"Late one night a female Zen adept was carrying water in an old wooden bucket when she happened to glance across the surface of the water and saw the reflection of the moon. As she walked the bucket began to come apart and the bottom of the pail broke through, with the water suddenly disappearing into the soil beneath her feet and the moon's reflection disappearing along with it. In that instant the young woman realized that the moon she had been looking at was just a reflection of the real thing...just as her whole life had been. She turned to look at the moon in all it's silent glory, her mind was ripe, and that was it...Enlightenment."

This is a zen story. When we know a story, our lives can take on more meaning, at times.

Tonight I was tidying my apartment, and laying down a new bamboo rug on my floor. The mat had been sitting in my closet for quite some time, as I already have two others in different areas. Everything was done, except that I needed to walk the trash and the recycling downstairs to the back. My apartment overlooks the alley, and a garden across the way. I left a half-finished pot of green tea on my table.

As I walked around the front of the 12-unit building to descend the only stairs, I looked up into the cold, clear night sky and saw a moon which looked almost full, if not full already. "Is the moon full again so soon?" I thought.

I walked around the back and put the items where they belonged. And then, to the edge of the property to pick a few sprigs of bamboo to put in the bottom of the large cage which my three finches share. I hadn't done this in quite some time.

I crouched down low to pick the bamboo shoots, new ones, from the ground. I looked up briefly and a light caught my eye from a dim window in the back of a storage shed immediately in front of me. There! The moon shone down on me again, brightly, reflected in the center of the window.

I felt a shiver. I realized that only from this position, crouched completely down to the ground and looking up, would I be able to see this moon, as it was, right there, in the window. I stood and turned around to see the moon again above me in the night sky.

Then, I turned slowly around in a full circle, and the wind picked up around me briefly. As I went inside, I was grateful that I knew this story. Not because I believe I am an enlightened being, but because I believe there is magic in our lives, always, even in the midst of the most "trivial" of actions.

love, blink

hi Blink, its interesting post, has a mood I picked up. I share your penchant for poetry. u might find it interesting I often use the name moondust for various things.. in the same way the collective mind has used the moon within romantic lyrics. hmm. I wonder if I could count the many songs have moon in them? thank god for the moon and the sun and the planets, what would we be able to see in the sky without them? probably the Buddhist emptiness?    the emptiness could be a spot that doesn't reflect the light yet.

now u got me started: heres some tunes with moon reference
Harvest Moon
theres a Moon out tonite
afternoon delite
moonlite serenade

I wonder if there was no mystery would we be able to enjoy ourselves here on Earth as much?
what would it be like if there was no beautiful moon to be struck by, the day me and my kids were in the car just at sunset driving somewhere, and the moon was crimson and huge at the top of the mountain as it rose higher, like we could touch it, it was so huge, and in certain parts of the planet it will appear larger. it was so low to the ground, it look surreal and stunned us.

mentalizing...the moon is reflecting the sun's light and so it glows as a natural process, and the scientists can explain the way it can change colors and so take away the feeling of it's mood by explaining why it is beautiful, but who really cares why something is beautiful, we can just enjoy it is there and we have eyes to see it. In a general sense the light you throw at me, I reflect back to you. so in this way we keep the lamp burning.

love, alysia

Speaking of the Moon...

This is an interesting website: http://www.darkmission.net/dmframes.htm

Makes you think...