Part 3 - Music From Afar

(Originally written January 21, 2009)

Part 3 - Music From Afar


"Let no one who loves be called unhappy. Even love unreturned has its rainbow."
-- James Matthew Barrie 

Tashiki was having difficulty keeping focus in his meditations. The Master had assured him that this was normal and that by continuing the process, he would once again feel the satisfaction of his efforts.

But Thashiki was becoming impatient. He could see himself doing his daily chores with less and less enthusiasm. He was being short with the other students. He even had harsh words for Qindao, which distressed both of them greatly.

Tashiki found himself frequently sitting near the edge of the grounds looking over the neighboring field towards a farmhouse on the neighboring hill. From that farmhouse, he could hear the faint tones of a wind chime. The chimes were tuned to the notes of a scale that Tashiki found very pleasing. The wind striking those notes at random produced music that always made him consider how seemingly random events could create such beauty.

Qindao found Tashiki there one day after Meditations.

"The Master wants to know why you have missed our Meditations," said Qindao.

"I cannot leave this spot," said Tashiki.

Qindao sat and listened with Tashiki. "It is beautiful," he noted.

Tashiki sighed with the weight of his internal conflict and disappointment. "I want it."

Many moments passed. Tashiki and Qindao sat listening to the chimes together and naturally slipped into their Meditation practice.

Qindao whispered, "You cannot posses all beauty. In fact, you cannot posses any beauty. Possession and beauty are mutually exclusive. One can only observe, experience, and appreciate."

Tashiki, still not satisfied, argued, "But can not I go and take this thing from the farmer who appreciates it not and bring it to us, or at least to me, and let us experience it here?"

Qindao chuckled quietly to himself, "Not only would that be stealing, which would make you no better than the bandits, that would be changing the nature of this beautiful thing. Do you think it would sound so sweet in your own window?"

Tashiki was still unconvinced. "It might!"

Qindao closed his eyes, seeing now the nature of Tashiki's problem. "Then, that is a decision you will have to make."

-----
Thus endeth today's lesson. Let us meditate upon it.

Claire de Lune
Music by Claude Debussy
Poem by Paul Verlaine

Your soul is as a moonlit landscape fair,
Peopled with maskers delicate and dim,
That play on lutes and dance and have an air
Of being sad in their fantastic trim.

The while they celebrate in minor strain
Triumphant love, effective enterprise,
They have an air of knowing all is vain,--
And through the quiet moonlight their songs rise,

The melancholy moonlight, sweet and lone,
That makes to dream the birds upon the tree,
And in their polished basins of white stone
The fountains tall to sob with ecstasy.