Back Again!

Wow...amazing to think that it has almost been a year since I last wrote. Mostly this was due to other writing and creative projects, but now I'd like to get back to writing on my blog. As always the blog will be about my every day encounters with my spiritual life. And I thought no better way to start off than of the statue that I made which stands in front of our front door. That means, we see it when we leave home and when we return. It is a reminder for me to keep myself open to others and to practice Compassion in the world. And along with the statue is one of my favorite quotes from the Pali Suttas:

"...with a heart filled with loving-kindness...having pervaded one directions with such a heart, and likewise a second direction, a third directions and a fourth direction. Upward, downward, across, everywhere, and in every way, throughout the whole world, he lives with a loving-kindness that is widespread, great, boundless, free from hatred, and untroubled."

This is from the Kalama Sutta and it is from John J. Holder's book: Early Buddhist Discourses. It's a great book and you can even go to the publishers website to download study and discussion questions, which I found wonderful to think about myself.