On the mountain Rumasala stands a beautiful snow-white pagoda, a gift of Japanese Buddhists, a symbol of harmony, unity and peace. The son of King Suddodan and Queen Maya – Prince Siddharth, whose name means «the fulfillment of all desires» looks into the azure distance. Immediately after birth, he made seven steps in each direction of the world. With my right hand I pointed to the sky, my left hand to the bottom, to declare the purpose of my birth. «Above and under heaven, I am revered.» The three worlds are filled with suffering, from which I will bring liberation.»
The art of creating mudras is the language of fingers and hands. Abhaya mudra, a symbol of the fearlessness of the Buddha – raised right hand with fingers outstretched on the unfolded palm. Kataka is wise – the left hand of the Buddha, bent half, supports the monastic cloak on the shoulder.
Quiet whisper of the rain. Falling drops shake Krishna’s favorite flowers on the tree of life – plumeria. Late in the evening, fishermen leave the shore. Like fireflies in the ocean, the lights are burning all night on the bars of fishing boats. On the path in the tropical jungle resting monitor. Among the lianas, wild monkeys jump along branches of tall trees.
White herons wander on the green lawns of the old fort Halle. A light coolness in the shade of the great banyans. A delicate aroma of flowers in the churchyard. Tea bushes cover the endless mountain slopes.
Star lotus is the national flower of Sri Lanka, a symbol of truth, purity and self-control, one of 108 favorable signs found in Buddha’s tracks. According to legend, when the Buddha died, the beautiful lotus flowers blossomed everywhere where he passed.
Autumn sun
illuminated the shore,
tree bends
in transparent glass…
Equilibrium at 5° from the equator:
12 hours a day,
12 hours – night,
12 hours – the sun,
12 hours – rain.
The pink glint of the setting sun stretched over the waves, went out in the clouds and the veil of darkness slowly covered the Indian Ocean…
Autumn. White plane. Back home, to the cold gray shores.
Пленительность уединения
Век за веком в стремлении к святости, в желании отринуть земные помыслы и обрести истинное христианское совершенство прибывают подвижники в Беломорскую глушь, приют отшельников у Полярного круга, жемчужину Русского Севера – Соловецкий архипелаг. В причудливых очертаниях островов слились песчаные отмели и обвитые кудрявыми желтыми водорослями громадные валуны, горделивые сосны и витиеватые стволы низкорослых берез, залитые светом изящные розы среди шелковистых изумрудных елей в лесной глуши Макарьевской пустыни, покрытые серебристым флером переливы извилистых озер, остроконечные верхушки монастырских башен и величие старинных каменных стен с узкими проемами бойниц.
В меркнущих радужных красках уходящего лета солнечные лучи освещают серое небо. Свинцовые тучи уносятся прочь. Небесная лазурь, сверкающие блики Святого озера и крики беспокойных белокрылых чаек глушат печаль. Певучий северный говор островитян, дух великого подвижничества и пленительность уединения смягчают мрачную тень прошлого.
Fence splitting
Century after century in the pursuit of holiness, in desire to reject earthly thoughts and to find true Christian perfection, ascetics come to the White Sea wilderness, shelter of hermits near the Arctic Circle, the pearl of the Russian North – the Solovetsky archipelago. In the bizarre outlines of the islands sandy shallows merged and the huge boulders, proud pines and ornate trunks of dwarf birches, light-filled roses among the silken emerald fir trees in the wilderness of the Makaryevskaya desert, covered with a silvery fleurid overflow of winding lakes, pointed peaks of the monastery towers and greatness ancient stone walls with narrow apertures of loopholes.
In the dying rainbow colors of the departing summer, the sun’s