Be Afraid

People can be surprised at how they find themselves when afraid or otherwise under major stress. Perhaps we have an idea, born of repeated experience, that when faced with fear (impending death?) we will let ourselves down. That’s to not be able to cope well and fall apart in ways we have feared we might. I for one was very surprised how together I was in the face of my fathers sudden death on a railway platform. And a friend of mine having physical difficulties was, he reported Perfectly calm when he would have anticipated himself to be otherwise. This sentence from the article referenced below says it all really. When you’ve practiced something enough, it becomes instinct, and then you know what to do automatically. The author is referring to responding to fear in a visceral way, which is needed – thus his point about ‘being afraid’. As meditators we practice sitting still within conditions. Not losing ones sitting place in the midst of life and death circumstances gives witness to those hours spent sitting still with nothing much going on. It is then that we build the habit which reflexively comes into play in certain circumstances.

It was still half an hour before midnight, but the road was already deserted – which was perfectly normal for a Sunday night on the outskirts of a small, coastal fishing town in the north east of Scotland. The year was probably 1989, but I can no longer be entirely sure. I had more pressing concerns than the date. I was ten years old, I was alone, I was on a BMX bike, and I was cycling for my life.
From article, Being Afraid.

This is a really engaging piece of writing and thanks to Julius for sending the link.

Help Build a Temple

Kwan Yin Loves Pie.
Kwan Yin Loves Pie.

One of the temples of the order I am part of has published a cookbook. No ordinary cookbook this one – Kwan Yin Loves Pie. I’m showcasing Grants Politically Incorrect No-Nonsense Pancakes. As an aid to memory, since the recipe calls for one of everything, Grant suggests singing/humming One-is-the-loneliest-number…. and other similar songs. And here is Rev. Master Koten on Chocolate Chip Scones

These scones are delicious as they are,
but the chocolate chips
bring them up to a
whole new level. Koten

Obviously this is much more than just a cookbook. More a window on the lives of those who gather around this temple. There is teaching on the important ingredient, love. I’d say the background smile coming through this book is as important.

One of the congregation members reports:The cookbook is a fundraiser towards getting some building done at Dragon Flower Mountain (Lions Gate Buddhist Priory’s rural temple in British Columbia Canada), which I know all are hoping can maybe start this summer (2013.)

The book can be ordered by email and paid for on-line. In addition the temple has generously posted a pdf version of the cookbook. Be sure to make a donation if you download the pdf. Every dollar counts.

I was just talking to one of the monks at the temple in deepest rural British Columbia letting them know I am posting this. Apart from saying a friendly hi I wanted to make sure somebody drove up the mountain to the ‘upper cabin’ to check email regularly to catch your cookbook orders.

Field of Merit is Official

Certificate of Incorporation as a Private Limited Company.
Certificate of Incorporation as a Private Limited Company.

This must be what it’s like for new parents. That’s not quite believing the little one has, after all that waiting, actually arrived. Quickly followed by the dawning realization that one’s life work has just manifested! In the spirit of this article, Unfolding the Buddha’s Teaching where I speak of ownership of the project, this certificate represents the birth of THE project, not our project. Now is the time to draw in the growing cast (of those who want to become involved with the project) and get specific about the work that can be done to help the business along. But I am getting ahead of myself. Rev. Alicia and I need to get our heads together first to make sure we are on the same page in terms of what’s needed right now.
Field of Merit is Born

Yes, ‘the project’ is moving right along and from time to time I draw attention to that here on Jade Mountains. I quite deliberately keep the two sites running in parallel though. Jade is my personal blog and Field of Merit is a ‘temple’ website. However the unfolding of this project, to set up a rural retreat, is so important to me it is natural I will draw attention to it. When it is up and running Jade will be here talking about the unfolding of daily life there. Where ever there might end up being.

Alone Together

Snowdrops. Must be spring.
Snowdrops. Must be spring.

Snowdrops
Springing up.
Surprising,
Delighting.

Bringers of joy.
As did the
light in the
old man’s eye.

Yesterday with renewed awareness of the loneliness among the elderly I stopped to pass the time of day with an elderly chap. I’ve passed many times and have only said hello to him before. Bright eyes shining out of his tired face. I hope it is warm where you live, I said. Oh yes it is, he responded. Glowing even brighter. And then we went on our way.

Solitariness or Loneliness

The crushing loneliness experienced by very many elderly people apparently has become epidemic in Britain. I feel old, said a terminally ill woman in her 70’s and another person I talk to on the phone said how glad she was to see a face other than her cats! She was talking about her son visiting her. Visits are landmarks in the vast empty landscape of each day. Oh yes I LOVE visits she said.

Solitariness, a disposition toward being alone, doesn’t hold the suffering that loneliness does. I would hope as the years pass we could adapt and evolve from social to solitary and revel in that space. The full emptiness. Not because most will end up living alone anyway but because there is a positive in being alone. A simply joy in moving from doing to being. And you don’t need to have lived long years before enjoying that!

Anyway, here is a Guardian article titled Britain’s Loneliness Epidemic. There is help to hand, the problem is being addressed, alternative living arrangements are being developed. There is no doubt there is a problem and huge suffering comes as a consequence of loneliness. I just wanted to speak up for being alone as a quite alright kind of way of living. And why do I think that there might be a shadow of shame in announcing I live alone. Or perhaps a feeling of life failure to have ended up alone. Now is the time to learn to be comfortable in ones own company. That’s not encouraged unfortunately.

And the former Archbishop of Canterbury is speaking up for the elderly in this Telegraph article.