Without and Within...
We saw the white Buddha again...
I had a plan that we would swim the length of the beach...
We changed the plan when we were actually in the sea and zoomy speedy jet ski things were racing randomly about..
Memories of being in the direct path of a speedboat that had not seen us in Corfu came flooding back... we decided to do something different...
Apart from this, the distance to the end of the beach did look a long way off!
And we had already been in the gym today... I spent twenty minutes of my sixty five minutes running. Achilles is happy to run, and body loved the feeling... But I still intend to keep taking this return to the running track very softly softly...
The new 'swim plan' was to go the other way along the coastline, to the rocks; no boats or zoomy things about - and closer too!
We reached the rocks, which turned out to be a long enough swim! - and we were treading water in the wonderful warm sea; it feels to have magical properties - like floating in a healing balm.... when I looked up...
'There's the white Buddha...'
It is huge, magnificent, bright white; sitting amongst green trees and the blue blue horizon. In safe hands between earth and sky; white and pure; an awe inspiring sight...
We resolved to swim there again tomorrow with the waterproof camera...
Earlier I had returned from my daily massage with Boc.
I was later arriving than usual and as I walked up the road she was sitting at a bar having a drink, she had also bought herself a pack of fruit to eat...
She saw me coming and started to move from her stool.
'No no finish your lunch' I said... 'I can wait...'
'It is okay' she said 'I can eat all day - I have been looking for you...'
'I know, I'm later' I said.
I followed her up the road and together we went into the cool treatment room.
I stripped off and we began our routine, our dance, her hands in conversation with my body...
I know her now and she knows me, although we have hardly spoken any words to one another.
My relaxation during the massage is deeper, I am not there; unattached thoughts mingle and merge and pictures appear and disappear, but nothing is formed; and then suddenly there is a rustle of a curtain, a movement outside, or my foot nearly falls off the bed! Something snaps me back for a moment and and then I am gone again; surrendering to her touch and my bodies willingness to let go...
'See you tomorrow..?' She asked as I left - 'Yes, tomorrow' I replied.
It will be my last visit to my new friend Boc.
When I came home, I was sharing with Anadi my experience of not being there when I am massaged; and we were chatting about tension, the complete absence of it at times and how to notice the conditions that surround that state of it not being there... and to notice its return...
As we were chatting, he idly opened the drawer of the desk where he is working, and instead of the bible you would expect to find in a UK Hotel, he discovered 'The Buddhist way to peace of mind' and a book called 'Without and within...' I asked him to pass me 'Without and within' and I randomly opened a page in it...
This is where I opened it...
'When you finally realise that this
Empty room you perceive yourself
To be in can never be truly empty
Until you - the observer of its emptiness-
Depart from it, that is the moment
When the fundamental delusion
About your true self disintegrates and
The pure delusion free mind arises
Ajara Maha Bua