Week #22

Spring Flowers

"When we see things as they are, they make sense to us: the way leaves move when they are blown by the wind, the way rocks get wet when there are snowflakes sitting on them. We see how things display their harmony and their chaos at the same time. So we are never limited to beauty alone, but we appreciate all sides of reality properly."

Chogyam Trungpa - Shambhala The Sacred Path of the Warrior

Week # 33 Photo Challenge

White Flower

"Then you might see something, which is second stage. The more you look the more inquisitive you are, the more you are bound to see.  Your looking process is not restrained because you are genuine, you are gentle, you have nothing to lose and nothing to fight against ... you can see so beautifully. In fact, you can feel the warm of red and the coolness of blue and the penetrating quality of green - all at once.  You appreciate the world around you.  It is a fantastic new discovery of the world.  You would like to explore the entire universe."

            Chogyam Trumpa Rinpoche, Shambhala Sacred Path of the Warrior

Week #30 Photo Challenge

Texture and Lines

I have been slowly working through a wonderful book - Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography by John McQuade and Miriam Hall. This week I learned that Mariam Hall will be offering an online class on level 

1 Nalanda Miksang. I have already signed up for the class and look forward to engaging with a broader community of those practicing  contemplative photography. If you are also on this path I hope you will think about joining the class too!

Week #21 Photo Challenge

Sheets

Nalanda Miksang is based on the teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his work with the contemplative arts. As I begin my journey with this practice, I have found these words to help me frame the path for my journey.

"Either you look and see beyond language - as a first perception - or you see the world through the filter of your thoughts, by talking to yourself. Everyone knows what it is like to feel things directly. Intense emotions...don't have a language. They are too intense in the first flash...Synchronizing mind and body is looking and seeing directly beyond language...you can see on the spot with wakefulness. Your eyes begin to open wider and wider, and you see that the world is colorful and fresh and so precise, every sharp angle is fantastic."

Chogyam Trungpa Ripoche - Shanbhala Sacred Path of the Warrior