There are those little moments, those sights or sounds, which have a powerful impact lifting the spirits when times are hard. Such was the case for a Jade reader, whose wife is on hospice care, who experienced the following while out of the house for a brief time of respite.
A grey drizzly Sunday morning in Lancaster. Walking the dog, we crossed the bridge over the canal and followed the glistening wet cobbles of the spiral staircase specially sloped for the long-gone horses that used to tow the barges. We stopped while the dog raised his leg to leave his mark on the wall.
The drizzle eased for a brief moment and glancing up I saw a tiny hole in the cloudy murk reveal the blue sky beyond. A soft “chug – chug” announced the slow approach of a narrow boat barely making a ripple as it traveled through the water. As the boat past, the man at the tiller and I waved to each other simultaneously and spontaneously. Then he and the boat passed under the bridge and were gone. The dog and I continued on our way.
Nothing special. Yet highly significant. A moment of total harmony. A glimpse of Nirvana through a hole in Samsara.
9th. September 2018
While we teach there is no gap between Nirvana and Samsara such experiences as described above touch a deep part of ones being showing ones heart some much appreciated ‘light’.
Rest in Natural Great Peace,
this exhausted mind.
Beaten helpless by karma and thought,
like the relentless fury of the pounding waves,
in the Infinite Ocean of Samsara.
Rest in Natural Peace.
Taken from Sorrow Mountain
I have not read this book however a correspondent recommended it to me. So I’ll explore it further. She is a light of strength in adversity and no mistake. I was thinking about what I am for her since she already has fundamentally all she needs to move through this testing time. This is what I wrote to her:
I think of myself as a person who stands on the touch-line of the game of life and at half time, or whenever, I’ll run on with Orange slices! So when you are in need drop me a line and I will remind you of your fundamental…..can’t find a word however Nature as Buddha will do for now. We can all do with an Orange slice from time to time being human and frail, yet strong.
The merit of this post is offered for all those known and unknown who are currently sitting with and facing death. It’s not a mistake.
Dear Jade Readers,
Thank you for returning to read here. Yes, I have been away from writing posts regularly for some considerable time. There has been a reason and it might well be to do with wishing for a fig in winter, so to speak. Let my intention be to open my hands and write my thoughts. It is about love basically.
Bows, Mugo Epictetus — a proponent of the wonderful practice of self-scrutiny applied with kindness — proceeds to offer a meditation on loosening the grip of grief in parting permanently from someone we have loved:
When you are delighted with anything, be delighted as with a thing which is not one of those which cannot be taken away, but as something of such a kind, as an earthen pot is, or a glass cup, that, when it has been broken, you may remember what it was and may not be troubled… What you love is nothing of your own: it has been given to you for the present, not that it should not be taken from you, nor has it been given to you for all time, but as a fig is given to you or a bunch of grapes at the appointed season of the year. But if you wish for these things in winter, you are a fool. So if you wish for your son or friend when it is not allowed to you, you must know that you are wishing for a fig in winter.
