Sweet Nicotiana

When i walked out the front door to empty the compost last night, i was enveloped in the sweet fragrance of nicotiana (flowering tobacco). I have a white garden, a moon garden, at my front door--all white flowers that are visible even without the moon tonight.

The flowers look scraggly during the day, but at night they shine, as they pump out their scent.

I, too, look a bit scraggly by daylight, but, as they say, you can't judge a book by its cover. Ayya Khema, a Buddhist nun, warns us not to project a self onto others.

It has taken me years to understand what she means. Since we have a self (or so we think), we project one onto everyone we see. But this is not necessarily true.

The person who is self-less may not be visible to our ordinary eyes, but we might recognize her by the sweet fragrance of her actions.