Enjoy!



RICE SALAD

Makes about 4 cups

1 ½  cups brown rice
3 cups water
1 tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon
grated lemon zest1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp dill weed
4 or 5 green onions, finely chopped
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
½  cup dried dates, chopped*
toasted cashew pieces, to taste (or Pecans)

Cook and cool brown rice.

Meanwhile, combine all other ingredients except cashews in a bowl. Mix in cooled rice.

Toast cashews in dry cast iron pan, allow to cool & use to garnish salad just before serving. (Cashews will go soft if mixed in too soon.)

Best if refrigerated before serving.

Note: If dates are dry, soak in small amount boiling water to soften & drain.

CHICKPEA SALAD

3 cups cooked chickpeas
5  medium tomatoes
4  tablespoons tahini
juice of one or two fresh lemons
salt
cumin
fresh mint
black pepper

Strain the chick peas and rinse in cold water.
Chop the tomatoes.
Mix together the chick peas, tomatoes, tahini and lemon juice.
Add salt to taste and adjust the lemon, cumin, mint and tahini to your liking.

(Chickpeas can be cooked and refrigerated in salt water so that they are on hand to make salad, humus etc at short notice)

SHIIRAZI SALAD

1 x Cucumber — peeled and
Chopped
1 med Tomato — chopped
1 sm Onion — chopped
1 tbl Parsley — minced
1 tbspoon l Olive oil
Juice of one lime
Salt and pepper to taste

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Do you fear (as many people do) that true creativity is rare and special,  something only for a lucky few, a gift from the muse, or a fortunate accident?

The truth is that everyone is blessed with a greater ability for creative innovation and solution-based inspiration than they could ever use up in a lifetime.

It is a lot simpler than most people think to get in step with yourself, to become congruent, to have your head meet your heart and your body and to tap into that inexhaustible source inside at will, whenever you need to, or want to.

How often do you really allow yourself focused quiet time,  inner time, away from the daily habitual clutter?

And do you know that there are specific tools that shift habitual patterns of your self-limiting thoughts, beliefs, and emotions PERMANENTLY! Great spiritual teachers use them, some of the greatest world leaders have used them.

This is not just meditation by numers!

This is exactly why a meditation retreat can be powerfully life-changing. because It gives you enough time to really GET some of this.

We provide you with accomodation, food, and a structure that will help you accomplish more in 3 days of ‘not doing’  than you usually accomplish in three months of ‘working’ on yourself.

PS This has nothing to do with having you take on some extra new belief system or convert to some new ‘religious’ way of thinking … this is entirely about the timeless wisdom and awakening that evolves from within YOU

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Just as we put up walls and a roof in which to take shelter and live, just as we put up fences to delineate ownership, make maps, make distinctions between categories we invent, and then forget that the source of our life is in the primordial crucible or mud, volcanic ash, oceans, and intergalactic dust, and completely without boundaries .. so too do we make self-limiting distinctions within our minds that lead us to completely miss all that we truly are, and can be.

You could write a book to unpack the idea of the wild. In fact there have been several. I am thinking in particular of Gary Snyder’s Practice of the Wild.

Join us for a retreat to learn ways to open to the simplicity of living from the innate and naturally wild capacity of mind.

A three day silent retreat with Caitriona Reed and Michele Benzamin-Miki at Manzanita Village.

http://www.manzanitavillage.org/meditation-retreats-california-information/2010/#Quick_Links_7

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Among the community of teachers from several Buddhist traditions that I am a part of, there is a topic of dicussion that is frequently revisited. This is the subject of teacher misconduct, particularly in the areas of the sex and power. Misconduct in this instance means abuse of privilege and trust by teachers.

Over the past several decades many Buddhist lineage traditions in the west have had to deal with unfortunate incidents involving bad habits, or bad choices, by teachers. These have often resulted in fragmentation, confusion in the respective communities, and the disillusionment and departure of students. Though it must also be said that, as with any collective process, such things can often bring depth of understanding and maturity to the common experience. Yet  when lessons come in this way, they come at a very high price.

It may also be true that such events have contributed to a growing puritanical tendency in Buddhist convert communities in the west.

Of course, abuse of authority occurs in other areas of our lives – in education, medicine, mental health, and in the military. However, Buddhist training usually involves a long-term relationship with a teacher, profound existential transformation, as well as  the resulting vulnerability that can occur for the student on their journey.

In addition, Buddhism has been carried for centuries by a largely male dominated and significantly patriarchal Asian tradition. There are distinct cultural differences from culture to culture; but typically, the authority of the traditional Asian teacher, and teaching style, was rarely challenged. As Buddhism transitioned to the west, this has sometimes led to a confusion between authority and privilege.

Buddhist ethics in the form of the Five Precepts has been a basic guideline since the time of the Buddha. They are generic, and they may not address the full complexity of contemporary life. Yet as a broad set of principles they seem to be a perfect foundation for conscious leadership: non-violence, respect for property, sexual integrity, mindful speech, mindful consumption ..

Here is the Manzanita Village version of the five precepts that we wrote some time ago, and have been using as our own reference for several years.

• Aware of the violence in the world, and of the power of non-violent resistance, I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations, and vow to cultivate the compassion that seeks to protect each living being.

• Aware of the poverty and greed in the world, and of the intrinsic abundance of the earth, I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations, and vow to cultivate the simplicity, gratitude, and generosity that have no limits.

• Aware of the abuse and lovelessness in the world and of the healing that is made possible when we open to love I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations and vow to cultivate respect for the beauty and erotic power of our bodies.

• Aware of the falsehood and deception in the world and of the power of living and speaking the truth I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations and vow to cultivate the ability to listen; and clarity and integrity in all I communicate—by my words and actions.

• Aware of the contamination and desecration of the world, and of my responsibility for life as it manifests through me I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations, and vow to cultivate discernment and care in what I take into my body and mind.

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Even systems with broad ethical guidelines, and the ability to make subtle distinctions, sometimes fail to recognize their own, or is it perhaps the human, tendency to forget that the system is only a lens through which to view the world; and as such there are always limitations to its applicability.

If it were otherwise the world would be very dull. The reality is that no single perspective, or system, or body of teaching has the ability to address every aspect of life. History is filled with bloody attempts to do so.

How strange it is that the human mind, so capable of making subtle distinctions, so able to embrace the kind of conscious evolution it seems wired for, is also pulled back  strongly into the habit of fighting turf wars, and with such stubborn sectarian blindness!

Sometimes those turf wars are fought for social, political, or economic reasons; sometimes they are fought to challenge the frightening notion that someone has another way of thinking that might be as good, or better, than your own.

When considering Conscious Leadership, whether or not it is from a Buddhist perspective, we should include among the qualities it embodies, the ability to see things from others’ points of view. More than that, to respect, to embrace, even to learn to love, those ways of seeing and learning that are so ‘other’ than your own.

For a person with a hammer, every problem is a nail. For a person with an open mind, every problem is going to suggest the most appropriate perspectives, skills, and strategies.

Religious or philosophical systems are lenses, so too are political of social points of view. Skills and interests are lenses too, inclinations you may have, preference, likes and dislikes, habits. Conscious Leadership is simply knowing what is most useful at any given moment, for yourself, as well as for others.

In the words of the teacher Atisa, “It is the job of a Bodhisattva to be interested in everything.”

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I listened to someone speak about a simple skill, a specific meditation, one that I have been teaching for many years. They spoke of its power, and how it has been used to transform lives, to save lives. They spoke of it as a rare and valuable commodity, a tool that is capable of bringing profound quality and precision to your life. They presented it as if it was something new, fresh, recently discovered – and indeed it was, in the way that they presented it, even though it is probably as old as human language itself.

What was it? More to the point, what do you know, what can you offer, that is as obvious to you as the air you breathe, embedded in your neurology, the Dharma of your life, yet which remains invisible to others? What is it that you embody and are not even aware of; which, when you become aware of it, when you show it and speak it will transform the lives of those around you?

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Meditation is not mere passivity

Some things are best accessed by sitting meditation, other things by action.
But that’s for another time…

The universe is a hologram,

a metaphor, and a mirror for whoever is considering it

Some Buddhist teaching emphasizes the doctrine of rebirth. I hope this is an ethical device, rather than a metaphysical or ontological paradigm. Surely time, like space, as Einstein has taught us, does not travel in a straight line. Surely we are reborn into the past as much as into the future. Better still, can we not be reborn into the present. To become truly alive.

You just have to look at it, listen to it, imagine it, to know that the universe is alive, responsive .. then again, I only know the part of it that I experience. Then again, if it’s a hologram …

And if it is a choice, I choose to recognize the universe, every last part of it as alive, intelligent, and have no choice but to celebrate this living we do …

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Long ago I imagined living and working at a retreat on unspoiled land, far from the city, yet accessible enough for people to come here for workshops. I imagined that the land itself would be like a teacher. I imagined becoming native to this place, intimate with the animals and plants that lived here; as comfortable leaning on a rock in the silence of the night, far away from signs of our present century, as I would be in my own bed.

I imagined creating a sanctuary, where those who might not otherwise do so, could venture away from their challenging work in the city to renew themselves, revaluate, contextualize what they did. I imagined it in a single moment; and I knew it would be so.

The winter sun warms the ground, still wet from rain. The scrub-jays and jack-rabbits I watch from the window are not concerned with the global economy, or climate change. The new grass turns the landscape green. Two days ago we ended a retreat. Sometimes people come from as far away as Europe or Australia.

The Buddha and the Law of Attraction?

Meditation doesn’t necessarily make you a better person, or even better at what you do. Meditation is simply the power to direct the focus of your attention. How and where you direct your attention will determine the outcome of your meditation. Whether it makes you a better person, or more skilled at what you do, is entirely up to you.

Let’s say that everything begins with dreaming and imagining. Your attention moves you toward what you have already dreamed and imagined for yourself. What you take to be brand new, is often just a variation of your old themes. Then, once in a while, what seems to be the same old story, turns out to be an entirely new one.

You discover clues for understanding and living your unique and amazing life among the fragments of ancient dreams, or in the whispering of a yet-to-be-discovered one.

The Buddha spoke of intention as being central to every moment of our experience. Intention is at the beginning of every thought, every word, every action. No one knows where intention comes from. Even brain scientists are unclear about how the initial impulse of thought begins. Let’s call it a dream. Yet out of that dream there will always be choices for you to make.

You will naturally direct your attention to what you value — to what is important in your life. Learning continues forever, if you want it to … as you marvel at the way the world dreams back at you.

Some people say that we are like fishermen caught in our own nets. Some say that meditation makes things clearer, some say it just colors the dream with new colors.

We watch the geese fly overhead each year, south in November, north in February. The pond in front of our window is visited by bobcats, deer, blue heron, and red-tailed hawks. People sit there sometimes during silent retreats, re-visioning their lives perhaps.

Our dream is one we share with countless others. We draw into us what we already see. Yet no one can describe the rich patterns that are made there.

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