The Pilgrim's Path

For the New Year

John — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:45:29 +0000

Remember the four simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more - Expect less

Christmas 2011

John — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 17:32:44 +0000

When I was young on Christmas Eve when I went to bed only three things were in the house to remind me of Christmas. A basket with cards, a wreath on the door, and a Bayberry candle burning in the window. When I woke up the next morning there was a Christmas tree, a nativity cresh, trains with a village on the platform, presents under the tree and all the things we looked forward to each Christmas. (My father and mother deserve a medal for all they did each Christmas Eve to make our Christmas special.) As I grew older I asked my mother about the Bayberry Candle. She told me it was a light to welcome the Christ child into our home. Later I learned the legend had it that the Bay Tree gave shelter to the holy family during a storm. Therefore, lightning is said to never strike it. According to a common American tradition a bayberry candle burned all the way down to the nub on Christmas Eve brings good luck for the coming year. “A bayberry candle burned to the socket brings food to the larder and gold to the pocket”

On this Christmas Eve as I light the Bayberry candle it will be to share with you – a welcome to join me on the path, a trust that you will find shelter from life’s storms, and good luck, and prosperity during the coming year

The Pilgrim

When the student is ready

John — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 10:01:47 +0000

It is written:
When the student is ready, the teacher will come.
But keep in mind the words of the Sufi Master – Ibn el-Arabi
“People think that a teacher should show miracles and manifest illumination.
The requirement in a teachers, is however, that he should possess that which the disciple needs”

Keep in mind that the teacher sometimes can only send the disciple off on a quest. A quest to seek and find the answers they seek on their own – because that is what the disciple needs. Sometimes that quest takes the disciple into the wilderness and only the disciple through his/her own searching can find the way into the light. When the disciple emerges – and the disciple will emerge – then the teacher has done his job and the disciple then becomes the teacher.

Always remember: There can be no joyful Spring, without first the dead of Winter.

The Pilgrim

The Internet

John — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:08:22 +0000

Words are for now
The Internet is forever.

Food for thought

John — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:08:46 +0000

In the vocabulary of the Saints
there is no use for I or me
only for you or us.
————————————–
“When you hold resentment toward another,
you are bound to that person
by an emotional link that is stronger than steel.
Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.”

Catherine Ponder
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On the road of Life

John — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:48:25 +0000

Be careful of what bridges you burn
Sometimes on the road of life even though you think – never again
there may come a time when you must travel this way again.
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When traveling
Sometimes the turnpike seems faster.
But then there’s the toll that must be paid.
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Caution:
Sometimes a turn off looks like a shortcut
but, it could be a detour.
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Roadblocks
Sometimes they aren’t barriers rather
they open your eyes to other routes.
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Warning

John — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:41:36 +0000

High up in the spruce tree
Sits the crow
Sending a warning
To those down below

Nature is a great school

John — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 23:36:41 +0000

© 2010 by John F. Gardner
————————–
The natural world is a great school.
It is for thy education.
Be wise.
Be one with nature.
Utilize all opportunities.

Develop your capacities.
Smile with the flowers.
Shake hands with the shrubs.
Join the birds in song.
Develop Friendship with the animals.

Protect, enjoy and preserve
the earth which sustains us all.
You will thus have a perfect and a rich life.

———————————————-
Excerpt from “Thoughts to Grow On – Available from
Amazon.com

Modi: Kahola

John — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:44:51 +0000

River: Kahola in Napal

Written at Sanctuary Lodge
Annapurna,Nepal 11/9/01
© John F. Gardner
———————
The path beckons
the flowers nod
butterfilies point the way
the river sings its welcome song

Pools swrill
rapids dance
the dipper darts
the river sings ‘come along and see’

Grasshoppers clear the path
the dragonfly stops to watch
the river drones ‘come along and see’

Shadows play on the sandy path
a bird sings
the crow caws
the river repeats its beckoning call.

Rocks – the path is gone
a rock becomes my stool
the river runs along

As I watch
the river echos back
‘come on, come on along’

——————

Along the way

John — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:16:05 +0000

Each of us is on a pilgrimage through life. A pilgrimage that, I believe, if taken with an open heart and mind leads to union with the Almighty. Some of us have been directed along one path, others along another. None of us travel the only path or the ‘right’ path. We travel the path we have been directed to follow.

As I have traveled ‘along my way’ the spirit has blessed me so that over these many years I have traveled here and-there and done this and that all in the capacity of ‘a pilgrim’.

I personally define life as a pilgrimage and suggest that one travel along the road of life much like any pilgrim, taking one step at a time, yet frequently stopping by the side of the road for a few moments to rest and refresh, and then move on toward the goal.

On my web site “The Pilgrim Path” I have developed a listing of several of the stops I have made along the way. If you are interesting you can check the listing out here

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The photo above is the Author on The Philosopher’s Path.

The path (Tetsugaku no michi) is a pleasant stone path through the northern part of Kyoto’s Higashiyama district. The path follows a canal which is lined by hundreds of cherry trees. Usually in early April these trees explode with color, making this one of the city’s most popular hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots.

Approximately two kilometers long, the path begins around Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) and ends in the neighborhood of Nanzenji. The path gets its name due to Nishida Kitaro, one of Japan’s most famous philosophers, who was said to practice meditation while walking this route on his daily commute to Kyoto University.