Jim O'Neil's photos with the keyword: Whimsy

In a temple far to the east, day and night, there are always nine monks sitting in deep meditation. As one monk leaves there is another ready to take his place. The belief of this temple is that the serenity of these nine monks is all that stands between the world as we know it and utter, pure, chaos. That were this line of nine to be broken, in space or time, all this world would be gone forever. A young monk asks the abbot: “Sensei, how to we know that our efforts hold back chaos, might we not be just wasting our time and our lives for no purpose what so ever?” The abbot replies: “You may well be right, I often have the same doubt, but when it becomes my turn to sit zazen, I always find that I am too much of a coward to break the meditation to test this doubt. Are you brave enough to do so?” Ink on colored card stock.