Yeah, I'm Lookin' Out My Window... uh-huhhhhh

"When shall I withdraw into the forest
And live among the trees
With birds and deer who say nothing unpleasant
But are a joy to live with?"
 - Shantideva, Bodhisattvacharyavatara

"I bow my head down at your feet, oh genuine guru,
In this uninhabited peaceful forest, this is how I am."
 - Milarepa, A Milarepa Doha

So, if you watch the weather channel, you've seen that there's a snowstorm hitting parts of Colorado... Specifically the part of Colorado to which I just moved.  I thought I'd give you a few first-hand-accounts by picture.

Also, I wanted to give a little virtual house warming (or, today it should be a house COLDING) to my new place.

Here's the view to the North:

Looking North

To the East:

Looking East

South Down the Driveway:

South Down the Driveway

and West:

Looking West

"In secluded forests, those places where the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the past found tranquility, there is nothing to make you busy, no distractions, no commerce, no fields to be worked, no childish friends.  Birds and wild deer are easy companions; spring water and leaves provide good ascetic fare.  Awareness is naturally clear and concentration develops by itself.  Without enemies, without friends, you can be free from the chains of attachment and hatred.  Such places have every advantage.  In The Moon Lamp Sutra and other sutras, Lord Buddha says that simply having the wish to go to solitary places and taking seven steps in their direction is worth more than making offerings to all the Budhas in the ten directions for as many kalpas as there are grains of sand in the Ganges.  How much more so if you actually go to live in such places.  It is also said:

In the perfect secluded place, deep in the mountains,
Everything one does is good.