Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey at the time of Wesak.
Yesterday, Wesak Day. We celebrate the Buddhas Birth and Enlightenment sometime during May, the event marks the Buddhist New Year. Traditionally Wesak is on the Sunday that is closest to May’s full moon. In Malaysia this year that’s the 29th May. As a point of interest Rev. Master Jiyu’s Ordination Master, the Venerable Seck Kim Seng, was instrumental in getting Wesak Day made into a public holiday in Malaysia.
As you can see we get out the Buddhist, home-made, bunting and generally decorate brightly around the monastery. I was fortunate to be at Throssel on Sunday to join in the celebrations.
Moments of repose in the greening of England.
Today, a public holiday. Moments of repose beside a river: here Wild Garlic in profusion, a Blue Heron statue like, birds calling. A lone duck floats by on the current. Ah! the sunshine, the warmth. The profusion of greenery. It’s been a record-breaking day in terms of temperatures. A good day all around. Even the trash looks good today!
Sitting beside the river this afternoon my mind wandered to those less fortunate all around the wide world. This post is for them.
Mourning is
the noise of
memory
that follows the
quiet liberation
of death.
How removed we are from death now, how sterile and unseen it has become. My entire fear of death was built on a foundation of having experienced it too little. I feared that the burst of noise that is our lives, once silenced by death, would have no echo. But having experienced her death, having stood at the side of her bed in the middle of the night as she gave one last breath for each of us present, I can tell you that this is what death is like: motionless, hushed, the sound of a candle being extinguished. And then: the cacophony of memories that follows, a cacophony that is both torture and ecstasy. The noise of these memories is what makes you wail and shake and hold your head in your hands. Mourning is the noise of memory that follows the quiet liberation of death.
From Memento Mori
I’ve read through this article, Memento Mori several times and still I come back again. Why? The clue is in the title, Memento Mori – Remember you must die. I’ll say no more. This takes one deeply.
