Seeing Yet Again
OK. I hadn’t planned to keep posting these “Now I See” exercises, but I feel like I’m on a roll, so here goes.
This is what I saw/wrote on yet another visit to Guanyin:
Now I see the tension in the pose. He/she looks more like a “he” at this moment and I see the poised action, the able-to-get-up-at-any-moment of the posture. He is relaxed…yes. Noble. Regal. Completely at ease in his power. And also alert. There is potential energy in the way he is resting his weight on one thigh. He sits firm. Solid. Still. And yet there is openness. The counterbalance of his outstretched arm, resting lightly on the bent and slightly backward-leaning knee implies a readiness to move. To get up. To respond. His head is tilted slightly forward. The momentum is there. He could arise at any moment.
And yet he rests. Serene. Untroubled. With eyes inward-focused. But listening, it seems.
Now I see that he is bare chested. And exposed. Draped with movement…or the potential for movement. His chest-piece rests, yet dangles. His garment falls away. His back is shaded and his shoulders are covered. But his chest is open. On display, almost.
“See,” he seems to be saying, “I am peaceful, but not enclosed. Not protected. I am stillness. But I am also movement. I am timeless, but embodied.”
Now I see that his flesh has weight, yet softness. It curves and folds. The delicate underside of one arm is open. The tender sole of one foot is up-turned and exposed.
“I am here to receive,” he says. “I can bear your viewing of me. Your projections. Your needs and desires. I am at rest, yet I am not unmoved. I will respond…but at a time when I choose. I am not insensitive to that which is directed toward me. I am present. Vulnerable. Open. I may become action at any moment. I am not passive. But I am not troubled. And I will not be disturbed.”