Wednesday, January 26, 2011

playing with buddha

these days i have been taking life all too seriously. a common mistake that we all do at one time or another. way too often.  i realized this during morning meditation when i opened my eyes and saw one of my many laughing buddhas nestled in the embrace of some midwinter twigs behind the sofa. i have many buddhas about the house and yard. many of them serene and calm. but also a great many of them laughing at all they see. enjoying the feast of life. without worries. even the serene and calm buddhas seem to have a quiet smile. hinting at hidden laughter.

amongst them all, a large laughing buddha out in my garden is my favorite. he laughs when the sun beats hard upon his brow.  he laughs when the rain pours thickly across his bare head.  he laughs when encased in snow and ice. he knows that all is happening as it should. true to its pure clear nature. i am quite certain he would laugh just as loud were someone to steal him away in the night or were the dog to shower him with the leavings of her water dish after having drunk deeply from its cool depths!

he doesn't attempt to control the chaos around him. rather, he listens and moves serenely within the chaos as the universe unfolds around him. he is always open to a constant flow of joyous life. he reminds us that we can't get rid of chaos. but we can be quite creative with the turmoil therein. he points out that we are the creators of how we see our world.

i was. am. humbled. the ache and dis-ease flowed from my clenched shoulders and i found a smile returning to my face.

today, i stitched for a few hours on the buddha cloth. finished the applique of the buddha himself and began embroidering the mind flowers that surround him.



there is much to do still to the buddha cloth. and the embroidering is slow. mindful. mind full. contemplative. and i am re-finding balance and serenity in so doing.

i am once again finding my stride...

namaste'

21 comments:

  1. Wonderfully said. Just what I needed to hear. Thank you. : )
    It seems
    finding a way to navigate through these "waters"
    Is the only choice we get.
    The "dance" continues as long as we are here and I'd rather
    do it in a calm, peaceful and humorous way.
    The laughing buddha is my favorite too. : )

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  2. Such a well-written reminder. Thanks.

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  3. Beautiful.... inspirational.....thank you. Namaste

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  4. sigh... this is a wonderful way to begin my day. Thank you for the reminder to just enjoy the moment.

    ;-) Debi

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  5. Oh, my! If I could write like you and stitch like Jude. Wait! then I would not be me...and I would not have learned the lesson of the day.
    You are an amazing writer...who gives me food for thought. I always enjoy my visits here.

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  6. A re-membering, it seems, just like stitching pieces together. The mind-flower embroidery is beautiful. Sending along a laughing-skip to add to your stride.

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  7. and a book of your blog posts is coming out when?? I love reading and refering back to them. hint....hint...

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  8. mo'a, you are amazing just as you are!

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  9. helen, the blog is going nowhere, so you can access it at any time! or was that just a sly way of trying to get one of my hand bound books? ha!

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  10. thank you, everyone, for such kind and gentle additions.

    namaste'

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  11. Love your hand bound books, any and all I saw on flicker. I tried it a couple times but. . .they were okay, not as grand as yours. I just thought maybe you wanted to add published author to your talent repertoire. You know how "they" say some people are a jack of all trades and a master of none. You're a jack of all trades and a master of them all. Everything, including writing, seems like it comes easy for you.I think this novelty adds to your fan base. I'm here as long as you are.

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  12. you are much too kind, helen. thank you. but, just so you know, i actually am a published author. most recently with a knitting book called sock hop, socks to make your feet dance, published by liesure arts.

    namaste'

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  13. also, in case you are wondering, i've had a line of you designs, a line of knitting patterns, a line of scrapbook templates & tools, a line of artisan jewelry, a line of quilting patterns and 3 others books published over the past 28 years. i've also designed knitting & weaving patterns for 3 yarn companies.

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  14. i came to visit your blog, missed your comments on CWB!

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  15. so true, Jude... but sadly i all too frequently plunge headlong into it and have a maelstrom of ideas inundate me. which i want to act on each & every one of them. which, of course, is not possible. so i have to remind myself that those which i get to will unfold. manifest. and those which i do not get to will not. simple.

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  16. sorry, herm. i've been working a lot of extra shifts lately & have been remiss. will get back to cwb shortly!

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  17. Good God! You do everything I only dream about doing. Unfortunately SLEEP is still number one on my list. If i could just figure out how to go without that I'd be better off on the project lists. You are truly amazing.

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  18. helen, i believe that's the trick of it. i sleep entirely too little. perhaps i should try sleeping more & doing much less! it would uncomplicate things greatly. except that i would miss out on so much.

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  19. I love this. I collect Buddhas.
    Namaste
    Marilyn

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