energy. essence. force. flow. source. light. manifold. immanent. continuous. creative. destructive. indestructible. enveloping. inculcating. infinite. unknowable. intuitive. interdependent. heart. guide. compass. core. all that is.
Author Archives: t scott-miller
ancestor-guided. liberation-minded.
curator × co-conspirator of safe(r) sacred space × soul care × liberation × legacy work.
teacher of contemplative tools to cultivate embodied self-awareness, healing + transformation.
facilitator × spiritual director of spiritual inquiry × discernment × accountability.
creator of digital spaces: tscottmiller.com | radicalbodhicitta.com | dhamma4mama.com | 3jewelsyoga.com
living into community | interfaith thanksgiving service
Deeply honored to have had the opportunity to live into community and abide in Spirit with friends on the path last night.
Bowing with gratitude to Rev. Jen Tafel for the energy of her vision and voice to widen the circle of inclusivity on multiple levels at the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. You took no credit for all the work you did to organize this special event, still your magic shined through! Thank you for bringing us all together and for inviting me to weave my voice into this service.
Celebrating Rev. Phiwa Langeni for doing the damn thang and truly activating the call to embody gratitude for all who were blessed to hear your sermon.
Treasuring the gift of being able to bring radical bodhicitta — the awakened heart of justice, liberation and healing — into the sanctuary by sharing:
the practice of inviting the bell so that we may inhabit our bodies, hearts and minds with full and loving awareness;
and the wise and loving words of zen buddhist priest, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel.
Interfaith Thanksgiving Service Reading
For All Beings
by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
May all beings be cared for and loved,
Be listened to, understood and acknowledged despite different views,
Be accepted for who they are
in this moment,
Be afforded patience,
Be allowed to live without fear of having their lives taken away or their bodies violated.
May all beings,
Be well in its broadest sense,
Be fed,
Be clothed,
Be treated as if their life is precious,
Be held in the eyes of each other as family.
May all beings,
Be appreciated,
Feel welcomed anywhere on the planet,
Be freed from acts of hatred and desperation including war, poverty, slavery, and street crimes,
Live on the planet, housed and protected from harm,
Be given what is needed to live fully, without scarcity,
Enjoy life, living without fear of one another,
Be able to speak freely in a voice and mind of undeniable love.
May all beings,
receive and share the gifts of life,
Be given time to rest, be still, and experience silence.
May all beings,
Be awake.
bearing witness | new moon meditation
In Sangha last Sunday, I shared this beloved quote that I have carried close to my heart and have called up frequently during times of transition and transformation for over 20 years. It reverberates far, deep and wide in a season of bearing witness to our journey through challenge, change, growth, loss and renewal.
So powerful, in fact, that my dear friend called that very same evening to tell me she had recited those exact words (which she could specifically remember first hearing from me seven years ago) for a circle of her friends earlier in the day! With hundreds of miles between us, she wanted me to know how far they had traveled through space and time.
Our mutual conjuring of this affirmation was nothing short of magical!
Not only had we both synchronously chanted these hallowed words for those who felt moved by them. But also, in her giving them back to me, I saw clearly that the Universe was asking me to rest in and be transformed by them once more. For in that week alone, the energy of remembrance had engulfed me as I excavated hidden talents and paid tribute to my late grandfather and his grandfather for their military service. I continue to look back, beneath and beyond to see how very necessary these 11 words are for me in undoing ill-fitting and inaccurate perceptions, reclaiming the wholeness of my forgotten selves, and becoming even more of me.
Look Deeply
This quote appears as an affirmation under The Tower card in The Tarot Handbook. May be derived from the statement “what you think you are is a belief to be undone” from Lesson 91 in A Course in Miracles.
friends on the path | zen happenings
zen mom tings × flat stanley
4 bodhisattva vows / avatamsaka sutta
day of mindfulness
Top photos from Lansing Area Mindfulness Community’s Day of Mindfulness; b+w photos from the screening of Walk With Me.
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
all beings without number, liberate.
endless blind passion, uproot.
dharma gates without measure, penetrate.
the great way of buddha, manifest.
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
A variation on the Bodhisattva Vows from Jack Lawlor’s dharma talk.
Look Deeply:
I have not (yet) found the original text and source of this vow though it has been attributed to the Avatamsaka Sutra (which may also be known as the Bodhisattva Pitaka). So I’ve share other readings to help expand our understanding of the vows.
- Avatamsaka Sutra | DharmaFlower.net
- Bodhisattva Vows + the Four Noble Truths | Gil Fronsdal
- Four Truths, Four Vows | Mark Knickelbine
- Taking the Bodhisattva Vows | Barbara O’Brien
bearing witness | full moon meditation
How Spirit answers when you’re contemplating this coming Sunday’s dharma circle on Bearing Witness — looking back, beneath and beyond!
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
“untitled”
who is healed?
who is housed?
who is silent?
who speaks?
whose hopes?
whose fears?
whose values
whose justice?
— the art of barbara kruger,
on nyc metrocards《via performa 17: http://17.performa-arts.org/events/barbara-kruger21》
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
Sangha will reflect upon:
what we have turned away from and what we have turned toward following last year’s election and its devastating impact on the well-being of our bodies, hearts, minds, spirits and relationships.
We’ll look deeply into:
what is
arising × dissolving
compelling × challenging
enduring × transforming
in our relationship to justice, liberation and healing?
woman horizontal | indwelling
brave is in your spine. peace in your center. grace is in your heart.
— t.scott-miller
for + inspired by k.r
woman horizontal | spiritually bold + beautiful
trusting, delighting and abiding in
Divine Purpose
Divine Order
Divine Timing
Divine Placement
when + where we enter | weekend intensive
I had the great honor and joy to spend a beautiful weekend holding space for my Quaker friends to discern how we skillfully engage in practices of justice, liberation, and healing.
Leading with Spirit + Faith, practitioners were guided to focus on “discernment over data” in order to:
GET GROUNDED — Cutting through the noise in order to get clear about one’s intentions and to honestly assess what one feels compelled and equipped to do.
BUILD CAPACITY — Cultivating an intimate understanding of one’s self and one’s values; examining the ways we each embody privilege and risk as well as each individual’s unique relationship to injustice, power and oppression; fortifying one’s self through transformative practices of deep listening and skillful communication. Discerning how each of us shows up, lends our presence and privilege, and can learn to apply our skills without creating more harm.
CENTER OUR WELLNESS + PRACTICE ACCOUNTABILITY — Using sacred tools and skillful strategies to restore, nourish and sustain healing, well-being, and wholeness; and establishing the circles of trust to support our learning and growing toward compassion, connection, and reconciliation.
if there is no silence, there is no stillness.
if there is no stillness, there is no insight.
if there is no insight, there is no clarity.
— tenzin priyadarshi
— red cedar friends | 21 – 22 october 2017 —
on the dharma shelf | october 2017
Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed — Paulo Freire
“No, my hope is necessary. But it is not enough. Alone it does not win but without it my struggle will be weak and wobbly. We need critical hope like a fish needs unpolluted water.”
The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture — Kevin Quashie
“Resistance may be deeply resonant with black culture and history, but it is not sufficient for describing the totality of black humanity.
In humanity, quiet is our dignity. This quiet is represented by our interior…In its magnificence, quiet is an invitation to consider black cultural identity from somewhere other than the conceptual places that we have come to accept as definitive of and singular to black culture—not the “hip personality” exposed to and performed for the world, but the interior aliveness, the reservoir of human complexity that is deep inside…
It is this exploration, this reach toward the inner life, that an aesthetic of quiet makes possible; and it is this that is the path to a sweet freedom: a black expressiveness without publicness as its forbearer, a black subject in the undisputed dignity of its humanity.”
As a contemplative and empath who has a heart for justice, liberation and healing, this excerpt from Kevin Quashie’s book rings loud and true for me!
Don’t mistake someone’s deep-soul need (or preference or disposition) for quiet/silence as passivity or inaction. In my practice, the opposite of active is not passive. It is receptive.
Some of us need to time to cut through the noise in order to thoroughly digest and reflect on the energy and information we receive. So I value and facilitate processes of discernment and self-inquiry that help us transform “silence into language and action” (in the words of the powerhouse Audre Lorde). From this place of quiet introspection, we can cull insight, clarity and resilience to move from personal healing and transformation toward skillful action.
woman horizontal | done + been done
done and been done
still they appear in dreams
unsummoned
cords cut
but roots regrow
when memory whispers my name
new work to be done and done again
unhook and untether
call back my energy
reclaim my soul
i am not yours
to harbor in distorted reverie
no longer known to you
no longer held by you
no longer the light
by which you warm hands and heart
or take shelter from your own shadow
in my place, i seed
grace, gratitude
and the tenderness of mercy
then raze the tomb where you encased me
and seal the crack you slipped into.
15 sept 2017
tscottmiller 