Sheltering-in-Place: Day 45

Sheltering-in-Place: Day 45

A woman stands to the side, wearing a T-shirt with a rhino on it. Colors explode from her head. The text on the image reads  My vanity is not more important than your safety. I will cut my own hair tonight.

The text on the image reads

My vanity is not more important than your safety.
I will cut my own hair tonight.

 

I have so many thoughts today that I think it's better if I say little. 

When I look at the state of my hair, I think

  1. I could just leave it be. It's just hair. Who cares, especially right now? 
  2. I could cut it myself and see what happens. I mean, worse isn't really an option.
  3. Shaving it off might be fun. Summer's coming. I'd be cooler.

 

All of these thoughts are rational, reasonable, and endanger no one.

Sensible and comfortable clothing were chosen for today. The shirt is one I had made for myself with one of my rhino paintings printed on it. Today seems like a good day to start up the Rhinoceros Sutra thing.

Stanza 1
Renouncing violence
for all living beings,
harming not even a one,
you would not wish for offspring,
so how a companion?
Wander alone
like a rhinoceros.

 

I'm not an expert in Buddhist thought—early, current, or otherwise. Being in quarantine, on lockdown, sheltering-in-place, or however you choose to characterize it, seems like a good time to consider the concepts of asceticism and solitude whether or not we agree with them.

So, I'm opening a doorway to thought. I'm doing what I can to harm no one.

 

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