There are always troubles. Sometimes big and sometimes little. We travel through life unstained. There is something at our center that isn’t troubled by what passes by us. That truth is true for all of us. We are all connected through the universality of mankind.
Spoken by Harold, the man at Walmart whose job it is to greet shoppers as they enter the store. Met him this day.
Three of us stood spell bound as this most humble of men quietly sat and talked to us. As we left I sat down on the bench beside him and thanked him for his wisdom. Joined by my traveling companions we said good by and put our hands together in what we call ‘gassho’, a gesture of recognition and gratitude. He did the same. He said ‘God Bless’, I said ‘God Bless’ and then we walked over to the car, climbed in and headed to Portland Priory.
We are indebted to the Harolds of this world. People who talk their truth with humility and with no intention to teach or enlighten. He just seemed to be happy to talk.
Thanks to my traveling companions for helping to remember what was said. It is but the gist of what took place.
And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the
running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.
– William Shakespeare
Amen to that!
This post marks the end of Tree Fortnight. I’ll be on the road and heading towards Canada tomorrow.
They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half just to see’em.
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone.
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot.
– Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi
The flowing water makes the still mountain move;
the vivid trees make the obdurate stone alive.
– Shitao
I am making a mental note to do a post about yesterdays outing to the Lava Beds and Glass Mountain. The barren landscape holds exquisite depth and aliveness which this poem encapsulates so well.
Practice Within The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives
