Practicing Buddhas

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Sitting on the edge of a chair just now, I am at a friend’s home looking out into a very dark desert. I made a pot of coffee, sat quietly for a bit, and now turn my attention to you.

Soku Shin and I watched the film, Little Buddha, last night. This is a film within a film, the story of Buddha, as well as the story of the search for a re-incarnated Tibetan Lama. All along the way, of course, it is a story of awakening and personal transformation.

Every time I sit with this film, I feel blessed to have been born a human being. I am further blessed by the suffering in my life as it has been the source of, and invitation to, compassion. We cannot hear the suffering of the world ensconced in a tower above it all. We waste ourselves in such places. And more importantly, others are wasted as a result of our absence. To be a human being is to be caring in community.

Some have said of me lately, though, that I must not be the person they thought I was as I have caused great suffering in the lives of those close to me because of my separation from my wife. This is hurtful. Neither of us was particularly happy and we wrestled in blind alleys frequently. Would that we could live without change, but change is the essential nature of all things and cannot be avoided. We do the best we can.

Listening deeply, I find my life is no longer my own. It belongs to the universe. Practicing zazen, listening, learning, sharing, teaching: these are my core elements of being now. They are the practice of all buddhas and the gift of being human.

Be well.