Your Smile is a Miracle

Your smile is a miracle
Your lungs and heart are miracles of life
To be alive is a miracle in itself
You don’t need to strive to become something
You don’t even need to strive to be a
Buddha (awakened one)
Deep down you already are one
You are already successful as you are

You are a miracle of life

The entire cosmos came together to create you and all living beings

The sun, moon, stars, bacteria, plants, water and numerous animals all had to come together for you to be alive here and now

The paradox of life is once you accept yourself as you are today with radical transparency, then you can heal and transform
So accept yourself with deep loving kindness
Shame, hatred, and violence will not heal yourself and the world
Only true love can

Your brother,
Johnny

The Divinity Within the Homeless

You have been taught that the homeless are less than

But I’m here to say that they are just as divine as you and I

They are still born in the image of God’s love

They have Buddha nature within them

They are divine beings of the universe

Look within your heart and you will see this too

To cast judgment on them is cast judgment on the divine

Love your neighbor as thy self even if they are homeless

We are here to awaken to the oneness of all beings and show unconditional love to our brothers and sisters

Everything is Within You

Do not seek enlightenment or God outside of yourself

Everything you strive towards is already within you

Be still and open your heart

Do not strive to be a Buddha

Your inner most self is already Buddha nature

Your inner most self only desire is to be like Christ

The kingdom of love is like a seed within you

Water this seed and let it transform you from the inside

Calm Within the Storm

No matter how strong the storm is

There is a blue sky above

The sun shining light into the darkness

On the surface of life all we see is suffering but if we look deeper we can see an ultimate dimension

Behind the dark storm of fear, hatred, attachments, and greed

Behind the suffering on the surface

There is a mysterious source of unconditional love

Infinitely compassionate and healing

This mysterious source of unconditional love goes by many names

Some call this God(holy spirit), Buddha nature, or the Dao

Every sage, guru, Buddha or prophet experienced this deeply and helped others so the same

We must develop deep faith is mysterious source of love to keep going on this path

With this faith our fears will vanish and we can help others see the light

This is the way of transformation and healing

This is the path of the peaceful warrior

Surrender everything and you will be liberated

In the Eyes of Our Enemy

May we have the courage to sit down with our enemies

Look into their eyes

Seek to understand why they harm us

To truly love someone we must first have the courage to understand them

Keep asking questions and seek to understand with curiosity

Soon you will see the suffering in their heart and mind

They were born into the suffering of war, violence, and greed

Taught wrong perceptions by their ancestors and society

If you look deeper we can see that our enemies were once innocent smiling babies

They were not born with hatred and fear in their hearts

With this deep insight, compassion and understanding will be born

This deep love will be liberate us from hatred and violence

And a river a joy will rush through us

This is the way of the peaceful warrior

To love our enemies and pray for those who spite us

With love,

Johnny

Keep Your Eyes on God

On the spiritual path there are many obstacles diverting us off towards pleasure, money, or fame

Each time our eyes divert from God we must return them

If we can keep our eyes on our family, friends, coworkers, jobs, bank account, shopping, food, or pets we will be diverted off the path towards God.

We will be lost and afraid in the woods

Not knowing which way to go and suffer tremendously

It takes tremendous conviction to keep going on this path

But the rewards of inner peace, serenity and complete liberation are more precious than diamonds

The path towards God is liberation from all greed, hatred and fear

God brings many the gift of unconditional love which liberates us from all self-centeredness and fear

If we keep our eyes on God we have nothing to fear and our days will be filled more and more with love, joy, and inner peace

With love,

Johnny Hoffman

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

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

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