The Buddha, The Dharma, The Sangha

"Spiritual powers and their wondrous functioning--hauling water and carrying firewood." --Layman Pang, upon his realization

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

In the garden of gentle sanity, may you be bombarded by coconuts of wakefulness.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche




I have to say, this quote cracked me up when I read it this morning, and I needed a good cracking up.
Later, when I offered incense to the garden Buddha, Trungpa Rinpoche's words came back to me:  the senses take in so much stimuli in a split second, as the mind tries deperately to make sense of the universe.
From moment to moment, the whir of the reptilian brain hard drive tries to maintain the integrity of this skin bag!  Am I safe?  Friend or foe?  Fight or fly? Food or poison? Fire, water, air, earth?  Where am I?


But every now and then, something gets short circuited.  The whirring is arrested in mid defining and there is a small gap of wonder, of liberation, of deep relief and laughter...and laughing at one's self.


As I am bowing to offer incense, a leaf on the walkway is walking.  The leaf stops walking, and a pill bug pops out from beneath, continuing into the garden. The leaf is still.
I straighten up, hands in Gassho, and hear pitiful mewing high in the trees.  Tricked by a Catbird.
I take another path back to the house, a clear path....but no, not so clear. Smacked in the face by cobwebs!


Finally, safely indoors, stepping into the dining room, something damp and cold underfoot, something squishy.
Ahhhhh, cat barf, with undigested bits of dog chow. 
So that's who helps herself to the kibble--the sentient being who is always hungry!


Thanks! Now I'm awake!



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