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
Tag: jesus
Transforming Hell on Earth
Some believe that hell exists in the afterlife for those who do harm on earth
But in reality, hell is on this earth
Hell is in Gaza
Hell is in Ukraine
I have felt hells heat on Earth
I have lived in hell with my ex fiance
All the lies and self hatred
I have experienced hell in every casino
The burning flames of regret, fear, and self hatred
Hell is on the earth
It’s behind every war and suicide
But the Kingdom of God is on Earth as well
In every happy baby’s smile
In every act of unconditional love
God’s infinite source of love can heal all wounds
This source of love is all around us yet we are too blind to see it
We can bring Jesus’s message of pure love, compassion and forgiveness into hell on earth and transform hell into peace and joy
More hatred, violence and fear will make hells flames even stronger
Only God’s infinite source of love can liberate us from the shackles of hell on Earth
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
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
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 Miracle of Life
The Miracle of life
Is a seed of mustard
With water, soil, and sun
This tiny seed grows into a large tree
Giving food and shelter to many birds and insects
There are many miracles around us each day
Yet we can’t seem to them
With mindfulness we can see that a cloud is a miracle
It transforms into rain or snow
Giving us life through water and food
We are a miracle
From one cell to a trillion
We can only grasp this if we are still
Not distracted
Not striving
Living in the moment
Jesus spoke of the mustard seed
Just by being still we can see the Kingdom of God right now and it’s many miracles
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
Liberation from Fear, Hatred, and Greed
The Buddha and Jesus lived a message of love, compassion and forgiveness. Their message was a way out of unnecessary suffering caused by the egos destructive nature. The ego is run by fear, hatred, and greed. I imagine the ego has a group of hurt, lonely, angry, sensitive, and greedy children inside our inner family. Those with strong addictions have hurt children running the show but most of society is being ran by parentified children frozen in trauma. Some become narcissistic, some cold emotionless, and some develop addictions but they are all responses to trauma. Jesus and the Buddha taught a way out of the ego and into the inner Self that heals all these wounded children. It forgives them, loves them, and holds them tenderly like a mother to a crying infant. We first must surrender to the battle in our mind. This is the first major step in our transformation. We admit we are powerless and need help from others. The ego wants to do life on its own, never wanting help from others out of fear and arrogance. We think we are Gods until we surrender fully to our suffering. We need a higher power to help guide us now because we realize the ego always takes us to complete destruction and suffering. Our will never leads to happiness, we need something bigger than ourselves to believe in. You don’t have to call it God, you can call it mother nature, the Universe, etc. It doesn’t matter what we call the mysterious force that created me and keeps the universe together but we have to be grateful for it. This is key to our transformation and resurrection into a more kind peaceful joyful person. Keep surrendering each day and the God of your understanding will fill you up with pure joy, you won’t need drugs, casual sex or consumption to fill the hole inside you anymore. This world needs more of us to wake up to our unnecessary suffering and delusional thinking that we are an all knowing God. Pleasure seeking isn’t the way towards true happiness. Practicing self love, compassion and forgiveness is the way. Shine that light into the darkness of your soul. The darkness of hatred, greed and fear.
With aloha,
Johnny
Camel Through the Eye of a Needle
Jesus once said a rich person’s chances of getting into the Kingdom of God is like a camel going through the eye of a needle.
This quote makes many in the Western world cringe because our whole society is based on greed.
Greed takes us away from Jesus’s message of compassion, love, humility, and grace.
From a young age we are taught from society that the accumulation of wealth is the source of all joy.
That we should strive to be a millionaire and buy luxurious goods, expensive vacations, and fancy candle lit meals at five star restaurants.
Nothing could be further from Jesus’s message of the narrow road and what the Buddha taught as the middle path.
Both wise men were speaking of the destructive nature of greed and fear.
Greed takes us away from the smooth sailing towards the pure joy of living a simple, humble, and grateful life centered on giving to others.
Jesus and the Buddha were both born into nobility but chose the narrow/middle path between extreme wealth and extreme deprivation that also was around in their times.
So look around you? Do you see much happiness in those who seek only pleasure? Pleasure seeking in my life only leads to self destruction and unnecessary suffering.
Jesus and the Buddha both taught a way out of suffering. A way towards resurrection and rebirth on this planet. By surrendering to our suffering like Jesus on the cross we can be reborn right now. By living like them through the narrow/middle path we can relieve our suffering and be very joyful and peaceful people.
Letting go of the need to strive is a huge challenge for most of us in the west. It took me many years to find serenity just being myself, not striving to be someone else. The only striving worthwhile is striving to live like Jesus or the Buddha. Strive to be the best version of yourself and you will naturally be very joyful and want to help others who still suffer deeply.
With aloha,
Johnny
The Narrow Path 