#C12: Drifting September

 

Since I will be holed up in a hotel room for the next week, I planned to do some invented landscapes using a small sketchpad and willow charcoal. This is one of my first attempts – obviously inspired by the last post I did after Mauve.

After a 10 hour flight, jet lag setting in as I wait for a connection, the mind boils with thoughts – most just useless commentary, the rest tired and cynical. How good it is to just sit back and watch those voices drone on and eventually out of sight.

If you want to cease your confusion, you must cease involvement
in thoughts of good or bad. Stop getting caught up in unnecessary
affairs. A mind “unoccupied” together with a body “free of activity”
is the essential point to remember.

The Art of Just Sitting: Essential Writings on the Zen 
Practice of Shikantaza (p. 43). Wisdom Publications. Kindle Edition.

I never cease to be amazed at the panic I have when I abandon thinking. It feels as if there is security in thinking – no matter how anxious, self-critical and useless it may seem. One day I may just give all of that up.

Drifting September skies are clear to the distance 
Clearer still so far from human kind. 
A heron by the pool, a mountain cloud, 
Either of them makes the mind content. 
The faintest ripples still and evening’s here. 
The moon turns silver and I dream, 
Tonight leaning on a single oar, 
Drifting without thought of going home.

Kline, A. S.. Like Water or Clouds: The T'ang Dynasty and the Tao
(Kindle Locations 1855-1860). Poetry in Translation. Kindle Edition.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you are happy and content!

Kate – I miss you!