Blog 5: The Path

As the wind whirls and snow falls outside, I sit and contemplate this blog, my upcoming adventure, all that has transpired in the past few years, what I am currently feeling. I stop a moment and stand at the slider, gazing out at the world, focusing for a moment on the snow covered Buddha. I snap a photo, entranced by the calm and beauty of this little moment. I look up the meaning of the Begging Bowl and laugh to myself as so often in my life something captures my inner heart and I connect without fully understanding why.

The Begging Bowl principle is “to find a balance between extreme austerity and complete attachment”. Austerity in this scenario meaning living without things that are unnecessary.

I have slowly given away, packed away, minimized, and carried less and less as I adventure. First all my belongings I felt necessary to move from my house to a bedroom in a home of friends, then into an RV, and now into a single backpack I will carry with me for over 2000 miles.