Here and There

There have been many comings and goings for our family over the past few weeks.

Rebecca has returned from India, and after a short visit home she is residing (for a while, at least) in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Ron accompanied her there on a road trip through the midwest. Ron and I met up with Doug and Heather in Hilton Head for a restful spring break. And Sean has departed for South America, first visiting Medillin, Colombia, where he is staying at the Black Sheep Hostel, and then he heads to Ecuador where he'll be working on an organic farm  (Selvachi).  Early reports are quite lively and full of anticipation.  At the same time, my sister Lynn and her husband are touring parts of South America.  No telling how much mileage we've covered with these various expeditions!

March Rambles

Beach of a Moonlit Night

On a moonlit night, a single button
lay fallen on the surf-tossed shore.

I picked it up,

not because I thought that I could use it,

but

I could not bring myself to toss it away;

I tucked it inside my sleeve.

On a moonlit night, a single button 

lay fallen on the surf-tossed shore.

I picked it up,

not because I thought that I could use it,

but

I neither cast it to the moon

nor did I cast it to the waves;

I tucked it inside my sleeve.

On a moonlit night, this button that I found

entered my hand, and entered deep into 

my heart.

This button I found on a moonlit night

how could I ever let it go?

                  
                          – Nakahara Chuya 

Commonplace Books

In her book How to Live: or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer,  Sarah Bakewell draws the comparison between Montaigne's essays and commonplace books or collections of "thematically arranged quotations and stories."  He developed habits and skills as a young man, creating notebooks with snippets encountered in reading "setting them in creative juxtaposition."  She also, in a related entry on the Paris Review blog, connects his writings to that of modern day bloggers:

"In his Essais (“Attempts”) . . . he wrote as if he were chatting to his readers: just two friends, whiling away an afternoon in conversation. . . . 'I cannot keep my subject still,” he said. “It goes along befuddled and staggering, with a natural drunkenness.' His writing followed the same wayward path.

In reading Montaigne, many thinkers and writers feels a sense of recogntion. Ralph Waldo Emerson felt this shock of familiarity the first time he picked up Montaigne in his father’s library: 'It seemed to me as if I had myself written the book, in some former life, so sincerely it spoke my thought and experience.”'

For Bakewell "the Montaignean willingness to follow thoughts where they lead, and to look for communication and reflections between people . . . flourishes most of all online, where writers reflect on their experience with more brio and experimentalism than ever before. Bloggers might be surprised to hear that they are keeping alive a tradition created more than four centuries ago. Montaigne, in turn, might not have expected to be remembered so long, least of all in the English language—yet he always believed that 'this great world is the mirror in which we must look at ourselves to recognize ourselves from the proper angle.'"

The View from Lazy Point

From a review of this book in the New York Times by Dominique Browning.

"Safina asks us to reconsider the importance of that perennial question: 'What is the meaning of life?' Which, he believes, is the wrong question to be asking because 'it makes you look in the wrong places.' The right question is, 'Where is the meaning in life.' And the place to look is 'between.' In other words, we should look for the ways that all living creatures and all habitats are connected, look for what happens 'between' them. 'Relationships,' he insists, 'are the music life makes. Context creates meaning.

Safina returns again and again to this consideration of interconnectedness, and to the need for each person to cultivate a more considerate life: 'To advance compassion and yet survive in a world of appetites--that is our challenge.' He calls for reverence and caution . . . . 'Ecology, family, community, religion--these words all grope toward the same need: connection, belonging, purpose."

It Felt Love

How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart

And give this world
All its
Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,

Otherwise,
We all remain

Too

Frightened.

--Hafiz from The Gift Poems by Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

Shoshin

For last year's words belong to last year's language

And next year's words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

--T.S. Eliot

There is a way of being and thinking in Zen Buddhism known as Shoshin or Beginner's Mind: A ready mind. Boundless. Always a beginner, that kind of mind not already made up, investigating, open to whatever occurs, curious. Seeking but not with expectation. Observing. Being ready for what arises in this moment.

It also suggests a kind of intimacy, an intimacy with oneself. According to Zen practice, each one of us has the nature of awakening. Beginner's Mind is about a kind of amazement, letting the fixed view go. To not know.

Of all of the suggested meanings for Shoshin, I am especially drawn to wholeheartedness. And boundless.

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.

--Shunryu Suzuki

Shunryu Suzuki (1905-1971) was a direct spiritual descendant of the renowned 13th-century Zen master Dogen. His hugely influential Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind ranks with the great classics of Zen literature. Learn more about these ideas and practices by clicking on the title of book for a reading from it.

And now let us welcome the new year,
full of things that have never been.

--Rainer Maria Rilke

Presence of the Season

"I was after the presence of all time in one moment."

--Barry Hannah

Thanks Giving

There is much to savor, to enjoy, to praise--and to recover from. Here are a few of the highlights:

Welcome!

You are There

You are there.

You have always been

there.

Even when you thought

you were climbing

you had already arrived.

Even when you were

breathing hard,

you were at rest.

Even then it was clear

you were there.

Not in our nature

to know what

is journey and what

arrival.

Even if we knew

we would not admit.

Even if we lived

we would think

we were just

germinating.

To live is to be

uncertain.

Certainty comes

at the end.

"You Are There" by Erica Jong, from Love Comes First. © Penguin Group, 2009.

Watershed

The celebration of an auspicious birthday requires the following: no work; all play. In that regard, I slept, read, walked, and saw "Ondine" with Ron, a mysterious movie about a water nymph (or not?) who inspires change . . .

I enjoyed Skyping with Rebecca, and later on dined at Watershed, where we ran into fellow revelers (of all ages) and were joined by Sean and Emma. Lots of nice gifts and cards, too! Several of my good friends also celebrated birthdays this week, including Marshall, Anna, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Any birthday is indeed a watershed moment. And for me, this year will be filled with more of the same as above, as well as meditation--naturally, while circumambulating-- on considerations the Dalai Lama suggests: compassion, altruism, and interdependence.

My travels for the coming months, while pursuing the start of an auspicious year, will further follow this journey into the peaks and valleys of experience: om mani padme hum.

Another Peacthree!

Ron has now run 30 sequential Peachtree Road Races. Or is it 31? In any event, once more he organized a massive effort of delivering friends and neighbors to the start line before dawn, where they all volunteered, then fell into their appropriate places. Beer and other liquid libations were the main menu items at the appointed meeting place, with his truck as the watering hole, for post-race festivities. Sean joined in the fun, completing the race despite limited advanced training. He was back at work at Leon's for a busy July 4th in Decatur, where the fireworks brought our long day (punctuated with numerous naps) to a loud close.

Phir Milenge

Many thanks, India--and to all who made this such a meaningful journey: taxi-drivers, chai vendors, Buddhist monks, fellow travelers, friends and colleagues, and, most especially, the arts delegation, faculty facilitators, Geshe Lobsang, Tara Doyle--and Rebecca.

Phir Milenge: "Till we meet again."

Madrik Lhundup

This Tibetan term refers to that experience in life when there is a natural convergence: things not prearranged spontaneously come into being.

So has it been with this journey from the moment the seed of an idea for it was planted in my being while staying at the World Buddhist Center in Delhi during my first trip to India back in December 2008. Since then every possibility has been further cultivated--from the support of colleagues to the logistics to the various meetings and travel plans. Along the way, as well, I met people who seemed to come from another life, such as a graduate of my high school as well as a resident of Isle of Hope--right in my pathway, there, in India.

All of these experiences have been embedded in my being for further meditation and contemplation. Truly life-changing.

Reunions

Nothing like a family reunion to cure jet lag. (Thanks especially to Sean for making sure I arrived there and to Ron who chauffered my parents!). Cousins from near and far, along with a few aunts, uncles, mothers and fathers, and interlopers, showed up for the Barbee family reunion at Isle of Hope. Entertained by stories of "Toby the Terrapin"--who was hatched in the hand of William Jennings Bryant and trained by my great grandfather to "shake hands with the gentlemen and wink at the ladies"--we shared a common connection to one of the most beautiful places on earth. Always lovely to come back home, especially accompanied by my parents, after a long voyage. It was thrilling, also, to share so much about the entire India experience with the extended family.

For a video to learn more about Toby--and the potent powers of terrpin soup--as well as some Isle of Hope history here!

Karmic Destiny

"Since all phenomena are interrelated, the placing of the endless knot on a gift or greeting card is understood to establish an auspicious connection between the giver and the recipient. At the same time, the recipient is goaded to righteous karma, being reminded that future positive effects have their roots in the causes of the present. This is because the knot represents a connection, a link with our fates, binding us to our karmic destiny. Not surprisingly, this is one of the most favorite symbols in Tibetan Buddhism, and often occurs independently on its own.

Since the knot has no beginning or end it also symbolizes the infinite wisdom of the Buddha."

http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/symbols

Everything Auspicious

Paraphrasing Donovan--and with respect to His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

Everything runs in a circular motion
Thought is like a little boat upon the sea.
Everybody is a part of everything anyway,
You can have everything if you let yourself be.

On my circumnavigation around the world, I have been contemplating the meaning of interdependence and circularity. Safe at home (and jet lagged!), I am preparing to go to my birthplace, the Isle of Hope, where I will see my parents and various other relatives. What goes around comes around: while driving there with Sean, I will be meditating on everything auspicious from this grand journey of life.

The entrance to Meditators Compound on the path above Dharamsala.

Homeward Bound!

Sittin' in a railway station. Got a ticket for my destination . . .

Actually we sat in several railway stations yesterday on a marathon train ride from Shimla to Kalka on the Himalayan Queen then on the Shatabdi to Delhi--first carriage cooled by mountain air, second by AC. Altogether it was a day filled with sights and sounds and adventures, including the wild chaos of the Delhi train station and taxi driver negotiations. My guide and interpreter showed great skill at navigating these tracks and trains.

After a good night's rest, Rebecca and I hope to do a little shopping and meeting up with her friends before I begin the final leg of this journey (via Paris) around midnight tonight. You can view a video about Rebecca's life in Delhi here.

Meanwhile, Namaste India!

Friends we met along the way.

Shimmering Shimla

Yesterday, Rebecca and I spent most of the day traveling from Pragpur to Shimla on quite a twisting and rocky road. It took us almost 7 hours to go 225 kilometers. Nonetheless, Shimla is quite a worthy destination with cool breezes and panoramic views. Shimla served as the summer hill station for the British Raj. It has interesting Elizabethan-style architecture amidst Indian food stalls and bazaars. Today we took a long walk to the old Vicerol Lodge which now serves as home to the prestigious Indian Institute for Advanced Studies.

Tomorrow we head towards New Delhi by rail with hopes that our reservations on the Viceroy's 'toy train'--96 kilometers of narrow gauge line--come to pass.

On the rocky road (again)

Leaving Dharamsala felt like saying good-bye to Nirvana. However, just a few hours drive down twisting mountain roads, Rebecca and I found this lovely Heritage Hotel, Judges Court, in Pragpur. We've taken two nice walks along the village paths and also enjoyed delicious meals on these elegant grounds. Tomorrow we head for Shimla, known for exquisite views and cool breezes.

Rooftop of the World