FAITH AND LOVE

Most of us can't afford the expense of enlightenment. We hold dear to us the very thing that prevents us from seeing the truth: Our Views. Yes, we all have strong views about things and won't often budge. Enlightenment isn't just a tool that gets us through the day, or that will deliver us into a state of feeling alright with life and the things that go on it! We have reason to be angry. We have reason to be sad. Our range of human emotion is an expression of what we desire.

This week three of us met for Tuesday Night Group, we sat spread out in the Buddha Hall, two rows, two cushions each row, two filled, and one sitting on the couch. After sitting and walking we recited the Opening Chant and the Heart Sutra and read the "Flower Garland Discourse: The Ten Great Aspirations of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva."

There was nervousness in me, is this new setup working? Who cares? I do. I want this experience to work, for me as the facilitator, for our members, for our tradition, and for our spiritual ambition. What brings you to meditation? That is an important question, but it may not have an answer. It may just be a driving force that brings you to where you need to go. If it is not working, then why go? There will be another place to sit. There will be another place to walk.

Here I am writing very early in the morning. I took a nap for a half-hour or so around 8:30 p.m., went up to bed soon thereafter, but couldn't get to sleep. I've had a lot of energy in the evenings, particularly now that we are in the hottest months. I tried to sit, but couldn't work it out.

Our daily life can work for enlightenment, only if it works. If it doesn't work for you, then you need to do the practice. You need to do the practice anyway! When I say practice, I mean deep looking. I mean settling down, slowing down, stopping enough so you can hear what is going on inside of you. This is not easy. I don't know anyone in Las Vegas, or anywhere else in the country who has accomplished this. Maybe for an instant we feel calm, collected, refreshed, and then BAM it hits us! The same ole sarcasm, criticism, judgement of ourselves and others, stress, hurrying, gotta do something quick or else...or else what? Might we die? Might we see ourselves? Might someone see us?

It might be important to look at this. What brings us back to the cushion? When everything else has been explored, our padded seat, wherever it might be, waits for us patiently as if it weren't ever in a hurry to feel our cheeks again. It knows one day we'll be back...we can't resist!