The bodhisattva Manjusri above is the bodhisattva of wisdom not confined to knowledge or concepts who works for the enlightenment of all beings. A great mentor for those taking “the bodhisattva vow”.
I think awareness and mindfulness have something to do with seeing things from or in a new light… from a new beginning. Perhaps even to a new place in our heart and mind. We are given an opportunity every day to see things from a new perspective. When I wrote the entry below, I was just beginning a new job in April 1995 as the new Assistant Planner. We had found an apartment out on Military Trail across the street from the pharmacy where Marie would soon begin working in Boynton Beach. The previous two or three weeks had been very hectic. We had rented our house in Fall River, left most of our stuff in storage there, driven to Florida and found temporary housing in a motel with a tiki bar and pool, and I had started work. But I was still writing every day.
Taking a break from “My travels with Lieh Tzu”, I picked up a copy of the Shambhala Sun magazine and read an article in the May 1995 issue by the Dalai Lama. My writing was definitely in some kind of universal flow taking me somewhere that I could hardly describe. I had not thought about writing about Buddhism because I was pretty well into Taoism and Lieh, Chuang, and Lao Tzu. But here it was asking me to put the words of the Dali Lama through my own lens so to speak. I had been internalizing the meaning of meditation and thinking I had been in an almost trance-like state of continual meditation for over two years as thoughts and words that I had never previously even contemplated now consumed me. And here I was starting a new job in a new city in a new state where Marie and I didn’t know anybody. And my first thoughts were what I wrote as “Tranquil abiding”.
I consider it one of the best things I have ever written either before or since, with me asking where this was coming from. It was like I had been asked to disrupt everything I knew about myself and just to let go and let spirit be my guide. When I started my new job as a city planner, I quickly realized, and so did they, that I wasn’t a typical city planner. My focus was on comprehensive and neighborhood planning, and I had the freedom to shape my nine-to-five work in my own way. The city must have seen something in me because, five years later in 2000, they created a new department where I reported directly to the city manager as the Neighborhood Specialist, complete with my own office and secretary.
They must have seen and known something. I realized that, through my own growth and working with neighborhoods, I have the ability to take people to places they wouldn’t normally go but would explore if given the opportunity. Of course, that sometimes got me into trouble with authority. Something always seemed destined to repeat itself, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. But the die was already cast. I was also able to do major landscaping and community gardening projects for the city using my talents as a master gardener.
As a writer, self-promotion has never been my strong suit—except for the untold story of my first book and the publisher and editor in Beijing who later became close friends. Apart from my foundation’s Facebook page, promoting myself has never been a focus. Writing always felt more like a journey of personal growth, both for myself and others.
My travels with Lieh Tzu / Interpolations along the Way
Chapter Four – Confucius
68. Tranquil abiding
Finding peace of mind from within. Striving for contentment while staying within yourself with simple simplicity and an innate sense of modesty. Finding a certain strength of character to not be challenged nor surrender to the provocative that leads to an affluent or comfortable lifestyle or way of life. 
As you find the natural temperament within yourself, the stronger your will and capacity to endure hardship. With this, you will gain enthusiasm and forbearance laying a solid foundation for spiritual progress to develop a singleness of mind and penetrating insight.
Aspire only to tranquil abiding. Strive for and achieve a sense of contentment and modesty and an ethically sound and disciplined way of life. In thinking about disciples, it cannot be imposed from outside. But must come from within yourself. Discipline should be based on a clear awareness of its value and a degree of introspection and mindfulness. Once ingrained, it becomes automatic or self-imposed. You then become free to develop alertness and mindfulness.
When you have developed these two basic factors of awakening, then you can attain singleness of mind. Have no personal involvements or obligations that will direct your attention from the path you must now follow.
Transcend the limits of your human existence. Forever losing your identity and endeavoring to take care of your ultimate aspiration. Understand the role of attachments and clinging and use them in letting go. With little or no obligation and involvement remain free to fly away.
(From excerpts of an article in the May 1995 issue of the Shambhala Sun by the Dalai Lama with interjections by DCD 4/12/95)
Number sixty-eight of one hundred fifty-eight entries.
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