I took these pictures in the garden late this afternoon. You wouldn't know there had been torrential rain most of the day. It was so thunderously dark in the market this morning you felt the need of a torch to see the veggies.
Then briefly about 5 o'clock the sky cleared and the sun shone like a headlight and changed my day - as if summer had come on a flying visit to remind me that the Light is always there even if I can't see it.
Actually the Buddha isn't in the garden. He's sits on the kitchen window sill above the sink with the screen of a beautiful birthday card from my big sister behind him. He's carved out of Hibiscus wood. We had a hibiscus hedge in the garden I grew up in in Lusaka - in my memory always in full red velvet bloom.
I'm not a Buddhist, but at lunch time I walked under my umbrella to a half hour meditation at a Buddhist centre just a few minutes down the road from us. The nun who was leading it, in long orange and magenta robes, sat cross legged on a dias in front of a huge gold statue of the Buddha. She suggested we forget everything else and meditate on compassion - for everyone - and release from the causes of suffering - anger, blame, self concern, jealousy......
I didn't do that but I liked the silence and the chance to stop and sit down in the middle of my day. And to remember this Blessing Mantra from Miranda Holden's book, Boundless Love, which I've been reading in the mornings when I wake up.
May you dwell in the heart.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be healed.
May you know your wholeness.
May you be happy and at peace.
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