True Gratitude(Meditation for Sunday 29th November)

 

True Gratitude

This week in the US we have celebrated Thanksgiving, our annual holiday where we gather together with family and friends to share a meal, and to express our thanks for each other and all that is good in our lives.

At least that is the theory, but this year has of course been strange. Many people have been unable to meet or have taken the prudent step of not gathering. For some people loss of loved ones, health or livelihood has overshadowed what would traditionally be a joyous time. For many others just the sheer frustration of isolation has made this a difficult time.

We are taught that grasping and aversion are the root of our unhappiness. These really just mean holding on to the wish for things to be other than they are. And right now it is so easy to fall in to the trap of focusing so much on our desire for things to be different that we forget to be happy. The antidote to grasping and aversion is gratitude, because along with gratitude comes a liberating acceptance for how things are - even the things we don't like.

We often think of gratitude in a transactional way - Something good happened so I am grateful for that. This is fine as far as it goes, but what about when that thing goes away, or things are not so good? Do we let go of our gratitude (and so our happiness) then?

We all start on our gratitude journey by being thankful for the benefits and blessings we experience. We know that when we are others fail to be grateful for what we have we become bitter. We should all be grateful for the positives in our lives, and express that to others. The harder part is to allow this experience of gratitude to pervade our whole life, even when things are not as we wish.

There are many things that I am grateful for, and I am grateful specifically for those of you who read this weekly letter. I would like to encourage us all to challenge ourselves beyond mere transactional gratitude - dependent on good things happening - to a deeper sense of gratitude that grounds our being.

With thanks, 

Chris.

I have linked below a fully guided meditation on unconditional gratitude. You are welcome to listen any time, but a few of us have committed to press 'play' together at 7pm PT on Sunday 29th of November. You are welcome to join us then if you wish.

cjrobson · True Gratitude

Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash

 

 

 

The King(Meditation for Sunday November 22nd)

 

The King

It has become almost second-nature to talk about division today. The over-riding narrative is that of conflict and tribalism, where people identify with one group or another and assume that their own group is 'right' and the other group is 'wrong' - on everything.

Of course none of this is new, and while in some areas we have seen progress over the years the rhetoric of 'us' and 'other' has been with us from the dawn of mankind - indeed some see this tribalism as an evolutionary trait.

But we should see it as it is, as part of our delusion. The view that we can partition the world into 'me', 'us' and 'other' only occurs because of our wilful refusal to believe that we all share the human experience. History tells us that if we follow this road it leads to to accepting the de-humanization of whoever is the 'other,' and to catastrophic results. We all know this - yet the huge trap is to say "yes, that's exactly what they are doing!" - which is in itself reinforcing the us/them delusion.

It is right to work for a more loving, accepting and inclusive society, but we must me sure that in our words and actions we are not just perpetuating dehumanizing division. As the old Sting song says rhetorically, "I hope the Russians love their children too."

In the Pāli writings there is a lovely short sutta about a King who asks his wife "is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?"

She replies "No, great king. There is no one dearer to me than myself. And what about you, great king? Is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?"

The King agrees saying "there is is no one dearer to me than myself."

The King then contemplates this exchange - and it is worth us contemplating this too. We would agree that we are the most dear to ourselves - but what do we take away from that? Some focus only on that and choose to act selfishly. Others, like the king, realize that the same is true for all beings, whoever they are. The king shares this realization with the Buddha who exclaims:

Searching all directions
with your awareness,
you find no one dearer
than yourself.
In the same way, others
are thickly dear to themselves.
So you shouldn’t hurt others
if you love yourself.

This is a great time for us all to meditate on this. We are all dear to ourselves, we all love our children, we all wish to be well, happy and free from suffering. In these things there is no 'other,' only 'us.'

Metta, Chris

 I have linked below a fully guided 30-minute meditation on the story of The King (Rājan Sutta). A few of us have committed to press 'play' at 7pm PT on Sunday 22nd November - you can of course listen at any time, but you are welcome to join with us then.

If the player below doesn't work for you please click here instead.

cjrobson · The King (Rajan Sutta)

Rājan Sutta Translated from the Pāli by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, retrieved from
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Ud/ud5_1.html

Photo by Paweł Furman on Unsplash

 

The Strawberry(Meditation for Sunday November 15th)

 

The Strawberry

 

This week I have been thinking a bit about the old Zen story about the strawberry. You have probably heard a version of this story before, as it has been retold many times, always with different details. I tried to find a more original, authentic version but couldn't find a good source, though many people attribute it's popularity in the west to the teachings of D.T. Suzuki. And so I am going to give my own retelling, roughly following how I first heard it.

Once there was a young monk who was set upon by bandits. He managed to slip away and was being chased by them when he fell into a deep pit. As he fell he reached out and grabbed a vine, and hung half way down the pit. 

As his eyes grew accustomed to the dark, he looked down and saw below him that there was a hungry tiger who had also fallen in the pit. He looked up, hoping to be able to climb up the vine and out of the pit, but saw that there were rats gnawing on the vine above him who had nearly chewed right through it. 

He looked to the wall of the pit to see if there was a way for him to climb out and saw a clump of wild strawberries growing from the smooth wall. He reached out and plucked a strawberry and put it in his mouth. 

It was delicious.

Like all good Zen stories or Koans there isn't supposed to be a single 'interpretation,' and it is possible to read this story in a number of ways. I have read people argue that it is a parable of foolishness, though most people view it as a lesson in being present. As I was writing the above it struck me that it would be very interesting to re-tell the story from the point of view of the tiger - it becomes a very different story!

One thing we can all agree on is that the young monk was having a really bad day. And yet, even at that time, with his rather unpleasant demise imminent he could still appreciate the wonderful strawberry.

 It has become common now for us to anthropomorphize the year 2020 as some malevolent being that is throwing bad things at us - the sarcastic refrain 'thanks 2020' has become a bit of a meme. And it is true that for many people this has been the toughest of times.

And yet, here we are. And while, to quote Tom Robbins, "the international situation is desperate, as usual," there are many strawberries still out there to be eaten and enjoyed.

Or, if you are a tiger, monks.

Metta, Chris.

I have linked below a fully-guided 30 minute audio meditation on the story of the strawberry. You can listen at any time, but a few of us have committed to press play at 7pm PT on Sunday 15th November. You are welcome to join us if you wish.

cjrobson · The Strawberry

If the above player doesn't work for you please click here.

Photo by Christian Widell on Unsplash

 

Breathing In Calm(Meditation for Sunday 8th November)

 

Breathing In Calm

It has been quite a week for everyone. As the counts have gone one way or the other, so people's emotions have followed. Just as a cart follows the ox. And as this has been happening one thought has kept with me. This is what we train for.

This is going to be a short message today, as you are probably all being bombarded with messages from all sides, as even with the apparent resolution there is still an undercurrent of uncertainty and division. All I really want to emphasize is this: This is what we train for. How we each as individuals ride the roller-coaster, how we manage our emotions, how we interact with like-minded and non-like-minded people over this period is important.

And it all starts with our ability to cultivate calm ourselves. Even if there is continued uncertainty, even if we see some around us stirring up division through fear, anger and hatred, this is our opportunity to instead be grounded, loving, full of compassion and calm.

A few weeks ago I shared an article by the revered teacher Thích Nhất Hạnh. In it he encourages us to use the following poem in our meditation.

Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment
I know this is a wonderful moment.

Now is a wonderful time to practice this. You can of course do this on your own wherever you are, but I have linked below an audio recording of a fully-guided meditation using this poem, and specifically focusing on the first line. You are welcome to listen to that if you find it helpful. A few of us have committed to press 'play' together at 7pm PT on Sunday 8th November. Again, you are welcome to join us if you wish.

However you choose to practice, I encourage you to practice cultivating this in the coming weeks. It is only from this place of calm that we can generate the true love, compassion and joy that we can bring to the world.

Metta, Chris.

cjrobson · Breathing In Calm

If the above player doesn't work for you, please click here.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Zen Ghosts(Meditation for Sunday November 1st)

 

Zen Ghosts

 

I was going back and forth this week on what to write about. With a historic election coming up and the deep division being created in the country it seems that the practice of Metta is more important than ever. 

On the other hand, it is Halloween and Día de Muertos this weekend and it is always fun to look at Buddhist ghost stories to see what we can learn (and have a bit of spooky fun).

Of course, as is often the case, this is a false dichotomy and we can actually look at a good Zen ghost story and see what we might learn that will help us in what is likely to be a challenging week.

So let's start with the ghost story. There are a number of good ghost stories in the Buddhist tradition but my favorite is the story of the man being haunted by the ghost of his young wife. There are several versions of this out there, but here is a common telling of it:

The wife of a man became very sick. On her deathbed, she said to him, "I love you so much! I don't want to leave you, and I don't want you to betray me. Promise that you will not see any other women once I die, or I will come back to haunt you."

For several months after her death, the husband did avoid other women, but then he met someone and fell in love. On the night that they were engaged to be married, the ghost of his former wife appeared to him. She blamed him for not keeping the promise, and every night thereafter she returned to taunt him. The ghost would remind him of everything that transpired between him and his fiancee that day, even to the point of repeating, word for word, their conversations. It upset him so badly that he couldn't sleep at all.

Desperate, he sought the advice of a Zen master who lived near the village. "This is a very clever ghost," the master said upon hearing the man's story. "It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every detail of what I say and do. It knows everything!" The master smiled, "You should admire such a ghost, but I will tell you what to do the next time you see it."

That night the ghost returned. The man responded just as the master had advised. "You are such a wise ghost," the man said, "You know that I can hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one question, I will break off the engagement and remain single for the rest of my life." "Ask your question," the ghost replied. The man scooped up a handful of beans from a large bag on the floor, "Tell me exactly how many beans there are in my hand."

At that moment the ghost disappeared and never returned.

This is a fun story but also a deep Koan. In the west we sometimes mistake Koans to be 'riddles,' things that needs to be 'solved.' That isn't really the point though - this is a story to be meditated upon, to help expand our understanding. There isn't an 'answer,' or one singular way to look at what has happened. I would encourage you to pause here for a moment to consider the story before reading on.

👻👻👻

There are many things that can be taken away from this Koan, and I hesitate to give my version, but I will point out one way of looking at the story and say something about how it may be relevant for us this week.

One way of reading the story is the fact that the 'ghost' doesn't know what the man cannot underlines that she is a projection of the man's own guilt, fear and grief.

As we go into this week we will likely see a lot of people projecting their own fears and making them 'real.' If we are sensitive and honest then we will also see ourselves doing exactly the same. Going in to this week with a heart of compassion - for yourself and for others - and recognizing the fear, hurt and insecurity that is manifesting the ghosts and demons around us. Seeing the division for what it really is - projections of our fears - allows us to move beyond it.

I hope that you all have a good weekend, however you like to celebrate it - even though it will be a little stranger than usual. May you also find peace and comfort in what may be a testing week.

Metta, Chris.

PS: A Halloween Buddhist Dad-Joke - Where do hungry ghosts get their sandwiches? At Preta Manger!

PPS: I have linked below a fully guided meditation on a different Zen Ghost Koan, so if you would like to work with another one you can listen along with that. A few of us have committed to press 'play' together at 7pm PT on Sunday November 1st. You are welcome to join us if you wish.

cjrobson · Save a Ghost (Zen Koan)

If the above player doesn't work for you please click here.

Photo by Monkgogi Samson on Unsplash