The Circle Game

The Circle Game

8th Century Xiao Yan Ta.  Used to store
translations of Buddhist scriptires

“The seasons they go round and round

And the painted ponies go up and down.

We’re captured on a carousel of time.

We can’t return we can only look behind from where we came

And go round and round and round in the circle game.”

I spent quite a lot of time everyday observing my progress and my thoughts about my progress.  It’s as if my mind is a vehicle inside the body and there is a committee, of sorts, which makes decisions.  Conscious awareness fluctuates between sensations experienced by the vehicle and involvement in the rather complex and random deliberations of the committee.  Sometimes I watch a decision coming up with some interest to see how the committee reaches it’s conclusion.  I don’t believe there is a consistent executive branch so it’s hard to say who actually authorized the decision.  It becomes clear once action is taken.  

Distributed leadership is a better description of the process.

Here are a few examples.  Yesterday I went to the Shaanxi Museum.  Went by bus, waited in a long line-up, got in free thanks to my special card and wandered among wonders from ancient dynasties.  I like how Tang dynasty artists can project their humanity, even their sense of humour, over the intervening centuries.  The painted ponies toss their heads in tri-coloured glazes. This region nurtured human settlements for the last 6,000 years at a minimum.  We go round and round the seasons like the words of the song, going up and down as empires rise and fall.

Tang Dynasty Silk Road; Tri-coloured glaze

I returned to my neighbourhood in a taxi, went to the movie house on impulse and saw the poster of the movie about Xuan Zang – the famous Tang dynasty monk.  As luck would have it, the show started in five minutes!  I only had time to walk in and sit down before it began.  The movie itself was disappointing, but I enjoyed so much the synchronicity of the timing which I could not have arranged better even if I had carefully planned the whole day.  The monk himself would have been at pains to point out how this world has about it a dreamlike quality – images and sensations swirl around, ever-changing – only the dreamer is real.

This is not a ‘selfish’ view.  The reality of the dreamer encompasses all living beings.  We are all the same dreamer.  It is our nature to get caught in our imaginings like the dog which excitedly chases it’s tail.  “We can’t return, we can only look….”  If we look from the proper angle, with the right understanding, without attachment…………..the game is wondrous and bright with joy.