From the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic. Yamaraja asked:
“What is the most wondrous thing in the world, Yudhisthira?”
And Yudhisthira replied:
“The most wondrous thing in the world is that all around us people can be dying and we don’t realize it can happen to us."
Painting by Morris Graves at Seattle Art Museum
Zen Master Wu Bong, the regional head teacher for the Kwan Um School of Zen in Europe, passed away a few hours ago from a heart attack.
Wu Bong Soen Sa was the first Western student of Zen Master Seung Sahn (in 1972) and dedicated the rest of his life to practicing and teaching the dharma.
He helped Zen Master Seung Sahn in establishing the Kwan Um School of Zen in Poland in 1978. In 1984 he received inka (authorization to teach) and began to teach regularly in the United States and in Europe. Soen Sa Nim graduated from Brown University with a degree in mathematics and holds a fourth degree black belt in Shim Gum Do, a Korean art of swordsmanship. In 1993, Soen Sa Nim received the transmission of Dharma from Zen Master Seung Sahn. In 1995, he co-founded the Paris Zen Center. In recent years, he became a monk and divided his time between Europe and Korea.
Please chant Namu Amita Bul for Zen Master Wu Bong, or perform the appropriate practice in your tradition. Thank you.
Namu Amita Bul
Namu Amita Bul
Namu Amita Bul
Namu Amita Bul
Namu Amita Bul
Namu Amita Bul
Namu Amita Bul
Namu Amita Bul
Namu Amita Bul
Namu Amita Bul
You do bad deeds and hope to get back good
Though bad deserves only bad in return.
God is merciful and kind, but even so,
If you plant barley, wheat won't grow.
I'm not me, you're not you, and you're not me;
And yet I'm me, you're you, and you are me.
Beauty of Khotan, I am this because of you:
Confused if I am you, or you are me.
Calligraphy and translation from The Iranian.
On truth's path, wise is mad, insane is wise.
In love's way, self and other are the same.
Having drunk the wine, my love, of being with you,
I find the way to Mecca and Bodhgaya are the same.
Calligraphy and translation from The Iranian.
Small but extremely beautiful ammonite.
Recently I received an invitation to join a tour of one of the most valuable mineral collections in the world. Over 35 years, the owner had collected many of the world's largest and most striking exampes of minerals and crystals. Before selling the entire collection, he was giving small, private tours.
The collection sits in a warehouse in an ordinary industrial park in the Seattle area. The walls of the warehouse are covered in black cloth and each item sits by itself with one or two spotlights illuminating it. This was not an ideal situation for iPhone photography, but these few images will give you a sense of the collection.
The images utterly fail to convey the size and heft of the cystals and mineral formations. For example, there was a single quartz crystal that weighed 7,500 pounds. There was a geode 8 feet across and an ammonite that spiraled 5 feet across.
I was astonished at the sheer beauty of these pieces, nearly all of which were found in underground mines. A couple of weeks ago, I offered an appreciation of Saturn and its rings - things that are virtually invisible. These minerals and crystals are similarly invisible - just in the other direction. What a remarkable universe!
Concretion
About 1/2 of a large geode - note arm in lower left.
Center of giant ammonite - this image captures a portion about 2 feet across.
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