One way and another I have been going at it quite consistently for the last couple of week. Good times. People coming individually and in groups to visit and enjoy the countryside. All the same when I arrived at Throssel a couple of days ago for a weeks stay I was dead beat. It took a trip to the dentist, always a stressful event, to finally realize that some extended horizontal was needed. Rested now.

Not everybody is able to take time out from their lives. Often this only comes when ones health makes resting non optional. A sad state of affairs, sad yet true for the majority of people. I was told yesterday that being tired is a signal that rest is needed. Animals do that. I guess accumulated fatigue has far reaching mental and physical consequences. This is all by way of reminding myself of the wisdom of sitting down and doing nothing very much, even if for five or ten minutes.

Traveling as a passenger in trains and planes and cars are all sitting down events. How I loved to travel by train. Suspended between where I’d come from and where I was going to. A time to contemplate while gazing out of the window. A time set apart to allow the mind to roam pleasantly.

This post is really setting the scene for this video sent by Julius. It’s a reminder to smile at our own habits of keeping-on-walking when resting is possible, and preferable.

Iain at Little House In The Paddy blog has been writing about Japan. In particular about electricity. In short the country generates two types and it can’t be shared from one region to another. Electricity is a hot topic at the moment since there isn’t enough. Read and weep!

….Japan has ended up with two completely different electricity distribution systems. In the east we have 110V 50Hertz and in the west they have 110V 60 hertz. In Tokyo station the shinkansen arrive from the north and the west on adjacent platforms but there is no connecting track because neither can run on the other power system.

I’ll not complain about a power outage again. Complaining is non productive. And productive of more complaining!

This week-end a number of people who train within this tradition converged on the village where I am staying. We all spent time walking/talking/sitting/eating and generally spending time training together. It has been good for me to get out and walk and thankfully the weather was increasingly good as the week-end progressed.

One woman who originates from Hong Kong gave me a credit card sized photograph of Xu Yun a renowned Chinese Zen Master. Turns out she had received the Precepts from one of his disciples. Xu Yun life spanned several major upheavals in China including the cultural revolution and was several times beaten and left for dead. He just kept on surviving against the odds. His autobiography, Empty Cloud is a roller coaster ride which, if you can get hold of a copy, is worth reading.

I’ve a copy of Empty Cloud beside me now. It is opened at page 95. I’d opened the book at random looking for material to talk about at a meditation group meeting tonight. The chapters title is The Jade Buddha and Xu Yun is now 77 years old (1916/17). He lived to reach the age of 120! So his life was only a little over half lived. What was his training at this time?

That’s the question. What is it good for me to do or not do? Apparently he was on a journey to bring a Jade Buddha from Burma I think. He refers to the South Seas. He visited Rangoon on the way and paid reverence at the Great Golden Pagoda (the Shwedagon) then expounded the sutras and took off for Singapore. Where things went bad. We were all held as detainees, tied up and beaten. We were then left out in the sun and not allowed to move; if we moved, we were beaten again. We were not allowed food or drink, nor were we allowed to relieve ourselves. This went on from six in the morning until eight at night. Eventually a disciple of his came to rescue the group of six monks so detained.

We all live unique lives. Xu Yun was a humble person regarding himself and his life as no big deal. He just got on with what his training was, as it presented there and then. What other choice do we have?

Yesterday. Sat up front in the hearse. Traveling a sedate 20 mph. Using the back roads to avoid traffic congestion. Narrow and twisty country lane, not the place to meet a hearse, if you are in a hurry. The vehicle was immaculate. The driver, serious and polite. Me? Grief bubbling in deep recesses I didn’t know were there. The drive a much appreciated space to compose and prepare.

Funeral people are a committed bunch. They derive deep satisfaction in their job. They are helping people who need their support at a difficult time. They have presence, sincerity, professionalism. What if you need to make an emergency stop? I asked. No worries he said, the coffin is secured to the bed of the hearse with a number of clamps. Thank goodness.

At a Chinese funeral, the driver told me, he was given a red ‘good luck’ envelope with a pound coin in it. Put it on the mantelpiece. It brought me good luck too, within a year. Got employed full time and then able to buy our house. I’m thinking, this chap has accumulated some spiritual merit along the way.

Yesterday, seems so far away now. In fact it is now the day before yesterday that I went to conduct the cremation ceremony for my late employers wife, who became a good friend. It will have to be another day before I have the chance to write more….

Deep bows to those of you who I met and who now come looking here. I have to say the ceremony was an unconventional adventure and one I will always, but always, remember.