Long Walks On Leafy Streets

11/30/2014 Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC
I just got home from meditation at the Buddhist Vihara, with the Washington Mindfulness Community. It was cool but pleasant. Today was a welcome warm day after a cold spell. The low clouds reflected the city lights as I biked on streets still strewn with dry leaves, enjoying the night breeze. I am glad I went this evening even though I was tired. I hadn’t been to meditation in a few weeks. After a long and hectic week it was a good change of pace. As soon as I entered Vihara the quietness and the energy of people meditating hit me like a sudden gust and immediately I knew what I had been missing. Even though I had been meditating at home regularly, being with the Sangha is a different experience altogether. We continue to pray for the well-being and recovery of our teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.
Earlier this week, on the eve of Thanksgiving, we had our first snow.
I remember my first snow in Washington, DC. The year was 1994 and it was the day before Thanksgiving. I was living near Piney Branch Rd and University Blvd near the Langley Park corner. As I got off the K6 bus on the way home I saw the first flakes of snow. It was my first ever experience of snowflakes falling from the sky and to this day it is a magical memory. I realized that it was quite cold and I didn’t have a winter jacket. So as soon as I got off the bus I went into K-mart and bought one. That K-mart is not around anymore in that corner, but the area is still bustling with many ethnic stores and restaurants, including Latino, Caribbean and Indian. The Woodlands South Indian vegetarian restaurant here is our favorite and it is quite popular amongst people in this area.
On Wednesday afternoon I had to take my father to the dentist. It was still snowing when I took the metro to Jayashree’s place near the Shady Grove metro station. Big, wet flakes. As I walked by the corner of Crabbs Branch Rd and Redland Road I happened to look at the meadow on one side and a lake on the other side. The plants in the meadow and the pine trees on the other side of the lake were speckled all over with silvery ice glistening in the gray afternoon light. I had to pause for a moment to take it in. Sometimes nature simply stops you in your track and forces you to forget everything you are doing and marvel in the beauty that is creation.

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