This is another day to be happy
No matter the yesterdays and tomorrows
Meditating away sorrows
There isnt a second of this second to borrow
I embrace; breathe peacefully transcendent
Counting my blessings
Addressing the necessary lessons
I have chosen a new path
Walk with me because to me this is clear as glass
Fasten your seatbelts life is fast
Never knowing how long youll last
Remove the masks evil and self doubt
Life is like a prison , but im with ya
Let me
Help you out
Its been a very long time since I have been away from WordPress. Id like to come back to this and reintroduce myself. My name is Nina and I’m 31 years old. Im a Buddhist, a step mother, an artist and a trans woman. I started this blog while living in a homeless shelter many years ago and I can remember walking across the street to the coffee shop to do my daily blogging every morning. I had originally thought i would simply write about living on the streets, but. It became much more than that.
Im returning now as many things have changed. I got married and am looking after a young one. I am sober. For the first time in my life. Something like 8 or 9 months. It has been easy but it hasn’t. I am very thankful for this morning; an opportunity to speak and place another step on this path. The path of buddha, sobriety, motherhood, art and most importantly love.
Im not sure where to begin but I suppose I already have. So since I have been gone; budhism has truly become my path. I have realized there is no place for alcohol in a buddhist. I see the dhamma now as the only path to be on. I am also a visual artist. A graffiti writer and painter. I am shocked and happy to say that art is my profession yet am still but what you would call the starving artist. But I am happy.
Sobriety was taken away from me by the age of 13. So 17 years of usage which is more than half of my life and pretty much the entirety of my adult life. I have found new ways to enjoy life, to cope with pain and anxiety. As i write i feel like the lotus blooming from the mud.
Hello everyone. Im here again. Im back
Love Nina
Walking this path I count my steps
Carefully count my breaths
Walking straight and mindful
Vowing to bring fourth kindness
Drawing another breath I focuss
The simple motions
Eliminating negative emotions
Om nami padme hum
Loving living lotus compassion
Grant me the needed wisdom to encapsul
So i may bring joy while my steps
Carefully counting every breath
How do they not see
The love and compassion
As the world crumbles
I have been reborn over and over but… This time is different I’ve never been sober for this long; decades of relentless; alcohol dependence
The days are in the hundreds; gather abundance; knowledge. Confront my fears try to be humble and acknowledge.
Keep focus; meditation half lotus. Buddha quotes rewrote them post them. Try to be open.
Lessons learned; a great deal. I wait still. Time stands still. The virtue of patience.
As I await, awake here.
Abandon wrongdoing. It can be done. If there were no likelihood, I would not ask you to do it.
But since it is possible and brings about blessings and happiness, I do ask you to abandon wrongdoing.
Cultivate doing good. It can be done. If it brought deprivation and sorrow, I would not ask you to do it.
But since it brings blessings and happiness, I do ask you: Cultivate doing good.
—Buddha Shakyamuni, Angutara Nikaya
Source: It Can Be Done!
The Buddha gives this instruction in the Griha Vinaya (Rules for Householders, Dharmika Sutra, Kshudraka Agama):
Let him not destroy, or cause to be destroyed,
any life at all, or sanction the acts of those who do so.
Let him refrain even from hurting any creature,
both those that are strong and those that tremble in the world.
If we fail to understand the universality of this injunction, the Buddha clarifies (Kshudraka Agama):
Whether they be creatures of the land or air,
whoever harms here any living being,
who has no compassion for all that live,
let such a one be known as depraved.
And in the Anguttara Agama:
I am a friend of the footless,
I am a friend of all bipeds,
I am a friend of those with four feet,
I am a friend of the many-footed.
…
May all creatures, all breathing things,
all beings one and all, without exception,
experience good fortune only.
May they not fall into any harm.
Should we intend to skirt the First Precept by claiming innocence of the deed if others do the killing for us, He adds (Kshudraka Agama):
One should not kill any living being,
nor cause it to be killed,
nor should one incite any other to kill.
Do never injure any being,
whether strong or weak, in this entire universe!
Source: Let´s not fool ourselves
 
A Buddhist monk who studied and meditated on the teachings of Buddha for over a decade wanted to speak with an enlightened one who dwelled alone in a small temple high in the mountains. He prepared for his journey eager to hear his teaching. After 7 days of rigorous hiking he reached the temple.
The master greeted him and welcomed him inside. The master put some tea on to boil and they sat in silence. The monk became very eager and unsettled in not hearing his teaching. The master poured the tea and sat with the monk. The monk didn’t drink his tea and began questioning his master of Buddha.
The master replied.. “You have studied Buddhism for 20 years and can not simply enjoy this cup of tea?” The monk wept…. as another step to enlightenment lay under his feet….
Nina
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