seen from India

seen from Georgia

seen from Indonesia

seen from United States

seen from Italy
seen from Poland
seen from United States

seen from Canada

seen from United States
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Come.. Sit,
put down your baggage,
bathe your whole being in the moment,
the warmth, the light, the color and scent of it,
let it wash away the stains of time.
~ Meeta Ahluwalia
Sometimes, at night, insomnia takes pleasure in keeping me awake, I take the opportunity to look at the city sleeping outside my window…
MINDFULNESS - WATCHFULNESS -
AWAKENESS
We begin with mindfulness in order to find our way out of the delusion and dualistic fixation that have gone on endlessly in samsara..
Mindfulness, however, could have a definite dualistic connotation. It could be like putting a hook in a piece of meat and holding it steady so that a dog does not run off with it. There is a subject keeping an eye on the object.
There is a more subtle level called watchfulness, which is a mere noticing, but it also is subtly dualistic.
Even more subtler than watchfulness is awakeness.
That is the point of separating sem and rigpa. Sem, the dualistic frame of mind, means involvement with thoughts of either past, present or future. Rigpa simply means the awakened state that is uninvolved in thoughts of the three times.
Honestly, for a beginner, without mindfulness of reminding, there is no recognistion of mind essence.
That is called deliberate mindfulness. It is dualistic mind that reminds you to recognize, but seeing of no thing to be seen is rigpa, the awakened state free of duality.
The method of non-distraction is mindfulness.
~ TULKU URGYEN RINPOCHE
If this is July, why does it look like August?
John Ashbery, from “Deeply Incised”, Wakefulness: Poems
34. Be awake, and be attentive. (Be fully present where you are—wakefulness, watchfulness, attentiveness.)
55 Maxims of the Christian Life, Fr. Thomas Hopko
(See the full list of maxims here and here)
Seek out the half-asleep for they are also half-awake.
Ahmed Salman