The Birth of a Dragonfly

Yesterday, while kayaking, i drifted into some water grass and watched a dragonfly being born.

When a certain Jurassic-looking waterbug is ready--almost an inch long--it uses its 6 legs to shimmy up a blade of water grass or a reed. There it stops in the breeze and the sun. It begins to breathe air, and this causes its exoskeleton to begin to crack and slowly hatch a winged body.

Awakening can seem as foreign as flying must seem to a bug who has only lived and "breathed"water its entire life. Yet one day, it clambers up a blade of water grass and the crossing over begins.

We who are chained to samsara with the 10 fetters* can indeed break through the husk in which we live. Actually, when we are ready, the husk simply cracks open.


*The 10 fetters are
--belief in a personality
--skeptical doubt
--rites & rituals

--sensual desire
--ill will

--craving for form
--craving for the formless
--conceit
--restlessness
--ignorance