Today is Full Moon Day, lunar August 15th, to Chinese, it’s like Thanksgiving in the western world. It’s harvest moon, we celebrate our harvest by eating moon cakes with the family. Moon cake is round like the full moon, resembles the fullness of family, a returning towards the family, a complete circle. No edge, no missing part, no corner, everything you need is here, embrace with your full heart, that’s the purpose of the celebration. Also it’s a mid-year celebration, cheer a little for the past and go on to the second half of the year.
I walked out to the yard close to midnight, the clouds almost cleared out, the moon is so bright, soft moonlight lit up the entire yard, like a soft sheet of silk covering up the world. I can see the ripened pears still hanging on the tree, so ripen they overflow with rich fragrance in the air, I can easily understand why Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty used the fresh fruits as natural aroma for her living chamber 200 years ago. We had our first harvest of pomegranates this year; those red shining pomegranates are so full and shining red, like delicate little lanterns popped open its little lips with a full belly smiling at me. Moonlight softens everything it touches, everything loses its edge of the daylight, enchanted, and mesmerized into a fairyland.
I looked up, the moon is so bright it dimmed all the stars, they almost disappeared. The moon looks like the one and only to dominate the pure night sky, overlooking the earthly world underneath.
There’s a saying by a famous Chinese Buddhist poet: On the full blooming branch, the spring is at its climax; a full moon is shining in the center of sky. My take is when you soak into this moment, it’s so rich and fulfilled to where you can’t add or ask for any more, it is already there.
