Category Archives: Bamboo Leaves

FULL MOON DAY

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Universal Octopus

One candle is a light unto itself.One hundred candlesilluminate a room.In a room,one candle isa light unto itself. Uposatha Day at Wat Krathum,seven old ladies and one old mantaking eight precepts for a dayto keep the fires of Hell at … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged abbot, Ayudhaya, Bangkok, Brian Taylor, Buddha, candle, chicken farm, chicken flu, death, food, full moon, government, heart, Humans, mangoes, mass grave, monk, no chicken, Pali chants, precepts, Sariputta, sermon, Uposatha day, virtual reality | Leave a comment

NEW RECRUITS TO THE GUARDROOM

Posted on January 11, 2022 by Universal Octopus

On Tuesday after a silenceof three months,suddenly,where the junglethrows evening shadows over the bougainvilleas,all the cicadas shouted out at once;stretching and releasing their tymbalslike the shimmering and vibratingof a thousand silver cymbals. No notices were posted on the trees.No announcements … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged Brian Taylor, cicadas, diaries, Jungle, march, recruits, sergeant major, silence, silver cymbals, single silent drum, trees | Leave a comment

MIDSUMMER DREAM

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Universal Octopus

I dreamed of Paradise Garden;sunlight sliding downfrom an infinite skythrough cedar trees to emerald lawns;oriental poppies six feet high,Indian butterflies gliding bythrough multilayered shades of blue.Olympian Apollo’s statueholds a fountain in his hands,which swirls and mists, sparkles and cools,cascading down … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged Brian Taylor, dream, eagles, falcons, free!, garden, Indian butterflies, infinite sky, midsummer, mirror, Olympian, oriental poppies, Paradise Garden, silver sands, solitude | Leave a comment

AS A THING IS VIEWED…

Posted on January 3, 2022 by Universal Octopus

The Emerald Buddhais not made of emeraldbut a kind of greenand mutton coloured jadestone. Nor is it a Buddha,though seated on a gilded throneabove our heads;though presented every yearwith new robes by the King himself;though credited with magical powersof healing … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged atavistic, Buddha, Emerald Buddha, footprint, healing, history, icon, king, Kingdom, Kru Ba, Lao, magical powers, monk, talisman, Thai, throne, wealth | Leave a comment

YESTERDAY’S CHILDREN

Posted on November 4, 2021 by Universal Octopus

Acharn Suphot is the Temple Warden.Previously he was Headmasterof the Temple School for thirty five years.“In the past, for as longas anyone can remember,children studied the Code of Good Conduct.Thirty years ago, the Governmentappointed a Christianas Minister of Education.Soon after … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged a good person..., Bamboo Leaves, Buddhist virtues, children, Christian, Code of Good Conduct, education, government, Headmaster, stable society, Temple School, Thai virtues | Leave a comment

POEMS

Posted on August 12, 2021 by Universal Octopus

Poems are diamonds,everywhereembedded in living rock. You see themyou dig them outyou polish them. (Sometimes you don’t see them.) Polish them too much,they break into fragments,blow away,a handful of dust. (Each mote of which is a diamond.) .

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged Bamboo Leaves, dust, fragments, living rock, poems, polish | Leave a comment

DYING RACES OF MANKIND

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Universal Octopus

When the rich see the very poorthey know it is timeto buy their valuables.Cheaply. This ancient peoplewere driven out of Tibetby the Tibetans,out of China by the Chineseand out of Burmaby the Burmese. Ah Kah people are very poorand cannot … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged Ah Kay people, ancestors, animists, bamboo, Bamboo Leaves, Brahmin Swing, Burma, Burmese, China, Chinese, Christian, headresses, Israelites, missionaries, pharmaceutical drugs, philosphies, poor, races of mankind, rich, self-knowledge, shining souls, silver jewellery, spirits, Tibet, tribal knowledge | Leave a comment

BUDDHA’S SUNLIT CHAMBER

Posted on May 26, 2021 by Universal Octopus

In Buddha’s sunlit laboratory(or Dhamma chamber),experiments by laboratory assistants(or monks)demonstratethat if you shine the lightof investigationon form, feeling, perception,thoughts and consciousnessand apply continuous mindfulnessat the very centreof the rising and fallingof these phenomena,all things are seento be without a permanent … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged Buddha, Centre, consciousness, dhamma, feeling, form, Gautama, investigation, light, monks, peace, suffering, thoughts, Visakha Puja, vision | Leave a comment

TIGER CAVE TEMPLE

Posted on February 27, 2021 by Universal Octopus

By the Temple Gatemacaques lie in wait.They squabble and fight,like chickens, for the bananasoffered by northern Europeans.They snatchbags and camerasand are happy to scratchand bitethe hands that feed them. An enormous limestone hillthree hundred metres hightowers above the temple. A … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged Buddha, caves, dell, fig trees, forest, Guardian Deva, macaques, mountains, Snake Cave, temple, Thai, Tiger, Tiger Cave, Ven Chamnean | Leave a comment

MEO

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Universal Octopus

He has dirty feet;“Washing is dangerouswash much, sicken and die.”He wears a short black jacketand floppy black trousers.A large silver lock hangs round his neck.She has a blue jacketand a tightly pleated kiltof hemp and cottonwith heavily embroideredand weighted black … Continue reading →