Monday, November 9, we will meet online.
Dear Friends,
This week, we will meet Monday evening, November 9, from 7-8:30PM ET online; Wednesday morning, November 11, from 7-8AM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, November 13, 12-1PM ET online.
On Monday, our evening meditation will be facilitated by Annie. She shares:
I remember one of the first songs I learned on a mindfulness retreat was “Happiness is Here and Now”. The line “Somewhere to go, something to do, but I don’t need to hurry” struck me as a kind of koan. The idea of me acting with spaciousness and ease, without feeling in a hurry, felt extremely unlikely to ever happen. Rushing was simply living.
I heard a dharma talk at Plum Village a few years ago in which Brother Phap Ung told the story of a young nun who was unhappy and so came to talk to Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay). She wanted to share her suffering with him. We can only imagine how busy he was as the leader of a community of hundreds of monastics, teacher to thousands (possibly millions) of people around the world, author of hundreds of books, etc. Yet his response to her was ”I have a thousand years for you.” Like a Zen master should do, his statement shocked me.
This past weekend, my nine-month old granddaughter, Charlie, was visiting, and I spent many aimless hours sitting on the floor, building small block towers only for her to knock them down. I touched that feeling of having a thousand years for her. It felt wonderful to be together in that container of the present moment and to trust that this moment was all I needed. Every time I put a few blocks together, she joyfully knocked them down. There was nowhere else either of us wanted or needed to be.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. – Mary Oliver, from The Summer Day
Roshi Joan Halifax has written that “Our fatigue and preferential mind just drain the life out of us and drain the life out of the world,” and that “enlightenment is the kind of freedom where there is no resistance within us.” This resonates with me. The idea that I need to be or do this or that in order to be happy is a kind of false freedom. Even needing to listen to a dharma talk or podcast or other beneficial action can be a prison. I find the most freedom in sitting still and trusting in the confines of the life I am living in this very moment. For me, it can still be very difficult to let go of the grasping and rushing mind. Can I also have a thousand years for myself and the slow pace of my awakening?
One of the four Dharma Seals of Plum Village is the gatha, I have arrived, I am home. In the here and in the now. And one of the teachers in our lineage, the Chinese Zen Master Linji, said, “You have to realize the truth of the fact that there never has been anything to do.” In the commentary on this teaching, Thay writes, “If we cultivate the spirit of aimlessness, we will be fresh and free, like the rose. But if the rose wishes to become a lotus, she will no longer be happy. A rose doesn’t need to become a lotus. A rose should just be a rose, and deeply manifest all her beauty and fragrance in the present moment.”
This week we will come together to manifest our beauty in the present moment and reflect on this practice. Can we find a thousand years for ourselves and each other right in this very moment?
with love,
annie.