Meditations on Buddha

The following is the first in a series of articles I plan to pen on a recent one-week visit to Bodhi Zendo, a Zen monastery, nestled in Palani Hills, Kodaikanal, South India. Through these short write ups I hope to share the deep impression the place left on my son Dhani and myself.

Dong! The beater strikes the bowl... setting the chakra in the centre of the forehead in motion. A wave of ultramarine blue washes over the being...

The body, huddled in the pre-dawn chill of this mountainside monastery, relaxes and the breath slowly finds its own rhythm. The candle on the altar sputters as a moth transits into the other world. The mind registers the departure in a detached way, and the eyes remain shut, the breath steady. 

A sudden wind picks up. Darkness gives way to light, and shapes of the mountains foregrounded by trees and half-hidden structures hinting at human habitat, make themselves palpable. The microcosm of  birds, lost within the foliage of tall silver oaks and densely-leafed Sholas, grows louder, and more animated  in its verbal expression.

There is a slight shuffling as the body grows weary of the cross-legged position and demands a change. Eyes open, taking in the soft blue patch of sky tinged with pink and gold of a new day... It's a trance-like state, when the physical eye and the inner eye are in sync: they see, and see not, they focus, yet remain out-of-focus. The sounds, sights, smells merge into one other forming a weightless amorphous mass of Nothingness...

But, then it starts... frankly, I don't know when. Slowly they sneak in: one after another in the beginning, then in a large procession. I can't control them any more, these endless thoughts,  with the whole kit and caboodle  trailing behind them. I let them come and go, throwing them a cursory glance as they so supinely make themselves at home. 

Some snippets from my daily meditations:

1.

a dragonfly

over the lily pond

hovering over its reflection:

oh no! a mating ritual

2.

a stretch of sand,

a few rocks

seated atop:

the emptiness 

of the Zen garden

fills me up

3.

sitting down

to contemplate on

the attainability of

bodhisattva

i am distracted

by a house-fly.

4.

as a fluttering butterfly

is quickly gobbled up

by a wayward bulbul,

the afternoon calm returns.

5.

temple bells ring

across the hills.

silence prostrates itself

prayerfully.

6.

water dripping

clock ticking:

morning bells ringing

monk singing

and lo! even the koi swishes 

around its tail 

in the fish pond

waking up the lazy

reflections.

7.

even the furious mountain rains

could not drown the gentle sound

of the morning bells

from yonder monastery.

8.

Awaken and bow 

to the music

of a new day.

9.

while some bits of your memory

i fed to the koi

in the fish pond,

the others lay scattered

on the raked sands

of the zen garden

others still, i tossed them 

to the wind

tumbling downhill...

and some i hid

in the swirls of the morning mist.

one big shard was hurriedly 

buried under the fragrance of 

fallen Jakaranda blossoms...

A few morsels  

dispersed for the birds

to make sweeter their songs...

the rest i offered to Buddha,

setting myself free, i mused

from the honeyed 

thoughts of you.