On almsround 
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Such a happy emoticon for such an upset nun!
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Welcome Venerable!
I used to have a nun-friend who made lots of Dhamma-Doodles about her life as a nun! Itās great therapy. Maybe all monastics should do that! 
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Iām afraid I donāt have any. This was 5 years ago and she has moved to Thailand and as far as I know they were never digitized. But maybe Ven. @Yodha has a few more?
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Iām thinking I will return to sketching . Thanks for the inspiration. Itās been years
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These sketches are actually quite lovely, and harken back to a long tradition, both in the East through Buddhism and the West.
People have traditionally often been taught complicated teachings visually. I am thinking of medieval Europe, where literacy was not high. The churches would have sometimes very elaborate and fine artwork depicting the story of the life and passion of Jesus, which sometimes included some very abstract symbolism to communicate more abstract ideas.
A lot of this paintwork has not survived the ages, but particularly among the recently converted Northern European peoples, this tradition of pedagogy-by-artwork has a particularly personal flair. The word āchurchā in Christianity does not refer to the building, but rather the Christian community. It comes from a word referring to the gathering of an assembly. Christian churches were thus works āof the peopleā. Local artists engaged. You can get a hint of the personal touch and style of this old artwork in some rare extant survivals, for instance this from BjƤresjƶ kyrka:
Perhaps we will one day see pictures in a similarly abstract style as Ven Yodha has provided adorning the walls of a centre for Dharma instruction. Teaching the laity as they walk in.
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Drawing is great dhamma practise! Engaging the right hemisphere of your brain helps with developing metta. And you get much better at visualising meditation objects! 
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My initial comment, meant as humorous, was meant as a harmless comment on the contrast of the emoticon with the facial expression of the Venerable depicted.
However, one would not react that way to a male Venerable, in fact, the difference between the emoticon and the facial expression, and the āharmless amusing observationā, would not occur at all, or at least is unlikely to have occurred to me, if I self-reflect, I think.
Itās important to have depictions of women who are not always smiling, regardless of the mental state being depicted. No one notices when a man is not smiling, because perceiving a man as fulfilled or accomplished, mentally, does not necessarily involve him āsmilingā to anyone.
Sorry if I have offended or introduced an off-topic tangent. My apologies. In many ways, I now appreciate the first doodle more because the nun is not overtly āsmilingā.
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Thanks for sharing your reflections!
Yes, I think that is very important, thanks for bringing it up.
By the way, when I made the drawing I didnāt think of it as a nun, just as a human being, and the file on my computer just says āon almsroundā. But then I shared it with a nun friend in a PM and thought it was more relateable if I called it ānun on almsroundā. And now discourse automatically changes the name and doesnāt let me upload the file with the original titleā¦ So thatās how it became a nun!
Discourse also didnāt let me post the title of the thread without the emoji (too short), so the whole thread is shaped more by technical necessity than my own intentions!
But on second thoughts, I like the idea of having more female monastics depicted in modern Buddhist art (and silly doodles ), so I donāt mind if my character becomes female.
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A still forest pool
Ajahn Chah quote
Try to be mindful, and let things take their course.
Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a still forest pool.
All kinds of wonderful animals will come to drink at the pool,
and you will clearly see the nature of all things.
You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still.
This is the happiness of the Awakened One.
Because Dhamma practise is all about rainbows, dolphins, and unicorns! (irony off)
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Oh, that is what nuns doing in their spare time!
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LOL
Thereās no spare time for nuns (and monks). Dhamma practise is a 24h job! 
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Without discoverable beginning
SN 15.3 ff
Bhikkhus, this saį¹sÄra is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving.
The stream of tears that you have shed as you roamed and wandered through this long course, weeping and wailing because of being united with the disagreeable and separated from the agreeableāthis alone is more than the water in the four great oceans.
The stream of blood that you have shed when you were beheaded as you roamed and wandered on through this long courseāthis alone is more than the water in the four great oceans.
One person, roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, would leave behind a stack of bones, a heap of bones, a pile of bones as large as this Mount Vepulla.
It is enough to experience revulsion towards all formations, enough to become dispassionate towards them, enough to be liberated from them.
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yodha your Dhamma doodles are great. Thanks for sharing them.
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these are excellent! 
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These are fun! Could be turned into a graphic novel or something.
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