days events
September 2008 
JULY 31, 2007 JOPOA'S ANNIVERSARY
Posted on Aug 2nd, 2007
by 
Gien
Gien
Today was auspicous
Woke up EXACTLY at midnight this morning without an alarm clock!
Finished singing my last song at night and I wasn't aware of the time
but when I checked, it was EXACTLY midnight!
Somehow, my intuition told me to start the day at exactly midnight
and to end the day at exactly midnight!
All day I thought of the amazing blessing
of having been chosen as the life student
for this amazing yogini
If my heart sings
it is because of the love she has shown me
it is because she sings through this body
This is the way for all of us
We each have a Jopoa in our lives
responsible for the love in our hearts
and when that Jopoa is gone
She isn't really gone
because she IS this LOVE
which is now in US!
So this love is what Jopoa REALLY IS!
This love that circulates endlessly
going from one heart to another
When the flame is dying in one
it lights another to carry it onwards
Jopoa IS THE ETERNAL FLAME OF LOVE!
This is the lesson I've learned
from her life
and then from her death
I AM JOPOA!
We become those who've loved us
and whom we deeply loved
Love is this wave
sweeping through the universe
and all of us
we who are living RIGHT NOW
and who can read this
are only the latest to carry and represent
this wave motion
Today, I made offerings of much incense (wow ....smoky!...just like how grandma did it!)
food (grandma really loved these chinese sweets that were easy to chew...she didn't have any teeth left after a lifetime of eating)
and song (the songs I wrote to remember and honor her spirit by)
both at home in her bedroom, now converted to a shrine room
and at the simple cemetery plot she is buried at
I forgot to take a picture of the headstone itself
I'll do that next time
I went with a friend who helped take some of the pictures
Steve also played guitar and sang my songs to Jopoa
We made food offerings, incense, song and wine (plum)
We sang the song 7:28 at 7:28 pm then other songs
and then we chanted grandma's favorite mantra
Na May Woi May Woi Fut
In our mediation afterwards
we meditated on reducing the suffering of every conceivable kind in the world. So I advised Steve to use his imagination and bring forth a wide variety of suffering to mind. I myself imaged animals in the slaughterhouses, ALL human beings at their own personal moment of death, insects we've killed willing driving to and from the cemetery and everyday, all the soldiers of the world and their victims, all the abusers of the world and their victims, all the men who abuse women and all the women abused by those men, animals who need to eat other animals to stay alive, etc....
We then sat and ate some of the food
chinese buns, macadamia nuts, fried bean curd, chinese multicolored mango desert strips, lychees, some cold tea drink, a diet fit for the gods!
After the cemetery puja
I was driving home
and lo and behold
the full moon greeted me!
It looked so beautiful, smiling down on me
on this clear moonlit night
and I remembered immediately
how grandma and I would love to bow at the moon
Grandma was a light sleeper
and woke up every 3 hours to pee
She had a parched throat
so continually drank water through the night
Part of why she grew so old I believe
is drinking LOTS of hot water, perhaps 2 to 3 thermofulls a day
Part of the kitchen ritual was Jopoa coming in, putting on a pot of hot water
and pouring it into the thermos
I remember when she was older
and the kettle was more difficult to hold
I would hold her hands
and together we would aim the stream of boiling water
into the mouth of the thermos
I slept for many years in the same room as grandma next to her
I would tuck her in and hold her hands until she went to sleep
sometimes, I would see that the moon was full
and the next time grandma woke up to use the bathroom
I would take her by the hand and point up to the sky
Her eyes would open wide in genuine astonishment
and a beautiful smile would appear on her face
She would say "look how BEAUTIFUL it is!"
give out a pigeon-like cooing of delight
and immediately start praying and chanting
I would stand behind her holding her hand in mine
and we would pray together for a long time
"Look, Look, do you see Quan Yin!"
she would say excitedly
So when I saw the full moon this night
I had no choice but to stop and bow and chant to it
as it was sacredly etched into my psyche
for jopoa and for all sentient beings
making the aspiration that they all
recognize the nature of their mind
and bring an end to all forms of suffering
As I was doing this
suddenly above me and to my left
a shooting star emerged out of nowhere
leaving an deep imprint
on this present moment!
I arrived home
full of todays rememberance
thinking
everyday is sacred
why should tomorrow be any different than today?
I did one more puja
and made offerings and sang songs to Jopoa
and finished
again without a clock
exactly at midnight!
Thank you
to all the new friends at zaadz
whose heart Jopoa has deeply touched
....you know who you are
Jopoa lives through me
her living ambassador of loving kindness
carrying her flame forward
and lighting your hearts ablaze with her love
you are all now part of Jopoa's family
all torchbearers of her loving kindness
mixed with all the other flames
that have been passed down to you
BFJG
Woke up EXACTLY at midnight this morning without an alarm clock!
Finished singing my last song at night and I wasn't aware of the time
but when I checked, it was EXACTLY midnight!
Somehow, my intuition told me to start the day at exactly midnight
and to end the day at exactly midnight!
All day I thought of the amazing blessing
of having been chosen as the life student
for this amazing yogini
If my heart sings
it is because of the love she has shown me
it is because she sings through this body
This is the way for all of us
We each have a Jopoa in our lives
responsible for the love in our hearts
and when that Jopoa is gone
She isn't really gone
because she IS this LOVE
which is now in US!
So this love is what Jopoa REALLY IS!
This love that circulates endlessly
going from one heart to another
When the flame is dying in one
it lights another to carry it onwards
Jopoa IS THE ETERNAL FLAME OF LOVE!
This is the lesson I've learned
from her life
and then from her death
I AM JOPOA!
We become those who've loved us
and whom we deeply loved
Love is this wave
sweeping through the universe
and all of us
we who are living RIGHT NOW
and who can read this
are only the latest to carry and represent
this wave motion
Today, I made offerings of much incense (wow ....smoky!...just like how grandma did it!)
food (grandma really loved these chinese sweets that were easy to chew...she didn't have any teeth left after a lifetime of eating)
and song (the songs I wrote to remember and honor her spirit by)
both at home in her bedroom, now converted to a shrine room
and at the simple cemetery plot she is buried at
I forgot to take a picture of the headstone itself
I'll do that next time
I went with a friend who helped take some of the pictures
Steve also played guitar and sang my songs to Jopoa
We made food offerings, incense, song and wine (plum)
We sang the song 7:28 at 7:28 pm then other songs
and then we chanted grandma's favorite mantra
Na May Woi May Woi Fut
In our mediation afterwards
we meditated on reducing the suffering of every conceivable kind in the world. So I advised Steve to use his imagination and bring forth a wide variety of suffering to mind. I myself imaged animals in the slaughterhouses, ALL human beings at their own personal moment of death, insects we've killed willing driving to and from the cemetery and everyday, all the soldiers of the world and their victims, all the abusers of the world and their victims, all the men who abuse women and all the women abused by those men, animals who need to eat other animals to stay alive, etc....
We then sat and ate some of the food
chinese buns, macadamia nuts, fried bean curd, chinese multicolored mango desert strips, lychees, some cold tea drink, a diet fit for the gods!
After the cemetery puja
I was driving home
and lo and behold
the full moon greeted me!
It looked so beautiful, smiling down on me
on this clear moonlit night
and I remembered immediately
how grandma and I would love to bow at the moon
Grandma was a light sleeper
and woke up every 3 hours to pee
She had a parched throat
so continually drank water through the night
Part of why she grew so old I believe
is drinking LOTS of hot water, perhaps 2 to 3 thermofulls a day
Part of the kitchen ritual was Jopoa coming in, putting on a pot of hot water
and pouring it into the thermos
I remember when she was older
and the kettle was more difficult to hold
I would hold her hands
and together we would aim the stream of boiling water
into the mouth of the thermos
I slept for many years in the same room as grandma next to her
I would tuck her in and hold her hands until she went to sleep
sometimes, I would see that the moon was full
and the next time grandma woke up to use the bathroom
I would take her by the hand and point up to the sky
Her eyes would open wide in genuine astonishment
and a beautiful smile would appear on her face
She would say "look how BEAUTIFUL it is!"
give out a pigeon-like cooing of delight
and immediately start praying and chanting
I would stand behind her holding her hand in mine
and we would pray together for a long time
"Look, Look, do you see Quan Yin!"
she would say excitedly
So when I saw the full moon this night
I had no choice but to stop and bow and chant to it
as it was sacredly etched into my psyche
for jopoa and for all sentient beings
making the aspiration that they all
recognize the nature of their mind
and bring an end to all forms of suffering
As I was doing this
suddenly above me and to my left
a shooting star emerged out of nowhere
leaving an deep imprint
on this present moment!
I arrived home
full of todays rememberance
thinking
everyday is sacred
why should tomorrow be any different than today?
I did one more puja
and made offerings and sang songs to Jopoa
and finished
again without a clock
exactly at midnight!
Thank you
to all the new friends at zaadz
whose heart Jopoa has deeply touched
....you know who you are
Jopoa lives through me
her living ambassador of loving kindness
carrying her flame forward
and lighting your hearts ablaze with her love
you are all now part of Jopoa's family
all torchbearers of her loving kindness
mixed with all the other flames
that have been passed down to you
BFJG
Access: Public
Thank you Gien for sharing the spirit and memories of Grandma to us. Through you and her legacies, loving kindness will thread us all into one loving family. I would like to dedicate this song Better Days by Diane Reeves to her memory and legacy;
BETTER DAYS
Silver gray hair neatly combed in place.
There were four generations of love on her face.
She was so wise, no surprise passed her eyes,
She'd seen it all.
I was a child, oh, about three or four.
All day I'd ask questions.
At night I'd ask more.
But whenever; she never, would ever, turn me away.
I'd say how can I be sure what is right or wrong ?
And why does what I want always take so long ?
Please tell me where does God live
And why won't He talk to me ?
I'd say, Grandma what is love ?
Will I ever find out ? and
Why are we so poor, what is life about ?
I wanna know the answers before I fall off to sleep.
ohwoohwohwoh…….
She sort of smiled as she tucked me in.
Then she pulled up that old rocking chair once again.
But tonight she was slightly, remarkably, different somehow.
Slowly she rocked, lookin' half asleep.
Grandma yawned as she stretched.
Then she started to speak.
What she told me, would mold me, and hold me
Together inside ahahahahah yeah yeah.
She said all the things you ask
You will know someday.
But you have got to live in a patient way.
God put us here by fate
And by fate that means better days.
She said, child we are all moons in the dark of night.
Ain't no morning gonna come 'til the time is right.
Can't get to better days lest you make it through the night.
You gotta make it through the night, yes you do.
You can't get to no better days
Unless you make it through the night.
Oh, you will see those better days
But you gotta be patient.
(Be patient) oh baby, be patient.
Later that year, at the turn of spring,
Heaven sent angels down and gave Grandma her wings.
Now, she's flying, and sliding, and gliding
In better days
And although I'm all grown up
I still get confused.
I stumble through the dark
Getting bumped and bruised.
When night gets in my way
I could still hear my Grandma say
I can hear her say,
I can hear her say.
(Be patient) You can't get to no better days
Unless you make it through the night baby.
(Be patient) Oh, you will see those better days
But you gotta be patient.
Child, do you hear me, yeah.
(Be patient) You can't get to no better days
Unless you make it, you got to make it
you got to make it
You got to make it through the night
(Be patient) Oh Grandma, oh Grandma
Do you see me now, lady
Oh oh oh oh oh…
(Be patient) She used to sit me on her knee
She used to comb my hair
She used to tell me stories..
My Grandma took me everywhere
Thank you and Tashi Delek,
Samme
You write out of love, you write that you know love is not just abundant, you write that it is inexhaustible. Thank you…….
Blessings. Many Many Blessings.
Thank You for sharing so much of your love so eloquently.
Yes, Thank You.
David
precious sacred writings… precious sacred day…