Pastel-colored dancers in the autumn breeze

At Hannya-ji Temple, Stone Buddhist statues and Cosmoses welcome visitors 
nearby the entrance as well as in the precinct.
 

Cosmoses play around the Buddha image or Bodhisattva images. 
 

 

I like it when the effect of front bokeh added the lovely colors to the sober-colored stone statues 

and made them look wearing translucent pink cosmos-veil or feathery green veil.

 

The origin of the temple’s name “Hannya” is from“般若波羅蜜多心經/Hannya-kyo", 
or The Heart Sutra.  

The Heart Sutra is the most frequently used and recited text
in the entire Mahayana Buddhist tradition including Japan.

The text is short, a tip for anyone to live happy, to break through our fundamental delusion,
or to remove all egos completely which prevent us from waking up to our true heart. 

It's not easy to understand because it is about the "emptiness" in a nutshell. 

Neither to practice it, because human species have not only sentience but also reason. 

I don't try to understand hard
as the last words say, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

Instead, I try to keep a soft and flexible mind without rigidity, compassion, and attitude of "letting go",
which I have perceived from the teachings.

 That way, I would be able to live positive.

The Thirteen-story Stone Pagoda (13th Century)

Look around the pastel flowers floating in the light or dancing in the breeze!  

The ephemeral, wispy cosmoses look free and comfortable from the buds to the withering.  

 

According to the Kegon Sect of Buddhism (like Todaiji- Temple), each of us has a seed within us.
What we are supposed to do is to grow the seed to bloom beautifully someday. 

No comparison, you don't have to be Number One because you are already Only One.

 

This flower has the same name with the Universe.
Origin is "Kosmos", the Greek word for harmony or ordered universe.

Evenly placed petals, Cosmic beauty

Hannya-ji is a small temple located at the top of Nara-zaka (Nara slope), part of the old highway connecting Kyoto and Nara.  It has prospered as a study temple of the Heart Sutra repeating prosperity and declines including the catastrophes of being burnt down in 1180, 1490, 1567 and severe damages caused by the anti Buddhism movement in the early Meiji Period (1868-1912). 

The precinct of the Hannya-ji Temple is transformed into right yellow color in spring.

Hannya-ji Temple in Yamabuki color

Sakura in all its glory

From late March to mid-April or even early May, lovely shades of pink of sakura (cherry blossoms) blanket my country in soft and sweet splendor as different species of sakura bloom one after another.  

Deep pink weeping sakura (Benishidare) adorns the white walls of a house.

Pale pink weeping sakura

There are pink mist or clouds in fields, villages, and towns, or across the spring sky as far as you can see.  

When Japanese people say “Sakura season has come.”, the sakura means Somei-yoshino variety, which is one of the most popular and widely planted and cultivated flowering cherries in Japan.

Somei-yoshino in the glow of the setting sun

There are many places renowned as best sights for sakura-viewing, but you don't have to go to special places as they are everywhere.

Along the river

Sakura-viewing from a boat

Around the pond in my neighborhood

Sakura burst into bloom and then fall fleetingly and gracefully. 
When time comes, petals fall down like snowflakes even when there is hardly any breeze.

They remind us of how transient life is.

Life is about ten to fourteen days from buds to falling to the ground.

In my previous post about a French song “Ma Solitude”, I enjoyed your reaction to “solitude”. English word “solitude” is “kodoku” in Japanese which contains rather negative aspect of being alone. How about French “solitude”? The song title was “My Loneliness” in English translation.

Regarding English two words “solitude” and “loneliness”, I understand “solitude” as glorious aspect of being alone, while “loneliness” as sad and lonely aspect. We humans are fragile existence with impermanence, uncertainty, and sufferings. However, isn't it our strength and glory to live positively with the awareness of such weakness of ours in our mind?  Can't we live like sakura?

I always feel the sense of mystery and magic emanating from sakura.

Hope you enjoyed each sakura scene bathed in different light.

Enjoy your spring or autumn no matter what the weather is, dear Friends!

"Ma Solitude"

Ma Solitude/My Loneliness/私の孤独

by Georges Moustak

English translation: here

Music video Georges Moustaki, Ma Solitude (1970)

Pour avoir si souvent dormi

 Avec ma solitude

 Je m'en suis faite presque une amie

 Une douce habitude

Elle ne me quitte pas d'un pas

 Fidèle comme une ombre

 Elle m'a suivi çà et là

 Aux quatres coins du monde

Non, je ne suis jamais seul

 Avec ma solitude

私は孤独としばしば一緒に寝たから
孤独はまるで私の女友達のようで
甘美な習慣になってしまった

孤独は影のように忠実に私から一歩も離れず
世界の隅々まであちこちへと付きまとって来た

いや、私は孤独と一緒だから
決して独りぼっちではない

Quand elle est au creux de mon lit

 Elle prend toute la place

 Et nous passons de longues nuits

 Tous les deux face à face

Je ne sais vraiment pas jusqu'où

 Ira cette complice

 Faudra-t-il que j'y prenne goût

 Ou, que je réagisse ?

Non, je ne suis jamais seul

Avec ma solitude

孤独が私のベッドにうずくまれば
孤独は場所を独り占めにし
向き合って長い夜を共に過ごす

この共犯者がどこまで行こうとしているのか
私にはまるで分からない
好きになるべきなのだろうか
それとも逆らうべきなのだろうか

いや、私は孤独と一緒だから
決して独りぼっちではない

Par elle, j'ai autant appris

 Que j'ai versé de larmes

 Si parfois je la répudie

 Jamais elle ne désarme

Et, si je préférais l'amour

 D'une autre courtisane

 Elle sera à mon dernier jour

 Ma dernière compagne

Non, je ne suis jamais seul

 Avec ma solitude

涙することがあったりしても
私は孤独からたくさんの事を学んだ
時々私は孤独と決別しようとするけれど
孤独は抵抗し降参しようとしない

そしてもし私が別の戯れの恋をしたとしても
孤独は私の死の間際まで最後の伴侶となるだろう

いや、私は孤独と一緒だから
決して独りぼっちではない

(宇藤カザン訳　)

 Non, je ne suis jamais seul

Avec ma solitude

Georges Moustaki (May 3, 1934 – May 23, 2013) is the Egyptian-born French singer-songwriter of Greek origin. He is famed for his repertoire of simple romantic ballads. “Ma Solitude” was often played on radio call-in-music program when I was a college student. I liked to listen to his calming voice, beautiful melody, and euphony of the French language, which always sounds like music, without knowing its meaning because I didn't understand French. Recently I learned its philosophical touch.

While I sometimes consciously choose to be alone to enjoy my solitude, 

I’m aware of my loneliness as one existence.

Linked to Weekend Reflections