Mindfulness Kyôsaku

"A watched mind never boils."

Gil Fronsdal


(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)

WW: Old brewery, again

(Here it is again: the old Olympia Brewery, aka the most photogenic structure in Thurston County. I believe this sole fact has protected it from being torn down for a century. It has nevertheless begun to crumble on its own, having been unmaintained for nearly a hundred years now, and one wonders how much longer it can survive.

No filtres or Photoshop were used on this shot, by the way. Just a straightforward black and white exposure on a late winter day.)

Hindsight

I was difficult when I was younger.

Part of me would like to go back and face some of those challenges and circumstances again, except... not be a jerk this time. Think it might help?

"Not making a bad situation worse." Right up there with "being grateful for your blessings", and "cherishing other people just because they're in the boat with you."

Lessons it took me longer than most to learn.


(Photo courtesy of Jonny Keicher and Unsplash.com.)

WW: Spring counter-punches

(Genus Crocus.)

Street Level Zen: Intention

"Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time."

Steven Wright


(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)

WW: Skull tree

(This is a tree on the edge of my camp during ango. As I've mentioned twice before, humans like to hang skulls in conspicuous places. I'm no different.)

The First Trial

"Yoshimura explained that Louise couldn't [study Zen at a Japanese temple] because she wasn't Japanese and would be a burden on the priest's wife. She should remain in America for a year or two while her husband studied in Japan.

"Louise became angry. 'All of you think it's better to be a man than a woman, you think it's better to be a priest than a layperson, and you think it's better to be Japanese than American. But I will always be a woman, and I will always be a layperson, and I will always be an American, and here I am.'

"Everyone was silent. [Shunryu] Suzuki turned to her and said, 'What you have just expressed is the spirit of the bodhisattva's way.'"

David Chadwick, Crooked Cucumber.


(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)