8.14.10 Kandy, Sri Lanka
"Through practice it is possible to train the heart and mind, to make them steady and luminous and free. It is possible to become balanced in every kind of experience...We start to see that the worst and most difficult things also change, that they too are empty experiences, lights and shadows that we all share and that arise and pass in the clear space of mind."
-Jack Kornfield
Such a pleasant country, quickly endearing to the heart and to the senses; an inate friendliness in strangers, when offered a smile, one many times as large is given in return. Locals simply wanting to talk, nothing more, such simple motives in a comlicated world. The train ride through the hills of Lanka, from the steamy, oceanfront capital of Colombo to the ancient Buddhist capital of Kandy, sitting in the open steel doorway, joints welded many decades ago creaking with the swaying of the tracks, breeze and sun carrying cardomon and spice wafting, mist-enshrouded craggy peaks looming, the small train belching smoke as it struggled up the modest inclines, so many souls, so many tales, in tow...
