updated:11/30/08

An old friend has a new home

He's been with me for a long time, it's nice to be able to give him a new home.

For many years, my old friend has been residing on the dashboard of my motorhome (a large comfortable space to be sure) but it's been really nice to give him a better space by removing an old TV and refinishing the space with a mirror floor and indirect LED lights.

I'd like to add a piece of soft green silk mat board (the kind used for matting photos and such) as the backdrop (to cut or soften reflections) but he's well positioned and comfortable.

The double strand hanging around his shoulders is a mala given to me by a Chinese couple in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  Kun Mai and Kun Pei ran a Chinese bakery but I was their guest for Chinese New Years and, at their request, joined them in burning paper money (Hell bank notes) and other paper gifts for Kun Pei's mother who had passed away during the previous year.  New Years marked the end of their period of morning and I was happy to honor his mother.  The mala came from their family shrine and I could no more have refused it than I could have declined the honor of honoring Kun Pei's mother.

The silver object in the center is also a gift; an amulet from a Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka where  relays of monks chanted a manta (prayer) one million times.  Each amulet contains a small piece of gem stone, some spices and a copper scroll bearing the mantra.  At the time, we were staying at a very small hotel, the Sea Breeze, south of Mt Lavinia next to the temple. The chants were broadcast to the neighborhood over loud speakers.  The gift of the amulet (from the hotel gardener) was to help cure my allergies; it definitely cured my spirit.

He is also wearing two loops of magnetite (hematite) beads strung on hand-formed wire links. Again, a gift from a friend who designs these and other jewelry and offered as a cure for arthritic pain but a bit uncomfortable for me to wear all the time.  However, they look great where they are and my friend reports no discomfort.

In front, the double loop is two interlocking sets of prayer beads. The larger, white bead is ivory and is pierced with a crystal lens to look though.  At one time, it had a prayer or blessing behind the lens but time has taken its toll although not its spirit.

Last, the long string of beads arcing across the front consists of twenty beads, each one carved from a large, hard nut.  One bead is a small Buddha figure, one is a carved barrel (these are on each end) while the remaining eighteen beads each show a beautifully detailed face, each expressing a different emotion; the eighteen states of man.  Hopefully, I'll be able later to display these better and, maybe, also post individual pictures of each.  These were also a gift and have been with me for many years.

There is one additional mala, not shown in this image because I am --- as always -- wearing it or using it. This last mala bears 108 rudraksha beads; a very tough and very rough seed with a dark reddish-brown color and lovely highlights.  The mala is finished with a turquoise tear drop which was added at the insistence of a friend who is a Navaho medicine singer.  I have been told that -- by the time I wear the beads smooth in meditation -- I will undoubtedly be a bodhisattva (Buddhist saint) ... but I don't think it will happen in this lifetime.

Note: The family shrine -- since this is what you are seeing -- is adapted from a south-east Asia custom.  If you are interested, I've described these and the customs surrounding them at greater length in my mystery Cook's Tour where an actual event involving such a shrine became the genesis of my plot.

Over time, family shrines tend to evolve in various fashions.  Contrast the image below to the one above and you'll see where my friend's surroundings have changed with time.

The malas and the charm (amulet) are the same as before as are the states of man behind although I have restrung these for a better presentation.  The backdrop is a light green figured silk.  At the back left, is a Japanese charm (sent by a friend) consisting of an elaborate blue silk knot with a jade disk.  It also has two ear rings hanging from the ornate knot but I honestly can't remember how these appeared or why.  (Answer: Mary's contribution and for reasons rather too lengthy to explain but, again, connected to memories.) At the rear right, a favorite book titled Zen Flesh, Zen Bones; a collection of Zen stories and traditional conundrums or koans.  

The small bamboo at the left rear is another traditional lucky charm and, in front of it, a large piece of obsidian which Mary gave me years ago so that I could chip my own arrowhead.  Somehow, I never have gotten around to doing that (but I do have one obsidian arrowhead elsewhere.)  The translucent green stone at the right -- I can't remember exactly what mineral it is -- is there simply because it's lovely and it fits.

And perhaps the strangest object appears at right front -- a plastic spider ring.  Now this may sound incongruous but there is a story and it's exactly where it belongs.

How it came to be here?   Well, it's real origin was at a Halloween party at the Center  (see Halloween at The End of Nowhere in the Stories collection) but, somehow, it wound up dropped on our gravel driveway where, one night, I spotted it but couldn't tell exactly what it was.  In the darkness, it looked quite realistic and, as a result, Mary found me gently trying to nudge it with a leaf to move it out of harm's way. 

When I realized what it actually was, I laughed ruefully at my folly and subsequently forgot about it ... until the next day when I found it in the location it now occupies with all due honor.  (However, if you do not understand why I phrase it thus, I can only explain that I am the one both honored ... and humbled ... and that's what family shrines are about: memories as much as anything.)

And, as time passes (as time does) I'm sure that there will be further changes to my friend's surroundings.

While writing this, Mary also presented me with some unusual blossoms before returning them to their preferred location.  The first photo below shows them "upside-down" because the stems have grown down from the branch and then U-turned to support these fragile but elaborately and delicately fluted parasols.

Here's a better view (below) of how they should look.  At lower right, you can easily see the U-shaped stems and how they support the parasol structures.

Finally, at this Thanksgiving season, I remain grateful -- as always -- for a fascinating and interesting world.

May we always be mindful of the world,

Of its infinite variety and wonders,

And grateful for all of the fruits thereof.

Inshallah / Shalowme / Tahm boon