Sometimes I chant alot and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I wake up, take my shower and just starting chanting while I'm drinking my coffee outside and reading the paper. This morning was one of those mornings. When I wake up and my brain is already spinning, chanting while going through my morning routine seems to get me out of my head and allows me to enjoy my backyard in the morning.
So I was doing that when a stunningly bright yellow bird flew low and fast across the grass, the pool and into the trees. We have lots of birds in our yard. I've seen at least 4 different types of hummingbirds, we have pheasants nesting there, grey hawks living right above us, owls, bluejays. But I'd never seen anything like this. The first thing my brain thought was that it was a sign of some sort from the universe that I was in a good place spritually, plugged in, so to speak (someday I'll explain what birds have to do with that). And so, thinking that the bird was a manifestation of my life condition reflected in my environment, I kept chanting and walked to where the bird disapeared into the trees.
It was right there, looking directly at me as I chanted. I didn't get too close but I chanted to it (in my brain I am chanting with it), bowed to it, and while continuing to chant went back to my coffee and promptly forgot about the bird. Which, btw, I consider an indication of my spiritual growth. Not too long ago I would have obsessed about it, I would have chanted with it for a long time, probably long enough for my wife to come out and think I had gone nuts, and then would have continued to look for bird signs all day. Which, as you'll see, in this case might have gotten messy.
So there I was chanting, drinking my coffee and reading about foreclosures and the Dodgers when I feel something drop onto my foot. I look down and, of course it's bird crap. Miraculously though it dropped directly onto the thin strap of my flip flops and not on my actual flesh. I look up and there's that same bird right over my head standing on the patio overhang looking down at me and I realize it's a parakeet. Maybe it was someone's pet. Maybe that person chanted and maybe the bird was just trying to say thanks for the daimoku by giving me the only gift it knew how to give.
All I know is that I enjoyed my morning immensely. I don't know if there's anyone else in the world who would have been as encouraged by that little bird as me. It gave me real joy, and reminded me of some of the strange experiences I've had over the years with birds and insects which, at least in my brain, helped to open the way for me. And probably most importantly, it helped me to see how much less attached to these sorts of things I am than I used to be. I actually like my everyday existence and I don't need to chase some special state of life but it is nice to have a little magic dropped in every now and then.
Posted by bill at August 21, 2009 04:20 PM"para" keet.
Para or pari is evidently a Sanskrit prefix that has roughly the same meaning as in English. We see it is parinirvana, paramita, parishuddhi, paragate, parasamgate. ... It ssems to point to something transcendent; something above and beyond the meaning of the same word without the prefix.
I thought maybe you had seen a goldfinch. I hope the parakeet found its way home.
Posted by: robin at August 22, 2009 04:55 AMHey Robin,
You got me thinking so I checked wikipedia and it was definitely a parakeet, I think it was a Regent from what I can tell.
Thanks for the para info.
Bill
Posted by: Bill at August 22, 2009 07:05 AMWe have a lot of birds in my neighborhood. I especially love the mockingbirds and catbirds. They are pretty smart, and not particularly afraid to get close (though not too close) so I love watching them around my neighborhood.
We also have Cardinals, Blue Jays, and a lot of sparrows. The sparrows live in a small thicket on one corner of my property. Most years they make a lot of noise there. This year they've been relatively silent, and that is sad, because I think our neighbor cleaned out his part of the thicket. I prefer the birds. I'm thinking of putting in bird houses.
I admire Robin's garden. One year I hope to have the time to keep one half as good. I admire your parakeet. I read that there used to be a species of migratory parakeet that lived in the US northeast. It went extinct because people hunted them out of existence. They did this along with the Passenger Pidgeon and other species. They seemed so abundant that nobody thought to take some and leave the rest to reproduce until they were gone.
There are a couple of yellow birds that live around here too, but none of them are parakeets.
Chris
Posted by: Chris at August 25, 2009 09:28 PMEver seen The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill?
That movie opened my eyes to birds as individual
creatures.
We have lots of birds here unless the hawks are out.
Or owls at night. You can tell they're near because
you can't hear birdsong.
Wow, Bill, I think you're pretty evolved spiritually
to have a bird crap on your shoe and appreciate it!!
I'm taking that lesson to heart. Patty
"Hope is the thing with feathers. That perches in the soul, And sings the tune--without the words, And never stops at all..." ~Emily Dickinson
Ever since I read this - after having a dream with a little white bird in the early 90s - I often see birds as messengers, reminders of connection. I have had wild birds come and sit on my knee, swoop in and sit on my table looking at me, walk up to me and chirp - many incidents. It always makes me feel good, open, connected. I suspect the bird's point of view has something to do with food. LOL.
So great to be reading you and your family. xxx
Posted by: Laurie at October 17, 2009 06:16 PM