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
Category: Zen
Real Friends
We all need friendship as human beings. Humans need some connection to other people to thrive. In today’s world of social media this can be challenging. I have struggled with finding real friendships the last 10 years of my life. I have even questioned who my real friends are in the past. Were we just drinking friends in college or was there a real connection? People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. What causes us suffering is clinging to friendship when they do not serve us anymore. If one side of the friendship makes it difficult to hangout with and constantly makes excuses then it’s not a real friendship. Even if at one point you were real friends. I travelled the east coast of Australia 2 years ago and currently live in Byron Bay, Australia. I had a great time with a group of backpackers I met along the way. This friendship was fantastic for 3 months when we were traveling but as soon as we lived in the same area things became toxic.
I tried so hard to meet up with a few of these friends but for whatever reason they made it very difficult to hangout with them. They made it a chore to be friends with them, which is not true friendship. Real friends make time (even 10 minutes), acquaintances make excuses and gaslight you to think you’re in wrong.
I’m learning to let go of people who do not want to be in my life to make room for those who actually genuinely like the man I’m becoming through my day to day recovery from my gambling addiction. I’m not the same man I was 9 months ago when I entered gamblers anonymous and started my journey to heal childhood traumas. Letting go of material goods, jobs, and even relationships (friends, family, etc) that don’t serve you anymore is crucial for a happy healthy life. Setting boundaries is important before we completely cut off people. I still have deep compassion and love for those acquaintances I have let go of, knowing that they suffer too from something they aren’t ready to work through.
With love,
Johnny
Follow Love
Every decision we can make in this world is based on love or fear
Choose love based decisions and you will wake up to a life that you truly love
Choose fear based decisions and you will wake up to a life you fear
It’s as simple as that
Through a mindfulness practice we can become aware of what true love is
Love is not controlling
Love is not manipulative
Love is not attached
Love is liberating
Love deeply heals the parts of us consumed with greed, hatred and fear
Your brother,
Johnny
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
Nirvana
We may celebrate our birthday as the day we were born but that’s not entirely true.
We came into this world at the creation of this universe
The matter in our body originated in that one eventful moment
Everything and everyone came from the same source
Whoever is reading this is my brother or sister
We even have non-human ancestors connecting us to other animals
So we truly are like stars dancing in the night sky
But through confusion, distracted and addiction we lose sight of our inner Buddha nature
To feel the oneness of everything emotionally is to feel Nirvana
It is our birthright to discover this ultimate reality
But we must learn to get our mind still through deep meditation
Anyone can become enlightened through their actions if they are dedicated to the middle path
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
Returning to our Buddha Nature
The baby sees life through the lens of love
They see everything as a miracle
Curious about everything and everyone
They touch the divine each day without resistance
They touch the deepest reality
Greed, hatred and fear haven’t harmed them yet
Their mind practices non discrimination
They have their Buddha nature intact
So for us to enter the Kingdom of God
For us to experience Nirvana
We must return to our original mind
The original mind is the infinitely compassionate mind
This original mind can touch reality deeply
Forgive instantly & love unconditionally
It can experience true joy out of the ordinary
But for us to preserve the original compassionate mind, we need a higher Self to guide the inner child and protect it from the greed, hatred and fear in the world
So we need someone like Jesus to preserve our Buddha nature
Our original mind is the mind of Jesus
The mind of a Buddha
My life’s purpose is to “Live Buddha, live Christ”.
With Aloha,
Johnny
The Narrow Path 