Meditating on Myanmar
Myanmar and Thailand (last photo), early March 2012.
Myanmar still remains mysterious, misty, not yet of the twenty–first century. There is poverty and difficulties, few doctors, little medicine available, not enough schools. And there is hope and beauty. Such beauty in the faces of the people, the animals, the art, the pagodas, the land and waters. Aung San Suu Kyi, at last, can speak and there are many ethnic groups eager to hear her words and eager for Democracy for Myanmar.
Jeff and I had adventures and misadventures. Collectively, we survived stomach poisoning, fever, sunburn, diarrhea, good and bad guides. Together we were awed by Aung San Suu Kyi, the art, the dance, the people.
My dearest memory was the quiet of Inlay Lake, a deep–body–letting–go peace, spending the day, watching the young boys fish and watching the sun set on the water. I loved the faces of the women, their vibrancy. A special treat on the trip was enjoying Jeff’s passion for music, playing with every person we met who had an instrument and was willing as well as on car rides and by the lake.
In Chinese one of the earliest words for medicine is music — because it is healing. We hoped to bring Monkey King to Myanmar to create mutual healing. Because of a beloved Chinese TV series on Wu Kong, everyone in Myanmar knew Wu Kong and welcomed him. I was deeply touched by the children and adult’s warm response to our three performances of Monkey King. At the end of the trip, I knew that at Sun Wu Kong’s party in heaven, he had definitely invited Burmese dancers to entertain the constellations.
The photos below (also accessible on Flickr) follow our journey: Mandalay, Bagan, Kulaw, Inlay Lake and Yangon:
a dewdrop falls
from a silk pavilion
wait between moments
no sound
observe.
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New Zealand: Stones and Sea
Okarito, New Zealand, February 16th to 28th, 2011.
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Brooklyn Botanical Garden 2010:
The Lushness of Lilacs
What a moment. Hyacinths, lilacs and cherry and apple trees all in bloom at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden at the same time. All about two weeks early. Mr. Turtle is out as well,enjoying the sun, posing as a rock. Freeze! I want to tell them all; don’t move. Stay just this way. And I remember that’s what I used to say to my daughter when she was two and three and four years old. Don’t change. You’re just right the way you are. A perfect moment in changing time.
April 2010.
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Plum Blossoms in Taiwan
In Taiwan, many people travel to Nantou, which is in the western center of the country, to relish the plum blossoms. The season lasts about two weeks. The plum blossoms are not as gorgeous as cherry blossoms; but they have the most amazing and striking aroma. How to describe them? They are pungent and sweet at the same time; they immediately carry you to another sphere. A sphere of there is more, much more to know, than we can imagine. The creation outdoes our imagination.
January 11th, 2010.
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