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 Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:22 pm
Xiaowen bounded through the dewy grass, peering around on the search for something interesting to do to pass the time, but mostly looking for that meditating cat she had been seeing around. He had piqued her interest, and though the siamese still had the short attention span of kittens the world over, she was easily attracted to certain ideas. Inner peace appeared to be one of them.
Despite her best efforts though, inner peace was hard to get. It was so hard to stand still and be quiet! With an impatient wriggle, she wished that she could find enlightenment and still move around while she did it, but until she found a solution like that, she would look for the monk cat. He seemed to have all the answers, after all.
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:14 pm
Birman's ear twitched, the air around him moving faster than before. He furrowed his brow, trying to feel what it was that was different. While chanting his mantras, he had drifted off deep into his subconscious to meditate. But the change drew him back to his body.
"Whoa, how'd I get here?" Birman asked as he sat leaning against a tall oak tree. He did his best to remember, but gave up quickly and said a quick mantra under his breath. In a puff of smoke and water that only he could see, his sprite servant appeared. Birman smiled at his new companion. Only a few days ago he had found the little frog spirit buried deep inside his past life memories, and now used him to help remember all his experiences.
"Sprite, why did I come to this tree to meditate?"
The little spirit croaked and jumped from leaf to leaf as they fell from the tree. "You came here to start your spiritual training," it chirped.
Birman's ear flicked as he let his head fall back against the tree. In order to move forward, he must help others first. He squinted his eyes shut tight. 'How am I going to help others if I am just meditating all day?'
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Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 6:52 pm
Xiaowen's eyes widened. There he was! Leaping over to the Egyptian Mau, she tilted her head as he spoke to something she couldn't see, clearly whatever was going on it was magical and mystical wonderful things that only happened to the enlightened and she gave another wiggle.
When his head fell back, she saw her opportunity. Coming over, she tried to arrange her most serious please-teach-me expression on her face and sat next to him, waiting for him to notice her. She wasn't sure if you were allowed to talk to meditating people without warning and she didn't want to disrupt some trance and send him down the wrong mental path or anything.
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Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 7:58 pm
Birman's ear twitched toward Xiaowen, a smile easing up his face. As if by magic, here was his training delivered to him. He slowly opened his eyes and let the sun pierce through his mind, syncing him back into wakefulness. “Why good afternoon, little one, have you come to the tree for listening too?”
He watched as his sprite leaped from flower to flower till it hopped up onto Xiaowen's head. It croaked happily, a little tune that sounded like a slow lilting clarinet solo.
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Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 8:15 pm
Xiaowen could already tell that finding Birman was working, she felt at least five times for in harmony with the world than before. Tilting her head to look at him, she nodded gravely. "Yes, um, definitely yes!" she announced with a tinge of self-importance. "For oneness and everything. Listening." Clambering closer to the Mau now that she'd been addressed, she sat down right next to him and gave the tree a glance. "By the way, what are we listening for?"
The kitten blinked as the frog hopped onto her head and she gasped, swishing her tail eagerly and trying to see the sprite without actually making it fall off. It sounded so nice, she wanted a better look! "What is it, what is it?" she demanded with all the enthusiasm of youth.
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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 7:30 pm
Birman laughed as the sprite plopped on Xiaowen's head, its big glassy eyes staring out towards some unseen horizon. "It seems my little sprite has taken a liking to you, there. He isn't anything more than a little piece of me who I use to keep track of my thoughts and feelings. It seems that he came to life, of a sorts, last winter. I spent so much time meditating and clearing and categorizing my thoughts that I guess he sprouted a life of his own."
The sprite slid down Xiaowen's back and plopped headfirst onto the ground. Birman deftly thrust his paw out to catch him. "Like me he's a little on the clumsy and slow side."
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 9:23 pm
Xiaowen tried harder to see it, tail twitching curiously. A magical piece of Birman! It was very clear to the kitten that the Mau was the most awe inspiring cat on the face of the planet, and having a piece of him come to life just proved it even more.
Blinking as the sprite fell off, she stared at it, then looked back at Birman. "But you're not slow or clumsy at all!" she insisted vehemently. He was zenlike! He was above such character flaws! "Can you teach me how to do that? The whole magic mind-cleaning... thing?" Bright eyes flashing eagerly, she pleaded with the monk. "I want to be zen too and all, I'll try really hard, I promise!"
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Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:23 pm
Birman glowed as he smiled down at the little cat. He could sense her wonder rising to the surface. "Before you can begin to know yourself, it sometimes helps to know something else."
He put his back against the tree, let his hands rest on his knees, and closed his eyes. "This tree is standing tall and strong, isn't it? And I am leaning against his legs. If you silence your mind and your chatter, you can talk with your surroundings and get to know them. I have asked tress before how they think and about their viewpoint. And I have gathered over months of discussing this with them that plants in general live upside down, with their feet pointed towards the sky."
Birman felt his sprite plop back on his head. "Their life begins and ends in the earth. Their heads are buried safely and warmly downward. When they are cut down, or burned up, their heads stay in the ground where they either harden into stone or slowly slip away into the soil, their minds slowly leaving out of boredom or drive for something better."
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:58 pm
The younger cat clamped her mouth shut, following his advice and closing her eyes, but she wiggled with pent up energy. Xiaowen simply couldn't stand still! She wanted to feel the world Birman did, to speak with nature and find out what he knew, it was like there were whole universes he could tap into but she couldn't.
However hard she tried though, these worlds remained closed to her, stony silence no closer to being penetrated than she was to growing wings and flying. Impatiently, she itched at her collar, for it always chafed when she tried to stand still, and she looked at the Mau again with her wide blue eyes. "What about us?" she asked, seeking to distract them both. "Where do we begin and end?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:21 pm
Birman counldn't help but smile as Xiowen trued to sit still, her energy was spilling out all over. "very good question" Birman contemplated for a moment "With your eyes open you seem to begin at your nose and end at the tail, but close your eyes and you can expand your consciousness out form your self. Spirit and body can separate. In the end body returns to the earth, and provides for new life. Spirit moves on either to join a new body or ascends to a higher level." He placed a hand on Xiowen's head, "You know, you don't have to sit still to meditate, perhaps we will try another method for you." He stood up and started to spin slowly in a circle. "Whirlimg is an extreamely powerful way to merge with the divine. Start with your weight on your left foot and rotate counterclockwise on the ball of that foot. Use your right foot to push off and maintain balance. Your eyes should gaze softly ahead, without a focus. Slowly raise your arms to shoulder level , with the palm of the right hand turned up and the palm of the left hand turned down. focus on the knuckle of your left index finger. when you are ready to stop pick a spot on a tree and stare at it till everything stops spinning and your body comes to rest."
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