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DIALOGUE:

Frame 1:

King Flower: Do you remember when you were a bud? Apriori Flower: I remember some but not much.

Frame 2:

King Flower: At what point do you remember? Apriori Flower: I'm not sure. You pointed out a bud and said I was like this once.

Frame 3:

Apriori Flower: I used my imagination at that time and I went back in my memory to that point. King Flower: What did you remember?

Frame 4:

Apriori Flower: I remember darkness, then shapes and light. Eventually I could distinguish some things from other things. King Flower:Your memory was like a flower bud.

Frame 5:

Apriori Flower: My memory is a flower bud! King Flower: Your mind is a flower bud.

Frame 6:

King Flower: There was a human who was called Buddha. A lotus flower is symbolic for him. Apriori Flower: A lotus flower is beautiful but it grows from stinky, muddy water.

Frame 7:

King Flower: Thus the Buddha was the awakened mind. His mind was a bud that flowered. Apriori Flower: My practice is the bud to flower as awakened mind.

CONCLUSION:

Apriori Flower is brought into a historical teaching from his own perspective. For some of us this is an effective means to obtain greater knowledge. The knowledge he learns is the knowledge of his mind blooming.

The concept of Buddha is introduced here as a play on the word Buddha and bud. A bud is a flower in the preparation of blooming. It is like a baby becoming grown. Apriori reflects on the time when he only saw dark, then shapes and then light. For him he understands misunderstanding to understanding.

The lotus flower is compared to the Buddha's awakening and also to Apriori's own life. King wants Apriori to know that he will become awakened.

DIALOGUE:

Frame 1:

King Flower: Did you see me watching myself? Apriori Flower: Is that why you were quiet?

Frame 2:

King Flower: I was quiet because I was watching myself. Apriori Flower: I was watching you too.

Frame 3:

King Flower: When you were watching me. What did you learn. Apriori Flower:I saw you swaying in the breeze. I saw you following the sun.

Frame 4:

King Flower: When I was swaying in the breeze what did you learn? Apriori Flower:I learned to observe you. I observed you to grow.

Frame 5:

King Flower: When I was following the sun what did you learn? Apriori Flower: I learned that you were following the sun.

Frame 6:

King Flower: Watching myself how can I follow the sun? Apriori Flower: You were practicing by being silent.

Frame 7:

King Flower: Everything we do is practice. Watching myself is practice. Apriori Flower: Watching you is practice. What am I learning about me?

CONCLUSION:

Practice is something we do all of the time. We have erratic or focused practice. Meditation is paying attention to silence while practicing. Even when playing music there is a focus on silence. The silence is what the music rests upon. Silence is the foundation.

Apriori is now unsure that he is learning about himself. King, he sees, is well into his own practice. The silence now leads Apriori to doubt. Doubt is a silent foundation to truth. The Dhamma is the protector because doubt removes obstacles. We may become despondent but with focused practice we become confident.

Practice is doing what we can do. By doing we grow in merit. By doing we grow. Our actions and the observed results increase our ability to achieve. It is up to us to make good of all of our actions.

DIALOGUE:

Frame 1:

Apriori Flower: How do you know you are Master? King Flower: Because you call me Master. Otherwise I am King.

Frame 2:

Apriori Flower: How do you know that you are King? King Flower: Because you call me King. Otherwise I am a flower.

Frame 3:

Apriori Flower: How do you know you are a flower? King Flower: Because you call me a flower. Otherwise I am a being.

Frame 4:

Apriori Flower: How do you know you are a being? King Flower: You tell me I'm a being that's how I know.

Frame 5:

Apriori Flower: Before I was here how did you know? King Flower: I had a teacher and she told me so.

Frame 6:

Apriori Flower: Where is she? Where is your teacher? King Flower: She eventually lost moisture, withered and became earth.

Frame 7:

Apriori Flower: I came from earth. Maybe I am your teacher? King Flower: Every day you are my teacher.

CONCLUSION:

The student, Apriori, always asks questions of the master, King Flower. King Flower was once young too. King Flower had a teacher. She was his master. In the same way he as Baby King asked her many similar questions.

Apriori touches on where he came from. He came from earth. King noted that his teacher lost moisture, withered away and she became part of earth. This is the cycle and recycle of life. Life holds onto forms and then lets those forms go. These are states of being.

Finally the big message here is consciousness and self identification. Because the mind is trained by stimulation it assumes the roles stimulated by identifying with shapes, colors, words and ideas. There is a point in our memories where chaos becomes form. Eventually with mindful training we learn to let go. This is our focused practice.

Next Post: Apriori Flower 20161209 -- "The Cycle of Teacher and Student II"

The next comic for 20161209 will have the dialogue between King Flower and his teacher. She is Queen Flower and he is Baby Flower.

Thank you for reading!