Blossom

Blossom, Sunday 13 April 2003

To know Tao

meditate

and still the mind.

Knowledge comes with perseverance.

The Way is neither full nor empty;

a modest and quiet nature understands this.

The empty vessel, the uncarved block;

nothing is more mysterious.

When enlightenment arrives

don’t talk too much about it;

just live it in your own way.

With humility and depth, rewards come naturally.

The fragrance of blossoms soon passes;

the ripeness of fruit is gone in a twinkling.

Our time in this world is so short,

better to avoid regret:

Miss no opportunity to savor the ineffable.

Like a golden beacon signaling on a moonless night,

Tao guides our passage through this transitory realm.

In moments of darkness and pain

remember all is cyclical.

Sit quietly behind your wooden door:

Spring will come again.

~Loy Ching-Yuen

Something Special

It has been five years today since I said goodbye to a Capricorn who was dear to me. Each year I honour and show respect to him by cooking one of his favourite Indonesian dishes. I try to flavour each meal that I cook with a piece of myself, a part of my soul. Cooking to me is a gift I can offer to those who know how to appreciate. But today is something special and for someone special: an anniversary dinner. It’s a ritual that finds its roots in Asian history and tradition. A moment that doesn’t know space or time: eternity, sealed with the scent of burning incense and enlightened with the flame of a candle.

——————————

Most of the ancestors of the Indonesians of today came from the southern part of China. These ancestors were animists: they believed that all objects, whether animate or inanimate, have their own life force, with some people, like the shamans and other tribal leaders, having more of this life force than others. Because they believed in life after death, they honoured dead ancestors and many of them were practitioners of ancestor worship.

——————————