The Buddha, the Lotus and the Birth of a Star.

There is a statue of a Buddha deep in the heart of Thailand that stands 20 meters tall for over 1,000 years erected by kings and queens long since moved on. Yet, the kings and queens continue to return to the image of this statue in the lives of their children. They return to the Buddha because those children are still drawn to a very simple teaching which taught that all suffering is the result of wanting something that does not exist in this moment. Therefore, to release suffering requires not that one lets go, but rather that one embraces with all of ones senses, life, now. In the moment of embracing there is no room for holding onto what causes suffering. There is no room for it because the senses are saturated with the awareness of life moving like great flocks of birds above a large body of water, while thousands of fish are jumping out of the waters to dance with those birds and you are one of those surrounded by all of those. LIfe, awareness would say is like that. Not some of the time, but each quite moment we breath in and breath out. Not even a memory of suffering can survive such awareness.

The Buddha directs his eyes serenely to a single floating lotus, while maintaining the inner gaze on the birth of a star.

Steve Brummé