The Sun Came Out

For a few moments yesterday, the sun came out and there was a sense of relief.  Still, the rivers continued to swell and people rushed for higher ground.  The mercy is that it has stopped raining and this will bring some drying to the saturated ground.

This morning I'll be at a local retirement center where 15 or so people, mostly women, gather each month for meditation and discussion on Buddhist topics.  I've been going there for about 8 or 9  years.  Almost all are over 85 years old and still they pursue inquiry into the mind and its workings.  They continue to learn and open their eyes and hearts to the world with no consideration of age.  Foremost in their effort is the heart of prayer for the condition of the world.  All would agree that they just want to leave the world in a little better situation than when they found it.

So then, consider this brief mantra from Hymn to the Perfection of Wisdom which can be recited on each prayer bead, "She brings Light so that all fear and distress may be forsaken and disperses the gloom and darkness of delusion."