BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//The Open Road:  a learning community - ECPv6.15.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://openroadpdx.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Open Road:  a learning community
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Los_Angeles
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20260308T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20261101T090000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260205
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260305
DTSTAMP:20260424T002935
CREATED:20260205T154540Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T011110Z
UID:6043-1770249600-1772668799@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  2/5/26
DESCRIPTION:Bodhidharma \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nFebruary 5\, 2026 \n  \nThe Infinite a sudden Guest \nHas been assumed to be— \nBut how can that stupendous come \nWhich never went away? \n  \n—Emily Dickinson \n* \n  \nBeginning My Studies \n  \nBeginning my studies the first step pleas’d me so much\, \nThe mere fact consciousness\, these forms\, the power of motion\, \nThe least insect or animal\, the senses\, eyesight\, love\, \nThe first step I say awed me and pleas’d me so much\, \nI have hardly gone and hardly wish’d to go any farther\, \nBut stop and loiter all the time to sing it in ecstatic songs. \n  \n—Walt Whitman \n* \n  \nYes \n  \nIt could happen any time\, tornado\, \nearthquake\, Armageddon. It could happen. \nOr sunshine\, love\, salvation. \n  \nIt could\, you know. That’s why we wake \nand look out—no guarantees \nin this life. \n  \nBut some bonuses\, like morning\, \nlike right now\, like noon\, \nlike evening. \n  \n—William Stafford \n* \n  \n“…I believe there is a limit to the number of times a man can profitably inform his neighbor\, or be informed by him\, that the inexpressible cannot be expressed.” \n  \n—Owen Barfield\, from the essay “Imagination and Inspiration” in The Rediscovery of Meaning and Other Essays\, p. 180 \n* \n  \nA man who encountered the Buddha for the first time was impressed by his radiance. \nHe asked: “Are you a man or a god?” \nBuddha replied: “I’m awake.” \n* \n  \nsome thoughts on Zen \n  \nAccording to legend\, one day many people had gathered to hear the Buddha speak. Instead of speaking\, he held up a flower. One man\, Kasyapa\, smiled\, and realized enlightenment. Zen Buddhism traces it’s origin to this “Flower Sermon.” \n  \nThat just about sums it up. \n  \nA thousand years later\, Bodhidharma traveled from India to China\, and sat for nine years facing the wall of a cave. Buddhism had been in China for many centuries by this time\, but this emphasis on sitting in silence was what launched the Zen tradition of Buddhism. Bodhidharma is known as the “First Zen Patriarch.”  \n  \nThe Third Zen Patriarch\, Seng Ts’an\, produced the first Zen text—Hsin Hsin Ming. As an account of what the Zen way of experiencing the world\, it is unsurpassed. Here are 28 of the 73 couplets: \n  \nthe great way (Tao) is not difficult \nit has no preferences \n  \nmake the smallest distinction \nand heaven and earth are far apart \n  \nconflict between liking and not liking \nis the disease of the mind \n  \nif its deep meaning is not understood \nwe strive in vain to quiet the mind \n  \nit is perfect like vast space  \nnothing lacking\, nothing left over \n  \ndon’t get entangled in outer things \nor abide in inner emptiness \n  \nwhen the mind is still \nall views disappear \n  \ntrying to quiet the mind \nis just more activity \n  \nthe more talking and thinking \nthe farther you go from what is \n  \nlook within for just a moment \nand go beyond appearance and emptiness \n  \ndon’t seek truth \njust let go of your views \n  \nwhen the mind is still \nthe ten thousand things do not offend \n  \nwithout an object of thought\, there can be no thinking subject \nwithout a thinker\, there are no things \n  \nthe great way is vast \nto live in accord with it is neither easy nor hard \n  \nfollowing our nature\, we are in harmony with the way \nwandering freely\, without a care \n  \nfixed ideas can’t encompass what is true \nthey sink into darkness\, become unhealthy \n  \nif you want to take the one vehicle \ndon’t reject mental or sensory experience \n  \nto accept everything  \nis to be enlightened \n  \nseeking the mind with the mind \nisn’t that a big mistake? \n  \nprofit and loss\, right and wrong \nget rid of them once and for all \n  \nunderstanding the mystery of one suchness \ndifficulties are forgotten \n  \nno descriptions or analogies are possible \nof this state where relations have come to an end \n  \nempty\, clear\, your light shines \nwithout mental effort \n  \nthought can’t reach this \nbeyond knowing\, imagining\, feeling \n  \nin the realm of things as they are \nthere is no self or other \n  \nno here\, no there \nthe whole world right before our eyes \n  \nthe tiny is as large as the vast \nwhen boundaries are gone \n  \nbeyond words \nno past\, no future\, no now \n  \nLao Tzu’s advice in the Tao Te Ching to do nothing (wu wei)\, and the Zen practice of sitting in silence had a big influence on Chinese and Japanese culture\, and\, more recently\, on the lives of many people in the rest of the world. \n  \nThe idea of sitting in silence seems to many people like a big waste of time. The practice goes back to before the time of the Buddha in India. The Japanese word “zen” is a translation of the Sanskrit word dhyāna\, which means “meditation\,” or sitting silently. Sometimes\, in the quiet\, thought and language fall away. \n  \nI came upon this idea of blissful silence in Paramahansa Yogananda’s book Autobiography of a Yogi when I was 19 years old. He called it samādhi. I wanted to get that! \n  \nThe Zen texts which are dearest to my heart\, and to which I’ve returned again and again are: the Hsin Hsin Ming of Seng Ts’an\, Cold Mountain: 100 Poems of Han Shan\, translated by Burton Watson\, Unborn: The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei\, 1622-1693\, translated by Norman Waddell\, “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman\, Zen in English Literature and Oriental Classics by R.H. Blyth\, Zen Mind\, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki & the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh. \n  \nHan Shan lived in China sometime during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). He spent the last part of his life living the simple life of a hermit in the mountains\, writing poems like these: \n  \nAmong a thousand clouds and ten thousand streams\, \nHere lives an idle man\, \nIn the daytime wandering over green mountains\, \nAt night coming home to sleep by the cliff. \nSwiftly the springs and autumns pass\, \nBut my mind is at peace\, free from dust or delusion. \nHow pleasant\, to know I need nothing to lean on\, \nTo be as still as the waters of the autumn river! \n  \n  \nThe clear water sparkles like crystal\, \nYou can see through it easily\, right to the bottom. \nMind free from every thought\, \nNothing in the myriad realms can move it. \nSince it can not be wantonly roused\, \nForever and forever it will stay unchanged. \nWhen you have learned to know in this way\, \nYou will know there is no inside or out! \n  \nBankei gave talks to large groups of people. He said we all have unborn Buddha-mind. He said: “Don’t exchange your unborn Buddha-mind for the mind of a hungry ghost!” \n  \nMany of the things Walt Whitman says in “Song of Myself” express what to me is the essence of Zen. Here are a few examples:  \n  \nThis minute that comes to me over the past decillions\,  \nThere is no better than it or now. \n  \nA morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. \n  \nAll truths wait in all things. \n  \nI believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars… \nAnd a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. \n  \n…to glance with an eye\, or show a bean in its pod confounds the learning of all times… \n  \nZen in English Literature and Oriental Classics is one of my favorite books. I read it slowly. When I get to the end\, I start at the beginning again. Blyth explores the Zen way of seeing and being in the world. We come to see beauty and perfection in ordinary things. \n  \nFor many people of my generation\, Shunryu Suzuki served as a contemporary exemplar of the Zen way. He taught us how to sit. \n  \nThich Nhat Hanh is the most congenial Zen teacher to me. I love his friendliness\, his gentleness\, his sweetness\, his joy. He seems to radiate deep peace and love. His book Your True Home has been for me the most useful guide for how to live my human life on Earth. I’ve given away dozens of copies to my friends. \n  \npeace & love \nJohnny \n* \n  \nIf you want peace love happiness and understanding NOW\, RIGHT NOW\, all I can say\, my friends\, is watch (google\, facebook\, instagram\, etc.) the 18 Buddhist monks as they walk for peace. They are walking 2300 (!) miles from their monastery in Fort Worth\, Texas to Washington\, D.C. They cover approximately 20 miles per day\, and have walked between 1900-2000 miles from October 26th when they began. \n  \nTheir leader is 44 yr old Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara\, and he began this journey in an attempt to foster and promote peace in his fellow man\, in a troubled world. When they began there were a few curious onlookers—a very few. Most just curious to see these burnt-orange robed men walking\, mostly barefoot\, (but booted and bundled when heavy snow began to fall)\, along the roadways\, first through Texas\, then Louisiana\, Alabama\, Georgia… Soon\, however\, there were hundreds\, and then thousands\, tens of thousands followers\, the monks now with multiple police escorts to manage the crowds. Men\, women\, children all lining the roads\, bowing their heads offering prayers and heartfelt thank yous\, shedding tears\, tears of relief\, and peace and joy to witness this moment of beauty\, this moment of peace in a fractured world. This respite from pain. \n  \nThe Venerable Bhikkhu says he has been overwhelmed at the response; he never expected this  tremendous show of peace\, love\, happiness and understanding. Now millions are watching\, witnessing their progress towards Washington\, DC. \n  \nThe peace which passeth all understanding. This is it. \n  \n—Jude Russell
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-2-5-26/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GzfKvCbWgAA0Gt_.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR