Simplicity

It's interesting how sufficient, how surprisingly content I feel doing simple tasks. I can only call it a sort of soul sufficiency. Such days I spend sitting out on my porch, shelling peanuts and beans. If I may add, the beans, homegrown from the garden and fresh off the stalk. I spent one fine morning harvesting my whole crop. I let my hands takeover and allowed my mind to wander. My thumbs developed small blisters as the routine of the cracking and splitting traced itself onto my hands. As I sat and shelled with Mphatso and Mama Chavula, people dropped by for a brief hello, marvelling that I could indeed shell my own peanuts. And as I described my intentions for the peanuts, to make ground nut flour, which is quite the involved process requiring me to pound the nuts to a fine powder, my visitors were a little more impressed.

And my day continued, I hand washed my laundry, sewed a curtain, cooked a little dende on the fire. It was a productive day yet utterly simple. It was beautiful sitting there, shelling peanuts, the cool post-rain wind nipping at me, a little sunshine peeking through the rain-tinged clouds. I felt at peace. Here was where I was meant to be.

I just read though the Four Great Vows of Buddhism, and the last: However incomparable the Buddha truth is, I vow to attain it. I deliberated on it. Perhaps that is the Buddha truth of sorts, the seeking of the space in time in which you feel at peace. The serenity contained in such moments is overwhelming in its truth. Its trueness to thought, to action, to speech. The efficacy of the moment reinforces my sense of self, of why I am where I am, reinforcing that I am where I'm supposed to be. My path, my current position it's just so exactly right, in as few words. Is that what the Buddha truth could be? Is that what finding “the way” could be alluding to?

It seems it could be so, in the simple pleasures, the simple actions, perhaps that is a source of oneness. The motion and action of the body unites with the fluidity and mental wavelengths of mind. Hm, something to ponder on.

What I know is that I treasure the moments I feel so clear sighted and attuned to my being, when the observation of my presence overcomes my acting self and I can appreciate and enjoy just being. Those are the times I strive for.