Yearly Archives: 2008

Daily Life, Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Why Things Are The Way They Are

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Driving down the road, nothing particular about the day. Life had been rough. Within the last couple of years deaths of two people. Too young to die, in her view. Then there had been many years of mother care. Of mother with Alzheimer’s care.

Suddenly, she said, while driving down the road I knew exactly why everything is the way it is. Everything! And then just as quickly the knowing passed. Just like that. She wanted to keep on knowing what she had known however the moment passed and was gone.

I doubt if anything will ever be quite the same again though.

There is no knowing why these moments come to people, and not necessarily to those who follow some kind of conscious spiritual path. It’s not really necessary to know why of course. And what would one do with that knowledge anyway?

Daily Life, Out and About, Overcome Difficulties

Natural Pride

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Tomorrow a group of cyclists meet at Watson Lake just inside the Yukon, Canada. They will be writing a blog.

The following is from a comment left on a posting here titled Engaged Action published July 22nd.

In Sept 2001 Grant and I did a 10 day backpack in the Wokkpash, one of the areas along the route the cyclists will take. Incredible, rugged, and we saw not a single other human, though many other creatures, including herds of caribou and grizzly bears. On Sept. 12 we came out of the Bush along the Alaska Highway, walked to a small gas station and discovered the whole world seemed to be completely insane. We both had a strong impulse to turn around and go back in. The efforts of these cyclists are an attempt to remind us of sanity.
It is important. Best wishes;
Michele

Two of the young women on this journey grew their Buddhism while I grew mine. During my time as a novice at Shasta, and later as a senior, I enjoyed their growing up and now their emerged and inspired adulthood. As they embark on this venture, there is a sense natural pride in them, and all the others too.

Natural pride is fitting here, for them and for what they are riding for.

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Obeisance

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obeisance \oh-BEE-suhn(t)s; oh-BAY-suhn(t)s\, noun:
1. An expression of deference or respect, such as a bow or curtsy.
2. Deference, homage.
Obeisance comes from Old French obeissance, from obeissant, present participle of obeir, to obey, from Latin oboedire, to listen to, from ob-, to + audire, to hear. The adjective form is obeisant.

Taken from here.

Bending the head or body or knee as a sign of reverence or submission or shame
The act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behaviour with respect to another person

Taken from here.
Also see here.

This evening we talked about the gassho which literally means To place the two palms together, and we also talked about bowing. Both fundamental to Buddhist practice.

Zen Master Dogen teaches, As long as bowing lasts, Buddhism will last. I rather like the thought that obeissance has roots pointing to listening and hearing because at the heart of bowing, which includes the gassho, is hearing. That’s hearing in the depths of ones being, and bending at the same time.

Bowing, at heart, is an expression of gratitude which has no object and no subject either. No reason to bow, just bow.

Thus it is that daily; Buddha recognizes Buddha, and Buddha bows to Buddha.

Several of us thoroughly cleaned the meditation hall, from floor to ceiling. It took most of the day. It’s been a good day.

Curiosities, Information, Overcome Difficulties

Itching

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(This first paragraph has been edited slightly to, hopefully, bring better orientation to the subject at hand.)
Be prepared to be shocked and informed and have light shine on the subject of physical/mental sensory perception and how messages can get wired incorrectly. Think phantom limb syndrome.

Brew a cup of tea and settle down for a long read.

Scientists once saw itching as a form of pain. They now believe it to be a different order of sensation. Its mysterious power may be a clue to a new theory about brains and bodies.

One womans harrowing story is documented in this article in the New Yorker. The excerpt below sets the stage for her journey, with an itch which went on and on and…

It was still shocking to M. how much a few wrong turns could change your life. She had graduated from Boston College with a degree in psychology, married at twenty-five, and had two children, a son and a daughter. She and her family settled in a town on Massachusetts’ southern shore. She worked for thirteen years in health care, becoming the director of a residence program for men who’d suffered severe head injuries. But she and her husband began fighting. There were betrayals. By the time she was thirty-two, her marriage had disintegrated. In the divorce, she lost possession of their home, and, amid her financial and psychological struggles, she saw that she was losing her children, too. Within a few years, she was drinking. She began dating someone, and they drank together. After a while, he brought some drugs home, and she tried them. The drugs got harder. Eventually, they were doing heroin, which turned out to be readily available from a street dealer a block away from her apartment.
The New Yorker, June 30, 2008, The Itch by Atul Gawande

Later in the article we find solutions to perception difficulties such as phantom limbs, through the use of mirrors.

One’s heart cannot but go out to ‘M’. Light a stick of incense.