The Tao of Treebark
Fosdick
in its eye are mirrored far off mountainsAlaska, USA Veteran
I've spent my free time the last couple of months - while waiting for the sun to return to the frozen north - making a few bark-carved walking sticks. If you must hobble, best to hobble in style, eh?
I began by trying to impose an artificial design on the stick, but found this to be troublesome and, somehow, not quite right.
Gradually, I have found that the stick already knows how it wishes to be decorated, so I try to take its advice, not always successfully.
Taking the stick's advice might, perhaps, be regarded as following the Tao of the stick. It might also be regarded as just being mindful of the task and not of the self that wants to do the task. I think I like the Tao option better, perhaps because it conveys a sense of being guided by something, rather than presenting a blank, inanimate surface where, seemingly, the self must still make decisions in order to go forward. What do you think?
Comments
"Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it."
The thing is that there are as many statues inside the stone as there are sculptors. When we act, we create our own reality.
Just because we share the same reality doesn't mean that reality is "real". For years the Sun was thought to circle around the Earth until that reality was overturned.
I think I wouldn't mind buying one of those spectacular bark-tao walking sticks....
Ooh, me too!
That's awesome @Fosdick . I find the same. My grandfather was an amazing wood carver. I don't have his inherent talent, but I do love to do it. We have a lot of willow in our area, so it lends itself to diamond willow when you have time to hunt it down and haul it home. I made my hiking stick from it. I'd love to eventually make like a step stool or something. I live in MN so we have a long winter as well (first day of spring? What's that?) but my favorite is to sit out on the deck in the sun, especially in the fall, and carve on hunks of wood. They definitely know what they want to be as long as you know how to listen! Your projects are amazing.
Awesome @Fosdick . Id buy one too if you were selling
@Federica @silver @Hozan @karasti
Gassho, gassho, gassho beaucoup.
Anyone interested in acquiring such can message me and perhaps we can work something out - but don't expect efficiency on my part, I am quite disorganized at this point.
Well, if the transactions are to take place, I would respectfully suggest negotiations and agreements are undertaken via PM or email.... For my part, I'd appreciate an outline of cost + shipping. I will be happy to advise you of the correct length, pommel to base that I would prefer......
Yes, quite right. Anyone daring to take up this gauntlet agrees to an exchange of email addresses at 40 paces.
The sticks/vajra/dorge have power ...
Here is their mantra
Om Vajrapani Hum Phat
@lobster
This is quite fascinating to me, and I intend to sit with it for a while. I have felt a whift of this wrathful quality on occasion, but did not quite know how to regard it or where to go with it. Feels a bit like anger, a bit like iron determination, a bit like something else. Many thanks for the link. Maybe I will carve this Vajrapani onto a stick, if the right one ever appears.
idiot.
In Tantra, everything potentially becomes the path we hobble along. In other words the symbolic is everywhere and treated as actualised.
Stick to the Buddha: 'Hello!'
Buddha to stick: ?
Healing is the attribute of wooden wands.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kīla_(Buddhism)
... however yours are of the Tao and more natural ...
My sister makes artistic wands from twigs but does not consecrate (empower them) as then their nature changes ...
Edit:
Pic enclosed - see next post ...
I would be interested to see one (or more) of these artistically unconsecrated wands.