May 17, 2011

The things we know, the tools we have....

Hot off the digital press! (Some of) My Inheritance:  Water level for cooking rice from Mar
A few years back I decided I wanted to memorize one entire poem by heart. I memorized June Jordan's Of Nightsong and Flight. I then made a mix called "Songs to remember," and proceeded to transcribe, transliterate, and memorize songs in Arabic (Marcel Khalife's I Love You More), Xhosa (South Africa's national anthem Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika),  and Navajo (Robbie Robertson's Peyote Healing). Once I came to Tibetan Buddhism, it made total sense to direct those energies towards memorizing prayers. My current aspiration is to memorize the precious Heart Sutra and The Resolve to Practice Excellence. It brings me infinite joy and refuge to be able to recite prayers and mantras any time, any where. This is also at the heart of what the (Some of) My Inheritance photo series celebrates- the things we know, the tools we have, with just what we have- our bodies and our minds.