Friday, July 14, 2006

July 14th...Compassion


This is a photo by Eugene Smith (copyrighted by his heirs, you can find that info here: http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_minamata.html. Part of Buddhist practice, the motivation, is the recognition of suffering. Youth (even the post 40 era), can lack a real experience of that. Even as a nurse, it is easy to put a distance between my own life and the reality I see every day. I find images like this inspiring. The mother's compassion, even in the face of horrific illness (the children of this fishing village were disfigured by mercury poisoning, a result of toxic waste being dumped into the ocean near their village). I share the above image as it illustrates to me unconditional love, compassion, and tender caring. The woman is not absorbed in the horror of the situation, she is instead focused on bringing comfort to the suffering. It reflects one of the qualities to which I aspire as a practitioner. The Stupas offer such unconditioned kindness, they don't care who or what you are, they offer their blessings without judgment or restraint.

We turned our attention away from Stupas today, so no photos. We began the demolishing of the studio, a room at the temple once used to record music. It flooded with the heavy rains a few weeks back, and with our teacher returning, and wanting to again record, we decided to put our effort towards helping clear out the debris. I work this weekend, but my Stupa Pal Lisa will be doing dump runs (trailer memories coming back to us!). : )

Even if we aren't out there for a few days, we still hope you'll come out and enjoy the Stupas. They are here for you, and all beings, offering their blessings unconditionally!

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