It feels like a night for random thoughts, so here are three:

First, a memory from last week. I was walking out to my car at 7am one day, getting ready to go to work, when I noticed the full moon setting in the west just as the dawn was breaking in the east. Ah yes, one of those perfect transitional moments in nature. The Queen of the Night was leaving, and the King of the Day was drawing near. It was like some kind of old German clock, where a figurine is leaving thru one door as another comes out of the opposite side.

The second thought is about President Bush’s latest brainstorm about Iraq, i.e. the “surge”. This is a classic example of the stitch that didn’t come in time. Had the US surged its troop strength back when the Iraqis went on their looting binge back in 2003, it might have done some good. But now? It seems to me as though this is a time for biting bullets, for getting real. And getting out, actually. (Although I would support a UN force to occupy the Baghdad area, where there could be a real bloodbath; that is, if a UN force could accept that it might actually need to fire weapons and kill people, and not just hang around with those blue-banded helmets on).

Third thought: I just read that the Mahayan Buddhists believe in a celestial bodhisattva names Manjushri, who cares for learners and students. Being one of this world’s eternal students, I’m glad to learn about Manjushri. I hope that the good Manjushri is looking down right now on me and my messy, book-strewn apartment. And on all those who never gave up on the beautiful act of learning, even when the classroom has been left far behind. Because if you want it, the world can be your classroom. Right, Manjushri?