try listening to bamboo

For this little meditation, you will need to find yourself in South Asia, I suspect. For it involves listening to bamboo, moving in the wind. But there's a particular way of listening to it which requires large bamboo.

On a day when there is some wind, or at least some breeze, find a clump of mature bamboo. The stem of the bamboo should be at least a few centimetres across, ideally 10 centimetres or more in diameter.

Then press your ear up against a stem of bamboo. And listen. If you have not tried this before, you may be surprised. A bamboo is talking in its own language. As the bamboo moves in the wind, the stems rub against each other, and the vibrations resonate in the bamboo itself. So listening to the bamboo, one hears a music, which is quite unlike any other sound. I will not attempt to describe it. It is something for you to try.

And the reason I include this as a meditation is that we, too, can live like the bamboo: bending back and forth at the mercy of the winds, and creating our own music thereby; not worrying about whether anyone is listening or not. We are just being, and moving in harmony with the forces of nature, the flow of existence, playing our part, creating our music. There's no need to judge whether this music is good or bad, whether people like it or dislike it. That is not the point. The point is, it is our music. It is our song. We only need to allow it to come into being, as the bamboo allows its song to come into being.

So try it: try listening to bamboo.