Buddhas Around Town


I think it highly unlikely that the neighbor who chose to decorate a front yard with a silver-painted pig and wood chips intended in any way to reference Vishnu in his incarnation as a boar. But as I’m caught up in learning about the animal chariots and incarnations of the 330 million these days, that is what came to mind for me.
There’s a story that Vishnu incarnated as a boar to kill a demon who could not be killed by man or god (similar to the story about Durga slaying Mahisha, the buffalo demon).
When in anthropomorphic form, Varaha is often seen with Bhudevi (Earth goddess) and sometimes also Lakshmi. There she is again–Lakshmi–calling to me to remind me to act from my abundance (from there comes my capacity to slay demons).
These orchids were left out with the trash in the neighborhood yesterday. Though my bags were full from a walk to the farmers market, I did not want to leave them to perish when they could yet offer more beauty.
Despite what looked like months of neglect–the plants evidently owned only for their blooming time and not their full growing cycle–there was optimistic new growth.
Time will tell whether they will rebloom. For now, they look pretty happy to have a new home.