Leggett, 1900: Tea leaves: Chapter I: Tea leaves.

[minstrels] The Paradigm -- Nammalwar

We here and that man, this man,
    and that other in-between,
and that woman, this woman,
    and that other, whoever,

those people, and these,
    and these others in-between,
this things, that thing,
    and this other in-between, whichever,

all things dying, these things,
    those things, those others in-between,
good things, bad things,
    things that were, that will be,

being all of them,
he stands there.

-- Nammalwar

(ca AD 850), Tr by AK Ramanujan

H. David Stein - Photographs - Fractals - leaf

water, odorless, tasteless, transparent liquid that is colorless in small amounts but exhibits a bluish tinge in large quantities. It is the most familiar and abundant liquid on earth. In solid form (ice) and liquid form it covers about 70% of the earth's surface. It is present in varying amounts in the atmosphere. Most of the living tissue of a human being is made up of water; it constitutes about 92% of blood plasma, about 80% of muscle tissue, about 60% of red blood cells, and over half of most other tissues. It is also an important component of the tissues of most other living things.

[minstrels] Cat -- Jibanananda Das:

Again and again through the day
I meet a cat.
In the tree's shade, in the sun, in the crowding brown leaves.
After the success of a few fish bones
Or inside a skeleton of white earth
I find it, as absorbed in the purring
Of its heart as a bee.
Still it sharpens its claws on the gulmohar tree
And follows the sun all day long.

Now I see it and then it is gone,
Losing itself somewhere.
On the autumn evening I have watched it play,
Stroking the soft body of the saffron sun
With a white paw. Then it caught
The darkness in paws like small balls
And scattered it all over the earth.

[minstrels] Where Everything Is Music -- Jalaluddin Rumi:

Don't worry about saving these songs!
And if one of our instruments breaks,
it doesn't matter.

We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.

The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere,
and even if the whole world's harp
should burn up, there will still be
hidden instruments playing.

So the candle flickers and goes out.
We have a piece of flint, and a spark.

This singing art is sea foam.
The graceful movements come from a pearl
somewhere on the ocean floor.

Poems reach up like spindrift and the edge
of driftwood along the beach, wanting!

They derive
from a slow and powerful root
that we can't see.

Stop the words now.
Open the window in the center of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.

World's End

Zen Koans:
71. Learning To Be Silent
The pupils of the Tendai school used to study meditation before Zen entered Japan. Four of them who were intimate friends promised one another to observe seven days of silence.
On the first day all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim one of the pupils could not help exclaiming to a servant: 'Fix those lamps.'
The second pupil was surprised to hear th first one talk. 'We are not supposed to say a word,' he remarked.
'You two are stupid. Why did you talk?' asked the third.
'I am the only one who has not talked,' concluded the fourth pupil.

Zen Koans:
72. The Blockhead Lord
Two Zen teachers, Daigu and Gudo, were invited to visit a lord. Upon arriving, Gudo said to the lord: 'You are wise by nature and have an inborn ability to learn Zen.'
'Nonsense,' said Daigu. 'Why do you flatter thi blockhead? He may be a lord, but he doesn't know anything of Zen.'
So, instead of building a temple for Gudo, the lord built it for Daigu and studied Zen with him.

Members of the Tengger tribe visit the Mount Bromo crater during the annual Yadnya Kasada in east Java September 17, 2005. The ceremony is held annually to present offerings of rice, fruit, vegetables, flowers, livestock and other local produce to the God of the mountain.

REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas

[minstrels] Buddha And The Goddess -- Rick Fields

Thus have I made up:
Once the Buddha was walking
along the forest path in the Oak Grove at Ojai,
walking without arriving anywhere or having any
thought of arriving or not arriving.
And lotuses, shining with the morning dew
miraculously appeared under every step
Soft as silk beneath the toes of the Buddha.
When suddenly, out of the turquoise sky,
dancing in front of his half-shut inward-looking
eyes, shimmering like a rainbow
or a spider's web
transparent as the dew on a lotus flower
--the Goddess appeared quivering
like a hummingbird in the air before him.
She, for she was surely a she
as the Buddha could clearly see
with his eye of discriminating awareness wisdom,
was mostly red in color
though when the light shifted
she flashed like a rainbow.
She was naked except
for the usual flower ornaments
goddesses wear.
Her long hair
was deep blue, her eyes fathomless pits
of space, and her third eye a bloodshot
song of fire.
The Buddha folded his hands together
and greeted the Goddess thus:
"O goddess, why are you blocking my path?
Before I saw you I was happily going nowhere.
Now I'm not so sure where I go."
"You can go around me,"
said the Goddess, twirling on her heel like a bird
darting away,
but just a little way away,
"or you can come after me
but you can't pretend I'm not here,
This is my forest, too."
With that the Buddha sat
supple as a snake
solid as a rock
beneath a Bo tree
that sprang full-leaved
to shade him.
"Perhaps we should have a chat,"
he said.
"After years of arduous practice
at the time of the morning star
I penetrated reality and."
"Not so fast, Buddha," the Goddess said,
"I am reality."

The earth stood still,
the oceans paused,
the wind itself listened
--a thousand arhats, bodhisattvas and dakinis
magically appeared to hear
what would happen in the conversation.
"I know I take my life in my hands,"
said the Buddha,
"But I am known as the Fearless One
--so here goes."
And he and the Goddess
without further words
exchanged glances.
Light rays like sun beams
shot forth
so brightly that even
Sariputra, the All-Seeing One,
had to turn away.
And then they exchanged thoughts
And the illumination was as bright as a diamond candle
And then they exchanged minds
And there was a great silence as vast as the universe
that
contains everything
And then they exchanged bodies
And then clothes
And the Buddha arose
as the Goddess
and the Goddess arose as the Buddha.
And so on back and forth
for a hundred thousand hundred thousand kalpas.
If you meet the Buddha
you meet the Goddess.
If you meet the Goddess,
you meet the Buddha.
Not only that. This:
The Buddha is emptiness,
The Goddess is bliss.
The Goddess is emptiness,
The Buddha is bliss.
And that is what
And what-not you are
It's true.
So here comes the mantra of the Goddess and the
Buddha,
the unsurpassed non-dual mantra. Just to say this
mantra,
just to hear this mantra once, just to hear one word
of this
mantra once makes everything the way it truly is: OK.
So here it is:
Earth-walker/sky-walker
Hey silent one, Hey great talker
Not two/ not one
Not separate/ not apart
This is the heart
Bliss is emptiness
Emptiness is bliss
Be your breath, Ah
Smile, Hey, And relax, Ho
Remember: You can't miss.

detail from "Gas Works Park" by Bruce Moberg

boats are kites moored to the ground
clouds white over blue skypaper
rust metal smiling containment tanks
gas works park art on the fridge
my girls slide magnets
all across the surface of it

milk enso clouds

Picture of the Day

link

8am
slicing apples for a snack box
and
bailey finds an
apple seed on the floor

Little Fluffy Clouds

.

In the Clouds

.

Clouds in a Glass of Beer

Schmaltzy

Taktshang Monastery (Tiger's Nest) - Bhutan

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

Kahlil Gibran

"I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through."
Jules Verne

We can never have enough of nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder-cloud, and the rain.
- Henry David Thoreau

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.
- Rabindranath Tagore

The sunset caught me
turned the brush to copper
set the clouds
to one great roof of flame
above the earth
- Elizabeth Coatsworth

The white clouds cover my robe when I sit on a rock. The moon exists in the bottle when I draw water from a fountain and fill it up.
Mitsudo Fujimura (1870-1949)

Atmospheric Sciences Research Center Archive Pictures:

"A cloud water collecting instrument
designed by R. Falconer.
Under certain conditions thick rime
ice encrusts everything atop
the observatory."

noctilucent clouds

blue

waiting
fiddling with my fingers
and wrapped around my forearm
like a warm morning jacket

yellow bus two four
kiss on the cheek
dragonfly backpack
black rubber corduroy steps
finds seat on this side
like i asked her
smiles big smiles and waves

thump my heart with my fist

i
(thump)
love
(thump)
you
(thump)

In Brie, France 1968

Henri Cartier-Bresson

ganesh-head
thank the gods
and
their many arms for this
axe
ball
rope
open palm
blessed drenched almond petrol
flower spread petals wide
bee stuck swirl honey
kiwi fruit spoon scoop
enso round + round + round
glide on jellyfish

merry-go-round
a gift
twirls it in her hands
"What animals do you see, Squirt?"
eyes the boon intently
horse tiger elephant zebra
"Which animal is your favorite, Baba?"
elephant

Lord Ganesh

Lord Ganesh: "This God of knowledge and the remover of obstacles is also the older son of Lord Shiva. Lord Ganesha is also called Vinayak ( knowledgeable ) or Vighneshwer (god to remove obstacles). He is worshipped, or at least remembered, in the beginning of any auspicious performance for blessings and auspiciousness.

He has four hands, elephant's head and a big belly. His vehicle is a tiny mouse. In his hands he carries a rope (to carry devotees to the truth), an axe (to cut devotees' attachments), and a sweet dessert ball -laddoo- (to reward devotees for spiritual activity). His fourth hand's palm is always extended to bless people.


A unique combination of his elephant-like head and a quick moving tiny mouse vehicle represents tremendous wisdom, intellegence, and presence of mind. "

buddha

enso

slurp