In one of his short encouragement talks during sesshin this past week, Bodhin Roshi drew everyone deeper into their practice by referencing some lines from an interview Mother Teresa once gave. The interviewer asked Mother Teresa, "What do you say when you pray?" Mother Teresa answered, "I don't say anything. I just listen." The interviewer then asked, "Well, what does God say to you?" Mother Teresa replied, "Nothing. He just listens, too. And if you can't understand that, then I can't explain it to you."
Just listening is how Avalokiteśvara came to awakening and, in so doing, came to relieve the suffering of the world.
There's suffering enough to go around these days. I came out of sesshin to hear about a movie theater massacre and poverty levels in this rich land again hitting historic highs.
I also came back from sesshin to be reminded in teisho here of just how very important everyone's practice is in relieving the suffering of the world, not in a fix-it-up kind of way, of course, but in that subtle and profound way of being a point of awakened non-suffering in that net that binds us all to one another.
May we all be at ease!
And may those of us who can make best use of the place where our deepest ease begins: sincere and wholehearted practice.
Just listening is how Avalokiteśvara came to awakening and, in so doing, came to relieve the suffering of the world.
There's suffering enough to go around these days. I came out of sesshin to hear about a movie theater massacre and poverty levels in this rich land again hitting historic highs.
I also came back from sesshin to be reminded in teisho here of just how very important everyone's practice is in relieving the suffering of the world, not in a fix-it-up kind of way, of course, but in that subtle and profound way of being a point of awakened non-suffering in that net that binds us all to one another.
May we all be at ease!
And may those of us who can make best use of the place where our deepest ease begins: sincere and wholehearted practice.
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