Well, technically I was about to dig in with my current wonder of vegetarian interest: Zen salad with Wasabi-Mayo. Ever since that visit to Sonya's Garden, I've found a taste for salads.
So here I am at the office, having just poured the creamy, exotic Wasabi mayo on the lettuce, and started mixing the whole lot to coat every leaf, as is my Obsessive Compulsive habit.
Upon turning over a leaf (literally), I find myself staring at what would be best described as an inch long caterpillar. It wasn't disgusting, per se, but then again it might be because I'm a guy. So there I was, holding a white plastic fork and it's accompanying white plastic knife, staring at what was in all intents and purposes, a being who was heartily enjoying my salad.
I came to this conclusion when I gingerly poked the caterpillar, who responded with a rather irritable twitch. A reaction I fully understood. After all, in retrospect, I was the one who was intruding in his lunch, and had the temerity to toss him about while he was nibbling on a lettuce leaf, and then rudely poke him on the side with the dull end of a plastic knife.
So I sighed and stood up, determined to get a refund for being served someone else's meal, while that certain someone was still eating the said meal. (Am I making sense?) Passing by a co-worker's station to show her the bizzare caterpillar, and made my way back to the place I bought the salad to return it and get a refund.
All said and done, I don't feel really bad about not being able to have my salad today. I figure i'll just swing by Jollibee or something for fried chicken and ice cream. I feel justified.
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Speaking of me looking at something on my lunch, and it being equally irritated that me intruding on it's lunch, I'm reminded of the little story:
"I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?" - Chuang Tzu
In this case while staring at the caterpillar I actually sympathized with it, as it was having lunch, just as I was about to. Maybe that's the reason that Jain Monks and nuns are sometimes seen with muslin cloths over their mouths to keep out flying insects, and they are enjoined to use small brooms to gently sweep away living creatures from their path, so as to not accidentally crush them.
Groovy Zen moment there.
I guess that Zen Salad delivered something else rather than the promise of physical fulfillment after all...
1 comment:
Maybe the caterpillar was happy enough that a Big, Powerful, Evolved Being chose not to follow the foodchain. ^_^
Heck, I've had a rather large (think five-inch long, half-inch wide) catterpillar hitch-hike on my pants for my trip home from UP to Galleria. It was only when a lady behind me noticed the clingy creature that I actually took note that my left pant leg did feel relatively heavier. I twist back, look down, and there was Mr. Ruffles. looking up back at me and saying "hi".
I left him by a safer side of the road, hopeful that pedestrians would have enough heart not to squish the little fellow. He had come quite a long way, after all.
Thanks for sharing. This gave me warm fuzzy feelings.
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