Dragonflies Hatching

Dragonflies are hatching this week. The larva has been living in the muck at the bottom of pond for years. Years! One day it climbs up a reed, breaks out of its exoskeleton, and waits for its new wings to dry so that it can fly. What an awakening!

Just such an awakening is possible for us on our spiritual path. Today we live in the muck of everyday life. We've been living here for years. If we will but follow the Noble 8-fold Path, we can find a whole new view of the world.

Firth of Forth

I suppose it had to happen while we are in Scotland. We spent the night at a lodge on a golf course--not my usual milieu, but Scotland is the home of golf, so when in Scotland....

The stunning view looks across the golf course and across to the Firth of Forth to the Fife peninsula beyond. Translated into American English, "Firth of Forth" means the inlet where the Forth River flows into the North Sea. I can see cargo ships in the distance cruising in and out of Edinburgh.

I've been asking the lodge staff about other Scottish-English words i'm not familiar with. We are staying at the Craigielaw Lodge. What does "law" mean in this context? One archaic meaning of "law" is "low," which makes sense as the low land of the Craigielaw Estate.

We hear many words in Scottish English that i've never heard in American English. What???

When we start meditating, we become more familiar with words we may have had only passing acquaintance with. "Equanimity" is one. Several people have asked me what that means, as if they've never heard the word before. Once we experience equanimity in meditation, we have a visceral sense of what the word means. Calm, yes. Tranquil, yes. Balanced, yes. But there's an emotion that cannot be put into words. We say "equanimity," and know, really know what we are talking about.

High View

I was on retreat last weekend, visiting the Bhavana Society in High View, West Virginia. I love the name of the town--High View.

It reminds me to take the high road, the path with the high view.

Wise View is the first step on the 8-fold Path. Wise View is the view that leads to non-suffering. Any view, opinion, or judgment that causes stress is not Wise View.

Having a "high view" also alludes to seeing the big picture. Little details fade as you see the overall scheme of things. A big-picture view leads to equanimity.

On this post-election day, as i feel bits of sadness and fear, i search around for the stressful view, the unwise, unskillful view that gives rise to those unpleasant emotions. If i find it, i apply the acupressure of mindfulness to that very spot.

If i don't find it, i apply the temporary relief of an antidote: loving-kindness and self-compassion.

May i be free from fear.

May i be free from anxiety.

May i have ease of well-being.

Lovely Jasmine Tea

I'm drinking a cup of jasmine tea as i write. I love the smell of the jasmine as much as the taste of the green tea. But then i wonder why i do not like Earl Grey, which is black tea infused with bergamot (which is not bee balm but a bergamot orange).

Jasmine tea is pleasant.
Earl Grey unpleasant.

Perhaps you find Earl Grey pleasant and jasmine tea unpleasant.

No matter. We actually don't have a choice about this perception. It simply occurs. Pleasant or unpleasant. Then we have a choice whether to simply let it be--a sense perception arising and just as quickly ceasing. Or whether to believe our perception and make it into a view, an opinion.

Views. Opinions. Judgments. There be dragons. And suffering.

Much safer to simply notice pleasant and let it go.

Mt St Helens

While i was on retreat in August in Washington state, my borrowed landscape was Mt. St. Helens. Two or three times a day, i walked down to the end of the driveway of Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, to take a peek at the still snow-covered mountain.

Gazing at a landscape has the effect of relaxing the mind, and, therefore, the body. Relaxing the mind is the first meditation instruction.

Begin now. Look out the window at the view of your yard. Go out to your deck and sit a spell. Relax.




Photo courtesy of Portland Monthly.

Barred Owls Calling

Barred owls have been calling, not only at night, but during the day as well. I assumed they were teaching their babies how to sing: "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?," but apparently the raucous caterwauling is just part of their repertoire.

When we are new to the Dharma, we begin to learn a new language, a new way of looking at life. We've spent so much time trying to arrange outer conditions to our own personal liking, that it comes as an astounding surprise that we can be happy despite outer conditions. Our happiness depends on our view.

The barred owls sit high in the trees with a clear view of happiness.

Window of Opportunity

We are staying at the National Park lodge in Big Bend, tucked into an old volcanic crater called "the basin," surrounded by the Chisos Mountains. Like all craters, this one has a low point called "The Window." Looking out the windows of the lodge dining room, we have a fantastic view of The Window, which offers a view of the world beyond this fortress of mountains with high peaks all around us.

When we are surrounded by so-called reality of family, work, and home, and the virtual reality of cyberspace, it's quite difficult to see the view beyond our ordinary daily lives. Meditation offers us the calmness, the space, the solitude in which to notice this larger view.

Snake's Tongue

Our hotel room in Dublin, Ireland has a sansevieria plant on a table near the window. Commonly called snake tongue, this plant is undemanding and very easy to keep alive.

In these days, when hateful speech so easily flies off the tongues of those around us and various media personalities, it's good to remember to keep our own tongues in check with Wise Speech. Using our tongues and our words skillfully is not an easy assignment.

In the days after the election, i decided to listen, really listen to someone who voted differently than i did. She went on a 30-minute rant, while my sweetie and i kept our mouths shut. I had asked for a different point of view, and i got it! I could feel in my body, how good the rant was feeling to her in the moment--very fizzy and charged with adrenalin.

After she left for an appointment, i told my sweetie, "That hatred felt great in the moment, but she's going to feel ashamed of herself for the rest of the day." Sure enough, when we saw her that evening, she tried to make amends, which we graciously accepted. "You have one news source," my husband said, "and we have other news sources."

In the days ahead, we are going to be called on to speak truthfully, straight-forwardly, and kindly. That's a difficult recipe to follow.
 
But when anger and hatred is so easy to grow and so seductive, it's time for us to put our nerves between our teeth, and hold our own sharp snake-like tongue.

Gazing Globe on the Ground

A silver gazing globe blew off its stand a couple of weeks ago, and i haven't picked it up. It sits there on the ground waiting for me to decide what to do. This morning 2 little sparrows were running around it, looking at themselves in "the mirror" and scaring themselves

Isn't this exactly what we do when we worry? We look into our mirror-mind, which is simply a big projection screen, and we see... An intruder! An intruder into our space! (Never mind that this thought is a creation of the mind.)

Like those little brown birds, the redpolls, we jump, we startle. And we keep replaying the event, the situation in our mind. Running around and around the gazing globe mirror. Aaagghhh!!!

We fail to notice the places where we don't see our projection in the mirror-mind. There's one good viewpoint, and we keep going back to it. Notice that space, the place where the thought is not. That's the place of Wise View.

Columbine Space

Columbines and lupines are blooming in my wood chip paths. I'm not surprised that columbines prefer to grow in the more acidic conditions of wood chips, but it's rather inconvenient. The walking paths are supposed to be for walking, not for flowers. At least, that's my view of the world.

Columbines and lupines have a different view of the world though. Not only are the wood chip conditions perfect for germinating their seeds, there's so much more room to spread out than in the crowded flowerbed.

Sort of reminds me of the person i live with. I like a clear flat surface, such as tabletops, the tops of bureaus, even empty chairs. He finds these clear surfaces perfect for putting down his shirt, his jacket, or his mail. Just like i move the columbines to a different flower bed, i move my sweetie's paraphernalia to his dedicated spot--his place at the kitchen table. His spot is sometimes piled high, and i put his dinner plate and silverware right on top of his piles of newspaper and mail. My place at the table is clear, just the way i like it.

Stress is in the eye of the beholder. I move the columbines and lupines to a different spot and feel much better. My sweetie's "overgrown" spot is within inches of my cleared off space. My space. His space. The columbine's space. Is there really such a thing as "my" space?