Dear friends,
How many of you watched the eclipse? Please do share some photos here. You can see some of mine from years past here. I have to say, The Way Home is truly a rare picture. Hard to be able to frame water and the eclipse happening at a perfect angle in the sky. I have never seen a photo that surpasses the beauty of mine. Oh and look out for the Green Ray too (another lighting phenomena that I captured) in Madagascar. I think the only other person that has one alike mine is a Nasa scientist, but his does not have the actual green burst.
I had planned to go to Mazatlan but was unable to make it. The new moon looked and still looks stunning in the evening sky. It reminds me of one of the poems from the previous post. The moon often appears at my bedroom window, but the time I remember the most is in winter. It is one of the wonderful gifts to me. I clearly understand Basho’s meaning (19). When I close my eyes and focus on my shidakasha (the place between my eyebrows), it truly feels like a square of light. If it were my kitchen window, it would be a rectangle. However, the moon appears at my bedroom window. I can look back and fall asleep, reassured that there is luminescence in the world. Therefore, one of the qualities of the mind is luminosity. It's a great time to contemplate these wisdom windows from scripture. Another one I love, which can be done all the way to the full moon, is: "May my understanding and the precious bodhicitta (mind that aspires to awaken), increase and grow like a waxing moon." I'll repeat the previous post so you don't have to click back to see it. It's moon observation time. This line comes the Green Tara practice called Liberation from Sorrow.
Enjoy your morning,
22 [1684] nozarashi no / kokoro ni kaze no / shimu mi kana [bones-exposed-in-a-field (acc.) / heart into wind's / penetrate body] I think of bleached bones in a field; wind pierces my body to the heart 23 [1684] kumo kiri no / zanji hyakkei o / tsukushikeri [cloud mist's / short-time hundred-scenes (acc.) / exhaust] in the mists and cloud for a moment a hundred scenes brought to fulfilment 24 [1684] uma ni nete / zanmu tsuki toshi / cha no keburi [horse on sleep / lingering-dream moon distant / tea's fire dozing on my horse, dream lingering, distant moon, smoke from a tea fire
19 [1684-94] waga yado wa/shikaku na kage o / mado no tsuki [my hut as-for / square's light (acc.) / window's moon] shining in my hut, light in the shape of a square from the window's moon 20 [1684-94] A motto: don't speak of others' limitations; don't brag about your strengths monoieba / kuchibiru samushi / aki no kaze [something speak-when / lips are-cold / autumn's wind] if you say something the lips become quite frozen... the wind of autumn 21 [1684] matsukaze no / ochiba ka mizu no /oto suzushi [pine-wind's / falling-leaves? water's / sound is-cool] are needles falling as the wind blows through the pines? cool sound of water
Next Wednesday is promotion day. I have lots of children’s books and a real gem from Kahi Aspelund. He wrote a middle grade novel! I read the first three pages to give you an impression. The children will love the language Kahi uses and I expect the story will get more and more delightful in a prankster kind of way.
Until next time,
Bee well,
Xan
#22 and #23 are absolute gems!