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found an article which bridges some christian ideas with buddhist. author flint sparks equates the buddhist idea of vast emptiness with the christian idea of complete fullness of spirit. i’d love to hear more bridging between these traditions. the article includes a quote by zen teacher charlotte joko beck which i like:
“The secret of life that we are all looking for is just this: to develop through sitting and daily life practice the power and courage to return to that which we have spent a lifetime hiding from, to rest in the bodily experience of the present moment ? even if it is a feeling of being humiliated, of failing, of abandonment, or unfairness.”
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my latest housesitting gig is in belmont, my old stomping ground. i’m feeding henry the cat and this morning he decided 5 am it’s time for breakfast. cute little guy though so it was too hard to refuse the request. later he meowed at me constantly while i took a shower, i’m not sure what had him so concerned - except maybe he already finished all the food i put out for him. little vacuum cleaner.
last night’s meditation class went well, I’ve been exploring the tibetan concept called shenpa more and I shared it in class. I then noticed while meditating that often the little daydreams and story lines I have are classes in the future: imagining them as successful and helpful. These thoughts are like scratching some underlying itch, so I explored what the itch felt like more. It felt like a small node of doubt at the base of my throat. It felt like when you go hiking, and you jump to a rock which looked solid but wobbles a little and for a split second you’re not sure if it’s going to hold you or if you’ll fall. I realized that when teaching something or leading the class, I feel a little like I’ve just jumped onto that kind of rock and the way I deal with the discomfort is to fantasize little imaginary classes going well in my head. That is one of my shenpas.
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I just read an inciteful, short essay by Pema. it’s all about the way we get ‘hooked’ by experience and react to it. the tibetan word she uses for this ‘hook’ is called shenpa. I recommend this short essay.
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t-mobile hotspots: something fishy is afoot. everytime i log in i get only a couple minutes of uninterrupted, high speed internet goodness. but after that i’m dropped. since i’m on a per-minute plan each connection costs me 10 minutes of minimum connect time. must write to t-mobile support to complain, get credit, and get the issue fixed or my plan refunded.
i’m loving pema chodron’s book “the places that scare you” on tape in my car. the long commutes (i’m living in the sunset of SF right now) zip by with such pithy discussions into the nature of mind and neurosis. i also picked up a copy of her book “start where you are” recently and would recommend that to everyone with a curiosity into tibetan mind training.
the thing i like the most about her particular tibetan school of thought is the idea that the muck and difficulty of our everyday existence is the best material for increasing awareness into the cause of human suffering, connecting to community, and as a path of compassion for self and others. other schools tend to reject the messiness of life, but i find that impossible. each moment has some reaction to what’s going on in my day, some knee jerk, and its resulting emotional upheaval. i may look even-keel and centered, but up close it usually feels like rough water.
sitting monkey is place where