To Lisa, My most sacred place is within myself.Purity ,metta and Karuna inhabit my inside. My room has an air of restfullness and calm. What I like to look at the most are trees.Specially weeping white birch,very rare.I am blessed I have 3 in my tv room window. Thank you for this chance to express myself a simple buddhist named loong

Dear Loong -

You are so right that peace can be carried within us. We can strive to have a safe space within us that brings us serenity.

To Lisa and Lisa,

HERE AND NOW

loong

OneAlone2, your comment on being a Piscean, and the water made me think: as an Aries person, should i live near a volcano?

Dear Jilly,

Being a daughter of the universe,freedom of choice belongs only to you.No one should decide for another,no one.

friend to friend
loong

Dear Jilly,

You have a good point, (and I love your sense of humour!)

I'll share a secret with you now. As a child, my 'sacred place' was in my imagination. I created a peaceful, beautiful and magical place where I took refuge from what was for me an extremely cruel world.

It was indeed a 'sacred' place filled with blessings, because it helped me to survive. I still go there when things in my life are hard to cope with.

I'm sure others have also had 'sacred' places in their minds where, as children, they felt safe, and loved.

I too find peace when I am interacting with nature, mainly with trees and bodies of water. These places to me are sacred.

I've always been strongly bonded with nature, and yet when I was young and had to spend time indoors my sacred place would be within myself, in my mind. I would imagine all sorts of peaceful places and scenarios, one in particular was me sitting up against a large tree. It felt safe and protected.

These days I am trying to make that peaceful place within myself again.

Jilly, dear Jilly...you are better than an anti-depressant, for you get those little endorphins in my brain so active and giggling so hard that I just have to bust out in laughter.

Since Aries sometimes have a powerful expression of energy, living near a volcano might be peaceful for you -- and the Ram is a good climber. I am Capricorn and the Goat is also a good climber, so maybe we can each build a cabin up by Mt. Rainier.

Mt. Rainier

Actually, as much as I love being around water I find more peace when near or on mountains. Mountains, to me, just seem to be a place of stability and comfort. Plus, they usually have trees and lakes, which also bring me great peace.

You all are very funny. Actually, I have been to the volcano site on the Big Island of Hawaii and loved the energy there! But not sure I'd want to live there.

Looong, 'here and now' is a great answer, and of course that's always true! But time in nature is also a wonderful tool for connecting - it actually settles our mind down, aiding meditation and inquiry practice. And it is a big part of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as other Buddhist lineages, that certain places can facilitate our connection with the dharma.