Kwan Yin's Birthday

[firefly124]

By my reckoning, today is Kwan Yin's birthday, the 19th day of the 2nd solar month of the Chinese year. It is, I gather, different depending on what calendar you choose, which makes sense, given the number of different countries in which She is worshiped/revered/fill in more appropriate verb of choice. I had to pick one, and so I went with the one they use at Chuang Yen Monastery. If nothing else, that puts me in synch with when they hold Her two later-in-the-year festivals.

I had all sorts of elaborate plans that have, as such plans tend to do, evaporated into "what I can actually manage."

Often, this sort of shortfall leads to self-castigation. This time, at least, I'm getting a loud and clear, "Missing the point!" Which, yes, if I let myself get quite that caught up in form (easy to do) and neglect substance (staggeringly easy to do), I would definitely be missing the point.

Compassion. That's the point, the goal, and the reason. As a dedicant of Kwan Yin, that is, to borrow a fannish phrase, my Prime Directive. All else is window dressing. Very pretty window dressing at times, and not a bad thing in itself, but not the point.

Now if I can just remember that tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after. Might be time to drag out After the Ecstasy, the Laundry for a reread.