Category: Poem

The Revolutionary Message of Jesus

Jesus was a revolutionary
A revolutionary of unconditional love
Of radical peace
Anyone who speaks his name through the lens of fear, hatred or greed does not know his way

Jesus’s way is of the peaceful warrior
He knew that only unconditional love can bring peace to the world

Fear and violence will only continue our own suffering
Only unconditional love can save us
It can liberate us from all self-centeredness
His way can free us from the shackles of greed, hatred and fear
Resurrection is possible if we surrender as he did on the cross

We can be reborn each moment if we follow his way

We don’t need to be a Christian to follow Jesus’s message of unconditional love for all living beings

We only need to have an open mind and a compassionate heart

With love,

Johnny Hoffman

Question Everything

Question this blog post, leaders, religion, philosophy etc

Question everything and everyone

Question not with hatred

Question not to prove others wrong or you right

Question everything with a childlike curiosity

Is this true to you in our daily life?

Is it practical or possible?

Will this bring peace and love to ourselves and all living beings?

Let go of all bias and dogmas

Question everything with curiosity to find out the truth for yourself in your day to day lives

Most importantly, question yourself

Question your own beliefs and behaviors in the world and where they stem from

Are they serving you and others around you?

You might find out that most of your beliefs and opinions are from your parents, culture or government

They might be outdated or not helpful to you anymore

With love,

Johnny

The Religion of Unconditional Love

My religion is brother and sister hood of all  beings

Our philosophy is unconditional love

Our goal is to bring peace within and around us through our actions each moment

We do not convert or force our views

We just keep our eyes on unconditional love

This is the philosophy of Jesus or Buddha without religious dogma or complex beliefs

We seek to build bridges instead of barriers to enter the Kingdom of God (unconditional love)

Anyone can join

Your brother,

Johnny Hoffman

Compassion for All Beings

May all beings feel love

May all beings feel liberated

May all beings be at peace

Their lives are miracles of the cosmos

I vow to reduce suffering in the world

I will not support any violence in the world

In my words or actions

Transforming Suffering into Joy

Some naively want to live in a world with no suffering

Only pure bliss

This is understandable but a dangerous idea

For without suffering there is no compassion

And with no compassion there is no true joy

Suffering and joy are two sides of the same coin

We don’t need to fear suffering

We can transform it into pure joy

When we embrace our suffering with pure compassion we can transform it into true joy

We must take Jesus’s message internally for this transformation to truly happen

Through mindfulness and compassion we can embrace the most hurt parts of ourselves with loving tenderness

We must accept that suffering is a natural part of life

But we don’t need to dwell in it and suffer unnecessarily

We can transform suffering into pure joy

By living like Jesus or the Buddha we can transform the darkness into light

Many look for miracles yet nothing is as profound as the healing nature of unconditional love

With love,

Johnny

You Are a Miracle

You are a miracle

Many stars had to die for you to exist

Millions of your ancestors had to meet for you to smile

Many minerals, plants and animals had to die for you to be alive

The miracle of life is all around and within us at every moment

To touch the miracle of life is to touch the divinity of everything at once

A single cell becomes a human being

A single mustard seed sprouts into a massive tree

Housing many birds and other life forms

The practice of mindfulness is to get in touch with the miracle of life

Too often fear, hatred and greed keep us from this nourishing energy of love

If we can feel this spiritually

There is no fear or anguish

Only pure love and joy

With Aloha,

Johnny

The Awakening of the Buddha

The awakening of the Buddha was that he saw Buddha nature in everything

In Buddhist philosophy, Buddha-nature is the potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all beings already have a pure buddha-essence within.

So the Buddha awakened to the ultimate reality of the universe

That every being is born with and has Buddha nature

Even if they are deeply lost in fear, greed, and hatred

Even if someone is violent

Even criminals, beggars, and addicts

All have the essence of Buddha nature

All are holy and are in the image of God

With this awakening we can help heal this world of much suffering

We can see every being as holy and our brother or sister

We can vow to reduce their suffering and look at them through the lens of compassion

With aloha,

Johnny

Can we Look Deeply?


Can we look deeply?
Deeper than skin color, gender, religion or nationality.
If we look deep enough we will see the brother & sisterhood of all living beings.
With this inside we can see our commonality and not our differences.

May we have the courage within us to not to resort to greed, hatred and fear.
With this courage true peace is possible.

It is easy to hate and much more difficult to love.
If we look deeply into the eyes of our enemy, we will see their pain.

Those who harm others suffer deeply inside.
We must develop this type of compassion for those who harm others.
It’s the only way towards true peace.
With this simple philosophy of brother and sister hood we can heal the entire world.

True peace is only possible if we can see the other side as not our enemy but a brother or sister.

With aloha,

Johnny

The Ultimate Reality

What a blessing it is to be alive!!

You might know me as Johnny Hoffman, as some separate person but I am much more than that.

Look deeper and you will see the ultimate reality of me.

I am my ancestors

I am the soil

I am a cloud

I am the sun

For without these I would not exist

So whenever you feel lost or alone just know you are not separate from the universe.

You and I are made up of our ancestors, stars, soil, clouds, and rivers. Without them we would not exist. This is the ultimate reality of things.

You are my brother or sister

To feel this at a deep level is to awaken to our Buddha nature and help others who still suffer

So when someone looks at a cloud 100 years from now they may see me again 🙏🏼☁️

With aloha,

Johnny

The Hurt Child Within

Behind every broken man or woman

Is a hurt child

Crying for help

This child needs our love

It needs tender care

This child needs our compassion

To heal from the deep pain it feels inside

We must remember this when encountering others

Behind every criminal or addict, is a hurt child

The most violent and destructive people are the most wounded

It is easy to show compassion to the vulnerable but it’s much harder to show it our enemies

But to preserve the deep compassion in our hearts we must show understanding to those who harms others

They suffer deeply

We don’t condone harmful behavior

But we don’t need our judgement or more punishment

They need our deep love and compassion

With aloha,

Johnny Hoffman