Saturday, March 10, 2012

Heaven


     “A big burly samurai comes to the roshi and says, ‘Tell me the nature of heaven and hell.’ And the roshi looks him in the face and says; ‘Why should I tell a scruffy, disgusting, miserable slob like you?’ The samurai starts to get purple in the face, his hair starts to stand up, but the roshi won't stop, he keeps saying, ‘A miserable worm like you, do you think I should tell you anything?’ Consumed by rage, the samurai draws his sword, and he's just about to cut off the head of the roshi. Then the roshi says, ‘That's hell.’ The samurai, who is in fact a sensitive person, instantly gets it, that he just created his own hell; he was deep in hell. It was black and hot, filled with hatred, self-protection, anger, and resentment, so much so that he was going to kill this man. Tears fill his eyes and he starts to cry and he puts his palms together and the roshi says, ‘That's heaven’."                   Pema Chodron

     “We stay with the awareness of our physical-emotional reactions as long as it takes to reside in them. That means relaxing into them, as painful as they are. At some point we no longer need to push them away.”            Ezra Bayda


Photo: Andre Gallant   http://www.andregallant.com/

1 comment:

  1. Relaxing into them as painful as they are is great wisdom. I appreciate the reminder to be in the emotions and physical reactions and feelings. I often chastise myself for my anger but do know that it is normal and right and is my own, so deserves respect and attention. Thanks for this.

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