The Last Autumn Leaf?

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A few moments ago, Rev. Do-on and I were walking on what we hope is the site of a new retreat center for our community, and a small miracle happened - I noticed my first falling leaf of the season.

Thus Fall begins. 

Thus I begin.  

And just like that, everything is fresh and new, invoked perfectly by the turning and death of this leaf, this body of the Buddha, this body of life, this body of the universe.  

In a blaze of color, the great returning is right here and the great giving is expressed again with leaf being leaf and ground being ground, and leaf being ground, and ground being leaf, and all of this being nothing other than the great body of awakening.

And still, even with all of that this particular leaf will not be here again.  So lets notice it with kindly eyes, and celebrate it with deep bows while we can. For someday we will see our last Autumn leaf, and this final Bodhi-leaf encounter may come and go without our knowing that this is what it was.

So, for me, the idea that heaven is a permanent fixed place where the leaves are always in perfect Fall bloom only serves to encourage a kind of devaluing of the moment as it presents itself right now, while truly embracing the fleeting nature of this leaf opens the gateway to really seeing it.

And to really being seen by the leaf too.  Lets not forget that part...

So actually, this leaf's not a small miracle at all - it's as huge as the universe.

Dig?










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