New Beginnings

I have been called to start blogging again, welcome to my new site.  Why MoonlightCricket.com? Where did that name come from?

The above blog subtitle is a verse I wrote this past summer (2008) while sitting out on the grass under the pine trees in my backyard.  It sums up perfectly where the idea for the name came from.  The day had been hectic and I was mentally and physically exhausted.  I needed to be outside.  I needed to be still and listen; to settle my mind and body. Under the pines sitting in an upright position on the grass in the moonlight listening to crickets just seemed like the only thing to do at that moment.

The sound of the crickets song has always been so very soothing to me since I was a teenager growing up on an old farm in the Finger Lakes region of western New York state. I have always looked forward to their arrival during the summer and continued to cheer on the last ones left in late October and early November. For whatever reason, I feel a special connection with crickets that I just can’t explain. They just seem to fit with my love of the outdoors and my Zen practice of sitting meditation.  Just sitting and listening to them is one of my fondest activities of the summer.

Here’s a poem by a Zen teacher that I keep in my ‘zen nature’ collection… I’d like to share it with you today:

All night long I think of life’s labyrinth…

It’s in the dark that eyes probe earth and heaven,
In dream that the tormented seek present, past.
Enough! The mountain moon fills the window.
The lonely fall through, the garden rang with cricket song.
~ Betsugen (1294-1364)

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