''Troubles overcome are good to tell.''
Yiddish proverb, Primo Levi ''The Periodic Table''
Showing posts with label non-preference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label non-preference. Show all posts
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Perfectly Imperfect - Own It!
''Troubles overcome are good to tell.''
Yiddish proverb, Primo Levi ''The Periodic Table''
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Everything Changes - Have No Preferences - Nothing is Hidden
"When we are training at the (Zen) monastery, we put on straw hats and go from house to house reciting prayers and collecting food, which is the only food we are permitted to eat. Some people are glad to see us, but some get very angry. When I was training, one of the places I had to beg from was a clothing shop that made kimonos. When I went there the proprietress threw water on me and became very angry. I had only begun my training a short time earlier, and I didn't understand the meaning of going to a place where I was not welcome. So I talked with a senior monk, and he agreed to go instead of me.
I was watching from across the street to see what would happen. But he just did what he always did. This happened several times, and every time the woman would lose her temper and tell us to get lost. Finally my fellow monk said to her, 'Negative relationships, too, are relationships.' She became quiet, and then began to sob. After that she would send handsewn robes to this monk. I think that watching us come every day and go from house to house with our heads bowed had irritated her for some reason. But when the monk did not respond to her with hatred, something inside her changed suddenly so that she wanted to support us. I'm very interested in this possibility: that the things you have been suffering with up until a certain moment can change in an instant to a new way of thinking. In the course of my counseling, I see people become full of energy who just a few hours ago seemed on the verge of death. Seeing that, I feel that the process is very similar to the (Zen) training that I went through as a monk." Ittetsu Nemoto
Winifred Bird. "The Counselor. Japanese Priest Ittetsu Nemoto has made Suicide Prevention his Life's Work." Tricycle, Spring 2014.
I was watching from across the street to see what would happen. But he just did what he always did. This happened several times, and every time the woman would lose her temper and tell us to get lost. Finally my fellow monk said to her, 'Negative relationships, too, are relationships.' She became quiet, and then began to sob. After that she would send handsewn robes to this monk. I think that watching us come every day and go from house to house with our heads bowed had irritated her for some reason. But when the monk did not respond to her with hatred, something inside her changed suddenly so that she wanted to support us. I'm very interested in this possibility: that the things you have been suffering with up until a certain moment can change in an instant to a new way of thinking. In the course of my counseling, I see people become full of energy who just a few hours ago seemed on the verge of death. Seeing that, I feel that the process is very similar to the (Zen) training that I went through as a monk." Ittetsu Nemoto
Winifred Bird. "The Counselor. Japanese Priest Ittetsu Nemoto has made Suicide Prevention his Life's Work." Tricycle, Spring 2014.
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| Kah-Wai Lin www.kahwailin.com |
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Essential Wise Nurturing ... in Teaching, Healing, Marriage, Parenting, Friendship ...
Wisdom is essential for unconditional love; to allow us to hold ourselves & others in meditative equipoise; to allow ourselves & others simply to be; to allow ourselves & others to make many, inevitable, normal mistakes - not judge, blame & shame - but to seamlessly accept, learn & grow.
We inevitably mature into wise, nurturing grandparents to ourselves, others, the universe.
“When preferences for a particular experience fade, the myriad things come forward to play, shimmering with suchness. Obviously, flowers and trees do this, but so do beer cans and microwaves. They’re all waiting for our embrace. It is enormously empowering to inhabit a world so vibrant with singularity.” Darlene Cohen, Buddhadharma: The practioner’s quarterly, Spring 2007
We inevitably mature into wise, nurturing grandparents to ourselves, others, the universe.
“When preferences for a particular experience fade, the myriad things come forward to play, shimmering with suchness. Obviously, flowers and trees do this, but so do beer cans and microwaves. They’re all waiting for our embrace. It is enormously empowering to inhabit a world so vibrant with singularity.” Darlene Cohen, Buddhadharma: The practioner’s quarterly, Spring 2007
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| Richard J. http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/ |
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Dukkha - AND YET - All Manner of Things Are Well ...
Near the end of my professional career, I'd like to be taking it easier at work, sorting through my large collection of clinical cases and putting them into a suitable format to serve as teaching material, writing a few papers for publication - essentially summing up my career. Instead, I'm taking on more and more routine tasks. Part of the reason for this increased busyness is serious illness of some of my colleagues, forcing them to retire prematurely. So I'm "sharing the load".
I feel fortunate being able to help, rather than having to retire early. Soon enough, I'll be the one who can no longer provide help. Then I hope to have enough humility & wisdom to accept help gracefully - something with which I, like most health-care professionals, have minimal experience or skill.
This is a unique part of life, when one's fully aware of life's fragility, yet healthy enough - ever so briefly - to have agency.
"Once you feel in your bones and throughout your awareness the emptiness of your mind, you are at peace. Even when problems and difficulties arise, there's still the thread of peace woven in at the heart of them." Norman Fisher
Shambhala Sun January 2013 http://www.shambhalasun.com/
I feel fortunate being able to help, rather than having to retire early. Soon enough, I'll be the one who can no longer provide help. Then I hope to have enough humility & wisdom to accept help gracefully - something with which I, like most health-care professionals, have minimal experience or skill.
This is a unique part of life, when one's fully aware of life's fragility, yet healthy enough - ever so briefly - to have agency.
"Once you feel in your bones and throughout your awareness the emptiness of your mind, you are at peace. Even when problems and difficulties arise, there's still the thread of peace woven in at the heart of them." Norman Fisher
Shambhala Sun January 2013 http://www.shambhalasun.com/
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| Photo: RuthC www.dpreview.com |
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