Buddha sends a postcard home #1 of 7

Dear Ma and Pa,

I hope everyone is well and happy. Sorry I have not been in touch. Sorry as well for sneaking out of the palace at night. I have a marvellous experience to tell you about. Some time ago I had a routine of sitting under a particular tree at the edge of a forest. I had not been looking after myself and some kind village children were bringing me milk and good things to eat. I was doing a lot of meditation. I sensed something important was developing.

                Sitting under this tree night after night I understood there is no fixed world out there. I suddenly saw that the world I experience came with me when I was born and will dissolve when I die. So everything I encounter is very special and I must treat it with awareness, care and respect. Awareness means being alive in the present moment, not distracted by thoughts of past and future. Now I live in peace, serenity and wonder, nothing to chase after or hide from, nothing to worry about.

                I am trying to describe a realisation that, really, is beyond words and concepts. When I come home  I will teach you to meditate. It is the only way to change our minds and be free of suffering.

Yours with a joyful mind,

Siddhartha (They call me the Buddha now.)

See: 

Old Path White Clouds: The Life Story of the Buddha

How to Cook Your Life: From the ZEN Kitchen to Enlightenment

Also: Poems, prose poems and imagined conversations

Buddha sends a postcard home #2

Buddha sends a postcard home #3

Buddha sends a postcard home #4

Buddha sends a postcard home #5

Buddha sends a postcard home #6

Buddha sends a postcard home #7