Here is a six year old expressing an understanding; frustrated desire leads to anger which can lead to ‘bad words’. The implication being that bad words are not ‘good’. Well done little one.
I’ll be in flight to Vancouver tomorrow afternoon. They do say that it is spring over there, while here we are entering a late winter.
This correspondence it published here with permission.
Dear Rev. Mugo
I find myself deeply in grief for somebody who died over 50 years ago – how on earth can this be?
When I was about 7 years old the family moved to Devon, and we lived there until I was 12. Obviously I accumulated the usual motley collection of friends through primary school and into the grammar and I became particularly friendly with one boy. Obviously, when we moved away, after I had two terms in the grammar school, I had to leave these friends behind and I found this very difficult.
This turned out to have been the ‘Rosebud’ event in my life, I hope you’re familiar with Citizen Kane. Throughout my life I have had occasional vivid and highly emotional dreams, which have had my hometown as their focus, and I have tried, from time to time through the Internet etc, to renew contact with my friend, without success. I found this failure surprising because he had a quite unusual surname. Anyway, I think I had always assumed that I would eventually track him down.
About a week ago I found somebody on the Friends Reunited website who was my contemporary at those two schools, and I contacted him. I discovered that my friend had died, from peritonitis caused by a burst appendix, within a year of my leaving the area. I was appalled – by the senselessness of it and by the thought of all I have experienced in life that he has been denied. He also gave me the address of a website which contained his photo.
I don’t mean to burden you with all this, but it’s an odd story isn’t it?
In gassho,
Dear Friend,
Yes that is an interesting story. You can do all the normal Buddhist things that you already know about: offer merit, ask for a memorial at the priory or do one informally yourself, put his name on the transfer of merit board and the like. This will help and it will probably help you too. Your looking for him, finding him and then finding that he had died, and so soon after you lost contact is indeed, interesting.
I believe this is another example of how the benevolence of the Universe works. Quite naturally, and out of conscious awareness, we’re drawn towards conditions and circumstances that can help and teach. So thanks for this and I’d like to publish this story if you are willing. Mugo
(this letter added to this posting on March 9th after having received permission to publish)
Dear Rev. Mugo,
It was very kind of you to reply to my story. I am rather stunned by it at the moment and don’t want to do anything beyond reflection and meditation. I expect I shall ask for his name to be read out at the next Segaki. Please use the story as you like.
In case you think I have entirely lost my senses of proportion and humour, let me say that the message containing the news of my friends’ death also brought news of another friend. He was killed, several years ago, by a camel. Apparently he was driving a car in Saudi Arabia and collided with the unfortunate animal. I am beginning to get a bit wary of doing any further research using Friends Reunited.
In Gassho,
Here’s an after thought from Mugo: Finding somebody can be double edged and outcomes unpredictable, and one has to go by the simple sense of if it is ‘good’ to do.
Hum, and I must track down a copy of Citizen Kane and view it sometime.
Elk Island National Park is an hours drive East of Edmonton. It was wonderful to be out in open country, to breath in the air, drink in the sights and generally relax and recharge. The trails were closed apart from one or two that had been ‘groomed’ for cross country skiing. Walking on them is similar to walking on a soft sandy beach, heavy going.
I was on high alert since there are bison abroad which are said to be unpredictable; they may charge, or not. Signs beside the road warn, “Do not approach the Bison” Not likely! The Elk are also prone to charge if caught unawares. The ones I saw were shy and quickly bounced off after seeing me. Other wild life spotted; a few birds pecking out a living, the odd squeaky critter in the brush and a man on a snow plow. The lake, with Elk Island in the middle, was held in frozen stillness. I was tempted to walk out across the ice to the island, however wisdom won.
It is all too easy to become stale and dusty staying in the ‘known’. So it was good to make the effort to get out of town into the wider world. As it happens I’ve a couple of anniversaries coming up and, spurred on by several members of the congregation, I decided to celebrate them with Rev. Master Koten and his disciple over in Vancouver. For somebody who travels quite a bit I can be surprisingly reticent about packing and leaving. I fly on Friday and return the following Saturday. So, in a few short days, I’ll be up in the sky with the birds and will probably not be making regular postings while away.
When I get the time I’ll publish my snow photos on Flickr.
By this time of the week I’m generally good for nothing very much in the blog writing department. However I’ve a store of photographs to share, here’s the first ‘Sunday Special’.
How to survive an Edmonton winter.
This picture first appeared just over two years ago on the Edmonton Priory website, we were having -30c weather at the time. Now it’s just -15c, a mere nothing.
It’s the Acadamy Awards night down in ‘LA’ and the Blogisattva Awards day in the Buddhist blogging world. Here are the results.
Click the title of this posting.