Christmas Dana in Myanmar

I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunities to do charitable acts (dana) in far away lands. This Christmas dana brought me joy and here is what I have learned about giving.

I have come to realize that a dana is a gift - to the recipient and to oneself. To give, there must be one to receive. There were times when I truly wanted to give but I couldn't. I must also confess (in case I give a false impression of myself here) that there were also times where the was a need but I didn't feel inspired to give. Hence, my conclusion: For a dana to happen, something up / out there and in there (the heart) must be aligned. I don't take it for granted.

I have learned that it does not always have to be money nor does it have to be a large amount. In the recent year, I grew aware of myself giving my time, my presence, my attention. I rank these as harder to part with than money.

Genuine giving transcends race, colour, religion, and all things that we have created to separate us. In my imagination, when giver and recipient connect, the connection is magical. It is beyond this plane. A bright light bridges the two. All barriers are blurred. In my little mind, I count giving to one who is different from oneself as a 'bigger dana' simply because you have to overcome your prejudices first.
PS - I hope Ae and Ew will visit this blog one day and be joyful seeing the wonderful dana that they did when they were 1 and 3 years old.

Our Christmas breakfast dana in Myanmar was to a group of yogis in a meditation centre.
It also marks our Wedding Anniversary.

Simple maybe but priceless



Love the red hat!



The nunnery that we contributed to



The nun looks happy



The wonderful people who made it possible



We spotted an old neighbour in this photo and felt a connection

Butterflies on the Balcony

Our first hatchling
We kept the pupa under the central vacumn cleaner and forgot about it. When I found it, it was too late, the butterfly did not get to stretch its wings upon hatching and one wing remained folded. It lived on the balcony for a few days - hoping from plant to plant.

4 caterpillars hatched on our lemon tree after that

Going to sleep now, when I awake I will be a butterfly
(Did he know and believe in that ?)

Green at first

Then brown

Beautiful butterfly - we saw this one

The others - we saw the empty shells left behind

I wonder if a caterpillar knows it will become a butterfly. Does he know that he will enter a deep sleep and wake up again in a different form ? Does he face fear ? Or is he excited ? Or both ? That reminds me of death. We face death as an end to this life. I think about my final moments from time to time. I fear it. In those thought I am already missing my rahula (attachments). It is difficult for me to think of the end as the beginning of the next. Well, if in this life, all I do is crawl about eating leaves and poop all day, I really wouldn't care so much. Since I don't, I  want to remember to make aspirations for a peaceful and mindful end.