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Download a week of winter meals from Feeding a Family’s Sarah Waldman
Need some inspiration for your weekly meal planning? Sarah Waldman, nutritionist, mom, and author of Feeding a Family (now in paperback) is here to help! She has put together a schedule of a whole week of wintery meals for your family, with a complete shopping list to make things easy. In her book Feeding a Family, Sarah Waldman lays out all the tools you need to break out of the mealtime rut and turn dinner into a nutritionally fulfilling and happy occasion—despite busy schedules, long work days, and picky eaters. Through forty complete meals, you'll discover hearty dinners the whole family will love. Click below to download a plan for a week of winter meals, with a couple sample recipes included, featuring Slurpee Noodle Bowls and Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Date Truffles. For all the meals and recipes referenced in this plan, please see Feeding a Family, available wherever books are sold. Download the Winter Meal Plan For all the meals and recipes referenced in this plan, please see Feeding a Family, available wherever books are sold. About the author Feeding a Family author Sarah Waldman fell in love with food while playing “cooking show” with her little sister in the 1980s. Decades later, she followed that passion to the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to study the connections between food and personal wellness. Now Sarah spends her time being a mother, food writer, and recipe developer. As a health-focused home cook, she develops and offers recipes for simple, whole-food meals appropriate for every member of the family. Her work has been featured in Fine Cooking, Shape, Edible Vineyard, Food52, and The Coastal Table. Sarah lives on Martha's Vineyard with her husband and two boys. On her blog (SarahWaldman.com) she shares healthy, seasonal recipes that celebrate a family-focused life.
Learn moreImages from Coloring Mandalas 3
Coloring Mandalas 3 Circles of the Sacred Feminine By Susanne F. Fincher About This Title Coloring the circular designs known as mandalas is a relaxing, meditative activity enjoyed by adults and children alike. The mandalas in this book are specially designed to provide a creative encounter with the Divine as a feminine presence. The archetypal imagery of the circle—appearing in the form of organic shapes of nature, the curves of the female body, the womb and childbirth rituals, the circular turning of cosmic rhythms, or geometric designs conveying the primal energy of the Goddess—celebrates the full range of the sacred feminine, from gentle and motherly to fierce and challenging. Here you will find full-color versions of the plate images from Coloring Mandalas 3. Plate 1: Master Healer Mandala At the center is the goddess Prajnaparamita. She personifies transcendent wisdom, the source of all enlightenment. Seated on a throne supported by lions and surrounded by an elaborate backrest, she sits in lotus posture with the right leg crossed over the left. Her four hands represent love, compassion, joy, and equanimity—qualities required of any healer. A circle of eight Medicine Buddhas surrounds the goddess. The Buddha Shakyamuni is in the upper left among rows of lineage teachers. (Collection of Shelley & Donald Rubin, item #902) Plate 2: Inanna Sumerian goddess of the morning and evening star. This mandala incorporates symbols of the qualities of the goddess. A lapis lazuli necklace of authority encircles her star. Three circles of rose petals frame the mandala, signifying Inanna’s three realms of sky, earth, and underworld, as well as the maiden, mature woman, and dark sister aspects of the goddess. The downward-pointing triangle alludes to Inanna’s sexuality as the source of Nature’s abundance. (Susanne F. Fincher) Plate 3: Wheel of Life Many hands touch to form a protective circle of support around creatures taking form. The Goddess is seen in the web of life and the mystic’s experience that the cosmos is held within an ineffable matrix of love. (© Lee Lawson) Plate 4: Tara Tara is a female buddha associated with practices that heal, protect, and extend life. Her left hand gestures, “Fear not,” while her right conveys, “I have what you need.” (Collection of Rubin Museum of Art, item #65257) Plate 5: Radiant Woman Mandalas mark nodal points, or chakras, where psychic energy is transformed as it flows upward along pathways near the spine. At each chakra, a marriage of feminine Shakti-Kundalini energy and masculine Shiva energy takes place. This creates synergy so that the process can continue in the next chakra. A man exploring his inner feminine nature through creative self-expression produced this painting. He came to understand that what appear to be the masculine-feminine opposites are really projections of an underlying unity. (From Mandala by José and Miriam Argüelles, © 1972. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc.) Plate 6: Shri Devi The circular diagram in the belly of the blue Glorious Goddess is in the form of a lotus, recalling the primordial Lotus Goddess, Shri. The design is a yantra with a black center, four red petals, and an outer ring edged with flames. The yantra is inscribed with verses, some for protection, others for the misfortune of enemies. This Tibetan painting was probably created to counter a perceived threat. (Collection of Rubin Museum of Art, item #65172) Plate 7: “Primordial Goddess” Plate, from The Dinner Party The artist Judy Chicago used the traditionally feminine arts of china painting and embroidery to create a symbolic dinner party that traces the history of women in Western civilization. Ms. Chicago represents the sacred feminine in an image of interior, centered space surrounded by folds or undulations, as in the structure of the vagina, and uses this iconography to state the truth and beauty of her own identity as a woman. After centuries of neglect, the Goddess takes an honored place at the table. (© Judy Chicago, 1979) Plate 8: Death The mystery of the sacred feminine as both womb and tomb means that death is seen as a central opening, a pathway of return to the welcoming darkness. (© Meinrad Craighead) Plate 9: Shri Yantra Mandala The Shri Yantra is considered the greatest of all yantras. It is also one of the oldest with an early version described in the Atharva Veda (c. 1200 B.C.E.). The interpenetrating triangles are associated with masculine (Shiva) and feminine (Shakti) energies. The Shri Yantra represents the reality that the cosmos is an everlasting unity encompassing the creative tension of opposites. Bronze, Nepal, 19th century. (Collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin, item #700053) Plate 10: Nairatmya The female buddha Nairatmya, “The Selfless One,” is the focus of meditation practices introduced by Virupa, an 11th century Indian adept. Tradition says that Virupa was initiated by Nairatmya herself in a series of disturbing dreams. The downward-pointing triangle represents her powerful feminine presence. Tibet, 17th century. (Collection of Rubin Museum of Art, item #643) Plate 11: Ten Mahavidyas These ten goddesses manifest Kali’s presence in all phases of existence, from delightful to horrific. Below each goddess is her yantra. This contemporary painting of traditional forms was created by a husband and wife team of tantric artists from Bihar in eastern India. Top row from left: Kali, Tara, Shodashi, Bhuvaneshvari, and Bhairavi. Bottom row from left: Chinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi, and Kamala. (Poonam Devi and Basudev Jha, from the collection of Susanne F. Fincher) These images accompany the book Coloring Mandalas 3, by Susanne F. Fincher, © 2006 by Susanne F. Fincher. Susanne F. Fincher, MA, is a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist, a licensed professional counselor, a board-certified art therapist, and an internationally known expert on using mandala making for self-exploration. Through her workshops on creativity, people are able to engage their inner resources for insight, healing, and self-expression. Visit her website at www.creatingmandalas.com. Related Titles
Learn moreImages from Coloring Mandalas 1
Coloring Mandalas 1 For Insight, Healing, and Self-Expression By Susanne F. Fincher About This Title Drawing the traditional circular designs known as mandalas is a meditative practice, a healing exercise in times of crisis, and a pleasurable act of creativity. As a symbol of the Self, the mandala provides a connection to our innermost being. The forty-eight drawings presented here for coloring include designs inspired by forms of nature, Native American and Tibetan sand paintings, Hindu yantras, Turkish mosaics, the illuminations of Hildegarde of Bingen, and the art of M. C. Escher. These mandalas are organized according to the Great Round of Mandala, a scheme of twelve archetypal stages that represents a complete cycle of personal growth. Thus, to do the coloring book from start to finish will carry the reader through a balanced experience of change, guided by the accompanying text. Here you will find full-color versions of the plate images from Coloring Mandalas 1. Plate 1 This Buddhist mandala on a temple wall in Bhutan depicts the creation of the cosmos by the circling motion of primal forces. By this action the elements are spun into existence, and celestial bodies are set in motion. Twelve astrological circles use the colors of the rainbow plus black and white to depict the orbits of the sun, moon, and stars through the seasons. (Photo by Ursula Gansser. Reprinted by permission from The Mystic Art of Ancient Tibet by Blanche Olschak ©1973) Plate 2 Flowers are among the many mandala forms in nature. (Photo by Andrew Fletcher) Plate 3 This is a drawing of visions reported by mystics such as Yogananda and Adi Da, in which the essence of existence takes the form of a mandala whose center is a radiant white star, representing the higher levels of cosmic consciousness, on a background of blue, representing subtle planes of manifestation, radiating outward into levels of material manifestation. Plate 4 The ever-turning rhythm of the seasons, the Great Round, becomes a pattern for the stages of life as shown in this mandala. (Used by permission of Peri Aston) Plate 5 In this mandala created by a middle-aged woman, she used vibrant shades of yellow, suggesting insight, energy, and personal identity, contrasting with shades of blue, symbolizing intuition, nurturing, and self-expression. This mandala is typical of stage 7, Squaring the Circle. Plate 6 A seven-year-old child created this mandala. It is an example of mandalas created as Squaring the Circle is experienced early in life. Concerns relate to independence, readiness to learn, and ability to interact with peers. These issues will be revisited each time this stage is experienced later in life. Plate 7 Later in life, stages of the Great Round offer opportunities to deepen spiritual understanding. This mandala, created by the same woman ten years after the mandala in plate 5, is a more complex design where she integrated white (representing light, consciousness, and spirit) into the large central cross form (representing ego). Plate 8 Energy intensifies during stage 6, Dragon Fight. As suggested in this mandala, polarities of light/dark, cool/warm, and active/receptive are clearly delineated and experienced. This conflict helps birth or rebirth the ego. Colors tend to be very bright in mandalas of this stage. Plate 9 Mandalas early in the Great Round are diffuse, suggesting myriad tiny creatures thriving in a liquid environment. This mandala is an example of stage 2, Bliss, where soft colors are often used. Plate 10 As the cycle of growth is fulfilled in stage 9, Crystallization, there is a slowing of creative energy. Colors are often rich, autumnal. A sense of completion, of fulfillment, predominates. (Drawing by Martha DeHart) Plate 11 As a cycle on the Great Round comes to an end, mandalas may appear chaotic. This is the necessary coming apart of stage 11, Fragmentation. Colors are often bright, even psychedelic. Plate 12 Color choices reflect something about you. For the artist who colored this mandala, black is a powerful, mysterious, and comforting color. Pastel colors were used to represent spiritual insights, while deep pink symbolizes the artist’s physical body. Plate 13 Bright background colors were used in this mandala to give a sense of energy, expansiveness, and excitement. The blue used by the artist for the wings suggests her calling to share her wisdom with others. These images accompany the book Coloring Mandalas 1, by Susanne F. Fincher, © 2000 by Susanne F. Fincher. Susanne F. Fincher, MA, is a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist, a licensed professional counselor, a board-certified art therapist, and an internationally known expert on using mandala making for self-exploration. Through her workshops on creativity, people are able to engage their inner resources for insight, healing, and self-expression. Visit her website at www.creatingmandalas.com. Related Titles
Learn moreRemembering Stephen Addiss: 1935-2022
It is with deep sadness, mixed with appreciation for such a fruitful life, that we share the news that prolific author and a great scholar of East Asian art, Stephen Addiss, passed away on May 11th, 2022. Stephen was a Professor of Art at the University of Richmond in Virginia. A scholar-artist, he has exhibited his ink paintings and calligraphy in Asia, Europe, and the United States. He was also the author or coauthor of more than thirty books and catalogues about East Asian arts, including, with Audrey Yoshiko Seo, The Sound of One Hand: The Paintings and Calligraphy of Zen Master Hakuin. His gorgeous and classic Art of Haiku is being reissued and released in September 2022. You can read some of the introduction here. He was also co-translator with Stanley Lombardo of one of the most popular editions of the Tao Te Ching. What makes this translation of the Tao Te Ching unique is expressed in the introduction: After examining previous translations, we came to realize that there were four things we could attempt that were different and potentially useful. First, we wanted to translate rather than explain the text. The Tao Te Ching is always terse, and sometimes enigmatic. Previous translators have often offered explications rather than pure translations; they explained what they thought Lao-tzu meant rather than what he said. We have chosen to let the text speak for itself as much as possible. Second, we found that earlier translations, because they often paraphrase the text, tend to be verbose, extending the concise Chinese text into much longer sentence patterns. To some extent this is inevitable. Chinese consists of a single monosyllable for each word and often does not mark such grammatical features as tense and number. Any intelligible English translation must use more words and syllables than the original text, but we believe that it is possible to recreate much of the terse diction and staccato rhythm of the ancient Chinese. Therefore we have kept, as much as possible, to the bare bones of the language, favoring Anglo-Saxon monosyllables over Latinate polysyllables. In this way we have tried to preserve some of the flavor of the original text. Third, we have completely avoided gender-specific pronouns. The original Chinese does not have the pronouns he or she, but previous translators have inserted he to refer to the Taoist Sage. It could be argued that most early Taoists may have been male, but the Tao Te Ching often praises the female spirit, and there is no reason why the text does not apply to women as well as to men. Therefore we have been gender neutral in our translation. Finally, we have provided an interactive element in our translation. Since no version can replace the original text as a document, not only will each generation retranslate and reinterpret the text, but each reader should have some direct contact with the original words. We have therefore provided a transliteration of one line in each section, together with the original Chinese characters, keyed to a glossary. For a fuller biography, see the American Haiku Archives where he also served as curator. His website is at www.stephenaddiss.com. Stephen was also a musician with 14 LPs to his credit. Here he is singing from sometime in the 1960s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpoZm3qSADA
Learn moreGet 3 Free Projects from TinkerLab Art Starts
Get inspired with hands-on creative art prompts for children ages 3–8 featuring simple materials you can find at home. TinkerLab Art Starts encourages children to focus on the process and experience of art instead of the outcome. Open-ended art prompts are essential for raising learners who are comfortable with the unknown and eager to tackle it with creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Offering ideas on how to create an art space and foster self-directed play along with a wide range of prompts—from drawing, painting, and paper cutting to sculpting with clay and other three-dimensional art—these 52 projects inspire creative art play using basic supplies and everyday household materials to get kids engaged in their own explorations. Download a free set of projects from the book below—including a book making project, black and white photo starter, and yarn wrapped twigs—andd get started creating! Tinkerlab Art Starts - 3 Projects Publish at Calameo
Learn moreFree Download | Coloring Pages from Polynesian Tattoos
The Symbolic Beauty of Polynesian Tattooing Nga tama o Punga Click on the image above to save or print. Nga tama o Punga is the name of the last design in the book, and in the Maori language it means “the children of Punga.” It is inspired by the author’s personal tattoos. Punga was the son of Tangaroa, god of the sea, and also a god himself. He had two sons, called Ika-tere and Tū-te-wehiwehi, who fled Punga’s home to avoid the wrath of another god. Ika-tere hid under the sea, where he became the ancestor of fish, mantas, and other sea creatures, while Tū-te-wehiwehi took refuge in the forest, where he became the ancestor of reptiles. The manta and the lizard in this design share a common characteristic: they are both related to personal growth and achievement, as mantas can represent knowledge and lizards are symbolic of wisdom and interaction with the spiritual world. These are the main meanings that led to the choice of elements in composing this design. On the wings of the manta, the author incorporated the Maori symbol called te ara poutama, “the road in steps,” which represents the path to knowledge that is never straight nor easy. The Hawaiian pattern called “path of Kamehameha” was included to depict a challenging path that leads to success. It is placed between the enata (person) in the center and the ancestors on top, depicted as guides bestowing their knowledge and teachings upon the enata below them. Shark teeth were added for protection along the path, and as symbols of adaptability and strength. The bird next to the enata symbolizes both voyage and reaching a higher perspective above the world. The lizard extends this concept and its elements by representing the voyage of the wise person (the enata within the head of the lizard, at the end of the row of birds) who has reached a higher perspective after a long, winding, and challenging path. The alteration of black and white areas within the design brings balance and reflects the concept of interconnection between ao (light, place of the living) and po (darkness, place of the spirits), as darkness is the place of origin from which all knowledge comes to the world of the living. This dualism also shares many analogies with the concept of Yin and Yang, opposites that interpenetrate to generate unity. The Sun Click on the image above to save or print. The sun is a universal symbol of eternity and life. In Polynesian cultures it is also regarded as a symbol of health, welfare, success, joy, purity, and fertility. It’s considered a male symbol, associated with fire. The rising sun symbolizes a fresh start, new life, and growth, while the setting sun can be a symbol of rest and peace, with the continuous cycle of day and night symbolizing eternity. The sun in this tattoo is a symbol of protection, like the guardian tiki in the center of the design. The elements surrounding it represent protection from adversities (symbolized by the moray eel), cooperation, strength, and good luck in order to achieve stability, prosperity, and unity. Roberto Gemori draws Polynesian tattoos for the site Tattoo Tribes and collaborates with specialized magazines under the nickname GiErre. Passionate about Polynesian cultures for years, he is among the site's founders and likes to share his works to shed light on this beautiful and meaningful form of art. Learn More.
Learn moreThe View | An Excerpt from The Sound of Cherry Blossoms
Clarify Your Definitions We have all been in gardens—even very costly ones—that we find oddly uninspiring. There are the landscapes around mansions where money has been lavished on moving trees, building pools, patios, and fire pits, and planting lush lawns, yet we don’t much enjoy being in those spaces and may even find them stale and uncomfortable. People can spend a lot for a deeply unsatisfying garden. And we have all experienced the small dead spaces outside commercial areas like hotels and grocery stores where we wonder why they even bothered with “landscaping.” So what is the difference between these sad landscaped spaces and the gardens I talk about in this book? A garden built on Zen principles joins Heaven and Earth. This kind of garden is where we can find our true selves and where we can completely relax without losing awareness of all that is around us. In fact, the compelling sensory experiences of the garden will magnetize our attention and bring us to the present moment. Once we are awake in the moment, the serenity, harmony, and balance of the garden give us the chance to experience who we really are, to have insight into our true nature. For me, the garden is a place that allows us access to big mind (that which is open, welcoming, and vulnerable) beyond our small mind (the ego-driven mind that is never satisfied and self-protective), a place that is sacred as it engages us with something beyond ourselves. It is a space in which we can find not only pleasure and ease but also insight and wisdom. The garden reflects the clear and quiet mind from which its design arose. For me, the garden is a place that allows us access to big mind (that which is open, welcoming, and vulnerable) beyond our small mind (the ego-driven mind that is never satisfied and self-protective), a place that is sacred as it engages us with something beyond ourselves. In order to create a true garden, we have to figure out what we are aiming for. We have to define what the garden is. Successful gardens have certain characteristics that we can see and feel; we should set an intention at the outset to bring these characteristics into our design. If the target we’re aiming for is unclear, we have little chance of hitting it. Though we can’t control what befalls us, we can certainly clarify what we want from our work and our lives, rather than flailing around helplessly in reaction to circumstances. The same is true for garden design. It’s useful to begin your transformation with a clear definition of your goal. When defining a contemplative garden we want to consider the following characteristics. The Garden Is an Energetic System A garden is defined by its location, its contents (attributes, behaviors, and relationships), and its boundaries. It is a world in itself, a complete but evolving whole. A garden is more than a way to improve the functionality or the resale value of a home, business, or institution. It has its own structure and composition and a personality that seeks expression, and it is beyond style and concepts. For example, Japanese garden styles are difficult to import to certain areas of the United States, where climate conditions and cultural references are so different. However, the underlying principles of Japanese garden design are accessible and can be employed in other cultures and environments. The whole of your life is an energy system as well. It contains your family, friends, coworkers, and other people, the environment in which you all live, and the way you all relate to each other and to the environment. Making changes to one part of the system is going to affect the whole and all the rest of the parts. The whole of your life is an energy system as well. It contains your family, friends, coworkers, and other people, the environment in which you all live, and the way you all relate to each other and to the environment. Making changes to one part of the system is going to affect the whole and all the rest of the parts. The Garden Is a Quiet Place at Its Heart While it may be a place for play and entertainment, a garden will also give us the space to connect with spirit. It is a place where everything is alive and where we come alive. Its quiet nature gives us the space to feel and live more fully. As a result, we feel joined to it. There are benefits to that connection: it can restore our energetic balance and harmony and promote relaxation of mind and body. The garden awakens our soft heart. We have a chance to see who we really are. This is only possible because the garden is peaceful, not a place for agitation or worry. The garden absorbs our attention with its beauty and vivacity, drawing us out of our self-referential state. The Garden Is a Place That Holds Our Memories and Where We Create Memories Once a group of priests were planning to visit a new national monument in Oklahoma, the site of an Indian massacre. Before they went, they met with an elder of the Cherokee Nation. The elder told them that they should listen to the river at the site, where the tears of suffering could still be heard. Beside the river was an ancient tree that also remembered the suffering, and the tall grasses nearby cried with the unresolved pain of the past. This elder understood that the landscape feels and remembers. And many who have visited Auschwitz or the various 9/11 memorial sites report feeling echoes of the trauma that occurred in these places. The same can be true of the more positive memories that are made in a garden. The garden remembers our birthday celebrations, the weddings that took place there, and other happy moments. The garden retains the imprint of those who inhabit it. A well-designed garden can create the kind of calm and spaciousness that encourage insight. The repository of memories is then a force for good in our lives. The Garden Is a Place That Fosters Connection and Relationships A friend of ours has had to move frequently to follow her husband on business. Wherever she goes, she digs up her mother’s roses and irises and takes them along. Watching them grow and flower again in each new space brings her a sense of home and allows her to connect to the new space. In our own garden we have my mother’s cherry trees and my father’s roses. Especially when they bloom, I am linked to my home of the past and the beloved ones who occupied it. This sense of connection is an important aspect of what the garden is. In our own garden we have my mother’s cherry trees and my father’s roses. Especially when they bloom, I am linked to my home of the past and the beloved ones who occupied it. This sense of connection is an important aspect of what the garden is. The Garden Promotes Not Just Our Spiritual Health, but Our Physical and Mental Health as Well A healthy organism is integrated, with every cell and every organ helping and informing the others. One reason a well-integrated organism is a healthy one is that all the parts are connected and available to one another. All channels are open. If there is a challenge to a particular part, all the other parts contribute what they can to help. When we enter an integrated and alive environment, we immediately sense its underlying order. Our bodies and minds can respond to this and connect to our own health and inborn order. A great deal of research has been done on the adverse health effects of the physical, chemical, and biological hazards in our environment. But a healthy, calm, orderly environment has been less studied. We go about our lives creating environments all the time—in our homes, our cars, and our cubicles at work. At an unconscious level we all are aware of how mess and disorder can make us feel unhappy and limited. What we don’t seem to realize is the degree to which we are creating a feedback loop between our environments and ourselves. Driving in a car strewn with food wrappers or papers is not conducive to calm and focused driving. Experiencing a garden filled with beauty and order will almost certainly allow us to calm and clarify our minds, and it will lift our spirits. The Garden Is a Place That Offers the Possibility of Realization When all of our senses are magnetized, we can experience a dropping away of mind and body and a loss of self-centered identification. This gives us the opportunity to step outside our habitual thought patterns. In a sense, our experience of who we are becomes the garden and the garden is at peace with all things. This is a very good environment for understanding something about who we are and why we are here. In the garden, personal transformation can occur. What we are, who we think we are, and how we present ourselves are accumulations of thoughts, perceptual patterns, actions, and emotions, which get linked together and form our story line, the way we identify ourselves. From our personal story line we generate habits of thought, behavior, posture, and movement. Being in the garden gives us the opportunity to return to the present moment—to the bee’s buzz on the flower, the soft breeze—and to interrupt habitual patterns. This interruption is an opportunity for awareness to shine through to the face of unborn consciousness. From our personal story line we generate habits of thought, behavior, posture, and movement. Being in the garden gives us the opportunity to return to the present moment—to the bee’s buzz on the flower, the soft breeze—and to interrupt habitual patterns. This interruption is an opportunity for awareness to shine through to the face of unborn consciousness. The Garden Joins Heaven and Earth “Heaven” is the mind—but big mind, not ego mind. It is innocent and curious and without self-reference. “Earth” is form, mass, structure: the stuff of our ordinary reality. When the two meet, the inchoate mind infuses the material world with its properties. The intention to wed these two aspects of our experience is the heart of garden design, as it is—or should be—the aspiration of any kind of design or art. When we marry Heaven and Earth, the result is a space of joy, inspiration, elegance, and delight. From the moment we enter it, we can feel we have entered a sacred space. Its peace provides a setting where we can relate to our sorrows, our losses, and our misfortunes, as well as our basic caring for our world and those around us. The sense of uplift and balance provides opportunity for renewal, regeneration, and healing. This is not an entry into some other realm; it is an awakening to the extraordinary nature of ordinary experience. We are able to touch something that is already in us. Kodo Sawaki Roshi once said that “no matter how long you practice zazen, you’ll never become anything special.” The garden is not Disney World or some “wow!” moment; it is a place to experience ourselves as we are, in peace, perhaps for the first time. The garden, which reflects and exhibits not an ideal order but the natural order of consciousness itself, embraces change, growth and decay, birth and death, deep stillness, and the movement of falling water. It exists beyond time in the fragile embrace of impermanence. Since that is also the way we exist, the garden is a reflection of us, and we are a reflection of the garden. This has been excerpted from The Sound of Cherry Blossoms: Zen Lessons from the Garden on Contemplative Design. Related Books Alxe Noden was educated at Cornell University and Boston University School of Law, and has studied Tibetan Buddhism in the United States and abroad. See more about her here. Martin Hakubai Mosko, ASLA, founded the landscape design and construction firm Marpa & Associates in 1974. He is a Zen monk and heir to the lineage of Tenzan Keibun Otokawa Roshi. See more about him here.
Learn moreColoring Yantras Printable Page Excerpt
MATANGI: Knowledge This yantra is ideal if you’re studying esoteric subjects, music, or art. ARCHETYPE The Knowledge Yantra is associated with the wild and mystical goddess Matangi, who lives by her own laws outside society in the forest. Her presence is said to purify society’s thinking through her innovative interpretation of the scriptures, art, and music. COLOR THIS YANTRA TO CULTIVATE Understanding, spiritual wisdom, and creativity. COLORS TO CONSIDER A quirky interplay of deep and light olive green, pink, silver, and gold. INTENTION I study the ancient scriptures of all traditions to tap into and express my own inner knowledge and creativity. BEST PLACEMENT On the east side of a room, especially in a space where you study, teach, or create. SHAPES The disarming beauty of this design comes through in the offbeat color scheme that enhances the harmonious form of the six-pointed star centered around the golden dot (bindu). Click on the image above to access a printable page. Related Books
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