“Do you think peace requires an end to war?
Or tigers eating only vegetables?
Does peace require an absence from
your boss, your spouse, yourself? …
Do you think peace will come some other place than here?
Some other time than Now?
In some other heart than yours?

Peace is this moment without judgment.
That is all. This moment in the Heart-space
where everything that is is welcome.
Peace is this moment without thinking
that it should be some other way,
that you should feel some other thing,
that your life should unfold according to your plans.

Peace is this moment without judgment,
this moment in the heart-space where
everything that is…is welcome.” ~ © Dorothy Hunt

My darlings, this morning an image of a Buddhist monk placing a flower on a barricade of police officers during a demonstration near the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in central Phnom Penh. It is an eloquent reminder of the capacity of the mind to prevail over even the most unforgiving of circumstances.

May it serve today as our mantra – that peace must exist in this moment now, free from the temptations of judgement.

The Buddha taught that all suffering arises from a feeling of separateness. That we, in fact, create the energy of anguish in our quest to make everything ‘right.’ In doing so, we distance ourselves from the wholeness of our being. We forget the peace that is inherently within.

Thich Nhat Hanh once suggested that when we are with someone who is experiencing pain, we might offer this healing message:  “Darling, I care about your suffering.”

But, offering this tenderness of heart, requires a willingness to be present with our own vulnerabilities. And, that’s not always so easy, now – is it? We feel intense anxiety and fear, a sense of tumbling forward into this realm of uncertainty. Even with the very best of spiritual intentions, our habit is to avoid the rawness of emotions.

The Buddha once said, “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change.” Perhaps, in this image, the flower is a symbol of our connectedness – a truth much greater than any fear which may arise.

Can you imagine, my dears, a space in which no separation exists? And that which is, just simply is?

What a world we might then live in…