After a life of teaching Tibetan Buddhism internationally and as head of Dharma Publishing, Arnaud Maitland has gone on long term retreat on an island off his native Holland. This is a beautiful report of his experiences.
Arnaud is the author of three books:
MasterWork, Living without Regret, and Reflections of Faith (Dharma Publishing).
Music and sound design by Stanton Hunter

On Time. Arnaud Maitland

cello sonata no. 2 adagio.wav

From the Stone Age 
by Alice Corbin Henderson

Long ago, some one carved me in the semblance of a god. 
I have forgot now what god I was meant to represent.
I have no consciousness now but of stone, sunlight, and rain; 
The sun baking my skin of stone, the wind lifting my hair;
The sun's light is hot upon me, 
The moon's light is cool,
Casting a silver-laced pattern of light and dark 
Over the planes of my body:
My thoughts now are the thoughts of a stone, 
My substance now is the substance of life itself; 
I have sunk deep into life as one sinks into sleep; 
Life is above me, below me, around me,
Moving through my pores of stone—
It does not matter how small the space you pack life in,
That space is as big as the universe 
Space, volume, and the overtone of volume 
Move through me like chords of music, 
Like the taste of happiness in the throat,
Which you fear to lose, though it may choke you— 
(In the cities this is not known,
For space there is emptiness,
And time is torment) ..... 
Since I became a stone
I have no need to remember anything— 
Everything is remembered for me; 
I live and I think and I dream as a stone, 
In the warm sunlight, in the grey rain; 
All my surfaces are touched to softness
By the light fingers of the wind,
The slow dripping of rain:
My body retains only faintly the image
It was meant to represent,
I am more beautiful and less rigid,
I am a part of space
Time has entered into me,
Life has passed through me–
What matter the name of the god I was meant to represent?

On Time. Arnaud Maitland

Stanton Hunter

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