We
live in an illusion and the appearance of things.
There
is a reality. You are that reality.
When
you understand this, you see that you are nothing,
and
being nothing, you are everything. That is all.
~ Kalu
Rinpoche
As a child I loved puzzles. As an adult I enjoy Buddhist
teachings. I heard this quotation by Rinpoche at Emrich retreat center in
Brighton, Michigan while there on a silent meditation retreat, the title of
which was Be a Lamp Unto Yourself. Another
puzzle or another teaching?
When I visited with a woman who is recovering from having
three cancerous ribs removed, I was seeing clearly the truth of the teachings. She is
understandably grieving, understandably in pain, and understandably angry that
the doctor who removed her ribs did not take into account how difficult that
would be for her given that she previously had her left leg amputated at the
hip.
Prior to having the ribs removed, she was remarkably independent and active—totally adept
with the aid of a pair of crutches. Now, she is adapting to being in a
wheelchair, often very uncomfortable as she sits on the stump
causing nerves to fire.
Her choice of words were very telling, "I am angry. That surgeon
did not take the quality of my life into account. The only focus was to cut out
the cancer."
Often, frightened and overwhelmed by a medical condition, we can fail to be a lamp unto ourselves. I will not share my bias about the cruel slash
and burn twin treatments of surgery and chemotherapy than can destroy lives in the guise of curing a disease, or my preference for
whole-person health systems that actually assist the person coming into balance and provide opportunity for the body to heal itself. I would rather have you learn a powerful guided meditation to help us imagine a world of infinite possibilities I learned while sitting under a catalpa tree smelling the sweet blossoms falling all around us.
Imagine you are out on the ocean with many other boats.
It is a beautiful day. The water is smooth. You put on your scuba equipment and dive down deep to the ocean floor. Everything is
peaceful; the ground is solid beneath your feet; you move effortlessly.
As you
surface from your dive, huge waves are rolling. The sea has become stormy! People on the boats nearby are
yelling for help as they face being tossed overboard or the boats being
capsized. The Coast Guard has been called.
You determine the best help you can be is to go back to
the depths where you are safe and calm with your feet securely on the stable
ocean floor. Once there, you imagine your
arms stretching up to the surface of the water and you begin to help the people caught
in the storm.
You lift many people onto the Coast Guard
vessel where they are safe.
Next, my imagination had me lift a Saint Bernard, then an elephant, then
an airplane before I was shown hospitals where this same amazing process of helping people was happening. Later,
when I shared what I had seen in the meditation, another person at the retreat shared resuscitating children from this deep place of calm.
For quite some time, many of us have had a sense we have a way of
being with difficult situations more constructively than focusing on what is unhelpful. Complaining (even about
something we see as downright wrong) is disempowering. Even those who are
unskillful or acting out of blatant greed or the ignorance of self-interest are better served by our
compassionate wisdom than our anger.
I hope you will also find this vision powerful as you imagine situations in your life that can be more just, creative, and helpful. Clearly
there was no "I" doing the lifting, rather it was about our sincerely intending
to help all beings come to the end of suffering. It is about our being used by LOVE, as depicted in this poem by Teresa of Avila
(1515–1582):
Christ Has No Body
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Fortunately, we are everything!
* Posted this last night and went to Pilgrim Congregational Church this morning because my wonderful friend/colleague, Linda Beushausen was speaking. From the sermon title "Rowing Your Boat Gently and Merrily Even in a Storm, the cover of the bulletin (see image below), the scripture (Mark 4:35-41 about Jesus' calming the sea), to singing Row Row Row Your Boat and I've Got Peace Like a River, you have to agree we are all in the boat together!
