The Hammock Papers: Peter Rowan, "Arise"

18 June 2015

Peter Rowan, "Arise"

From time without beginning

All my ancient parents

Have shown me great kindness

In lifetime after lifetime

In confusion and sorrow

We wander now in darkness

Birth, old age, sickness and death

Like a shadow close behind

When I think of how you loved me

And you cared for me so kindly

Fed and clothed me and kept me from all harm

Oh, I want to take you with me

Across Samsara’s waters

Like a child running to its mother’s arms

Love and compassion

Lightning flashing

Oh, sufferers do cry

Let every living, breathing being

Find happiness

Let wisdom mind

Bodhicitta mind

Arise

Oh fearless great bliss

Primordial radiant wisdom

Help us to overcome

Samsara’s rushing tide

Lotus born in muddy waters

Open wide the gates of Eden

Free from hatred, jealousy and pride

Love and compassion

Lightning flashing

Rainbows fill the sky

Let every living, breathing being

Find happiness

Let wisdom mind

Bodhicitta mind

Arise

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MARCUS AURELIUS

"Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and say, 'Why were things of this sort ever brought into this world?' neither intolerable nor everlasting - if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination. Pain is either an evil to the body (then let the body say what it thinks of it!)-or to the soul. But it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquility."

VINCENT van GOGH

"What am I in the eyes of most people? A nonentity or an oddity or a disagreeable person — someone who has and will have no position in society, in short a little lower than the lowest. Very well — assuming that everything is indeed like that, then through my work I’d like to show what there is in the heart of such an oddity, such a nobody. This is my ambition, which is based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Even though I’m often in a mess, inside me there’s still a calm, pure harmony and music. In the poorest little house, in the filthiest corner, I see paintings or drawings. And my mind turns in that direction as if with an irresistible urge. As time passes, other things are increasingly excluded, and the more they are the faster my eyes see the picturesque. Art demands persistent work, work in spite of everything, and unceasing observation."

DAN CAMPBELL