seasons

we are about one month into winter, and it feels as though signs of the coming spring and summer are already manifesting themselves into our awareness. the other day i found, and killed, a mosquito in my room. my room on the 12th floor. it probably entered through the open window but i was surprised that mosquitos fly that high. or that they were active in the midst of winter. i uttered a short prayer for it after killing it.

the weather continues to get warmer. despite small inversions back to cold. and it seems, the seasons themselves are getting dragged away by some unseen force.

it is not spring because the flowers bloom, rather, the flowers bloom because it is spring. but if we had spring without flowers, would it still be spring?

we can look point to the warmer weather, spring rains, and the blooming flowers and say, spring has arrived. but can we ever perceive spring itself? all of these signs suggest spring, but spring itself is some untouchable, intangible idea. if there were no tangible signs to herald its coming, would it still be spring? perhaps, we might still say, spring has arrived, pointing to the calendar, but it would not be the same spring.

this spring is found in every flower petal, every warm breeze, yet it itself is none of these things. such are the seasons.

such is everything. all form is empty. yet in the emptiness, is form. all dharmas arise from the mind. without mind, all is empty. just as spring is created from the mind, so is everything else.