This is an offering of merit post, for Rev. Master Teigan who died yesterday. Some readers will remember him, as I do, as a kind and benevolent soul. A true bass singer that had the floor vibrating under one’s feet! And for our earth. Mugo

The lovely, late, Emily Levine reads ON THE FIFTH DAY by Jane Hirshfield

On the fifth day
the scientists who studied the rivers
were forbidden to speak
or to study the rivers.

The scientists who studied the air
were told not to speak of the air,
and the ones who worked for the farmers
were silenced,
and the ones who worked for the bees.

Someone, from deep in the Badlands,
began posting facts.

The facts were told not to speak
and were taken away.
The facts, surprised to be taken, were silent.

Now it was only the rivers
that spoke of the rivers,
and only the wind that spoke of its bees,

while the unpausing factual buds of the fruit trees
continued to move toward their fruit.

The silence spoke loudly of silence,
and the rivers kept speaking,
of rivers, of boulders and air.

In gravity, earless and tongueless,
the untested rivers kept speaking.

Bus drivers, shelf stockers,
code writers, machinists, accountants,
lab techs, cellists kept speaking.

They spoke, the fifth day,
of silence.

This evening I received a Transfer of Merit request for somebody struggling to remain alive having contracted COVID-19 some weeks ago. They have been on and then off, and on again a ventilator and their organ system is struggling. I’ll not give the name for reasons of privacy. Merit appreciated. This is a doctor on the front line.
The following article is salutary:

On rounds in a 20-bed intensive care unit one recent day, physician Joshua Denson assessed two patients with seizures, many with respiratory failure and others whose kidneys were on a dangerous downhill slide. Days earlier, his rounds had been interrupted as his team tried, and failed, to resuscitate a young woman whose heart had stopped. All shared one thing, says Denson, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Tulane University School of Medicine. “They are all COVID positive.”

Science Mag – How does Coronavirus Kill?

Here is something to listen to from Julius Welby. He is a long time trainee within the Throssel and wider sangha as well. In this eleven-minute recording, he addresses the training issues around living with and living with other people living with, the COVID-19 virus. So much brilliant teaching/advice accompanied, in the background, by the sounds of birds and geese!

I’m on a walk from my house, standing by a lake. I just made a quick one-take recording to try out microcasting on-the-hoof. I mention the Three Pure Buddhist Precepts. I think most people are already in sympathy with them, so the talk is not just for Buddhists. I hope it may be of use to someone out there.

Thanks to Julius for this, his first attempt at microcasting, and for all the help and support of me and of this site too.

Here is a tribute by Fred to a friend and sangha member, who died recently.

“Reading Rev Master Daishin’s ‘Loneliness’ article put me in mind of my friend, Stuart Quine, who died of the Coronavirus on the 24th of March. He had a lifelong progressive underlying condition and when he caught the virus passed away within four days. I last visited him on the 1st of March and was struck by the unemotional way he spoke with quiet conviction about having no fear of death.
On a haiku weekend some years ago Stuart presented a potential first-line and invited others to make a verse of it. This came to me a couple of weeks ago…”

towards evening
a blackbird on a chimney pot
sings away the day

In gassho,
Fred

Here below is Kathleen’s creative work and current experiences of life in lockdown. Another ‘window’ shared via email, this time in North America.

Greetings from the sewing corner at my house in Veneta. I have been experimenting with sewing cloth masks that are both effective (meaning that disposable filters can be inserted) and comfortable to wear. It has proven to be no easy task but you know me… I love a challenge.

So far I have made 7 masks (averaging 2 per day). My sister wants 4, the Cheshire food for Lane County group needs at least 4 for our next distribution day, and I need one. Once I have these done I may be able to get back to my original plan to make masks for the homeless shelter/mission in Eugene.

My dog and I have been good about getting out for a walk around the reservoir every day — rain or shine, and it has been mostly raining up here lately. I think we both prefer going out in the rain when we usually have the entire place to ourselves. I often take a short break from walking and sit on the “merit bench” looking out over the reservoir and the mountains beyond.

My newspaper and NPR.org reading are being reinforced these days by all of the positive stories about how people are expressing compassion and wisdom to others despite their own circumstances. One I read this morning that brought tears to my eyes was about a group of volunteers who prepare meals to distribute to homebound seniors. That was good to know about but what made it truly magical was that a local nursery/florist — overloaded with flowers and flowering plants it had no way to sell — donated hundreds of them to the group. The group then was able to deliver the flowers to everyone who was receiving meals from them. Isn’t that lovely?

I continue to hope that there may be some positive lasting change that comes out of this pandemic. If there was ever irrefutable evidence that we are all in this together, this is it!
All is well.
Love,
Kathleen