Inexhaustible Transformations
At various times throughout my life I read Buddhist dharma and found solace in the words of wise and insightful teachers. My book Buddha In A Teacup was inspired by the dharma and was my attempt to write little fictions, often humorous, exploring many of the foundational tenets of Buddhist philosophy without coming to any dogmatic conclusions. The audio version of Buddha In A Teacup narrated by yours truly is available from Audible and Amazon, and new and used hardbound and paperback copies of the book abound on the world wide web, as do e-book versions.
One of the challenges explored in many dharma texts is how to make sense of and feel okay about the simultaneity of joy and sorrow, of happiness and suffering existing side-by-side in the same moment within this matrix of phenomenon we call reality.
Every teacher interprets the Buddha’s teaching about this with different words, but they all conclude essentially the same thing, which is that sorrow is the result of striving for and clinging to temporary joy. By understanding and accepting the impermanent nature of both joy and sorrow and not clinging to either, we may experience peace of mind even in the most challenging moments.
I mention this as preface to the rest of this entry because I have been immersed in following the reports of my carefully chosen guides regarding America’s horrific actions against Iran and Iran’s response to those actions while simultaneously interacting with people and lizards and insects and plants and clouds. And it helps me immensely to remember and feel the impermanent nature of either joy or sorrow, and to allow them to come and go in my consciousness without clinging to either, though doing so is not always easy.
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My niece Lena and her daughter Della just came for a visit and we had a fine time experiencing Della at twenty-one months talking and walking and exploring this matrix of phenomenon we call reality. There is so much to learn from one who is just learning!
After weeks of foggy days we are now having sunny days, the early morning light especially good for taking pictures.
The bowl of water at the foot of our Ganesh statue is being decorated of late by falling leaves and petals from an overhanging weed and by ever-changing shadows of the surrounding ferns. Every day birds come to drink from and bathe in the bowl, and feral cats, skunks, and foxes drink from the bowl, too, so I make a point of keeping the bowl clean and full of fresh water because we want those critters to be hydrated.
Ganesh is the patron of writers and artists, and is, according to the Hindus, the remover of obstacles. Hence I make frequent prayers to Ganesh to remove the obstacles to peace, locally and globally.
I recently heard from my friend Max in Ireland where he and his wife Kate are now living. Max has been studying and practicing to get his Irish driver’s license, and he just got it! When I told our British friend Abigail, who is staying with us while she plays cello in the Mendocino Music Festival orchestra, that Max got his Irish driver’s license, Abi was greatly impressed because getting a driver’s license in England and Ireland is not easy. Joy!
Which reminds me, I need to renew my California driver’s license. Sorrow!
Let us endeavor to remain open to the miraculous nature of existence, illusory or not.
Speaking of which, here is a story poem Inexhaustible Transformations with accompanying piano music from my new album Much Too Beautiful.
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