Sacred Corner

We all love to create little arrangements of our favourite objects, a favourite photograph, some flowers... which slow us down, allow us to pause, remind us of our goals or what is simply sacred to us, objects which we feel happy to look at.

For me, I love to create ‘still lifes’ which reflect my mood. What’s in my sacred corner says a lot of different stories, for instance, the little shrine is really meant to hold a time-piece, I bought it in Kochi, Kerala and the Sakyamuni Buddha living inside I found through serendipity. It is from Thailand and has a beautiful ornate oriental look.

Sigh! I just feel peaceful looking at the arrangement. On a deeper level I think we can’t help create symbolic offerings, it seems as if everything has a secret life of its own and a deeper meaning.

Love + Peace !

Water for Life

While going through a site I read About Dr.Hado and his photographs of Water-crystals..it is beautiful and insightful to see the effect words, prayers have on water. It has been re-affirming for me to see this - I have long known that one can charge the water they drink with reikhi, but to see pictures! it does blow you away, it is magical. Follow the link below and see for youself.

Love + light to all!

https://www.hado.net/index.php-

One stem of Pure-Heartedness

It is said that there were eighty-four thousand virtues of perfection practised by all Bodhisattvas, but they are no more than so many leaves and branches growing from the one stem of pure-heartedness.

-Soyen 1987,78

from Simple Zen by C.Alexander Simpkins PH.D, Annellen Simpkins PH.D

From the one stem of pure-heartedness....is there such a thing as a pure heart? we all think we are pure-hearted. In India we are all brought up to believe there is goodness in everyone much like we believe the Ganga to be pure and have curative properties. We have so much faith in it, even if it may carry deadly pollutants, it is sacred!

So is the notion of a 'pure heart' the same with us? an illusion? or is the 'pure-heart' like the Bodhi seed, buried deep somewhere waiting to germinate, to grow into a tree , a forest of enlightenment.

Dunno ......till then it is enough to try and be pure.

"It is the emptiness wthin that must feel comfortable."

The Boundless Room
No walls and there is no dwelling place. The room that is too small cannot be lived within. It is the emptiness wthin that must feel comfortable.
The place that houses a man and a woman's togetherness must define but not constrict, enclose yet be spacious. In the dwelling of two together, find the boundless room.

-The Tao of Relationships
by Ray Grigg.

The verse I quoted is from one of my favourite books I love to dip into...often one needs to be reminded of the poetry in life. Taoism's dual way of looking at things holds a timeless appeal- both qualities are always present in a pair of, let us say opposites - emptiness, fullness.
When I bought this book from a second hand, way-side bookstall, near my home- I thought I was being sentimental- The Tao of Relationships!! look at the title! Wrong.
I have read this verse to my freinds and they have fallen silent while listening to it.

Sometimes I forget about the book- at others I remember, I suppose "It is the emptiness wthin that must feel comfortable."