Spring at the Four Seasons

Besides the beauty and wonder of sitting beside a brook's small waterfall and pool, nature has messages for us that are hard to find in civilization. Our Winter sitting (see the January archive) sent out a clear message that life can be hard and bone chilling.

At our March sitting, the pool still was in Winter's grasp. The path to the pool was as usual full of twists and turns and ever switching views. It sent us a message similar to Su Shih's poem about the mountains:

Regarding from one side, an entire range;

From another, a single peak.

Far, near, high, low, all its parts

Different from the others.

If the true face of Mt Lu

Cannot be known,

It is because the one looking at it,

Is standing in its midst.

At our May sitting, the pool was in Spring time. New life in vibrant green ferns and wildflowers surrounded the stream. This time we also observed that amidst all of this new life, there were also signs of death everywhere in all of the fallen branches and boulders. This provides a contrast that makes the new life even more precious. This message of death out of life and life out of death (which is covered up rather well in civilization) has something important to say about our standing in the midst of the time dimension (which also makes it difficult to know the true face of Mt Lu).

We thank Sherry for taking these pictures of the meditation. We also thank John and Laura ,who aren't in the picture, for treating us all to tea/coffee afterwards at Starbucks.