Two big influences

This is called Blue Marble.
This picture is the view of earth from Apollo 17 travelling to the moon.
Taken in 1972, it was considered as a milestone in Space Photography.

His Holiness Dalai Lama talking with a girl.

My mind is non-communicative today. It would rather look passively at pictures, stories, blog entries, news, quotes than actively write or create. But for some weird moments, my mind alerted me about this story that I read somewhere, that the picture of our planet is a statement. For one, we have proof that our advanced technology can snap away at the profile of our blue planet. Also, it reinforces the idea that this fragile spherical mass is suspended on its own in this infinite dark space. Many environmental movements started out with this picture as their symbol. Some even mentioned that it can actually heal some people by just looking at it, though I am not really sure about that one. Perhaps, earth's picture is a good representation of one home -- despite varieties, despite diversities, despite differences -- there is wholeness/completeness. And we are all part of this one blue miracle.

Anyways I started searching for planet earth's pictures and eureka I found a lot! The one I pasted above is the 1972 photo called Blue Marble. If you want more pictures of earth go to Nat Geo or NASA.

Then on to His Holiness Dalai Lama. Last December I had read his autobiography My Land and My People. It was during a tumultuous time between Tibet and China (1960s) that He had to flee His land to keep the peace. Looking back, my life was also in a very complicated turning point last December and His endurance and positive attitude in the face of hardship helped me in my quest for peace during those times. I posted His picture because He is an image of stability and security for me. My moods are fluctuating lately, up one moment then down the next, must be quarter-life crisis, eh! And in this trying time, I guess I can count on him as a sturdy anchor as big waves attack me one after another.

Well, there, I posted two healing pictures for me.

*About busy days coming: Yes, I will start school tomorrow. My day will start at school, then office, then back to school library for research. Sounds busy, but I commit myself to it. Good winds everybody.

When waking up

What to Remember When Waking
~David White~

In that first
hardly noticed
moment
to which you wake,
coming back
to this life
from the other
more secret,
moveable
and frighteningly
honest
world
where everything
began,
there is a small
opening
into the new day
which closes
the moment
you begin
your plans.

What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.

What you can live
wholeheartedly
will make plans
enough
for the vitality
hidden in your sleep.

To be human
is to become visible
while carrying
what is hidden
as a gift to others.

To remember
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance.

You are not
a troubled guest
on this earth,
you are not
an accident
amidst other accidents
you were invited
from another and greater
night
than the one
from which
you have just emerged.

Now, looking through
the slanting light
of the morning
window toward
the mountain
presence
of everything
that can be,
what urgency
calls you to your
one love? What shape
waits in the seed
of you to grow
and spread
its branches
against a future sky?

Is it waiting
in the fertile sea?
In the trees
beyond the house?
In the life
you can imagine
for yourself?
In the open
and lovely
white page
on the waiting desk?

Partnerships

Saying of a Zen (Ch'an) Master on Inter-relationship

You are me, and I am you.
Isn't it obvious that we "inter-are"?
You cultivate the flower in yourself,
so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself,
so that you will not have to suffer.

I support you;
you support me.
I am in this world to offer you peace;
you are in this world to being (bring) me joy.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, Inter-relationship 

Profound teaching

A paragraph from autobiography of His Holiness the DALAI LAMA of Tibet


We might be humiliated, and our most cherished inheritances might seem to be lost for a period, but if so, humility must be our portion. I was certain of that.


LIFE LESSON I guess this is the biggest lesson in my life right now: when things are falling apart, when it is harder to give and even harder to understand, we must transcend by being selfless and by choosing to be humble. I must take solid steps toward my goal of keeping harmonious relationships. I believe this is attainable. I believe.