Thanksgiving Nirvana

buddha'scorner
Originally uploaded by Randuwa

A day in flux. I spent the morning blowing a million mostly yellow maple leaves into a huge pile on the curb. 77 was a new record high for this date in DC. My curious neighbor, C., came over and I invited her into my sunroom to see the finished product. She was taken by my reproduction Buddha statue and roled her eyes when comparing it to the one her husband had purchased from China. He shared it with me one day while taking me on a tour of his backyard gardens, and so I know that it's cost is like it's weight -- A TON.

In the early part of the 20th century, an obscure (at the time) German poet also took a moment from his busy day to contemplate the Buddha. Enjoy!

BUDDHA IN GLORY

Center of all centers, core of cores
almond self-enclosed and growing sweet
all this universe, to the furthest stars
and beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.

Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,

a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke
1875 - 1926