Pilgrim Walk - Clear Jewel

During today's pilgrim walk I was gifted a clear-jeweled talisman/amulet. I was walking alone on a prairie path with sparse young trees lining the way. I was chanting Amitabha Buddha and experiencing a dark descent into mind when I happened to look to my right and two feet away, eye-level, was a golden ribbon tied to a thin tree branch. Hanging from the ribbon was a clear jewel, preceded by smaller jewels. Was it a necklace or bracelet or something else? Unsure even now, as I carried it home snug in my left palm. When I saw the bright golden color I stopped walking and turned to face it. It was very close and perfectly placed so I guessed it was a gift, to whom I do not know. 

I decided to accept the gift if the jewel were easily removed from the tree. If I sensed the jewel was not meant to be removed I would let it be. I gave a soft short tug to the ribbon and it easily unraveled revealing one more knot, so I gave another tug and the knot loosened, allowing the ribbon to surprisingly slide off the branch and fall into the palm of my left hand. My mood, which prior was dark and gloomy, had now shifted brighter. 

As I walked along the path, jewel in hand, the Seven Crows arrived and when I looked up into the tree in which they perched there appeared a black bird on every branch. I had an impression the jewel was an extension of the Wish-fulfilling Jewel Tree and the gift was access to its wisdom leaves. I am unsure how to use the Jewel so for now I plan to carry it with me on pilgrim walks.

Shining One

The day began with the Seven Crows calling to me from high in the trees, they were so distant that they appeared small and ghost-like from where I stood. I offered the day's pilgrim walk and thanked them for their protection.

I passed the pilgrim walk home base twice today. On the return there was a break in the clouds and the statue of the saint became a Shining One and as I stood before its presence a warm radiance bathed my tired flesh. I was seeing things so distinct and clear that I was reminded of visiting Chicago as a child and the scene outside the car window was so colorful and sharp that a great excitement overcame me and the image was burned into memory. 

During the afternoon walk my body was more relaxed than usual and this allowed me to smile easily.  The air was mild and sometimes the sun could be seen. At the music shell in Millennium Park I attracted children as if they were moths racing to a flame.

The Seven Crows

During today's morning pilgrim walk I was going to my friend's home and was on the usual route and as I passed out of the AIC campus and into Grant Park I crossed paths with the Seven Crows. I heard them and looked up and they were above me in the trees. I had been thinking about the Seven Crows earlier in the morning and so was startled to see them materialize. As I walked through the tree grove the Crows followed close and to make sure I remained aware of their presence they continually called loudly while flying from tree to tree to stay within close range of me. When I reached the end of the grove I was going to turn west leading into the downtown streets but the crows spoke so strongly that I turned to them and wondered what they wanted. It occurred to me they were perhaps trying to not only delay the progress of my walk but also to alter its direction, so instead of going west I turned north and walked back into the tree grove where the crows became more excited and followed me into the lane. One of them dropped down out of the trees and I heard his rushing flight as he clipped my shadow. I stood still then and looked up and after thanking them for their protection I offered the day's walk to them. 

As I left the tree grove one block north of my usual route I had the strong impression that the Seven Crows had deliberately altered the course of my day's path and I wondered to what end. Death's presence felt close by as I walked west through the downtown streets under a blanket of cold gray sky. My emotions altered between trepidation and bold stupidity. All I could do was walk and smile, smile and walk. I was relieved when I reached my destination and thanked the Seven Crows again for guiding me safely through the morning walk.

Pilgrim Walk 10

The nature of samsara is nirvana from the outset.
Deluded thoughts subside completely
Like the clouds that melt into the sky.
Know that they subside there whence they came.
Preserve this state of utter peace,
Primordial wisdom, empty, luminous.

Longchenpa

 

Pilgrim Walk 9

 

Along this road

Is none but I

This autumn eve.

Basho

 

 

Pilgrim Walk 8 - Finding Rest in Illusion

The joy you want, the pain you prevent -
Are simply dreams.  Not even for an instant
Should you think them true.

When moving, sitting, eating, walking, speaking,
Tell yourself with undistracted mindfulness,
'It's all a dream.'

Whatever may appear, whatever you may do or think,
Never lose the thought that it is but a dream.

Longchenpa

 

Pilgrim Walk 7 - White Out

First cold day of the season and as I started the walk to my friend's home at UIC a driving snow was blitzing the city and for the next four miles I struggled to reach my destination. At the half way point I wanted to turn back, my feet were wet and cold and jacket and hat soaked in white ice. I was walking west, directly into a strong wind. "I'm too old and weak for this...." "Yes, you are, but the Great Protector is not." With that in mind I trudged forward chanting Amitabha Buddha. 

The walkways were slick with ice and I was having trouble staying on my feet so when grassy white patches appeared I broke into a running trot because this was the easiest way to stay balanced. Surprisingly my knee was fine, most likely due to the spongy surface of the snowy grass. "Just get to the church, if I can see the statue of the saint I will offer my bag of Ceylon tea." When I reached the saint at St Francis Church I felt like an animated snowman as I pressed the tea cone into the snow at the base of the statue. I wanted to make a picture of the saint but the camera battery had died long before.

Now it is evening, I am back home warm and snug.  I will most likely take a walking break this weekend to allow rest for my injured knee.

Pilgrim Walk 6 - Marc Antony

Returning from my friend's house at UIC for the afternoon pilgrim walk I experienced a rush of good karma, not unlike going on a rush of good cards at the poker table, where everything I touch turns golden. Of course such pleasures in life don't last long so I made sure to savor the quickly passing day. 

It started when I doubted my inner strength for the pilgrim's path. My heart was pulling me in the direction of Harold Washington but I was stubborn and refused the request, "I'm not strong enough to face the sad and hostile faces in there," and then I heard the rejoinder.... "true, you are not strong enough, but the Great Protector is," and I saw that being on the pilgrim's path meant I was protected by the various benefactors of the path. So I inhaled and smiled and walked into Harold Washington where I borrowed four books found by chance. As I was leaving the library I recognized a wanderer of the path, she was walking in front of me, a spindly old lady who was wearing a cloak of ragged humility so that few would recognize who she really was. I was well behind her, twenty feet perhaps, and this small thin spirit used much strength to hold open the heavy entrance door for me. She held that door with great effort and looked directly into my soul, giving me a smile which created chills of gratitude. "Bless you!" I said as I passed her, giving her the very best smile I could imagine and a thought arose as I passed out of her presence, "this is what it's like arriving in heaven, smiles all around."

I next stopped at Millennium Park Gardens and sat next to a burnt orange tree guarding the entrance to the modern art wing. I decided to read one of the books, Being Peace, and opened to a random page : "Hien means 'the present time.' We have to be in the present time, because only the present is real, only in the present moment can we be alive." I looked up as a passing couple crossed my path and when I gazed at the face of the man he gave me a tremendously good-natured smile, a smile so pure and....grateful....that I no longer could recognize or make sense of my own personal social karma. Looks of love and light did not happen to James very often, if at all, so I bow low to James because he burnt much bad karma and now I, Francis, am reaping the rewards. That smile, only a blessed one should get such a look! Having spent a year's worth of good karma on that one smile I got up wondering what the heck is going on, is the pilgrim's walk actually the real thing? 

I decided to walk to the Bean and after making a few photos walked through the north end of the park and a man on a scooter approached and asked a man who was walking ahead of me if he had a light, the man did not and so I smiled and offered my lighter. My social karmic reality continued its trend of positive interaction and I spoke and smoked with the man for fifteen minutes. The man, a construction worker, was giving me glances of a most incredible affection and seeming gratitude. I recognized that it was not ugly Francis who these passing people were interacting with, but rather they were gazing at and speaking with the engine of this pilgrim's walk - the spirit light which was protecting Francis! At the end of the conversation he asked my name and I had been so engaged with him that I had to pause to remember "...Francis..." "Nice to meet you Francis, I am Marc Antony."  When I looked at Marc I imagined him to be a ghost wanderer on the pilgrim's path, welcoming the newbs with a smile and a smoke. He shook my hand and said "please take this..." it was the joint we had been smoking, there was still half left. I looked at it longingly, Marc Antony smoked good shit. "I can't Marc." "Please, Francis..."  I took the joint and when I got home I made fried chicken with rice and corn bread and finished the joint, the smoke of angels and ghosts superior to anything I had ever had. Thank you, Marc Antony.

 

Pilgrim Walk 5 and The Blue House

Not much happening on the pilgrim walk today, I am unsure if I will continue to make photos and write about each walking day but for now I am having fun with it.

Yesterday when I was at Harold Washington I borrowed two books which I found by chance, one by Thomas Merton called The Inner Experience said this in the first chapter : 

"At such time it would be singularly unfeeling as well as dishonest for me to suggest that peace, joy, and happiness are easily found along that most arid stretch of man's spiritual pilgrimage : the life of contemplation. More often than not, the way of contemplation is not even a way, and if one follows it, what he finds is nothing. Later on in these pages we hope to justify the apparent fruitlessness of the quest."

 

When I left Urbana last month I asked Rachel to send me a picture of the house I painted when the maple tree turned yellow. Yesterday Rachel sent me the picture :

 

Pilgrim Walk 4

I am uncertain why I am bringing a camera with me on the pilgrim's path. The camera was my mistress for 18 years and perhaps I am still not over her so for old times sake I let her record my memories. The camera had not been in my thoughts until the first pilgrim walk and for reasons unknown I dusted it and placed it in my pocket and walked out the door. 

My social karma today was both poor and good depending on the hour and the place. During the afternoon walk I stopped at Harold Washington and felt like stepping into an alternate reality where instead of the good karma I have enjoyed I instead suffer through constant hostility. All I could do was keep walking and smiling and hope to burn through it. 

The pilgrim's walk is a peculiar thing, it came upon me so sudden and unexpected, unprovoked and perhaps even unwanted. I don't know what good it is doing for me or others, although I have been blessed with great beauty which is consistently assaulting my greedy eyes. The city now seems new and fresh as if I traveled a long distance to reach here. 

If I want to see heaven and the Pink Angel I must arrive by mind and into hell I can also descend, trapped in a slave's body or a slave to greedy senses?

 

Pilgrim Walk 3 - Morning

Woke at 5:30am and thoughts of the Pink Angel were in my mind so I quickly dressed and soon was out on the pilgrimage path. As I arrived at the Jewel Tree I crossed paths with the Pink Angel who was walking from the tree just as the sun was breaking the horizon. I stood in the usual place behind the tree making mental offerings and gazing at the Pink Angel's offering in the thinly dimmed gray light. I noticed that part of the offering was pieces of fabric tied to the tree. As the sun's pale cold light began to illuminate the scene I made photos and then placed rice on the ground next to the Pink Angel's offering. A surge of intense positive energy radiated into and out of my body and I imagined I was being blessed by the Pink Angel's smile. 

 

Pilgrim Walk 2

I brought a chunk of bread on the walk today imagining I might find birds who would be happy to eat it. At the track twenty sparrows landed at my feet and when the bread was in my hand the birds became joyful and some of them floated like hummingbirds inches from my face while others perched upon my cold fingers.

I decided that during a pilgrimage walk I should try to maintain silence of speech but within 5 minutes of practice I passed a woman and wished her a good morning. I realized it is more important to maintain silence within with the hope that silence without follows.