Said The Buddha

From sprouting bud on a branch, crisp and new, colorless sap takes its form. Deep green it unfurls, edges crinkle, sway in the breeze, in unison; a dance of wind and energy.

Rain falls on its open palm, drink it in, transmute, nourish. Sunlight seeps into the veins that span its surface, veins that mirror the path of the river, the cracks in the earth, the veins beneath my own skin. Crisscrossing, tracing pathways to the heart. to the trunk. to the ocean. Transporting prana to fingertip, to bud, to flower. The seasons shift, as the colors change, the air becomes drier, the moisture flows back through the branch, down the trunk, into roots, earth.

The leaf falls

is blown across the grass, over the earth. The wind brings it to my feet. I crouch, pick it up, turn its fragile form over in my fingers. I consider the leaf. All around, leaves at different stages of life; some tender, light, new. others thicker, stronger, filled with juicy life. and more still, as they lose their vigor, become fragile, brittle, again becoming soft. If one is to scrunch it in their hand, it would crumble, disintegrate, turn back to dust and dirt.

The cycle of life, apparent in the journey of every leaf, a miniature universe, sitting in the palm of my hand. I place the leaf across my wrist and consider the similarities, the connection, the reflection, in it and I.

Channels of energy, patterns, hairs, textures, endless variety, unique expression. totality in its infinite nature.

The veins of the leaf are the same as those beneath my skin, that stretch out within me; carrying the life force within us both. Nature, trees, leaves, they transmute this solar energy, turn it into the matter, they drink the water, they produce the fruit. The air turns to nectar, the sun to sweetness, the water to juice. Fruit and flower bloom before my eyes, from the air, from sunlight! I eat of this magically transfigured fruit, and my body turns it into energy. I move, I breathe. My breath goes out into the space around me, mingling with the breeze... I inhale, as the trees exhale. As I exhale, the tree inhales. We feed each other. We function on the same energetic level. Inhale, exhale. Consume, transmute, exchange, dance, breathe. I feed you, you feed me. The dance of life continues.

Consider the leaf.

Consider nature. See yourself, inseparable, forever and always, intimately connected.

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