Just a Simple Little Act.

Just a Simple Little Act.

Along the Path.

Yesterday I visited the art gallery in Edinburgh to view some of the art of Turner the famous watercolorist. I left inspired and uplifted. As I journey home I thought of my own art and how I might  make it just a little more alive. I thought of this and that, now I have to put my thoughts into practice.

It is all very well thinking but if thinking does not lead to action then all it is is thinking. Inspiration dies if it does not lead to action.

A student of meditation attended a famous philosophical school of Buddhism. He became the student of the great teacher Gasan. 

After spending a few years it came time for him to depart. As he prepared to leave his teacher Gasan warned him. "Studying the truth speculatively is useful as a way of collecting preaching material. But remember that unless you put it into action the light of that truth might go out."

There is the story of the man who was walking in the early hours along a beach. Before him he saw a man dancing along the beach. He thought to himself that this seemed a strange way to start your day. he picked up his pace to try and catch up with the man. As he drew nearer he noticed that the man was not in fact dancing. He was picking things off the beach and throwing them into the water. 

As he got nearer he saw that it was not stones he was throwing but starfish. He spoke to the young man and asked what he was doing. The young man told him, " The sun is coming up and the tide is going out. if these starfish are left on the beach they will dry out and die."

The man looked at him and said, "But there is miles of beach and hundreds of starfish you can never make much of a difference."

The young man picked up a starfish and threw into into the sea. As it hit the water he turned and said, "It sure has made a difference to that one."

Just because the task before seems immense or the thinking seems beyond practice is never a reason to let the light of concern go out. Every little action has ripples that can make momentous changes.

One small pebble thrown in a pool creates ripples that stretch way beyond the size of the pebble.

Todays painting I think needs one or two small changes tiny but I think they may lift it to greater heights.