Christ’s Mass with Adyashanti

This weekend I attended Adyashanti’s Christmas Intensive. It was a very intimate event with singing, poetry, satsangs, and hugs from Adya.

The main topic of Adya’s talks was the Christ story. Adya sees the Christ life as a teaching, as a model of a very special kind of love–redemptive love.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son”

This is the type of love we are talking about. A love that will sacrifice one’s only son to not only death, but brutal, torturous death through suffering. As a father, I have a hard time even thinking about this type of love, which makes it all the more divine.

At the Last Supper, when Jesus tells his disciples, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another,” this is the type of love that he is asking for. A love that does not transcend suffering, but rather embraces it in it’s entirety. A love willing to sacrifice to redeem others.

This selfless love is the way to God, Nirvana, or, in modern terms, Happiness.

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”~Dalai Lama

I know it is not New Year’s Resolution time yet, but I am resolving today to start abiding in this type of love. If Jesus could let himself be tortured and crucified, if Buddha could starve himself then sit under a tree all night, if the Dalai Lama can sit in meditation for 4 hours everyday to cultivate compassion for the world, then I think I can start sacrificing for those I love. I can stop reacting to the attacks of others with ill will and retaliation. I can love beyond my own egoic needs and desires.

I hope you get to experience this type of love this holiday season. Have a Happy Holidays.

Love, Kozo

“Let us abide in a humble and loving heart. Never forsaking the Divine knowledge beyond all distinction, nor the infinitely loving heart of God which is our own.”~Adyashanti

 

 

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Beautiful Blogger Quotations: Rarasaur’s Brother

I know you must be sick of how much I crush on Rarasaur on this blog, but this is actually a quotation from Rara’s brother in Rara’s Post for Peace last month. I love this idea of opening to love especially on the heels the Love Thy Enemy Monthly Peace Challenge. I’m discovering that Blogger Quotations are just as profound and life changing as anything Eckart Tolle, the Dalai Lama, or Brene Brown says. You guys are amazing.

This post is part of BBQ—Beautiful Blog Quotations.

Feel free to join the fun.

• Take a quotation from a favorite blogger
• Create a BBQ post with the quotation
• Link back to the blogger you quoted
• Tag your post BBQLUV
• Link to other BBQLUV posts (optional)

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• A Peppered BBQ (rarasaur.wordpress.com)

Compassion Can Make You More Attractive–Thich Nhat Hanh Re-load

A week ago, I published an article about a conversation I had with Thich Nhat Hanh. Thanks to the generosity of Dr. James Doty and the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, I am able to share the video of this short interview with you. To see the whole Conversation on Compassion with Thich Nhat Hanh go to: http://ccare.stanford.edu/videos/conversations-on-compassion-thich-nhat-hanh/

For more interviews with compassionate men visit http://peaceinrelationships.com/offerings/

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Digital Dose of Vitamin C

I’m starting a new practice called Daily Vitamin C using Instagram.

I want to post regularly a dose of humanity that will help bring peace and compassion to our world. If you want your daily dose of humanity, follow me on Instagram. If not, you can always see the newest Instagram in the right hand menu bar.

View this post on Instagram

Daily Vitamin C–play with a child in a foam pit #compassion

A post shared by Everday Gurus (@everydaygurus) on Sep 21, 2013 at 9:23pm PDT

May you be free from suffering. May you find peace and joy.

Thank you for reading, smiling, and or sharing.

Are you on Instagram? Post your Instagram name in comments, so I can follow you.

On the Road to Healing

I’m guestblogging today at Black Box Warnings—“a collective of bloggers who share their personal stories about mental and physical health, parenting, daily tribulations, and life’s little moments. An on-line community built around support, respect, and compassion.”

Check out the post “Why Most Men Hate Depression, Especially in Others” by clicking here.

May you be free from suffering. May you find Peace and Joy.

{{{Hugs}}} Kozo

God Is In Your Poop and Pee

A Six Year Old’s Views on God

While I was driving, my son started talking about how God killed the dinosaurs, so I pulled over and recorded his lecture.

I love the open-mindedness and insight in lines like “God is everywhere, even in your poop and peep” or “God is like a copy, but God’s special.”

Thank you for watching, smiling, and/or sharing.

Do you remember your first thoughts about God? Please share.

A Peaceful Path through Music

Music carved a peaceful path in my tumultuous history like a lifeline that saved me from the abyss

Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” marks a 15 year journey to find peace through music, film, and poetry. I’ve always had a soft spot for Irish female singers–I know McLachlan is Canadian, but I envision her as Irish descent. In 1984, trying to recover from 12 years of physical abuse, I clung to the lyrics of This Mortal Coil‘s “Song of the Siren.”

“Did I dream you dreamed about me?” offered me an escape from reality in the arms of some nurturing goddess.

How to wring compassion out of your child

My 6 year old son wants to quit his Kung Fu class. Last time I drove him to the Kung Fu studio, he threw a tantrum and wouldn’t get out of the car.

I threatened him by explaining how he would not get Christmas or Birthday presents for 5 years to pay off the non-refundable tuition we paid for the whole year.

I shamed him by telling his younger brother what a big boy he was for not “crying like a baby,” even though I am reading Brene Brown’s research on the horrible consequences of shaming.

You see, my son cries more than any child I know. If you mix his eggs with too much soy sauce, he cries. If someone closes the door to his room at night, he cries. If you don’t put enough toothpaste on his toothbrush, he cries. All this crying drove me crazy until I realized why.

Thank You Letter to God

Dear God,

Thank you for all the peace you create in this world.

Thank you for being love. I now realize that when I am loving, I am you. When I am full of fear, hatred, or anger, then I am pushing you away with both arms. If I open those arms and expose my heart, then you are always there to give me the love I need.

Thank you for being the best teacher I have ever had. Your lessons are custom made to help me work on what I need to learn in this lifetime. Your patience and foresight are beyond measure.

Thank you for showing me that life is like a jigsaw puzzle: The individual pieces may seem incoherent, chaotic, and sometimes dark, but if we look at the bigger picture, we experience beauty, unity, and meaning.

Thank you for my two beautiful children, although they are not MY children–they have simply chosen me as a path to learn and teach what they came here to do. I now realize that the way we love our children is the way we are meant to treat each other. We are all children, parents, and relatives of each other. Our role is to blow spirit into others and let them fly.

Thank you for making life a game with all sentient beings our teammates and our ego the opponent.

Thank you for your presence for it teaches us that the easiest path towards godliness is to be present at all times.

Thank you for not doing too much and just being.

Love Always,

Your son,

Kozo Hattori

 

I just got back from my blogging break, so this post is a little late. This is a post for the Monthly Peace Challenge: Peace Begins with a Letter. To join Bloggers for Peace, click on the badge to the right.

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How Blogging Saved My Marriage and Life

A few months ago, my wife woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I had been up early getting the kids ready, so when she started criticizing me about how I was handling the morning chores, I lost it. After storming out of the house with my two sons, I almost threw my son’s lunch at a car that cut us off in the crosswalk. The whole day was full of conflict, frustration, and bad energy.

Reading my favorite bloggers later that evening, I realized that I was not a very good example of a Blogger for Peace. It hit me then that without peace in the home, we cannot have peace in the world.

This photo is old, but it represents how I feel right now.