A Child Is To Play

I've had just enough time to...   play

 

A child looking for play...

I remembered as a child

Searching for the meaning of Life

Then went outside to play

When the head gets too heavy

Leaving the thinking

For another day

I was always confident

There is time to be wise

But the play is not going to wait

To start another day

Now only I realized

How wise I was as a child

So I am putting down my books

To go out and play…

while grown-up prays...

I saw this small boy in his bicycle outside the same temple in Surabaya. He was just looking for someone to play with. I contrasted him with the old man I saw sitting forlornly in the balcony upstairs and feel kind of sad. I identified more with this boy and think back to my youth and is envious of him. In the end, I turned out alright but due to poverty and due to the well-meaning but misplaced worries of adults, I lost a large part of my irreplaceable childhood which is why a part of me will never grow up but I’m blessed for that. Life works in mysterious ways.

the Gods stays...

away from the affairs of man...

Part I - The Monk & The Scriptures.

I've had just enough time to...   talk to the Monk about the scriptures.

Taken of the Monk & his books one night alone in Hangzhou, China.

“All the knowledge is in the scriptures”, the monk said.

“Studied it well and you will know all there is to know.”

The disciple took it to heart and studied it day and night.

And when he has memorized and could repeat every single word.

He went back to the monk with all he had learned.

“You have learned nothing”, the monk said.

“Except for the words you have read”

“The wisdom is not in the words”

“Go back and read some more!”

And the disciple burned the scriptures

And become a rich trader.

And the monk took another disciple

Who is asked to read more and more

And then some more…

The Turtle and the Stone.

I've had just enough time to...  hear the turtle's question.

Taken in Gunung Lang, Ipoh.

I carried the heaven on my back

And the earth under my belly

And made them my home.

I lived through the ages with balance,

In passive tolerance,

And harm no living creature.

But for all my wisdom,

I’ve an unanswered question,

The turtle asked the stone –

“Why, and What are you?”.