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January 18, 2007  Corvids and Karma Bonnie, my connection with the world of Buddhism, left recently for the Far East. She is going on a two-month retreat to continue her immersion in that belief system. No, I don’t mean that ‘Far East,’ I mean the eastern coast of North America. As a result of her departure I am now unable to pepper her with Buddhism questions as I have for the past year and will miss those talks. During our most recent conversation she explained the idea of karma. It was quite unlike what I expected; and for that matter, all my concepts of Buddhism were unlike her explanations. I will not attempt to repeat what Bonnie said about the Buddhist karma teachings. First, because I didn’t absorb it all, and second, because it’s simpler to state what I’d believed karma was - essentially a ‘what goes around comes around’ sort of system. I thought about my old karma beliefs the other day. I was low on money, (not a new state for me,) and purchasing day old bread. It was a very cold day and on the way to the store I walked past a number of Crows and Ravens that looked positively hungry. Some were crouched low on the frozen ground trying to keep the wind from chilling their exposed legs. Others sat forlornly on lampposts watching the empty parking for any crumb that might be dropped. Though I felt I couldn’t afford to buy bread and give it to wild birds, the state of the birds outside gnawed at me as I looked at bread for my own consumption. I found some day old loaves for a dollar each then rummaged through the pile of bakery goods and found another loaf for fifty cents. Price was a concern but if it was to be food for wild birds then it should contain a high fat content. Unfortunately the loaf I found was white bread with a 0% fat content. Starving birds need food energy and white bread with its very low fat content had little to offer. Luckily, I dug further and managed to find a package of cheese buns that cost 50 cents with a fat content of 8%. I exited the store and crossed the parking lot heading towards the devil’s tower of snow sitting in the west corner. There were no crows in sight but I knew that would change once I began doling out the cheese buns. Before tossing out the first of the food, I broke it into smaller bits and pieces. Sometimes a big Raven will guard a single piece of food and be capable of fending off even starving crows who fear to take on such a large foe. I am wary of the store parking lot and tossing around what some might consider litter, so I climbed the backside of the snow pile, about 12 feet high, and threw the chunks into the wind. I descended and immediately watched a Crow turn on a dime and drop onto the snow pile. This action caught the attention of a Raven two streets away and it also raced through the air towards the snow pile. I walked away turning around often to watch as a flock of hungry birds began blanketing the snow. The lucky ones flew off with a chunk of cheese bun. A short distance away from the birds I noticed a stranded shopping cart stuck in the snow on the boulevard along the highway. It was from the store at the other end of town, and required a quarter being inserted before it could be removed from the other shopping carts. If I returned it I could reclaim 25 cents of what I’d spent on the birds. Happily I pushed the protesting cart across town. The cart’s small wheels bounced and spun over clumps of snow frozen to the sidewalk. I reached the store where the cart originated and thrust it into the line of its fellow carts. I am not a regular user of these buggies, so I had to study the mechanism holding the quarter. At first I couldn’t see how to release my ‘free’ 25 cents. The cart ahead of mine was no help either in that it also was detached from the locked bunch. Then I realized that it also held a quarter. The key hanging at the front of the locking device held the secret, so I inserted it to free my quarter and the one from the other buggy. I now held in my hand the total amount I’d spent on cheese buns for the birds. Was this karma or what? If Bonnie were here, she could probably tell me what the Buddhists would say on the matter. All I know is that having money I could ill afford to lose come back so swiftly, left me ready to bet on karma. I was reimbursed my fifty cents and had the pleasure of seeing starving birds get something to eat. It is the latter feeling that has me doling out bird food all year long and if once in a while my warped sense of karma picks up the bill that’s good too. To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column CLICK HERE |
