Writes Simon Carnell in Hare:
In India, in one of the Jataka stories reputed to have been told by the Buddha himself, Bodhisattva is born in one of his incarnations as a hare. In this form he preaches to several other animals the necessity of giving alms, and when they are visited by the god Sakka in the form of a hungry Brahmin, each of them offers food. But only the hare does so in an appropriate form, following the law that no life should be destroyed. He not only offers to sacrifice himself by leaping into a fire, but shakes his body three times to rid it of any creatures living in his fur. The offer is declined but, as a reward for his virtue, the incident is commemorated by the god by painting the hare's image on the moon. In another version the hare begins to carefully pick the insects from his fur in preparation for his death, and in a Sri Lankan version it is the Buddha himself who meets the self-sacrificing hare, rescues him from the fire and puts him on the moon.
Image: Takagi Haruyama (1850).
5 comments:
Beautiful . Thank you
the Budda's birthday tomorrow
I see seven hares on Saturday - it was windy and coudy and misting - they were moving in all directions
I was in the work shed after I got this evening and I noticed a passing movement outside the door
and on leaving the shed I saw a large hare sitting on the concrete the messaged its face with its paws and sat there for a while then it moved off through the sheep who totally ignores it but some of the younger lambs cocks their ears - definitely increased hare activity in this period and the action is now from dawn till dusk - where as other time they are about from dawn till about 10am
best wishes Shane
Hi, Shane!
It's good to hear from you. I always appreciate it when you share your observations and thoughts.
Did you ever see my response to your comment in relation to this post?
Hi
you ask me about postings - i am not clear what you mean BUT past experiences do cause me to be cautious about expressing ideas and perspectives in public posts ( everyone knows everyone else on this island of 4 million - if you give me off line email I can share more openly)
Well as i understand matters the Budda began its journey back from earth last evening and I was outside pondering as the moon came up over the hills to the south east and this time as I viewed the image of the hare on the moon face , a new awareness / insight was revealed -
the hares , hyperactive as they were on last saturday were mirroring my own hyperactivity to me - one perspective , maybe another angle could be that they are trying to bring my attention to the ''Dao'' -- i could read from their eyes that their alertness and flexible responsiveness was not the impuse of passion and maybe they were '' demo- ing'' to me - atunement with the '' way / path / road'' of limitlessness and to limitless Thanks to the Budda illumination (Buioch do Budda)
30 years or so ago , If i were to see 10 sightings over a year of hares it would be noteworthy and remarked on to my parents - Now the sightings are in the 100's and they ''almost come in for a ''quick'' tea'' - the hares identity has trans formed form being ''surprise visitors'' to being presenters ( more than teachers) of the Dao. Transformation is happening in additional places to the world of technology which we are all aware of.
my hare friends will be about by 6.30am and I have a myriad things to do tomorrow so i am better allow the unconscious to ''reboot''
all the best Shane
(needless to say your blog is profound)
Wonderful, Shane!
Hey, I have to apologize: it wasn't you who authored the comment I mentioned above, but someone else. Sorry about that. By the way, you can always e-mail me at minnehahaguy@gmail.com
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