| OUR TEACHERS |
| WEEKLY SCHEDULE & SERVICES |
| CONTACT / DIRECTIONS |
A Rushing Toward Death
Every week someone asks me how enlightened I am. It doesn't matter. (Not that I have a clue. Just so you know.) What matters is whether I can be a skillful enough dharma sister to coach, cajole and plead you into taking your practice seriously until you fall in love with dharma.
We think too much, you and I. We think about how well we sit and whether the person next to us is doing a better job at concentrating. We try to gauge spiritual progress when, in the end, there is no gauge. And all the while we're rushing toward death. We're like those dogs in what had to have been a Gary Larson cartoon asking each other if mathematics exists. Wasting precious time on the wrong stuff.
Instead we need to be aiming our attention at how we spend our days. Are we generous? Kind? Did we leave all the office supplies at work or decide we deserved to take the copy paper home? Were we patient with our parents, our kids? Did we say thank you enough?
I love Buddha in his old age. In his eighties he could be pretty crotchety. Often he aimed his bluntness at Ananda, his attendant. Dear Ananda, brother to us all, had a terrible time keeping his practice focused. He was always asking Buddha for advice and feedback. Finally one day Buddha told him, "You think too much."
We all think too much.
Let's not. Instead, day by day, let's just do our spiritual work. Let's slow down so we can notice the flowers starting to pop out of the thawing ground, smell the spring winds and be grateful for our wonderful troubled lives.
