FEATURE 127 ~Windhorse Closing Ritual ~ Stupa Visualisation & Recollection

Here are the words to a visualisation & recollection that I wrote for the opening part of Windhorse's Closing Ritual on 26th March 2015.

Photo by Shakyakumara

The Windhorse Stupa ~ Visualisation & Recollection

Consciousness ~ Blue Sky into this appears

Imagine the Windhorse stupa floating in the middle of a vast cobalt blue sky,

Earth  ~ Into this we put

The dust everywhere in the warehouse and in computer keyboards, the mouse droppings, the feeling of concrete beneath the feet, the weight of inner and outer box sizes, of palettes of lever arche files, the dense texture of wood and metal of desks, the pulling and pushing of a palette truck, trolley or fork lift, the touch of plastic computer screens & keyboards, the sensation of being down the end of a forty foot container, of driving a van on a motorway on an open country road, of eating cake, the sense of our body mass as it works, stands, sits, walks or takes a nap, the earth is where our ideas, thoughts, plans, organising, dreams, aspirations grew from, our care for each other, the amount of work we have to do, the responsibilities we hold, all of these place a weight upon our shoulders. All these things ground us in the world of gravity, in the everyday here and now.

Water ~ Into this we put

The pounding of our blood when we worked hard, the moistness of cups of tea and coffee in our throat, the rumble of heavy rain on the metal warehouse roof, the rolling boil and steam of cooking food, water condensing and forming rivulets on windows, the soapy wipes as the windows were cleaned, the moistening of stamps, sweating in the warehouse in the height of summer, washing down the outside of cars and vans,the flow of newly arrived boxes from a container, the flow of work from an effective team in tune with each other, going with the flow of calls one after the other, filling oneself up with inspiration, being a glass more than half full, observing the eddies,flows and drift of your emotions and responses, the flow of arisings and ceasings year on year, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second. Little births and little deaths.

Fire - Into this we put

The heat from tea urns, the warmth from radiators, the hum of the warehouse heating system, sunbathing on the grass in lunchtime, yoga and tai chi outside in the summer,

in the heat of the moment, the anger and passion behind our disagreements, the fire of our animosities, the warmth of friendships, the energy we have applied in pursuit of the good, the fire of wisdom, ethics and meditations, the fire of self-belief and confidence, the fire of work as spiritual practice to burn up our unskilfullness, our confessions, the incense and candles we’ve lit as offerings, the tantric periods, the personal cremation grounds, giving more of ourselves, trying to transform not just ourselves but also the world, these have been the flames transmuting samsara into nirvana.

Air - Into this we put

All the hot air warming the building, the warm air rising in the stairwell in summer, the breezes blowing through opened delivery doors, the perfumed smell of incense wafting and permeating the atmosphere, the smell of dinner as you approach the canteen, the smells of coffee, tea, motor oil, paint, wood, earth, sweat, plastic, cloth, nag champa, marker pens,dust, anti freeze,fresh cut vegetables and herbs, newly mown grass, the flavours of cooking, the sound of music, of sawing and hammering, into the air went our grosser motivations like the sound of our voices they disappeared into the air, the air absorbs everything but holds nothing, into the air went our spiritual delusions and our spiritual aspirations,into the air will go all the energy, ingenuity and effort we all put into this business. we cannot see it, we cannot hold onto it,  but still we know it is there.

Space - Into this we put

The echoes of working and talking ricocheting around the chamber of the warehouse, the sense of the vastness of its cavernous space, space is multi-faceted, able to encompass boxes of stock, people, machines,racking, lighting, boilers,heaters, desks, chairs, filing cabinets, paperwork, ,musical instruments, a gym, a stupa, a shrine room, a kitchen, a workshop, a tea counter, a photocopier, plants, the sense of our bodies moving through this space watching, taking all this in, for 13 years we have been occupying,filling up and using this space, the space to raise money to support Buddhist practice both here and around the world, to support the lives of others and help alleviate their suffering. here we have been making space for the Dharma to be ever more fully present.