A Quiet Day at the Monastery

We can learn Dhamma from nature, from trees for example. A tree is born due to causes and it grows following the course of nature. Right here the tree is teaching us Dhamma, but we don't understand this. In due course, it grows and grows until it buds, flowers and fruit appear. All we see is the appearance of the flowers and fruit; we're unable to bring this within and contemplate it. Thus we don't know that the tree is teaching us Dhamma. The fruit appears and we merely eat it without investigating: sweet, sour or salty, it's the nature of the fruit. And this is Dhamma, the teaching of the fruit. Following on, the leaves grow old. They wither, die and then fall from the tree. All we see is that the leaves have fallen down. We step on them, we sweep them up, that's all. We don't investigate thoroughly, so we don't know that nature is teaching us. Later on the new leaves sprout, and we merely see that, without taking it further. We don't bring these things into our minds to contemplate. —Ajahn Chah "Tree Dhamma"

Ajahn Chah, Root profile shrine

No Worries

My partner bought a jasmine flower wreath for the Buddha that was given me by a monk a month ago. With our room smelling like fragrant jasmine we went to sleep, and I dreamt I became a monk. It has been in the back of my mind as worthwhile way to end your life.
So today, with the dream still alive, so I went to temple and did a prayer and sat for 1/2 an hour that had string tied from every Buddha to web hanging in the room. I think this is consecrated string from the eye opening ritual of a new Buddha image. Some joker would call it Wat Silly String. Then after I bought two more Buddha amulets from a monk out in front of this same temple. On the way there I was approached by two black men from Liberia, and being in an open-hearted frame of mind we chatted for awhile and exchanged numbers to meet a couple of days later. But as the day wore on, it seemed in my mind the real life spam characters who just happened to meet me, a single man with ipod on. It began to smell fishy, and two phone calls later plus a text message, I think they thought they had found a ‘mark.’ Count me out.
Venturing on, to get amulets in cases I ran into a street seller who spoke enough English to engage into an hour-long conversation about my Buddhist temple and practice. I also had with me Buddhist teachings by Luang Por Liem Thitadammo called “No Worries.” We talked about the importance of Dhamma and meditation to find the peace of mind to self-examine our actions. It was a good talk, with the two of us agreeing about everything. We parted when he had to pack up his wares for the day. I went by the river to have coffee and wait for the sun to go down some more so I could shoot at the golden hour. While walking down I ran into a Check tourist looking for the boat to take him back to his hotel area and walked him to the port and pointed out the boat to get on once it had arrived. Then killing time talking a hard sell boat trip man while waiting for the light to be just right for what really is a typical shot of Wat Arun.