sandeyeBirds and Buddhism
May 27th 2009 15:45
Last weekend, I attended the Buddha's Birthday celebrations in Wollongong Mall. I was not expecting to have anything crop up to talk about concerning birds, but it seems that even when attending religious and cultural celebrations, birds come into my life! I had two specific encounters with birds during this event.
At one point, I was standing around waiting for the next entertainment to start up, when I heard a shrill chirp. Thinking there might be a rainbow lorikeet in the nearby tree, I glanced with focus to locate the vocal bird. It turned out to be a brightly colored bird that was sitting on the shoulder of someone standing close by. Obviously some sort of pet, it was intermittently both nibbling the ear of its carer and sharing their lunch whilst standing on their shoulder in much the same way as our pigeons used to on mine. It would seem that I am not alone with combining birds and Buddhism in my life, if the carer decided to bring their pet to a Buddhist celebration! Someone else must also have noticed that birds benefit from the teachings of Buddha…
A little later, as I was seated and preparing for the afternoon entertainment, I noticed a couple of seagulls creeping towards the seating area. It did not take me long to understand why, when spotting a discarded French frie lying on the ground beneath the chairs. Those birds wanted the human garbage for their meal! unfortunately, a boy in the front row kept shooing the poor gulls away, so they never did get to munch the frie. I was going to pick it up and toss it to the gulls - but then a family sat between the frie and I, preventing my assisting. I suppose it was just as well, as there is a law in the mall that you are not allowed to feed the gulls - but they do not understand the complexity and idiocy of manmade laws…
At one point, I was standing around waiting for the next entertainment to start up, when I heard a shrill chirp. Thinking there might be a rainbow lorikeet in the nearby tree, I glanced with focus to locate the vocal bird. It turned out to be a brightly colored bird that was sitting on the shoulder of someone standing close by. Obviously some sort of pet, it was intermittently both nibbling the ear of its carer and sharing their lunch whilst standing on their shoulder in much the same way as our pigeons used to on mine. It would seem that I am not alone with combining birds and Buddhism in my life, if the carer decided to bring their pet to a Buddhist celebration! Someone else must also have noticed that birds benefit from the teachings of Buddha…
A little later, as I was seated and preparing for the afternoon entertainment, I noticed a couple of seagulls creeping towards the seating area. It did not take me long to understand why, when spotting a discarded French frie lying on the ground beneath the chairs. Those birds wanted the human garbage for their meal! unfortunately, a boy in the front row kept shooing the poor gulls away, so they never did get to munch the frie. I was going to pick it up and toss it to the gulls - but then a family sat between the frie and I, preventing my assisting. I suppose it was just as well, as there is a law in the mall that you are not allowed to feed the gulls - but they do not understand the complexity and idiocy of manmade laws…
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