Yearly Archives: 2011

Teachings

Eternal Sunshine

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Sometimes the sun is out, and sometimes in goes in. When it is out, we all smile and are happy to see it. When it goes in and stays in for days on end, we are not happy. Then like today when the sun is in with patches of blue sky there is a sense of promise in the air. Of hope the blue will get bigger and those dark grey skies over there – will not come over here and dump their clammy contents. Today grey skies with blue patches. Small ones. No rain to speak of.

Especially at this time of year, and on through the darkening days of December and January/February/March, there is a real tendency to be adversely affected by the low levels of light. I am. I’ve a little box which pumps out light of the right kind and I sit with it each day to bump up my daily light dosage. No, I probably don’t have S.A.D. in a clinical sense however that extra light does help my poor brain to look lively when it would rather lay down and hibernate. Until spring time.

Walking out among the fields and remote farm houses today in the dim light I wonder, now, about the people from long ago. Hard lives, truly grim lives. They made this landscape, huge chunks of it anyway. I’m thinking that perhaps the human response to weather, the ups, the downs hasn’t changed much. Just like the response of plants and vegetation to changing conditions, it’s chemical a lot of it, I presume.

But where am I going with this? Oh, perhaps a thought about the rhythm of the seasons and how our indoor lives, predominately so for most, has us like plants growing under artificial conditions. A life in eternal sunshine! All the same I have the feeling we are still deeply effected by the seasons, the weather, and all manner of more subtle influences known and unknown. Lets face it nothing happens in isolation from anything else.

And I am now going to cut and run before I drown in my own ignorance. I am not carrying a banner of any kind today, just a love of our land and all that makes it.

Many thanks to my friends who walked out under grey skies with me this day and kept a smile in their hearts.

Out and About

Old Friends – New Places

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Cotter_Force1.jpg
Cotter Force, Yorkshire.

What a very pleasant few hours today walking, talking and eating with Angie loyal Jade reader and long time acquaintance. We took a short walk beside a river to these falls in wintry sunshine. There is a video however it is more water than voice, but no matter! It will be kept for the record at least. And can be viewed by clicking the link.

On the path there were obvious signs of bird carnage – bunches of remarkable pheasant feathers. So sorry.

feathers1.jpg

On the road we stopped at Artbar Gallery and were fortunate to meet the artist herself, Moira Metcalfe. Her paintings are stunning, drawing you in. And outside there are chicken and a couple of cockerels roaming free….

Chicken Talk from Mugo on Vimeo.


Listening to chicken is for me like hearing from long lost friends. One thing about them is that they are such characters, they are uniquely themselves. Which I admire.

Thanks to Angie for a very pleasant day. Let there be more.

Overcome Difficulties

Crossing The Line

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Several times a day dogs need walking in order to do their business or to get busy as a guide dog of my acquaintance would be instructed. Guide dogs are highly trained in all aspects of their lives. One moment they are getting busy the next they are helping their person cross a busy road and the next they are off lead running free socializing with other dogs. I was always so impressed that our guide dog would get busy to order and in places his blind owner would not walk, or anybody else for that matter. Uh! dog poop on the pavement is no fun is it.

This morning while out walking I saw up ahead a man, with a dog, talking to another with two little dogs. I could tell it wasn’t quite a passing the time of day talk either. Turned out the second chap was being ticked off for not picking up after his dogs. Thankfully the civically minded man had done the deed and was just returning from the doggy litter bin when we met. He passed the time of day with me. People should pick up after their dogs and isn’t it terrible etc. etc…. Quite reasonable complaining really but I never seem to be able to join in a full blown rant, and this wasn’t one of those. So as we walked on the subject changed and I learned that salmon run up the river here at this time of year to spawn. We leant over the bridge looking for fish briefly then parted, each going our separate ways.

It is one thing to point something out, like the civic minded man (and to have a bit of a private rant too) and quite another to verbally saw people off at the knees. Either to their face or behind their back. We all must surely know when we have crossed the line. However, whether the righteous or the miscreant, crossing the line leaves a bad taste doesn’t.

Hah! I’d intended to write about the sound, the music, of the river I walk beside each morning. It’s no exaggeration to call it music either.

Daily Life, Teachings

Meta-Message

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I remember somebody saying The entrenching tool looks like a joke, until you use one. Just so. In the first post on Jade Mountains back in the dim and distant past (August 2003) you will find a photograph. A picture of me holding an entrenching tool. What’s more, as is the custom with first posts, I was contemplating my purpose and intention for starting a blog. Now referring back I am glad to say I still stand by what I wrote, back then.

….spiritual inspiration; inspiration to keep traveling the road and overcome difficulties. They also provide information and insights; information about the practice of the Serene Reflection Meditation Tradition (Soto Zen) and insights into how that practice unfolds in daily life.

My current thoughts around Jade have been about developing the site rather than questioning continuing to write, or not. Just in case anybody was wondering.

Just as with the entrenching tool on first sight Jade might look like a joke or better put, a self-indulgence. A monastic going on about herself, Where’s the Buddhist teaching in THAT? One might well ask. Unfold the site, use it, and hopefully you will find it a useful tool. A good place to return to. But most importantly, Jades meta-message if you like, Buddhist practice is not something outside of daily living or confined within the walls of monastic practice. If that comes through then I’m happy.

Thanks folks for your feedback. If I had more time available I’d write more, and more often.