On The Edge of Los Padres National Forest, California

The crickets are chirping away in the night and cool air on a light breeze is wafting in the window. Wonderful! This is high country and the air at the moment is dry and thin. Sounds travel remarkably long distances. A dog is barking now, or is it a coyote. I hear tell of wild flowers, abundant in spring, and of seasonal rains and even a drop of light snow in winter. I’m so glad to have been able to spend these days here with two close fellow monastics. It has been a tonic.

Links removed from this post because they didn’t work so well.

Californian Sun – Shining

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Walking up the hill in the early morning
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to find Hotei had arrived already. Full of joy – together.
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Later, in town. Oranges – on a tree!
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and from Disneyland, or maybe outer space….these trees!

Film Review:
K-PAX. This is a film in which a psychiatrist comes up shining, compassionate, thoughtful and kind. And patients get better. What could be better! Serious matters such as life and death and cause and effect are set against a backdrop of mystery. All this, coupled with humour, making this a must watch again film.

Dharmaflix has a review too.

Hippocrates

Thanks to Walter for his comment on this post which included this translation of the quote by Hippocrates, the Greek Father of Medicine:

Ars longa,
vita brevis,
occasio praeceps,
experimentum periculosum,
iudicium difficile

Usually translated as:

[The] art is long,
life is short,
opportunity fleeting,
experiment dangerous,
judgment difficult.

A pause now, for thought…..

See also here for more on the Oath.

Also Jacks comment (and Angie’s) on the The Other Side Of Medicine – Easing Death.

This post has been modified on 3rd August. The Hippocratic Oath and the quote above, while related, are not the same thing. It would seem….