I promised myself to visit Yannawa temple during daytime so that I could take photos of the temple in broad daylight. I usually visited the temple in late afternoon to avoid sunstroke as the heat was quite extreme during the day. Since I had a few errands to manage in this area, I took a chance to stop at Yannawa temple around noon. The sunshine was searing hot so I had to find some shades around the temple. It was so hot that all the stray cats were hiding in some cool corners around the car park.
I went straight towards the river to see the scenery in bright sunshine. By the time I had finished feeding about twenty stray cats, the river would be covered in darkness. I preferred the cooler atmosphere of the pier and enjoyed the reflections of lightings on the water. But I could see the surroundings much clearer and with more details in bright sunshine. There’s a sense of dynamic energy moving with more intensity in the atmosphere and along the river. My mind felt very alert as my eyes picked up the subtle nuance in the air. It was good to feel the contrast between the yin and yang energy flows at the temple.
I concluded that I was probably a creature of gentle light and evening habits. I could never understand how birds could get up so early to hunt for food and fly around in hot weather with thick feather coats. I could more easily identify with elephants that would stay in wet muddy ponds or swim for hours in the river. They would take long naps under trees and bushes most of the day. I tried to take photos of the pigeons at the pier but they could sense I wasn’t one of them so they were quite reluctant to cooperate with me.
The strong sunshine prevented people and monks from coming out in open spaces. Even temple cats were sleeping in dark cool corners. They were very wise to look after their health. I was the only fool walking around at noon taking photos with my old mobile phones. One day I hope I would have more sensibility and be practically realistic for the sake of good health. The conscious side of my brain seemed to have more influence than my subconscious and intuition.
So, I learned my lessons the hard way most of the time. I often wondered why I seemed to be punishing myself and sabotaging my own efforts. I could only concluded that was partly due to my past lives’ karmas. It’s hard to pay back all the karmic debts from so many past lives. But I would continue to do my best by practicing Buddha’s teachings as consistently as possible. I seeked out some stray cats that might want some cat food. Luckily, they were glad to see me and I could do some good karma on a very hot day at the temple.
After feeding those cats, I had to take refuge in the air-conditioned shopping mall along New Road. I had to go to the bank to get some cash for my shopping and a visit to a new ice cream parlor after my street food dinner. I still had the excuse to treat myself nicely after my illness in which I lost three kilos in six days. The body needed extra nourishment, protein and minerals. Being on hot sunshine did destabilise my balance a little; I sweated too much unfer the heat.
This process of getting seriously ill and the recovery process have been an important learning process about life and its precious moments. This made me very sympathetic with cats and kittens that were poorly ill, I would give these cats some medicine with some wet food. I finally decided that i preferred the sunset hours by the river and enjoyed the River scenery at night.
The temple did look more beautiful under the midday sunshine which reflected the gold decorations on the roofs. It would have been much nicer if there were some tall and old trees in the temple. I should allocate some time to explore the inside of temple halls and old antique pieces one day.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
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