Choiceless Choice

holy
Control

 

So Beautiful a sight.

The grass holding dearly a dew.

Holding as if life depends on it.

Without the dew, there is no bending.

without the dew, life still goes on.

Title: Control?

 

Inspired by the act of a blade of grass situated at upper seletar reservoir.

The shiny reflection of the morning sun from the water dew held by a blade of grass. That dew is shining with the reflection of the morning sun. It’s seems so precious as if it is the essence of life. That blade of grass seems to be holding that dew dearly as if it’s life depends on it. The grass bend to the weight of it’s precious dew. Hanging on for it’s precious dew. It is not easy but it seems so necessary.

The next moment the dew slide off the grass and the grass suddenly bounce up naturally.  The grass then realised that the dew is an unnecessary baggage but a necessary  lesson.

As in life we hold on to many precious dew that we deem necessary to life. But after losing it or broken by it then we realised the lesson to learn the truth about life. Our life.

The act to hold on to our dew is our way of control. So the lesson we learn is that we have no control.

Choiceless choice.

 

 

Breadth Of Compassion

Holy
Breadth Of Compassion

 

I got to know that I am a breech baby at birth not long ago. First thought was that this is cool especially when my mum had me in an easy breech delivery. In the Chinese saying it is called lotus birth. The word lotus had me thinking about the bodhisattva GuanYin. I had quite an affiliation with her, since young my parents have place me as an adopted child with her. It is a taoist practice.

Well I was thinking about Guanyin and started googling about her story. In one story about how her 1000 arms came about attracted my attention.

Guanyin and the Thousand Arms

One Buddhist legend from the Complete Tale of Guanyin and the Southern Seas (Chinese: 南海觀音全撰; pinyin: Nánhǎi Guānyīn Quánzhuàn) presents Guanyin as vowing to never rest until she had freed all sentient beings from the samsara or reincarnation. Despite strenuous effort, she realised that there were still many unhappy beings yet to be saved. After struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, her head split into eleven pieces. The buddha Amitabha, upon seeing her plight, gave her eleven heads to help her hear the cries of those who are suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, Avalokitesvara attempted to reach out to all those who needed aid, but found that her two arms shattered into pieces. Once more, Amitabha came to her aid and appointed her a thousand arms to let her reach out to those in need. Many Himalayan versions of the tale include eight arms with which Avalokitesvara skillfully upholds the Dharma, each possessing its own particular implement, while more Chinese-specific versions give varying accounts of this number.

In China, it is said that fishermen used to pray to her to ensure safe voyages. The titles Guanyin of the Southern Ocean (南海觀音) and “Guanyin (of/on) the Island” stem from this tradition.

-quoted from wikipedia

Her story touches me and I felt that her compassion is beyond the breadth of my comprehension. So much so that I felt her immense love and magnitude of compassion that encompasses far and wide towards all living beings. My vision of her in her loving kindness shinning her holy light of 1000 arms reaching all beings. And all beings so enchanted by her compassion, all stand in awe as time stop for that minute.

南無觀世音菩薩.