“Eye of the Sparrow, Dr. Fuji Un Ryu” pencil charcoal, 12” H x 15” W, $50.00
Seeing through seeing, we have all been tempted in Spring to rescue a baby animal, fallen from an unknown nest, abandoned, lost from its mama or den or stolen by a predator, left to die. Be it a fledgling sparrow, robin, baby possum, raccoon, orphaned kitten, injured pet store pup, or runaway ferret or palm tree parrot. Sometimes its squeal, cry, chirp, mewgnao or howl alerts us to our own pain of hearing another being in distress. More often we are drawn in by the little beast’s mystic eye of innocence, fragility, wisdom, wonder, curiosity, or ultimate dimension of need & vulnerability. The mutual gaze therein revealing an impossible request or message from beyond, perhaps an implied unity from another lifetime or plane of being right beneath our feet or human blindspot? Nonetheless, we pop it in a box, cuddle it with cotton, mash up a worm, squeeze a lil milk, talk some soothing gibberish and take it home.
Eihei Dogen Zenji (1,200-1,253), founder of Soto Zen, literary genius, & author of “ The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye”
compiled 300 koans to address this very intimacy of meeting eye to eye, like two arrows meeting in mid-air or 2 lightning bolts hitting the same turtle at the same time! Looking into the deep only to realize, like the whale eye in Pinocchio, that the deep is looking back! Your wolf dog suddenly returning your gaze like a furry four-footed Yoda! At no charge, 10x better than the best mind body pro listener guru. Fragile but infinitely generous in their old soul unconditional regard, this big-eyed scrawny lil feather lump was drawn by me 32 years ago quite casually & not from nature. I have held onto this hypnotic creature this whole time precisely in relation to my own sense of suffering, anomie, mortality or need & my profound curiosity at the profound wisdom & healing I seem to see & feel behind this gleaming orb?