When I was a kid, in Encyclopedia Britannica I read an article on the brain. It speculated that if we had wings as angels do and could fly, we would

Transcription

1 When I was a kid, in Encyclopedia Britannica I read an article on the brain. It speculated that if we had wings as angels do and could fly, we would be able to think not only horizontally but vertically. Exploring our inner and outer worlds as three-dimensional mandalas gives us wings. It frees the mind to flow in more dimensions, to think vertically. A mandala typically has four directions and the center. The imagined palace in this book is based on a Tibetan-style mandala. The South is colored yellow and symbolizes fall, earth, harvest, royalty, wealth, collecting, abundance, and pride. The East is colored blue and symbolizes winter, water, dawn, vision, clarity, and anger. The North is colored green, and symbolizes summer, air, wind, activity, and envy. The West is colored red, and symbolizes spring, fire, sunset, seduction, lust, and compassion. The Center is sky blue and white, symbolizing space and allencompassing wisdom or ignorance. 22

2 In the eighties I wrote a play based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead ancient texts about the soul s journey through life and death. I worked on the play, which I called Tibetan Book of the Dead or How Not to Do It Again, with my friend and then assistant, the poet Didi (Edith) Goldenhar. At the end of the play when the soul s journey through the inbetween place is almost over and the soul is about to be reborn on earth, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, like a wise friend, offers a bit of practical advice. photo by Jerry Vezzuso In the south, a palace. Enter here like a queen or king, if you can. Enter again this theatre of illusion, this vale of tears. Walk with your head high. Call on the forces of compassion. Enter again the palace encrusted with gems. Walk knowingly in the pleasure gardens: bubble of illusion. Rest in the golden rays. from Tibetan Book of the Dead or How Not to Do It Again, La MaMa, New York City, 1983 floor mandala painted by Louise Baum 24

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4 Ground Floor South Entering the ground floor of the palace encrusted with gems through the great oak South doors with their long wrought-iron hinges, we are in a welcoming rich foyer resplendent with elegant stone columns and hand-carved wooden statues. We are at home, grounded in the element earth and at home in our bodies, too, our flesh and bones. The rich and royal South Wing implies magnanimity and pride. In the fall, amber-colored vases of golden mimosa perfume the air. Stately reception and dining halls have gilded chairs with lemon-colored silk embroidered with imperial bees. Rich mineral, crystal, coin, and fossil collections adorn ornate cabinets. Outside: majestic marble and bronze sculptures, rock gardens, orchards, and vineyards.

5 Touching the Earth Be yourself. Everyone else is taken. Oscar Wilde There is nothing, either good or bad but thinking makes it so. bee suckling nasturtium William Shakespeare Some twenty-five hundred years ago in Bodh Gaya, India, just before his enlightenment, the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree. To maintain his serenity, he warded off the devil s temptations with an earth-touching gesture. Because earth is mother to all that grows in or on her, touching the earth is a way of calling on Mother to witness. Perhaps because as a child I was terribly close to my mother, I appreciate what Earth s presence as a witness can mean. game earth Go outside and lie or sit or even just stand on the ground ideally not on cement but on the actual earth. Even in a city, it is sometimes possible to find a bit of bare ground. Enjoy the feeling and stability of the earth beneath you. Let the earth s solidity support you, steady you, and give you strength. game fall rituals In autumn, season of abundance, of harvest, of going back to school, and in the American Northeast where I live, of leaves turning consider performing some Fall Rituals. Probably you perform some already. Here are a few possibilities. Wear earth colors like those of fall leaves. Bring earth colors into your home autumn leaves, sunflowers, dried ears of corn, or a pumpkin all living or formerly living things. In places where none of them is naturally available, use something local that indicates fall has come. As the weather cools, enjoy a short cleansing diet. Tibetan medicine advises a larger intake of fruit in autumn, which is ideal if you happen to live where pears and apples fall from trees. Drink a fall tea, like apple cinnamon. There is no perfect way to carry out a ritual. Perform it with care and confidently in your own manner. Each circumstance is different, so be inspired by the moment. Improvise within your environment. Use objects that come to hand, and words you hear spoken around you

6 contemplation? Is feeling more alive, grounded, and creative nourished by being in nature s beauty? Assuredly yes, but even more so by interacting with the earth by gardening, by clearing dead branches and doing whatever needs doing. Caring for a plant is a way of touching earth. Watering a plant and giving it sun, air, and food is a subtle way of nourishing your own vitality by interacting with Mother Earth. Some people enjoy singing to their plants. Researchers find that plants respond positively to certain music Bach, for instance. For Japanese gardeners, a bonsai or miniature tree in a pot often kept indoors represents the living, growing presence of earth. Cared for by succeeding generations of humans, some bonsais live centuries. Verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it stays by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24 Zen garden at Ryoanji Monastery in Kyoto, Japan The monks in Ryoanji Zen monastery in Kyoto, Japan often touch the earth. They do so by means of their world-famous rock garden. The Ryoanji garden consists of a few large stones asymmetrically placed in white gravel raked into waves, making the stones look as if they were rising like mountains above the sea. So how does having an exquisite rock garden lead to spiritual development? How do you use your garden as a tool for contemplation? an American professor of Buddhism once asked a Ryoanji monk. Mainly we clean and rake it. Sometimes we look at it by moonlight, the monk replied simply. It is interesting that Ryonaji monks do not just relate passively to their garden. They learn from it by caring for it, inter-acting with it. I often ask myself why, exactly, I invite people to come way up here to my old farm, Shantigar, to take workshops in the arts and Mothering a member of the vegetable world may affect in subtle and positive ways the rhythms of how you feel, think, and live. It may steady you and keep you aware of life s basic interactions the plant s and your own. Medieval alchemists taught that our connection to the plant world serves as intermediary between our intellect and our instincts. game watering a plant If you do not already have a plant, find or buy one or ask a plant-loving friend to give you one. Find out what your plant likes how much water and when, how much light, what food, and what trimming your plant may need. Daily, as you tend to your plant, talk, hum, or sing to it. Whether we are aware of it or not, as human animals, we change with the seasons. In some climates, changing from a warmer to a colder season or vice versa is physically obvious