The stuff of dreams and fables and mythic love stories...

Last week's voyage to the sacred temple city of Kamakura yielded embodied resonance of may lifetimes as a Rinzai Zen monk - the quite nobility of a lineage that continued the graceful life-ways of the Samurai long after their warrior-priest culture had been subsumed by Dynasty. So beautiful! Walking the grounds of Kencho-ji Temple awoke in me the stillness of dependent co-arising and oneness through the mindfulness path.

I was floored by the temple containing the statue of the Buddha upon his enlightenment. Emaciated, a bony presence, he emanates light. A snow leopard looks up at his feel. Above him is a great white dragon, carrying the pearl of unknowable wisdom in her great claws.

Sitting in the temple contemplation garden, I felt no impulse to move - a great calm and peace flowing thought me.

On the way out, an unusual Quan Yin beckoned, here pure heart of compassion held also in a globe in her stone hands. Truly divine!

Later, at the Bamboo temple - the pure voice of natural harmony. Wordless harmonies in the lovingly manicured garden. The vertical peace of bamboo. The green-gold light of late afternoon sun through a wind touseled canopy.

And, at the last moment, the extraordinary visitation of this White Fairie. I turned and saw her. Such a being of light in the green folds of bamboo eternity.