This image arrived in my email to-day. What struck me was the practice of changing the flowers/leaves/plants/branches that accompany the statue to reflect the changing of the seasons. This is usual practice with an altar. The symbolism of the flowers, or what ever is appropriate, is….let’s see now. I can use different words each time I explain symbolism, here’s what I have to say this evening.

The flowers are the offering up of the vibrant life of practice. That’s the blossoming of, ever changing and ever renewing, practice. So it makes sense that the altar is ever changing too. The flowers are the most obvious item to rotate however there are other parts of the set up that can be changed too. In our tradition, strictly speaking, the flowers go to the left of the statue, the candle on the right. And the set up below works in the situation within the home, perfect just as it is.

Hi Rev. Mugo

All the best

In a real way the altar can be an expression of, a focus and a symbol of, training. The altar is a place one goes to bow before. What is it that bows? Is the bow to something outside or is it a bow to the inside smile?

Many thanks for sending in this photo, much appreciated.

Here is Hotei. The Chinese character on his chest reads, ‘Happy’. The happiness that is being shown here is not something that needs sadness to contrast it against. No, this is an exuberance that springs up of itself. One sees this in children and sometimes in the elderly. And in the middle years perhaps joy is, more often than not, pinned to external things. However, not always.

Can one not fail to smile inside at what is being shown here?

There must be millions of songs about loneliness, depression and despair. Just thinking about loneliness brings up a couple of phrases, when you’re feelin’ sad and lonely, da de da de da, I’ll be there I’ll BE there… And then there is that line, my friends don’t get rowdy any more. That’s from country singer Willie Nelson, I think. Yes, All the lonely people, where do they all come from?. The Beatles right? And more importantly, where do they all go too?

I’ve been writing to somebody who is desperately alone, fearing for her long term survival. It’s been a steady downward slope to drugs and alcohol to relieve the wrap-around pain. Social isolation and physical neglect are all part of the on going picture. What is to be done? How can somebody help themselves, let alone their fast dissolving friends and family. What can they do? What can anybody do?

Somebody told me the other day of a psychiatrist who, instead of prescribing drugs to a selected group of patients, sent them off with a task. And it seemed a weird task too, on the face of it.

For two weeks the patients were ask to keep on returning there gaze to roof tops, tops of trees, the horizon, the sky. In fact anywhere that was up, as against down. Obviously we hope they didn’t do this while crossing the road or on a busy pavement, or while driving. The results were impressive, very many of the people looking up, for just two weeks, did not need the professional services of the psychiatrist any more. It is important to note though, that these people were already working with a psychiatrist and certain levels of mental distress do need informed help and guidance.

Moods fluctuate and daily life incidents can bring about an inner world which is dark and devoid of the necessary energy to find a way out. So next time you notice your eyeballs dragging along the ground, raise them up. Works for me.

Here is part of an email I received a few days ago. It’s a window on one womans family life and her efforts to do as she feels right. In this case, doing the right thing by a computer keyboard.

So, on October 21 my son and 25 (28?) of his “closest” friends had a great party. Aside from getting the house in order both before and after, no small task in itself, the biggest issue for me afterwards was that someone had spilt some pop on the computer key board. Although it was really a very small spill it was sufficient to incapacitate the letters j, k, m and n. This made computer emailing virtually impossible. Even searching the internet was difficult as you never could be sure what the computer was going to receive in the way of a typed message.

It was two weeks before I had enough time to clean the keyboard which I did amidst repeated calls to “Throw it out! Get a new one!” The family was suitably impressed when after two hours of careful cleaning I presented a keyboard that they all agreed was just like new. Oh the miracles of old fashioned cleaning – an old art in danger of being lost if my family is any indication.

Alternatively, you can always clean your keyboard in the dishwasher, if you have one! Take care.