the samurai, karma, pema chodron
i've been house-sitting michelle and nick's place until i go back to minneapolis. nick left a copy of "comfortable with uncertainty" by pema chodron on his nightstand, so i've been reading it before bed. i haven't read much tibetan buddhist inspired literature, it's pretty interesting and insightful. well, obviously it is insightful. but i find myself resonating with a lot of what they are saying...though, these things are also found in hinduism. anyway, here are a few excerpts.
THE SAMURAI
a big, burly samurai comes to a zen master and says, "tell me the nature of heaven and hell." the zen master looks him in the face and says, "why should i tell a scruffy, disgusting, miserable slob like you? a worm like you, do you think i should tell you anything?" consumed by rage, the samurai draws his sword and raises it to cut off the master's head.
the zen master says, "that's hell."
instantly, the samurai understands that he has just created his own hell--black and hot, filled with hatred, self-protection, anger, and resentment. he sees that he was so deep in hell that he was ready to kill someone. tears fill his eyes as he puts his palms together to bow in gratitude for this insight.
the zen master says, "that's heaven."
the view of the warrior-bodhisattva is not "hell is bad and heaven is good" or "get rid of hell and just seek heaven." instead, we encourage ourselves to develop an open heart and an open mind to heaven, to hell, to everything. only with this kind of equanimity can we realize that no matter what comes along, we're always standing in th emiddle of a sacred space. only with equanimity can we see that everything that comes into our circle has come to teach us what we need to know.
karma is a difficult subject. basically it means that what happens in your life is somehow a result of things tha tyou have done before. that's why you're encouraged to work with what happens to you rather than blame it on others. this kind of teaching on karma can be easily misunderstood. people get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt complex. they feel that if things are goingwrong, it means they did something bad and they're being punished. but that's not the idea at all. the idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings you need in order to open your heart. to the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, now you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life. your life gives you everything you need to learn how to open further.
THE SAMURAI
a big, burly samurai comes to a zen master and says, "tell me the nature of heaven and hell." the zen master looks him in the face and says, "why should i tell a scruffy, disgusting, miserable slob like you? a worm like you, do you think i should tell you anything?" consumed by rage, the samurai draws his sword and raises it to cut off the master's head.
the zen master says, "that's hell."
instantly, the samurai understands that he has just created his own hell--black and hot, filled with hatred, self-protection, anger, and resentment. he sees that he was so deep in hell that he was ready to kill someone. tears fill his eyes as he puts his palms together to bow in gratitude for this insight.
the zen master says, "that's heaven."
the view of the warrior-bodhisattva is not "hell is bad and heaven is good" or "get rid of hell and just seek heaven." instead, we encourage ourselves to develop an open heart and an open mind to heaven, to hell, to everything. only with this kind of equanimity can we realize that no matter what comes along, we're always standing in th emiddle of a sacred space. only with equanimity can we see that everything that comes into our circle has come to teach us what we need to know.
karma is a difficult subject. basically it means that what happens in your life is somehow a result of things tha tyou have done before. that's why you're encouraged to work with what happens to you rather than blame it on others. this kind of teaching on karma can be easily misunderstood. people get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt complex. they feel that if things are goingwrong, it means they did something bad and they're being punished. but that's not the idea at all. the idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings you need in order to open your heart. to the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, now you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life. your life gives you everything you need to learn how to open further.