My life-pod is entering orbit again. In mid-afternoon, two days after returning from Paris, I am just starting to peek at my blogrollfriends, while all three pets, rescued from various hithers and yoni (?), are flaked out under the kitchen ceiling fan in this heatwave.
I went first to Checkers’ site (priority of alphabetization), to find blanks under titles such as “No, No, and No”; “Flat, Flat, and Flat”; and “Not Abducted by Elephants”. Really, one could post absolutely nothing under such titles and it would still be humourous, but I suspect it’s a practical joke on the part of WordPress or my own computer. The height of my tech-savvy doesn’t reach electric can openers let alone electronica.
So, on to the cody bear’s friends blog. Today — yes, today, alleyippee — Goodbear is asking everyone to post pix of their Buddhas, in solidarity with Checkers’s posting on the buddhas in his human’s garden. And miracle of miracles, I not only could remember whether I had kept mine, I even managed to find the shoebox housing her in under ten minutes!
That’s her in the photo, Kuan Yin / Avalokitesvara / Kannon / Quan Âm, the bodhisattva of wisdom and compassion. Beside her is a novice monk. He’s not too badly off in the compassion department, but his physiognamy suggests he still has some scope for growing in wisdom.
Kuan Yin is sometimes depicted with many upper limbs, to remind her followers of her ability to appear in many forms, depending on what someone needs. Priest, prince, or puppy, she can change her shape to manifest as the best instrument for a person’s salvation. I think that’s nifty.
June 9, 2008 at 3:31 pm
nice touch! when one thinks of siddhartha, an egg timer doesn’t come to mind…but….neither does keanu reeves, but some how he got that acting gig…
June 9, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Keanu Reeves? I’ve only seen him in black leather; can’t yet picture him in saffron cotton.
Maybe there’s a zen koan here… I know! “What is the sound of Keanu Reeves’s egg timer?”
June 9, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I think Keanu Reeves’s egg timer goes “Whoa!”
June 9, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Some day those chicken feet will become lotus petals. I think the novice will have a great future. He/she’s ready for anything. I love that name-Avalokitesvara. I pronounce it “woof!”
June 10, 2008 at 8:11 am
That’s a weird but logical theory, James.
“Avalokitesvera” does roll off the tongue quite nicely, doesn’t it, Checkers? If you like it simply for its length, though, the longer Vietnamese form of Quan Am is (without the diacriticals) “Dai Tu Dai Bi Quan The Am Bo Tat Ma Ha Tat”.
I like that about the lotus petals formerly known as chicken feet.