Brother Turtle

Brother Turtle was rescued this morning while he/she was trying to cross hwy 14 this morning... He/She requested addmission into the Order of the Wild Goose... Abbot Tiger and Abbess Blue received Brother Turtle into the Novitiate... Brother Turtle is standing vigil and making his cell below the monastic house...

Abbess Blue wrestling with a zen koan!!!

WOOF...WOOF...WOOF...woof...woof...woof... beginners mind...

Abbet Tiger in a moment of self-actualization...

Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow... breath in+Breath out... Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow....

Awakening to the Cave of the Heart...a faith journey?

Today I lead a tour into the Discovery Trail Caverns at Blanchard Springs Caverns and like most tours I had a sense of descending into my own heart...the Cave of the heart... As Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindi, Muslim and any number of those following a spiritual path we are all called to realize our true nature as part of embracing God or ultimate reality. Central to our decent into the Cave of the Heart is practicing spiritual disciplines. These spiritual disciplines are not about dogma or a set of rules to live life by...they are simple activities that bring us to the present moment... Over the coming weeks I am going to share some spiritual disciples that are universal throughout all of the world religions... they involve breathing or sitting or walking... simple human activities that are focused and controled by our intentions... /\Namaste/\

Abbess Blue Walking Saint Brendan's Labyrinth

Sometimes Abbess Blue will walk the Labyrinth with me... As I walk the path towards the center sometimes she follows and other times she leads... most times she steps over the rocks and doesn't follow the linear path to the center... eventually I make it to the center...sit...meditate... Abbess Blue will join me in the center through a nonlinear path... but we end up together in the center... Her path to the center+God+self differs from mine... there is always a playfulness in her step and there seems to be a desire to be near me and for me to rub her head... She seems to fully enjoy being a dog... I don't always enjoy being a human... There are things that confound me about Blue... What does she dream about... I'll watch her sleeping at night and she will be moving her legs and making noises... If I wake her up she has this weird confused look on her face... The other thing that confounds me about Blue is her insistence on eating Abbot Tigers cat poop out of the liter box... Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah!!! “It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection.” ―The Bhagavad Gita

Chanting the MOO Sutra!!!

These are two of my neighbors who are novices in the Order of the Wild Goose... They have taken vows of obedience to Abbot Tiger and Abbess Blue... They are both strict Vegans... They are learning to chant the MOO Sutra..."With a MOO MOO here and a MOO MOO there... here a Moo there a MOO everywhere a MOO MOO..." It's about being in the present moment with your true nature!

Practicing ZAZEN!!!

Abbot Tiger is a Rinzai Zen Monk and Abbess is a Soto Zen Monk... The photo is of them practicing Zazen Meditation... The both live fully within their nature... Tiger-Cat and Blue-Dog... Blue never tries to be a cat and Tiger never tries to be a dog... They are awakened to who they are!!! I'm still working on that one!!!