bhagavate bhaiṣajyaguru
vaidūryaprabharājāya tathāgatāya arhate
samyaksambuddhāya tadyathā:
oṃ bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajye
bhaiṣajya-samudgate svāhā

The practice of Medicine Buddha is considered to be a very powerful tool for liberation from suffering. The faithful recite either the dharani or the mantra that helps them overcome the inner "sickness" of attachment, hatred and ignorance. It also helps ease the outer, physical suffering and purify the negative karma.

By Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2025

Images: Medicine Buddha by Dominique Allmon

 

Life Is A Precious Gift - Remembering September 11

September 11 impressed upon us that life is a precious gift … And I think we all have a duty to devote at least a small portion of our daily lives to ensuring that neither America nor the world ever forgets September 11. - Sen. Bill Frist

Image: Life Is A Precious Gift by Dominique Teng©2017

Unlimited Vision

I've learned that fear limits you and your vision. It serves as blinders to what may be just a few steps down the road for you. The journey is valuable, but believing in your talents, your abilities, and your self-worth can empower you to walk down an even brighter path. Transforming fear into freedom - how great is that? - Soledad O'Brien

Image: James Gurney Steampunk Specs

Image source unknown but greatly appreciated

Prayer for Hiroshima

In order for us to live together, we need to end the use of all nuclear weapons, the ultimate in inhumane, pure evil and the moment to get this done is now. - Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Hiroshima at the Peace Memorial Park on August 6th, 2015, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the nuclear bomb by the United States. The bomb obliterated the city and killed around 140,000 people. Another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki only three days later and caused ca. 70,000 deaths. 

In 1945 the United States government argued that the nuclear attack was the only way to end the World War II in the Pacific. It probably was, since Japan was not willing to surrender.

Speak Your Mind!

When you give yourself permission to communicate what matters to you in every situation you will have peace despite rejection or disapproval. Putting a voice to your soul helps you to let go of the negative energy of fear and regret. - Shannon L. Alder

Dear Ms. Alder! I know someone who was put in a situation like this not that long ago. He not only spoke his mind, but also consciously decided that nothing has the power to throw him off the chosen path and I admire him for his strength and determination.

See, a dear friend of mine joined a group of people who decided to make a major change in their lives. They were working hard for more than twenty weeks: weekly webinars, very long daily reading assignments, weekly blogging and networking with other participants of a program.

I will not go into details here, but for the sake of clarity I want you to understand that the program was designed to help people discover their hidden potential and to develop a so called Master Mind.

My friend is a man of exceptional qualities and integrity. He is a former Marine who served in the Vietnam War at a very young age. He worked on B1 Lancer and also in the Space Shuttle Program at the Space Center in Florida, but is very humble about his personal achievements. He joined the above mentioned program out of personal need for change. And for weeks he worked diligently reading, writing and networking.

The Master Mind program is a very powerful tool and it requires a lot of self-discipline. It addresses personality, character, behavior, physical body and spirituality. Many people embrace the program with hope for grand changes in their lives, while others drop out after first few weeks when they realize that this is not what they expected. There are also people who continue with the program despite inner doubt. And some will not bother to do what they were asked to do by the organizers. They do not write blog posts and do not have much interaction with others. But not my dear friend. He worked hard from the very beginning despite the fact that he works full time, has a long distance relationship and has to take care of three young, demanding pets.

The program required a great dose of introspection and at some point, as participants progress in their self-discovery, they are forced to change their entire life philosophy. The entire framework of habits and beliefs collapses as they look deeper and deeper into their souls. Personal growth and transformation are very painful processes at any age, but I believe that fully formed adults suffer more than younger people. They have to revise and reevaluate everything they have learned and done in their lives, and have to face incredible inner resistance to change that comes from within and from without. They have to overcome the strong temptation to give up and return to the safe zone they cultivated for years if not decades. Only the very strong and determined participants continue despite a genuine emotional pain and they receive very little little support when you consider that some of them become incredibly overwhelmed and may require a therapy.

The inner change is often accompanied by cascading events in Master Mind program participant’s life that make the day-to-day existence even more unbearable and yet, they try to follow the program despite the doubts that surface from time to time.

This was exactly what happened to my dear friend after one of the last assignments he received. The inner struggle slowed him down and he did not publish his latest blog-post on time as it was required of him. What followed next borders on ridicule and reminds me of a first grade school experience. He was told that he was disturbing the harmony and was punished with exclusion from the program like a first grade pupil who got suspended from school for misbehaving. Rules are rules and you will be punished if you don’t follow them.

There was no room for emotional or spiritual support. No tolerance for a man in crisis.

The most interesting thing in the whole situation was, though, that my dear friend did not break down completely. He was so strong and so wise, and so much beyond the framework of the program! I believe that he simply arrived at the crossroads where the program did not work for him anymore. He had the courage to speak his mind and I admire him for that. The “punishment” only precipitated his "liberation" from constraints and a decision to continue walking on his own chosen path.

I do not intend to make a judgment about the program, but as an objective observer I have an opinion and it is a valid one. The whole program sets inner processes in motion, but the participants are left alone without much psychological support when catharsis occurs unexpectedly. This is quite irresponsible.

Most participants face their pain bravely and try to use help of their support groups. What they need while moving on is empathy and support, not punishment and exclusion. Such actions remind me of dubious gurus who punish and ostracize their pupils at will to exert desire behavior and submission.

Many people face punishment, exclusion and power play in their daily lives. Only the very strong can survive without a scar. Such a casual “mistreatment” in the Master Mind program seems a bit out of place, but it can also be used to some advantage.  It may help strengthen participants who were let go. A few weeks earlier they might have become desperate and even depressed, but now they are strong enough to deal with the situation and maybe even laugh about it. Just like my friend!

By Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2015

If You Really Loved Me You Would Eat Garlic

Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. 
- Neil Gaiman

What does love have to do with garlic? Exactly! Nothing. Nothing at all. I borrowed the title from the brilliant Paul Watzlawick. In his book "The Situation Is Hopeless But Not Serious" he describes a situation that is staged and played with virtuosity by many couples:

A husband comes home from work and his wife announces that the dinner is almost ready. She's got a new recipe and wants him to try it. She serves the dinner and after a moment of silence asks her husband if he likes the food. If he likes the food everything is all right and they  both can look forward into a pleasant evening. But if he doesn't like the food things become very complicated. The poor man knows that she will be offended and maybe even angry if he doesn't like the food. But if he tells her he likes it she may be inclined to cook it more often. To save his own skin he tells her that this dish has an interesting taste and continues eating quietly hoping that there is no second serving.

Now imagine that the man is brave enough and tells his wife he does not like the food she is serving and she really gets upset. She tells him that she went through so much trouble, got all the ingredients and spent hours preparing the meal and he is ungrateful and does not even like the food. He probably does not even love her because if he did he would appreciate her sacrifice. She could have spent her afternoon reading or watching TV, but instead wasted it in the kitchen... This probably is only the first act of a drama that will continue for the rest of the evening. Accusation, grudges, tears.

This is quite hilarious and you may wonder how it is even possible that people behaved like that. Well, believe me, it is possible. I know a man who hated grapes, but ate them for ten years to please his wife. On their 10th anniversary he told her that he actually hated grapes and would not touch a single one till the end of his life. The wife was speechless. When she asked him why he did not tell her about it earlier he simply stated that he did not want to make her angry or unhappy because she always went to so much trouble to buy the ripest and tastiest grapes she could only get.

Food is only one example. But how many man end up in theaters watching romances or going to boring parties. How many women go hiking or end up watching a baseball game to please the partner. How many things are done out of fear of loosing the loved one.

If you really loved me you would...

We may laugh, but you know what? Laughter actually freezes on my lips. Relationships based on fear have no chance of survival and have nothing to do with love. Our love does not give us any right to manipulate or subjugate the person we love. We have no right to control the person we love or decide what is right for him or her. We cannot demand to be loved and we cannot force anyone to like what we like because they love us. We do not threaten or blackmail those who love us and we do not sell our love for a plate of a bad gourmet soup. We must accept that the person we love is a free human being, free to stay and free to go.

So many tragedies, small and big ones, could be avoided if people trusted one another and communicated with honesty; but most importantly, if they did not bind their love or happiness to conditions and treated their partners as their equals.

Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2014

Stop Writing That Book!

A self-fulfilling prophecy is an assumption or prediction that, purely as a result of having been made, cause the expected or predicted event to occur and thus confirms its own "accuracy" • Paul Watzlawick 

Years ago a very troubled colleague of mine told me that she found a cure to her unbelievable unhappiness. She bought a then freshly published book written by the Austrian-American psychologist Paul Watzlawick. "The Situation is Hopeless But Not Serious" or "Sorge Dich Nicht, Lebe" in German, helped her cope with her own misery and made her laugh at herself, something she has not ever done before.

And we both laughed when she told me the story of a hammer.

A man wants to hang a picture on the wall. He has a nail, but does not have a hammer. He considers borrowing it from his neighbor, but before he even leaves his home a thought crosses his mind. He remembers seeing his neighbor just the other day. "The guy did not even greet me yesterday. Who knows what he thinks of me. Maybe he has something against me... He probably will not even lend me his hammer. Who knows what is going on in his mind. I am not like that. If anyone have asked me for a tool I would gladly lend it to him. How can a human being be so heartless! Such people make our lives miserable. On purpose! He probably even thinks that my life depends on him only because I need to borrow his hammer. Nasty man! But that's enough! I will tell him what I think of him!" Agitated, the man knocks on his neighbor's door. The door opens and before the neighbor can even say a word our protagonist shouts out "You know what, you can keep your bloody hammer, you...!" and walks away leaving his neighbor completely perplexed.

The poor man in this story has written a whole book before he even knocked on his neighbor's door. How many stories do we write before we act? How often we do not act at all because the story we have written did not have a happy ending?

Over the years I met many people with complete stories of their entire lives. One bad experience in the past destroyed all hopes for better future. Life was what it was and there was no reason to expect anything else. It even seemed to me that such lives ended long time ago and the unfortunate people were only there to turn the pages of their own creation.

Of course, things are not always as dramatic and not all of us get stuck in some kind of morbid scenario. Most of us write short stories, especially when we have to make difficult decisions or face particular situations or people.

Our creative activity begins early. Maybe as kids we did something wrong and were terrified to talk to our parents. Maybe we were terrified not because our parents were very strict, but because we imagined that they would punish us severely for what we did. The story we wrote not only prevented us from acting, but also protected us from pain that we might have experienced if we did talk to our parents.

Over the years we may have become masters of the genre. We always know better, and we know for sure that there are forces much stronger than we can even imagine that always act against us. 

A scary scenario unfolds when we interact we people who represent some kind of authority: parents, teachers, credit facilitators, spouses. We don't even need to try. We already know the outcome. So we leave things undone and words unspoken and indulge in our misery.

But would anything change if we stopped writing the book?

Change does not happen overnight. It takes time and determination to change behavior patterns that were perfected over the years, but they can be changed. With a little practice we could learn to shift our attention and concentrate on the action that has to be taken and not on the outcome we expect. Once we have mastered this new behavior we could learn to shift our attention and start creating positive outcomes, but this is a different story...

By Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2013

Image source here

 

Choose Goodness

By Ralph Marston

The time you spend living in fear is time you cannot spend living in love. The time you spend hiding and retreating from life is time you cannot spend growing and advancing and achieving. 

The hours and days you spend being annoyed or frustrated are times when you deny yourself access to life’s best possibilities. When you live in anger and resentment, you cut yourself off from life’s goodness. 

Sure, there are many bad things that can happen. Yet you can be aware of them, and realistic about them, without being obsessed and consumed by them. 

You may very well have good reasons for resentment, frustration and anger. But that doesn’t mean those negative responses are good for you, or that you must choose them. 

You can choose instead to live in the enriching, empowering light of your own highest visions. You can always choose to grow, to achieve, and to fulfill by immersing your awareness in life’s ever-present goodness. 

Every aspect of your life is greatly influenced, day in and day out, by the way you imagine life to be. Imagine the best, choose the goodness, and be a source of love and light for all to see. 

Image source here

The Broken Hearts Club

From time to time I see adds plastered onto supermarkets walls or lamp posts by desperate cats owners whose cats went missing. These ads usually include a mug shot of the missing cat and a plea of a heart-broken owner with a promise of reward. 

The owners have my sympathy and I always wonder whether they will ever see their missing cats again. 

There is something ambiguous about cat lovers. They love cats because cats are independent and adventurous, but lose their minds and suffer as soon as their darlings decide to have some adventure and disappear for a week or so.

 Madame M. planning her escape

It has been almost eight months since our Madame M. went missing. She disappeared short before our other cat, the Agent Orange, got sick. She does not even know that her playful companion is not among the living anymore. She does not even know that he was desperately looking for her before he died. Back then I even thought that our little orange kitten might have recovered from his sickness if she only showed up. But she never did and he seemed to have given up any fight for his own life.  

When Madame M. moved in with us a few years ago we thought that she was an alley cat. But now that she has been missing for such a long time I think that she might have had another owner before. She probably abandoned people who loved her and taking off in search of a new home. 

She was a very capricious cat who managed to break our hearts more than once before. She would bid a farewell to James and disappear for days or weeks at a time. She would leave us worrying day and night because there were so many predators out there. Bad humans, dogs, cars, coyotes, snakes, falcons and owls...

Then, one day, she would show up on our porch as if nothing had ever happened. We could not even berate the wretched cat, so grateful were we that she made it back home unharmed.

However, the last time she bade farewell to James, it felt like it was for good. We hoped every day to see her again, but we shared a feeling that she would never come back. 

Although heartbroken, we still hope that she found herself a new home because a thought of her being snatched by an owl or swallowed by a snake is simply even less bearable. 

By Dominique Allmon

 

Dominique Allmon©2013

New Year in Japan

New Year's ceremony at the Sensoji temple, 

Asakusa district of Tokyo, Japan

Like every year, on January 2, 2021 Japanese Emperor Akihito delivered a New Year's address to his nation. In his speech Emperor Akihito has expressed his hope for Japan’s recovery from disasters that devastated the island nation last year.

The emperor appeared on a bullet-proof balcony of the Imperial Palace with his family. He told throngs of well-wishers he shares in the nation’s pain over the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and hoped for the country’s recovery.

“I pray for the recovery of the disaster areas to continue and I hope that this year will be a better year for each and every citizen.”

Japan’s northeast coast was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the strongest quake on record in Japan, and a massive tsunami that triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis since a reactor meltdown in Chernobyl, Ukraine, twenty five years earlier.

Procession of Shinto priesthood

Japan’s March 11 earthquake and tsunami left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing. In his New Year’s speech, Emperor Akihito said he felt sorrow for those who died in last year’s disaster, as well as those who were forced from their homes because of the nuclear crisis that followed.

“There are great concerns for the people who are still going through hardships from the disaster. As the rebuilding of the affected areas continue, it is my wish that this year will be a better year for each and every person of this nation.”

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant went into meltdown after the tsunami destroyed back-up generators. Government officials have announced that the plant is now in a stable state known as “cold shutdown.” But experts say it could take decades to fully clean up and decommission the plant.

Southern Japan was hit by a magnitude 7.0 quake Sunday that caused buildings in Tokyo to sway, but there were no reports of injuries or damage, and no tsunami warning was issued as the events occurred unexpectedly. 

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The year 2011 was marked by series of natural disasters, weak if not disastrous economy, and by a wave of social and political unrest that spread throughout the world. We were literally bombarded every day by bad news. 

With the beginning of the new year many people around the world hope for some positive change. Big hopes are harbored in spite of the predictions made by economists worldwide.  

 

Kagami mochi

 

As most people struggle with their own fate, the victims of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami begin to fade out from our collective memory. But they are not yet quite forgotten. It will take many years to restore normality in the affected area. And it will take even longer to heal all the emotional wounds caused by this disaster. We can only wish them strength for the years to come. 

Dominique Allmon

Samsara And the Ocean of Tears

By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Samsara literally means "wandering-on." Many people think of it as the Buddhist name for the place where we currently live - the place we leave when we go to nirvana. But in the early Buddhist texts, it's the answer, not to the question, "Where are we?" but to the question, "What are we doing?" Instead of a place, it's a process: the tendency to keep creating worlds and then moving into them. As one world falls apart, you create another one and go there. At the same time, you bump into other people who are creating their own worlds, too.

The play and creativity in the process can sometimes be enjoyable. In fact, it would be perfectly innocuous if it didn't entail so much suffering. The worlds we create keep caving in and killing us. Moving into a new world requires effort: not only the pains and risks of taking birth, but also the hard knocks - mental and physical - that come from going through childhood into adulthood, over and over again. The Buddha once asked his monks, "Which do you think is greater: the water in the oceans or the tears you've shed while wandering on?" His answer: the tears. Think of that the next time you gaze at the ocean or play in its waves.

In addition to creating suffering for ourselves, the worlds we create feed off the worlds of others, just as theirs feed off ours. In some cases the feeding may be mutually enjoyable and beneficial, but even then the arrangement has to come to an end. More typically, it causes harm to at least one side of the relationship, often to both. When you think of all the suffering that goes into keeping just one person clothed, fed, sheltered, and healthy - the suffering both for those who have to pay for these requisites, as well as those who have to labor or die in their production - you see how exploitative even the most rudimentary process of world-building can be.

This is why the Buddha tried to find the way to stop samsara-ing. Once he had found it, he encouraged others to follow it, too. Because samsara-ing is something that each of us does, each of us has to stop it him or her self alone. If samsara were a place, it might seem selfish for one person to look for an escape, leaving others behind. But when you realize that it's a process, there's nothing selfish about stopping it at all. It's like giving up an addiction or an abusive habit. When you learn the skills needed to stop creating your own worlds of suffering, you can share those skills with others so that they can stop creating theirs. At the same time, you'll never have to feed off the worlds of others, so to that extent you're lightening their load as well.

It's true that the Buddha likened the practice for stopping samsara to the act of going from one place to another: from this side of a river to the further shore. But the passages where he makes this comparison often end with a paradox: the further shore has no "here," no "there," no "in between." From that perspective, it's obvious that samsara's parameters of space and time were not the pre-existing context in which we wandered. They were the result of our wandering.

For someone addicted to world-building, the lack of familiar parameters sounds unsettling. But if you're tired of creating incessant, unnecessary suffering, you might want to give it a try. After all, you could always resume building if the lack of "here" or "there" turned out to be dull. But of those who have learned how to break the habit, no one has ever felt tempted to samsara again.

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Unnecessary Suffering

 Buddhist monk among the rubble in Yamada, Japan

True freedom and the end of suffering is living in such a way as if you had completely chosen whatever you feel or experience at this moment. This inner alignment with Now is the end of suffering. Is suffering really necessary? Yes and no.If you had not suffered as you have, there would be no depth to you as a human being, no humility, no compassion. You would not be reading this now. Suffering cracks open the shell of ego, and then comes a point when it has served its purpose. Suffering is necessary until you realize it is unnecessary. - Eckhart Tolle

The tragedy of Japan is taking yet another, even more sinister dimension. As finally admitted by Japanese authorities, Fukushima is releasing massive quantities of radioactive material into the ocean on an ongoing basis.

This highly contaminated water (7.5 million times of the permitted level) being released is just the beginning: At least 200 tons of water are being poured onto Reactor No 2 every day, and that extremely radioactive water is, of course, ultimately getting dumped directly into the ocean.

If you do the math, that's 48,000 gallons of highly radioactive water being flushed into the Pacific Ocean each and every day...

Lost Memories

Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that's where I imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in awhile, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library. - Haruki Murakami in "Kafka on the Shore"

Image: Found in the mud within the exclusion zone, April 7, 2011 in Minamisoma, Japan


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Ocean of Suffering

The ocean of suffering is immense, but if you turn around, you can see the land. The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy... When you have suffered, you know how to appreciate the elements of paradise that are present. - Thich Nhat Hanh

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama offered prayers for those who lost their lives in the tsunami unleashed by the massive earthquake in Japan and offered his sympathies and condolences to their families.

In a condolence message to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the Nobel laureate has expressed his shock and sadness.

In a message to the Japanese people, he said: 'It would be very good if Japanese Buddhists are to recite 'Heart Sutra' on this occasion. Such recitation may not only be helpful for those who have lost their precious lives, but may also help prevent further disasters in the future.'

The 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who is currently touring Sarnath near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh for his annual spring teaching, also participated in special prayers for the victims.

'The Karmapa led a special puja on behalf of the earthquake victims at the Vajra Vidya Institute in Sarnath Friday evening,' spokesperson for the Karmapa's office Deki Chungyalpa told IANS.

The 8.9-magnitude earthquake Friday afternoon set off huge tsunami waves, some as high as 10 meters, that rushed ashore for several kilometers along the northeastern coast, sweeping everything in their path - buildings, cars, ships and people. Thousands were missing and the bodies of over 400 people have been recovered so far.

I hope the living are safe
I hope the missing are found
I hope the dead are at peace

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