lara simmons

As I wrote last month before beginning the 28 Days of Abstinence  challenge, I have been reading a lot about Buddhism lately. One of the concepts that has stuck with me is this idea that all life is suffering. I both love it and hate it. I love it because it rings true to me. I read it and something in me lets go - relaxes - the way you do when truth is spoken:  "Finally, someone is saying what I have always thought." At the same time, this idea scares the crap out of me. If all life is suffering then what is the f-ing point? Not what is the point of being here - I don't think any of us knows this for sure and we each have to figure this out for ourselves - but what is the point of living? If all life is suffering, why not just let go, escape, blow this popsicle stand? (Of course Buddhists believe in reincarnation - as do I - so it really isn't a choice. One way or another, you'll be back here eventually. So it's really an "Enlightenment or BUST...

"When people asked the Buddha why his followers were so joyful and healthy when they lived so simply, he replied: 'They do not repent the past, nor do they brood over the future. They live in the present. Therefore they are radiant. By brooding over the future and repenting the past, fools dry up like green reeds cut down in the sun.'” --From Why I am a Buddhist by Stephen T. Asma, PhD "Everywhere is here." --Prince Siddhartha in Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha by Jack Keruoac "During deep meditation it is possible to dispel time, to see simultaneously all the past, present and future, and then everything is good, everything is perfect, everything is Brahman. Therefore, it seems to me that everything that exists is good—death as well as life, sin as well as holiness, wisdom as well as folly. Everything is necessary, everything needs only my agreement, my ascent, my loving understanding; then all is well with me and nothing can harm me." --Herman ...

"A violent dragon met a bodhisattva on the road one day. The bodhisattva told the dragon that he should not kill anymore and should instead adopt the Buddhist precepts and care for all life. The bodhisattva inspired the dragon and afterward the dragon became completely nonviolent. But now the children who tended to the animal flocks nearby, seeing that the dragon had become gentle, lost all fear of him. And they began to torment him, stuffing stones and dirt into his mouth, pulling on his tail, and jumping on his head. Soon the dragon stopped eating and became very sick. When the dragon encountered the bodhisattva again, he complained, 'You told me that if I kept the precepts and was compassionate, I would be happy. But now I suffer, and I am not happy at all.' To this the bodhisattva replied, 'My son, if you have compassion, morality, and virtue, you must also have wisdom and intelligence. This is the way to protect yourself. The next time the children make you suff...

"Love Locks" from Osaka, Japan  "We are flawed receptacles of wisdom moving between moments of seeing a little clearly and moments of being in the darkness." --Kaspalita Thompson I have been on a bit of a Buddhist trip lately. It started with Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha  by Jack Kerouac, which I started reading for my bookclub, veered off into Just As You Are: Buddhism for Foolish Beings  by Kaspalita Thompson & Satya Robyn, which I read because it was free on Amazon, then back to Wake Up  and on to  Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Shunryu Suzuki and Why I am a Buddhist: No Nonsense Buddhism with Red Meat and Whiskey by Stephen T. Asma, PhD (the latter I am not sure I would recommend, but it has further deepened my understanding of Buddhism, from a decidedly American academic perspective). Perhaps the most fruitful outcome of all this Buddhist literature has been a rededication to my meditation practice, which had been in a bit of a maintenance mode...

A BUDDHIST PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS " If I have harmed anyone in any way, either knowingly or unknowingly, through my own confusions, I ask their forgiveness. If anyone has harmed me in any way, either knowingly or unknowingly, through their own confusions, I forgive them. And if there is a situation I am not yet ready to forgive, I forgive myself for that. For all the ways that I harm myself, negate, doubt, belittle myself, judge or be unkind to myself through my own confusions, I forgive myself."

May you be filled with loving kindness. May you be well. May you be peaceful and at ease and may you be happy.  -- Mettā meditation If you are struggling to keep up with the daily practice of The Forgiveness Letter , don't despair, there are many ways to practice forgiveness that don't involve copious amounts of writing. Each week I will be introducing one or two new forgiveness techniques that you can try and use during your thirty days. Today's technique comes from the Buddhist tradition by way of Mary Morrissey . The Mettā (or "lovingkindness") meditation is used to cultivate loving-kindness towards Self, others, and eventually toward all beings. It is generally practiced in this way: First say the Mettā for yourself, "May I be filled with lovingkindness. May I be well. May I be peaceful and at ease and may I be happy." Then for someone close to you, "May you...." Followed by your family "May we...." and finally ...

  The Great Buddha of Kamakura (Daibutsu) "Ichi-go ichi-e." --from the Japanese meaning “every encounter is but once in a lifetime” Every so often you get a "once in a lifetime" opportunity. Our recent trip to Japan was just such an opportunity. To travel alone with my fifth grader, to a country where he speaks the language and I do not, with his former classmates, many of whom will be off in new directions in the fall, to send him off to be hosted by a family who accepted him (and me) sight unseen, truly was a "once in a lifetime" trip. This week I would like to attempt to share some of the trip with you through words and pictures. This will not be an exhaustive account of all that we saw and experienced, but rather an attempt at capturing the spirit of the trip through a few shared stories. "Ichi-go ichi-e" was a phrase I learned on the plane. I think it might have been in the in-flight magazine. I immediately connected with...

"May you be filled with lovingkindness; may you be well. May you be peaceful and at ease; and may you be happy." --from a Karen Drucker song , based on the Buddhist practice of lovingkindness We sang this a few weeks ago at Seattle Unity and I have been humming it to myself ever since. A nice way to practice lovingkindness, you sing this for first for yourself (May I...), then for another (May you...), then for yourself as well as others (May we...) and finally for all (May all...). Add power to the practice by singing for someone you are struggling with right now by name (May X...). It may be hard at first, but soon you will find the going easy and maybe the relationship as well. May you be well!