ordinary mind is the way

*Photo source

Let me respectfully remind you,
    life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by, 
    and opportunity is lost.
Let us awaken, 
    awaken.
Take heed, 
    do not squander your life.

With every fiber of your being you are god. You've known this all along. And you've never had more potential than right now to stand up and introduce yourself to the universe again. I know, I know, "it's silly to talk to a mirror", but's let's have some fun anyway.

You are open and flowing, a bottomless vessel through which life continuously pours through. You have nothing to take and thus everything to give, and you do. And to even try to cling to the love that is given back to you would smother you like an ocean. You are the ocean.

However you do hold the worlds suffering in the palms of your hands. That's your suffering too, and you choose this and embrace it with extended arms. You help others remember who they are. What is this 'other' you would run from anyway? You're quite the joker these days!

You are the change you want to see in the world. You are the grace that reveals compassion. You are the secret that's never been hidden, the fragile buddha waiting to come home.

It's so good to see you again. I've missed you.

This post is to mark a point in time I want to remember and to make a public declaration of an insight I had while sitting on March 6th, 2007.

Any good buddhist will tell you that to be free from suffering one needs to be free from desires and ignorance. I’ve maintained a sitting practice for almost twelve years now and have yet to starve out desire and ignorance. As long as I’m human I’m going to roll around in my own misery and cause other people suffering every now and then.

So I sat with that. Rather then pretending to be a perfect practitioner, I let that part of me speak I always try to supress.

Why am I sitting?

• To become enlightened? Nope. I dispelled that myth awhile ago.
• To remember who i am and am not? Yes
• To help other people who are sufferring? Yes

But wait a moment. Isn’t my wanting to help other people who are suffering itself a desire? Why would I want to help people if it’s just going cause more suffering for myself (since I would then have a desire)? How awkward and confusing!

But you know what? As long as we’re human we’re gonna suffer. Life is suffering and we cause it, and that doesn’t make it good or bad. It’s just what it is. If we create it we can also choose it. We can want what we have. We can choose our suffering. That’s very empowering.

Now this might sound like I’m saying we should give up and accept our suffering or that we should ourselves become victims. No such thing. Authentic compassion can invoke some tough love when needed. The irony to all of this is there is no suffering. There’s not even anyone or anything to save. A friend once told me “True enlightenment is the realization there is no enlightenment.”. If you understand that, you’ll get my previous remarks.

So on March 6th I took the Bodhisattva vows. I made a conscious choice to be human rather than always yearning for something greater somwhere else. I am choosing my suffering and as such can experience the fullness of life and become a resource for others.

Big Heart.