Peace than beats the fleeting pleasures.

 

One:

Involuntary recollection of the past when we had peaceful experiences is useful in our practice. It's appraisal can be read in the Marchel Proust book, In Search of the Lost Time.  When Buddha abandoned the ascetic forms of meditation, he recollected the time in his childhood when he was peaceful and meditated in the shade of a tree during the busy plowing ceremony and practiced the same technique, and attained enlightenment. We all had such experiences and knowledge in the past. Because as Zen says we are already Buddha nature and we all have forgotten it.

Two:

There is a drizzle, patter against leaves, and drumming on rooftops. I can smell the soil—that muddy and earthly smell. The rain releases a distinctive, earthy aroma called petrichor.  The smell is attributed to a mixture of geosmin produced by bacteria, volatile plant oils, and ozone gas from the rain.

It gives me an involuntary recollection of my childhood ( voluntary recollection would be non-Zen). I was trapped in the rain and took shelter by a big tree. It smelt the same there. Another instance was in the mud house of my childhood friend Bishnuhari. In the attic was the barn with a similar smell from the stored paddies. We used to sit at the window and look at the rain. Sometimes with the hailstones.

Now I am in my car. The rapid motion of the windshield, dhak, dhak, dhak. The drops of rain that collect on the windshield are instantly wiped away.  Neither the water on the windshield lasts nor the clearing by the wiper.

Novelist Amar Neupane describes it as a time when Nature takes a bath. He says he loves the sound of the rain, it is collecting at the roof, then flowing into the drain like a snake and meeting the larger water streak in the road. "Oh! It is so beautiful. I won't be able to write anything more beautiful than this. So I just watch".

Three:

When the leaves rustle and flutter as the wind gushes, it creates a distinctive shhh.. sound that is often similar to the creeks or rivers in the mountain. I realized it when I was trekking to the Annapurna base camp and listening to the sound I thought we had reached the base near the river. But we were just in the middle of the hill and the sound was of the trees.

I was meditating outdoors. There was warm sunshine. The trees were beautiful and I was already in bliss. Suddenly a gentle breeze came, the branches of the trees swayed and the leaves rustled. It was so beautiful and really made me cry.

Four:

Acceptance is the key.
The flowers will whiter and drop even if you like them.
The weeds will grow in your garden even if you dislike them.
Pain is warranted. However, acceptance will prevent the pain from aggravating it into suffering.

Five:

Mind is the greatest spoiler of your dreams and aspirations. It is fond of being locked to old habits and patterns and sabotages new thoughts, actions, and fresh perceptions and interactions in life.

Mel Robbins's rule of 5 is very useful.  The 5 Second Rule is based on the idea that the brain will kill an idea if a person doesn't take action within five seconds. The rule is intended to disrupt hesitation and activate the prefrontal cortex, which helps people learn new positive behaviors. The less time the brain has to overthink an action, the more likely it is that the person will actually do it.

When you act that way, you will feel free and powerful.

I felt this when I was in Bhatbhateni Chakrapath the morning before my appointment with my doctor.

Six:

Haiku 1:

“Old pond
A frog jumps in –
The sound of water” -Basho
It reflects the spirituality of Zen Buddhism. The stillness of the pond represents a state of silence and oneness with nature, the breaking of the silence with the frog jumping in and the sound of water represents a happening, a moment of enlightenment.

Haiku 2:

“The snow of yesterday
That fell like cherry blossoms
Is water once again”  -Gozan (wrote at the age of 71)
It shows the circle of life a popular belief in Zen Buddhism. It also has the metaphorical meaning of transience as well with the cherry blossoms lasting a week, and snow melting almost immediately upon touching the ground.

Haiku 3:
“A world of dew,
And within every dewdrop
A world of struggle” -Issa
This haiku reflects Issa's personal struggle with pain, he wrote it after the loss of his first-born child soon after birth, as well as the death of his daughter less than two and a half years later.

Haiku 4:
“Even in Kyoto
Hearing the cuckoo’s cry,
I long for Kyoto” - Issa 
This haiku has a contemporary feel to it, yet describes a very essential truism about the nature of life. It is about memory and the nostalgia of a familiar place that we feel an attachment to. The feeling of attachment can cause suffering and pain when we are away from the place we love or if that place has changed too much.

Haiku 5
“The crow has flown away:
Swaying in the evening sun,
A leafless tree” -Natsume Soseki
This simple and elegant haiku by one of Japan’s most famous authors reflects the changing of the seasons, a common theme among Buddhist teachings.