Month: November 2013

Declaring a truce

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Single_leaf

Again a quote from the Christian tradition, this time from the monastic community of Taize, in Burgundy, France. I went on a silent retreat there from Ireland many years ago,  and was struck by the simplicity of the lifestyle and the kindness of the welcome. This quote reinforces the practical words of Kabat Zinn this morning, encouraging the development of silence as a way of working with worrying thoughts.

How is it possible to reach inner silence? Sometimes we are apparently silent, and yet we have great discussions within, struggling with imaginary partners or with ourselves. Calming our souls requires a kind of simplicity: “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me.” Silence means recognizing that my worries can’t do much. Silence means leaving what is beyond my reach and capacity. A moment of silence, even very short, is like a holy stop, a sabbath rest, a truce from worries.

Taize Community,  The Value of Silence

Thoughts arise and pass away

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A field of ocean waves force their way into shore at Cannon Beach against the strong winds along the Oregon Coast, USA.

During meditation we treat all thoughts as if they are of equal value. We try to be aware of them when they come up and then we intentionally return to the breath as the major focus of observation, regardless of the content of the thought!  In other words we intentionally practice letting go of each thought that attracts our attention,  whether it seems important or insightful or unimportant and trivial. We just observe them as thoughts, as discrete events which appear in the field of our awareness.

Jon Kabat Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living

Becoming patient

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File:A waiting room.JPG

From a different tradition to this morning’s post, but with a similar point to make. Catholic writer Henri Nouwen encourages the development of patience in order to fully enter into and see what is in front of us. Too often we rush and do not allow the moment, the person,  or the event reveal themselves as they are. We dismiss the moment  as not interesting, or see it from our own place, not able to leave it “right there, right there” as the Buddha said this morning.

If we cannot be patient, we cannot become patient. We cannot be compassionate. If we ourselves are unable to suffer, we cannot suffer with others, which is the meaning of compassion. Patience is the capacity to see, hear, touch, taste and smell as fully as possible the inner and outer events of our lives. It is to enter our lives with open eyes, ears, and hands, so that we really know what is happening. Patience is an extremely difficult discipline precisely because it counteracts our unreflective impulse to flee or to fight. Patience requires us to go beyond the choice between fleeing or fighting. It is the third and most difficult way. It calls for discipline because it goes against the grain of our impulses.

Henry Nouwen, Compassion

photo schnaggli

Clear seeing of whatever is present

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dandelion_seeds_being_blown

You shouldn’t chase after the past,  or place expectations on the future.
What is past is left behind. The future is as yet unreached.
Whatever quality is present
you clearly see, right there, right there.
Not taken in; unshaken.

That’s how you develop the heart.

The Buddha, Bhaddekaratta Sutta

Everything else is uncertain.

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grass11

Another quote from Irish poet W.B. Yeats today. I was just watching the news reports from the Philippines and seeing the scale of the destruction and death caused by Typhoon Haiyan. This along with some other events recently make me more aware of the fundamental fact which comes into focus when we do our meditation practices, namely that things change, moment by moment, day by day, in ways that we are not able to predict.  We try to keep our sense of balance on the present moment. Everything else is uncertain.

All things hang like a drop of dew

Upon a blade of grass

W.B. Yeats,  Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors

The enlightened mind is a mind that is always contemplating impermanence.

Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

Our silent war

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File:USMC-120801-M-XR064-155.jpg

At almost any point in my day if I stop and check down inside, I will find some version of my silent mantra – this moment should be different! – going on. I dislike how it is right now. It is not so pleasant. I want it to be like it was the other day, last week, last year. Or, I love how it is right now. It’s very pleasant. I want it to stay. How can I make this pleasant feeling stay? How can I keep the flow of experience from snatching it away? Oh don’t let it go. Each of us has our own silent War With Reality. And whatever our particular War With Reality is, the result is always a pervasive sense of the unsatisfactoriness of the moment.

Stephen Cope, The Wisdom of Yoga