100 days after this blog came into existence, I felt overwhelmed by my own mental noise, so I retreated into silence. Now six months have passed since, and I sense a moderate interest in ‘blogging’ has inched its way back. I feel like cranking open a little skylight again, just to have a tentative connection with the void.
The little spark caught on when I was under a gigantic black walnut tree after a morning run. Dappled sunlight filtering through pinnate leaves, the chirping of birds could be heard from the all-encompassing canopy.
It’s curious to watch these capricious inner flickers come on and off and on again, susceptible to the wind of the wings of passing whim.
When would the intrinsic pendulum swing cease oscillating between two ends? How could you make the shifting mind stop revolving on a merry-go-round?
The view is ever rotating, perpetually chasing its own tail alongside the carousel, coming to full circle over and over and over – there is something pitiful about the whole busyness, if you really look at it. By now you should’ve known too well it would never lead anywhere.
One way or another, all the wise of the East have advised against blogging:
“If you give rise to a thought, you are in error. If you open your mouth, you are wrong.” ~ Huangpo Xiyun (Chinese Zen master, lived somewhere between 720 C.E. and 850 C.E.)
“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.” ~ Lao Tzu (The founder of Taoism, lived between 6th century BC and 4th century BC)
“The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking, and everything becomes clear and undisguised.” ~ Seng Can (The 3rd Patriarch of Chan/Zen in China, born 529 C.E., died 606 C.E.)
So if I am going to blog anyway, I must remind myself that I do it not because I have truth to speak or wisdom to contribute, but only because I still have to say something from time to time. Evidently the play goes on as long as the earthly life carries on – it all ends up just a physiological necessity. You may not even tell the recreational activity from the practical maintenance.
To put it figuratively, you blog because you have dogs to walk – or in my case, I blog because the cat and gang need to roam about, every once in a while.
The good news is that I’ve found a new theme for the blog and I just love it. Searching for a theme is one of the small pleasures in blogging. You feel such pure happiness when you come across one that seems delicately attuned to your internal nuances, in sync with your bizarre liking, curious longing, unspeakable leanings …
Anyhow, with my new ‘abode’ all set, I will post anything I like anytime I feel like – sporadically, rather than unrestingly. I may retreat into silence again sometimes, but I will always come back. And I shall keep everything short and simple – since we’ve established that words are the departure from wisdom, merely evidencing a talker’s lack in self-restraint, I ought to at least make it less splashy.
So this may serve as an updated ‘About’ page for my little corner in the ever bubbling ballooning blogosphere.
~ October 2020 ~
Buddha Mind 