April 24th, 2009 Comments Off
Leif Gunnlögsson, a friend has died. I don’t want to sound trite but I think he’d learnt to abandon the world before it abandoned him. Me, I’m still learning …
I am Learning to Abandon the World
by Linda Pastan
I am learning to abandon the world
before it can abandon me.
Already I have given up the moon
and snow, closing my shades
against the claims of white.
And the world has taken
my father, my friends.
I have given up melodic lines of hills,
moving to a flat, tuneless landscape.
And every night I give my body up
limb by limb, working upwards
across bone, towards the heart.
But morning comes with small
reprieves of coffee and birdsong.
A tree outside the window
which was simply shadow moments ago
takes back its branches twig
by leafy twig.
And as I take my body back
the sun lays its warm muzzle on my lap
as if to make amends.
April 20th, 2009 Comments Off
The old Horlicks jug reminded me of my youth and cold nights sitting in front of the TV with my parents. My mother would make us a Horlicks and milk drink before bed. I still remember its smell and its sweet malty taste.
It also reminded me of this poem:
This Clay Jug
by Kabir
Inside this clay jug there are canyons
and pine mountains, and the maker of
canyons and pine mountains!
All seven oceans are inside, and
hundreds of millions of stars.
The acid that tests gold is there, and
the one who judges jewels.
And the music from the strings
no one touches, and the source of
all water.
If you want the truth, I will tell you the truth:
Friend, listen: the God whom I love is inside.
April 20th, 2009 Comments Off
Some people love solitude. They love the thought of living off the beaten track in their own private paradise, away from the foibles and the kids of Mr and Mrs Average.
This is not a slight on average. Average is what most of us are, me included, but still people (like me) dream of it not being so.
Anyway, we stayed in this cabin a few years back. It was way too far off the beaten track even for me, but I enjoyed the stay and I also enjoyed the leaving, and I also enjoyed the early morning espresso coffee we managed to find on long drive home.
April 16th, 2009 Comments Off
Protein is often at a premium in the Tibetan monasteries I’ve visited. The Dalai Lama has asked monks to become vegetarian but Tibetans love meat and so many resist. Around Tibetan New Year (Losar) monks receive a variety of food and sweets they don’t get at other times. This young monk was happy eating egg.
April 11th, 2009 §
flash fiction by John Holman
I watched as they placed her on a pedestal in the town square.
She was like a goddess. A marble goddess in a flowing white toga. I noticed her small breasts and pouting mouth, her tightly-plaited hair and her downcast eyes. She seemed alone and vulnerable.
I watched as the two lethargic workers untied her from a cart and with groaning ropes and much cursing lift her unceremoniously onto a plinth.
Later that day she looked up at me and I looked back. Much later, after many such exchanges, she smiled. It was a small but perceptible gesture. One that lifted my spirits and filled my heart.
I have a recurring dream.
I sit astride my prancing steed. The day is bright and warm and children crawl over me as usual. The stickiness of their toffee fingers mixes with the dust about my shoulders — and the noise, the laughter and the yelling penetrate deeper and deeper into my being until finally I am able to move. » Read the rest of this entry «
April 9th, 2009 Comments Off
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Beside Mulagandhakuti Vihara Temple
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Beside Mulagandhakuti Vihara Temple
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Beside Mulagandhakuti Vihara Temple
April 6th, 2009 Comments Off
History says, Gautama Buddha travelled from Bodhgaya to Sarnath after his enlightenment to find his five former companions. He found them and the Dhamek stupa commemorates the spot in the Deer Park where Buddha gave his first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, to these five monks.
Buddha spent his first rainy season in Sarnath and the ruins of the old Mulagandhakuti vihara supposedly marks that place.
The modern Mulagandhakuti Vihara Temple was built in the 1930s by the Sri Lankan Mahabodhi Society. Behind it is the Deer Park (still with deer) and alongside it is the impressive Dhamek stupa.
