Dharma Jewelery & Zen Confections

Here is the little sister enso of the one I posted last time. The first part of the fun is creating the textured ground and then the deliciously goopy resin-like enso paint gets dripped on like cake icing. mmmm, I'm getting hungry. I'll have a large slice of enso with a double scoop of sukkha, a lovely Zen confection. But my foolish streak is getting tangled with my sweet tooth and if I'm not careful I might need a chiropractic adjustment (of the spiritual kind, of course).

As the days pass and life goes on, the little box cars of disappointment and sadness that have been passing over the terrain are trailing off in the distance. Disappointing house news. Several days pass. A pleasant phone call comes in. An art opening takes place. The garden needs water. Canada Day Fireworks. We pop into an eco-builder's open house. Each activity, like a delicate sheet of tissue paper adds an ethereal cloudy layer to what went before. The brilliant present fades into the foggy past. It is always that way, I think. The more difficult the situation, the more story we give it, the more extended the fade out process. If we can find our way to just let things be, their dream like quality makes itself known to us. If we keep tearing up and pulling off the layers of tissue, we prolong the process, contributing to our own suffering.

And while the intensity of experience fades with time, it is different than pushing it away. We're not beating off our sadness with ice cream or new shoes. We're just letting impermanence run its course. So while we're not indulging in comestibles or new wardrobe items Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche recommends the following jewellery: "Difficulties are like the ornaments of a good practitioner. Dharma is not practiced perfectly amidst pleasant circumstances."

What are your ornaments?