Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: Thich Nhat Hanh

  • I Need a Hug

    Sacred Stories

    That afternoon she had watched a seminar with Kyle Gray about the importance of our asking angels for help. During dinner with friends, a string of text messages revealed amplification with the friend’s granddaughter.

    “Ask the angels for help,” she encouraged her friend, as she received such a strong sense that the maternal grandmother was there helping.

    Boom!

    “I need a hug,” wrote the granddaughter.

    The following morning more encouraging news came from the household.

    You will likely agree we have nothing to lose by asking the angels for help. We all have loved ones in spirit. And, after all, isn’t Jesus an angel? Buddha? Thich Nhat Hanh?

    Kyle says, “It’s not how big the miracle is, it is simply how much room you make for it.”


  • How to Change our Past

    Perhaps it is busy mind preparing for our seasonal move south, or maybe the Beaver Moon (named for the November moon because of how the beavers prepare for winter), but I am wide awake and have fingers on the keyboard. While darkness drapes the sky, I am listening to an amazing Lion’s Roar interview with Kaira Jewel Lingo, a former nun living at Plum Village with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

    The official title of the interview is “Facing the Unknown.”

    We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons on Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruptions, is the title of the book by Kaira Jewel Lingo.

    So many nuggets….

    Living every moment of mindfulness as a moment that changes our past.

    “Begin Anew” practice of reflecting at the start of each week what you appreciated in the previous week about your partner/friend/coworker. One memory bring up another memory….

    Sharing about inmates in Africa in 2007 becoming concerned for their fellow inmates who were hospitalized with HIV. The inmates requested and received permission to grow a garden — food to provide additional nourishment for those who were ill. That generated awareness also of orphans whose parents had died from AIDS. An “adopt-an-orphan” program led to their acquiring a sewing machine and using their own clothing to repurpose into garments for the orphaned children.

    Preparing for our seasonal move might give greater significance to this idea of preparing for the ways we are going to have to adapt. Or maybe that comes with advancing age. This week John is learning a new version of the song “Jesus Loves Me.” The first line is: Jesus loves me, this I know, though my hair is white as snow.”

    People have asked me if I like my new short hair.

    It touches my heart that my Covid-Created long hair has been donated to a child through Wigs for Kids.





    How do we prepare? How do we be ready?

    Kaira spoke of the English WWI soldier who had an idea for the entire nation to spend one minute in silence. At nine pm each day, Big Ben would ring, reminding the people to do this. Twenty-one years later, following WWII, the Nazi’s said they could not take over England because, “You had this secret weapon.”

    I am making a list of user-name and passwords for all of our online stuff. At some point, someone is going to need that. Preparing for the ways we are going to have to adapt.

    I have been organizing meals based on what we have in the freezer and pantry. Preparing for the ways we are going to have to adapt.

    When I think of something that I want to remember to take, I get it out now. Preparing for the ways we are going to have to adapt.

    While not everyone is making a seasonal move, the whole world might benefit by preparing for the ways we are going to have to adapt. That truly is how to change our past!

  • Many Happy Returns

      “Whether we have happiness or not depends on the seeds in our consciousness. If our seeds of compassion, understanding, and love are strong, those qualities will be able to manifest in us. If the seeds of anger, hostility and sadness in us are strong, then we will experience much suffering. To understand someone, we have to be aware of the quality of the seeds in his consciousness. And we need to remember that his is not solely responsible for those seeds. His ancestors, parents, and society are co-responsible for the quality of the seeds in his consciousness. When we understand this, we are able to feel compassion for that person. With understanding and love, we will know how to water our own beautiful seeds and those of others, and we will recognize seeds of suffering and find ways to transform them.”

      ― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Your True Home: The Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh: 365 days of practical, powerful teachings from the beloved Zen teacher

    These words from Nhất Hạnh opened our practice this morning, January 30, 2021. What a powerful lesson to remember on the birthday of two people I love. One (a woman) is younger than I, and the other (a man) is slightly my elder. I cannot say for sure how I will be when I am his age, but I am old enough already to have compassion for the aging process.

    One of the members of Deep Spring Sangha lost his grandfather this week. One of the members of the Zen Empty Circle sangha lost his sister this week as well. Since the practice today was dedicated to her, Jerry Ashmore’s dharma talk began, “We don’t know for sure what happens after we die. At least I don’t. That’s absolutely the don’t know mind. The question I often ask myself is how can we make their death meaningful when a loved one passes?”

    Jerry continued with the following story:

    A student asks how to prepare for death.

    “When you die, and you are reborn, how can you be reborn in a good place, into a positive rebirth?” the Buddha asks the student.

    “Well,” the student replies, “I have to live a life of wisdom and compassion.”

    “Yes,” the Buddha agrees, “if you live a life of wisdom and compassion, you will have a favorable rebirth. Now, what if there is no rebirth, what will you do? What can you do to live a happy life?”

    “Well, I have to live a life of wisdom and compassion….”

    Jerry’s conclusion from this story is if we live a life of wisdom and compassion the afterlife will take care of itself.

    The sangha member who had just lost his sister wished she could have seen herself through the eyes of those who benefited from her life. She had been sober for 30 years. One person called to offer condolences saying because of his sister, she herself had been sober for 28 years!

    While we may have some moments of missed opportunities for living life with wisdom and compassion, our lives are filled with lasting moments of wisdom and compassion. Any missed opportunity is simply another invitation.


    Birthday Candles

    It’s a happy ritual
    meant to remind us that
    all we hope to have and be
    begins with a little
    wishing.

    ~ Meanings of Life – A Cardthartic Experience

    May all beings have a happy life, many happy birthdays, and many happy returns!

  • Common Sense: Common Good

    Just when all the chips are down,
    the chins should be up.

    ~ Neale Donald Walsch

    This morning I could feel a subtle pull to look at media, but everybody knows as soon as a winner of the Presidential election is resolved, that news will be widely known. So, why participate in any of the drama?


    Yesterday morning, during the post-election 24-hour meditation event Deep Spring Meditation Center was hosting on Zoom, the fifty-fifty nature of the polarization of our country came up. I asked Barbara about the information SCS calls the Drama Triangle, Cognitive Triangle, and Transrational Pyramid.

    Here is a section of Aaron’s response:

      We are in the midst of a major shift in consciousness on the earth. The loyal opposition is pushing the negative polarity as much as they can. Knowing that this time was coming on Earth, not only old souls have come, to support the transition, but also, strongly negatively-polarized souls have come to try to defeat this transition, to hold the earth into the lower density.

      This is playing out on all the spheres and on all the levels including, of course, the human level. You are not pawns in some game of chess. You have enormous power. You have advisors on the spirit level, but you humans are the ones that can control whether, when, and how this transition will happen.

      Along with those of you who are of a much higher consciousness, there are those who are of high intelligence, with a lot of power and understanding of power, but with intention to use that power in service to the self. This is really what this shift is about—power in service to self, or power in service to all beings.

    The Roman games come to mind. Roman games, called ludi, were probably instituted as an annual event in 366 BC. Might common day sports be the current iteration? Or perhaps politics? Red, white, green and blue teams inspired great loyalty. Wondering if the red and blue of the political parties somehow also originated with the Roman games.

    In 532 AD rioting sparked by the disputes of chariot fans destroyed half the city of Constantinople!

    Augustus only banned fighting to the death due to a shortage of gladiators. It has been estimated that 500,000 people and more than 1 million animals died in the Coliseum, Rome’s great gladiatorial arena.

    Human history is rife with dark times.

    Dagnabbit, we have more common sense to use for the common good!

    One source attributed ‘dagnabbit’ to Elmer Fudd. His twisted version of “dang rabbit” was sputtered while stomping his foot on his hat, after the rabbit that always outwitted him when he was hunting did it again.

    In The Long Linguistic Journey to ‘Dagnabbit’ linguists say humans are afraid of speaking the True Names of enemies so we create taboo deformations. My grandmother would say flitter, in the exact same situations my dad would say $*@#….

    All too often, people go through life being cautious in the name of being careful, when it is, in fact, a matter of fear. Moving ahead boldly is a better indicator of self-assurance and has a much better chance of ending in success. ~ David J. Bloyd; MS, CMP Emeritus

    One of my dharma sisters shared a mantra composed by the Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, known as a philosopher, teacher of peace, and all things positive. The mantra loosens the grip fear can have on you.

    While silently breathing in, say the first line of the two-line phrase; while silently breathing out, say the second line of the two-line phrase:

      Breathing In, “I’m aware of the fear,”
      Breathing Out, “I smile to the fear;”
      (Yes, these are the appropriate words!)

      Breathing In, “I recognize fear as Energy,”
      Breathing Out, “I express Gratitude for Energy;”

      Breathing In, “Energy and Fear are Power,”
      Breathing Out, “I can safely hold Power;”

      Breathing In, “Power supports Wholesome Change,”
      Breathing Out, “I Invite That, which is for The Highest Good!”

    F.E.A.R. (false evidence appearing real) may be the true name of humanity’s only true enemy, but fear has myriad names: greed, anger, cruelty, vengeance, hatred, bigotry, sexism, racism, impatience, insecurity, shame, blame, ignorance, meanness. The list is long.

    For sure, common good is common sense….

    Breathing In, “Power supports Wholesome Change,”
    Breathing Out, “I Invite That, which is for The Highest Good!”