Sunday, April 25, 2010

picture time.

.
Got a couple of photos of the zendo altar after zazen this morning, but the real surprise came later ....



I also wanted to get a photo of the sparrow -- or its offspring -- that nests just outside the porch door each year. (A birdwatching friend informed me that the bird is a finch... my bad.) Often when I stand in the doorway, he/she flies away, but this morning she sat still and....


I had been so intent on getting a picture of the bird that I completely missed what apparently is an egg. What ever made me think I could be a Zen student, I don't know.
.
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9 comments:

  1. shoeyApril 25, 2010 at 1:44 PM

    she's well aware of your presence and seems comfortable with this.:)

    the egg looks a little precarious from this angle genkaku ?
    or am i just a worrier.

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  2. AnonymousApril 25, 2010 at 1:59 PM

    Yeh, that eggs gonna go.

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  3. AnonymousApril 25, 2010 at 2:03 PM

    SAVE THE EGG !!! And you know she is actualy laying the egg in this picture . You can tell its only partialy out if you look closley :) Nice photo , Anita

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  4. genkakuApril 25, 2010 at 2:29 PM

    If it's an egg -- and it sure looked like it -- it looked precariously perched to me too. But since the pic, there is nothing on the earth below the nest and the egg is no longer visible -- which suggests to me she must have scooped it into the nest. I am not about to climb on a ladder to find out by scaring the pants off her.

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  5. AnonymousApril 25, 2010 at 3:48 PM

    Mirror on a stick? Inquiring minds want to know what happened to the egg!

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  6. shelApril 25, 2010 at 5:35 PM

    Reminds me of the last group sitting I was at a few weeks ago. A little bird somehow got trapped in the Buddhist center building where a Zen group has monthly sits. The building has high ceilings and big stained glass windows, like a regular western church, so the little bird had plenty of room to fly around. When it took a rest it sat on a chandelier almost directly above the teacher, front and center, and also above the Buddha on the alter, which was enormous, by the way, and golden. Those Theravadains know how to party!

    Anyway, I imagined the little bird sitting up there thinking something along the lines of, "great, I'm stuck in here with these morons."

    I think it probably got out eventually, it was flying closer and closer to the open door before I left.

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  7. genkakuApril 25, 2010 at 5:45 PM

    There used to be bats that would swish around during evening zazen at the monastery I attended briefly. At first, it was a little unnerving. Later it was rather nice company.

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  8. AnonymousApril 25, 2010 at 7:07 PM

    That photo is beautiful, gen !!! (Those photos)

    Thanks, man

    Floating_Abu

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  9. shoeyApril 26, 2010 at 4:58 PM

    hi shel
    good to hear you again.
    "Those Theravadains know how to party!"

    yea :) so do the tibetans.
    i visited some tibetan monks once and after a tour was invited to open two very large doors.
    when i opened them just a little i was hit by bright lights(lots of candles) and an enormous (30 feet) Golden Buddha looking straight down at me.
    I actually gasped loudly and beamed in amazement.
    the old monks were roaring with laughter.

    anyways,sorry for the ramble on your blog genkaku.:)

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