FOREWORD

By Ramesha

Foreword

Maya is a petite Korean woman in her mid 50’s who you can tell is totally at peace within herself, comfortable in her own skin. She has an obvious flare for fashion evident in the customised, colourful clothing she wears and she creates impressive artwork in various guises. And of course she is obsessively in love with her four cats who keep her company here on the mountain top.

At first glance it’s hard to comprehend that this rather tiny, gentle woman is capable of all she has accomplished. Then as you get to know her, you realise gentle and calm she may be but she’s also a power house in her own right and I imagine there isn’t much she couldn’t do if she put her mind and heart to it.

In getting to know Maya and her mountain a little better, I have been able to observe how perfectly she melts with the nature she dwells amidst. She is totally comfortable with her solitude. She has developed a unique way of knowing just how to balance all her needs in living a simple and quiet existence.

Sharing in the translation of Maya’s book has helped me to appreciate ‘the before’ of her mountain adventure. It’s quite easy to sit here in her tea house enveloped in the utter peace and tranquility of this place, sharing some of her homegrown coffee, to imagine it’s always been this way and how thoroughly blessed she is to have this life. But her persistence through all the sweat, tears, lots of hard manual labour and of course, the many little miracles is what has made this all possible. She greets each new experience with energy and love and just gets on with it. If something needs doing, then do it she must!

Maya accepts each situation she encounters as being a blessing, part of the process, even if it hurts. Her courage, grace, perseverance, generosity, wisdom and heartfelt love for ‘her’ mountain are truly inspiring.

I can honestly say that living here for a while has truly transformed my entire being. I’ve experienced a huge healing for my soul. The surroundings are perfect to encourage the searching within, finding the Buddha which is within us all, the inward ‘looking for a cow’. This phrase is the original title of the book when translated directly from Korean and it means exactly that - the searching, examining, probing and deep penetrating to the revealing of our innermost self.

I hope like me, after reading Maya’s story, as narrated here in the humourous, insightful and totally honest words of her cats, you will feel inspired, realising that the seemingly unachievable is totally within reach and of course that the ordinary is absolutely and without exception always extraordinary!