Revisiting Pigasus

Time, perhaps, to briefly review why this blog is called "The Pigasus Project". 

Pigasus
Born May 21, 2011
Died May 30, 2011
"She Hung Around A Short While"

Annually, in May, we, at Zenwest, offer to the public, adults and children alike,  a celebration of Buddha's birthday.  Fun for the whole family, it features story telling by our Abbot Eshu Oshu on the birth of the historical Buddha, a chanting ceremony which involves pouring tea over the baby Buddha statue, music, baked treats and, for the kids, a piñata. (Check on-line at Zenwest.ca if you want to find out more about this event.)

In 2011, I was assigned the art project of creating the piñata and thus, the idea of Pigasus was born. Nobody liked the concept of filling it with assorted veggies wrapped in colourful tinfoil, toothbrushes, dental floss and the like. So candy it was. The tradition of wacking a piñata seems a wee bit brutal. "I will beat you until you give me sweetness." But, perhaps, it's a metaphor for the transient nature of all things.  

As surely as Pigasus was to be born from newsprint, glue, paint and goodies so to was Pigasus to perish. The Pigasus Project grew larger for me as I began to see it more as a symbol of our existence, in a punny way, as the Pig-As-Us. Since I more often play with words then I do art supplies, The Pigasus Project Blog was birthed. The blog limps along, some times fully engaged, other times in a kind of hibernation. 

Pigasus herself, created, birthed and lovingly annihilated in a very short span became the impetus of the story of an on-going inward journey and exploration. We are all the pig, not to denigrate the innate intelligence of the sometimes pink mammal, but our behaviour is often piggy. We seem to live in a culture where more is best, more stuff, more ideas, more thoughts. We struggle with letting go while clinging to that which we believe to be "good"; we also are adverse, push away that which we label as bad.  That too can be stuff, ideas, thoughts, beliefs, people. You name it, we often make relationship in one of two ways craving (clinging) and aversion. 

Take me for example, I seem to suffer from a narrative that is infused with struggling with depression and anxiety (which I want to push away) or feeling connected, peaceful, at one (which I would love to embrace forever).  Sometimes I am balanced, other times, I am not. 

This journey of making relationship is often in a state of flux.  After all, every thing comes and every thing goes. Both simple and also not so simple, it is cultivating an understanding from experience of the impermanence of ALL things. How do we do this? Look around. Be present. On the grander scale, all planets, all universes, all galaxies are born and die, all civilizations rise and fall, some ideas take root and flourish and then falter and disappear or become the compost for other ideas. All beings become form, live and then eventually die and nourish, in many senses of the word, the next generation of the living.

So it goes. It is inarguable. The proof is right before our very eyes. Indeed we are the very "Eyes Of The World".