The image of a tiny quartz buddha surrounded by minute flowers has always represented the clearness of mind that is central to buddhism. The Luminosity or Vajrayana, is the state of mind of the practitioner who allows things to pass through her just as the light passes through this Buddha's round smiling face. My favourite of Rilke's poems complements the visual. Nothing clings to the tiny Buddha, rather it passes through him, transformed. It reminds me that after I'm gone there will still be laughing faces and fields of flowers and light.
by Rainer Maria Rilke
English translation by Stephen Mitchell
Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet–
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.
Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,
a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.
I've always been proud of this photo. I took it with an old Canon point-n-shoot that had an amazing digital macro. It was a great little camera, way easier than switching lens on my DSLR
