Wednesday, July 21, 2010

One of the Ten Thousand Plants


I finished a book recently: Zen Women by Mirian Levering. Hubby gave it to me for my birthday and it's a history of women in the Zen Buddhist school. I found the loveliest paragraph in there quoting a Buddhist nun, Maiodao, from the 12th century: "Moreover, each person is complete in every way, each thing is perfect and that which is totally complete and perfect covers the earth and reaches to heaven. Eyes are horizontal and noses are vertical. Spring courses among the ten thousand plants; the moon is reflected on a thousand waves. There is no lack and no excess."

That eyes and noses part fascinates me.