congratulations, Andi!

A big hug to Andi of One Robe, One Bowl, who has successfully completed her haeng-ja (postulancy) training and has been ordained a samini-sunim (novice nun, Skt. sramanerika). Andi-- now Soen Joon-- is on her way to full nunhood.

By the way, Andi, if you're reading this-- here's a passage from the end of CS Lewis's The Last Battle, the final book in his Narnia series, which I finished last week. It's a fictional vision of heaven. Lucy, the little girl from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, speaks first. With her is the Faun, Mr. Tumnus, also a character from the first book:

"I see," she said at last, thoughtfully. "I see now. This garden is like the Stable. It is far bigger inside than it was outside."

"Of course, Daughter of Eve," said the Faun. "The further up and the further in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside."

Lucy looked hard at the garden and saw that it was not really a garden at all, but a whole world, with its own rivers and woods and sea and mountains. But they were not strange: she knew them all.

"I see," she said. "This is still Narnia, and more real and more beautiful than the Narnia down below, just as it was more beautiful than the Narnia outside the Stable door! I see... world within world, Narnia within Narnia..."

"Yes," said Mr Tumnus, "like an onion: except that as you go in and in, each circle is larger than the last."

Good luck, sramanerika, as worlds continue to open before you!

And as always:

成佛하십시오!

_